Solar Path Lights

Solar Path lights have been with us for a while now, and as the technology has developed they have taken on some more.. shall we say “whimsical” forms like the Jack ‘o’ Lanterens mentioned below. But how usful are they in actual fact? Are they worth the money to install and do they provide more than just cosmetic value to your garden? Thats something that I havn’t seen addressed too often in online articles.

So lets take a look. What are the “Pros & Cons” of using a solar powered light set in your garden? Well at the risk of being too obvious lets state what they are not first.

Solar Path lights are just that a gentle light designed (at best) to help you avoid tripping over as you stroll up towards your house. They are not and never can be any kind of floodlight substitute. They might provide enough light to read by if you use enough of them as we have in our gazebo here in Georgia but thats the limit. So with that specific role in mind we can proceed to say that Path lights of any kind are indeed primarily cosmetic in purpose. But that is something that is undervalued I feel.

So here are a few of the modles we have come across thus far. For now we shall be trying to review and examine the more colorful and exotic of Solar Path Lights. Nearly every corner hardware store offers the basic “Stake-in-the-ground-with-a-Solar-Panel-on-top” Path light and I don’t see the need to cover those unless we discover a modle that has some stand out feature, like extra brightness or long battery life etc.

So let us scour the net for you and see what deals we can find in unusual and beautiful decorative Solar Path Lights for your garden.

So here was a really nice pair of lights I came across. While there chassis is the basic stake in the ground type the addition of a multi tone LED light array. Yes I said multi tone not just the red/blue example shown here. These lights alternate thought the basic colors of the rainbow throughout the night.

This would make them unsuitable (for me at least!) as a basic path light but I thought would make a very striking feature to have them set near a water feature like a pond where the colored hues of the light would be reflected and enhanced by the water.

Another use I could see for these solar path lights would be to set them behind a particularly loved shrub or plant where they would provide an almost etherial halo of light about it during the night..

However I noted with less enthusiasm that the worthies offering these lights had to resort to the use of Photoshop or similar to show off there product. This isn’t automatically a sign that the vendor is being less than honest. You have to recall the nature of the subject a minute. Have you tried to do any photography at night? Or Shoot a low light Video with a cam-corder? Very often the tool won’t do justice to the sight you can see plainly with your naked eyes. Which is why many companies will “touch up” a picture for web sales use like this.

But given that most basic stake lights like these are about $6 (+Tax and or S+H) These likes with a twist were good value at a listed $14.95 for Two. One pair of these ought to give you the ability to transform a corner of your garden at night with there gentle pastel tones, so they can’t be faulted for value. As a unit they are of the standard design format and are around 20″ tall, auto sensors start ans shutoff the lights at dawn/dusk so once set up you can just leave them to work there magic for years to come.

Fun Solar Path Lights?

In my research to bring you more information about what is out there in the solar path lights category I ran across this totally fun solar decoration. Before seeing this product I never really considered solar path lights to be holiday decorations but apparently they can be.

In the past I haven’t done much decorating for Halloween. Usually I help my kids carve a jack o’ lantern and we have built scarecrows in the past (a great, if messy, activity for younger children) but that’s about it. So this year I am going to expand a bit and order one of these seasonal solar path lights. I see a great place to put it out by my mail box, I think our little trick-or-treaters and their parents will get a kick out of it. And as I enjoy seeing the little ones in their costumes and talking to my neighbors, it will also be a great advertisement for “Get your treats here!”

As I write this post, this product is currently on sale. Oh heaven help me…a sale! Wouldn’t a whole line of these leading up to my front door be really neat? (Click on the picture its a link!)