Anyone use LED solar garden light?

They both look remarkably good.

I can't give you an exact answer, but it looks to me as tho' the plastic one has a larger solar panel and probably more LEDs - so I understand (also from the reviews) it is brighter than the SS one.

Obviously it has a much more functional appearance, but the light can also be directed.

 

Do like the styling of the stainless steel one, but the plastic one is as DA says more functional.

 

Weak point in these lights is always the battery/batteries. They'll invariably have the cheapest no-brand version they can source.
The big-box store versions normally use AA or AAA batteries so switching out for a decent Ansmann or similar rechargable is simple.
The plastic one you've linked states that it uses a 18650 lithium battery. These are the high discharge cells used in eCigs and some new cordless tool batteries. So in theory, that unit might actually produce a decent spotlight, but when the provided battery pegs it, you'll need to be careful what you replace it with cos there's a lot of crud out there.

 

Had one of these (the ss one) for about 3 or 4 years now - it's still going strong.

 

Hey there, I was thinking of buying one (probably stainless steel one mostly because I am not a fan of plastic and it looks much better), but also hesitating because the functionality matters, too. Can you guys share your experience with both plastic and stainless steel LED solar light? I have a small yard and don't have much money to spend on it right now, so I would appreciate any opinion/advice you might offer.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Well, neighbour near me got some, & the light & light spread is very poor,but others makes might be better, don't know size of your yard, probably better off with some led lights on 12v,24v transformer.

 

Thanks, KIAB, will try with one 12v for starters.

 

KIAB interesting..Ill try tht as well.

 

Good thing with 24 Volt led lighting,(QUOTE) ensures there are no voltage drop issues even when lighting up to 60 meters away from the power supply.
But, in most cases 12v led lighting is more than enough around your garden, a lot of led lighting is plug & play, so easy to install, & 12v lighting your spoilt for choice for light fittings, there prices for every pocket.

http://www.gardens2glow.co.uk/uniled-24v-system/

 

Had some similar solar lights set in stainless recessed into some decking. These had some AA or AAA rechargeable batteries, lasted for years and just swapped the batteries once.

You might find the lithium batteries have some sort of electronics built into them as these dont like going flat, it ruins the battery which might be a factor to consider during winter months if the solar cell doesnt generate much, not that LED's need much. AA & AAA are more tolerant of variable charging conditions and are a lot simpler as a result, but dont hold a charge as consistently as a lithium, eg AA &AAA as they discharge will also lower the voltage unlike lithium which maintains the voltage when they discharge.

Other factor with LED's is the colour temp, you might want a warm white effect like the old incandescent bulbs, rather than a harsh daylight white depending on the effect you want to get.

This picture shows you how the colour temperature changes through the day. https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAE...zdkLTQxNDAtNGU3OC1hZTk4LWMyNTQ2ODZjNTNiNw.jpg

Its taken from this page. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-buy-lighting-optimum-way-victor-adrian-floroiu

Then you have the casing, the stainless will be more robust than plastics that break down in UV light but stainless is more expensive than plastics, so if cheap stainless has been used even a 304 grade stainless will rust in a few years which may be a cosmetic factor. I doubt very much they would using a 316 stainless which takes even longer to rust.

With mains powered LED's you will get more light than solar/battery powered lights which might be a factor if you want to introduce some sort of CCTV into the area at a later date. The transformers for the mains powered LED would need to be IP rated to make sure rain doesnt blow up the works, and whilst we've got warm white led strips lighting the bathroom hidden behind some painted unequal ally angle set into the grout line one tile down from the ceiling uplighting the ceiling all around the bathroom, the mains powered lights do chuck out alot of light on maximum brightness.

I would be wary of the colour changing led strips use don their own, we tried those in the bathroom thinking it would introduce some nice mood lighting, but it was too bright although you can dim them which I hadnt setup at the time, but LED's in general emit light in a very narrow band on the light spectrum which means when we had it on just the red light, it made the yellow bleach bottle look red and the red bleach bottle cap look yellow. It just didnt look good if used on their own and played tricks with your eyes, so you really do need coloured led's with other lighting to take away the harshness of the narrow colour band.