The Best Landscape Lighting for Your Yard
Few things add to the beauty of your yard or garden quite like landscape lighting. Placed around pathways, hedges, gates, and fences, landscape lighting provides decorative illumination and highlights special areas of your yard. With a wide variety of sets available, you can choose to feature small sections of your garden, light up whole pathways, or simply use the lights to contribute to the overall aesthetic. To help illuminate your search for landscape lighting, we researched and reviewed a few options that hold up under all weather conditions, cast both warm and cool light, and don't distract from the overall beauty of your yard or garden. Here are the best lights we found.
Litom Landscape Spotlights
Shine on
Whether you need a wide spot or a focused spot in your yard or garden, Litom has you covered. With 12 bright LED lights in each unit, along with 120- or 90-degree focusing, these landscape lights provide impressive brightness. An adjustable solar panel keeps the rechargeable lithium-ion battery running with two brightness modes: low-light mode (12 hours) or high-light mode (6 hours). When sunlight is low enough to require illumination, the spotlight will automatically switch from energy storage mode to lighting mode, even without motion detection. Certified as waterproof and made of high-impact ABS plastic, Litom’s outdoor solar lights can withstand all kinds of terrible weather.
Pros:
- Includes two mounting options: stakes and wall screws
- Available in packs of two to ten
- You can choose from four different colors
Cons:
- No battery or AC-power option
- Limited vertical pivoting range
Aootek Outdoor Motion Sensor Lights
Hit the deck
With a low-profile shape that’s designed to spread light across a wide, flat surface, these outdoor motion sensor lights from Aootek are perfect for your deck or pathway. They also feature three different operating modes: in Security mode, the sensor turns on when it detects motion and then shuts off automatically; in Permanent On mode, the light will come on automatically at night and stay on all night long; and in Smart Brightness mode, the light will stay on all night and become brighter when it detects motion. Each unit is powered by a solar cell that lines the entire top of the light so that it charges faster. With 182 LED lights per unit, this set from Aootek truly lights the way.
Pros:
- PIR sensor can detect motion up to 26 feet away
- Rated IP65 waterproof
- Designed to withstand extreme weather conditions
Cons:
- Mode switch located under the mount, so it’s a bit hard to access
- Sensor turns off light after only 15 seconds
Sunnest Solar Garden Lights
Walk this way
Featuring 12 lights per pack, this set from Sunnest helps you light up all the pathways in your yard. Each light is constructed with a rust-proof stainless steel body, ABS plastic ground stakes, and transparent PP plastic housings, so they’re rugged and durable. They’re also weatherproof for rain, sleet, and snow, and they boast an IP44 waterproof rating, so they’ll work even in the worst rain conditions. A small solar cell on top charges each light for a full 8-10 hours of nighttime illumination. The lights turn on automatically at dusk and then shut off at sunrise, so they’re hassle-free as well.
Pros:
- Quick and easy to install
- Available in cool white, warm white, and multicolor
- Perfect for underbrush
Cons:
- Head does not tilt nor adjust
- Cannot be mounted
Linkind Landscape Solar Spotlights
Sun of a gun
If you mistake solar power for low power, these solar spotlights from Linkind will be glad to prove you wrong. They shine at 350LM, which is brighter than most other solar landscape lights on the market today. This is made possible by the efficient photoelectric conversion rate, the 6.6-inch solar cell on the top of the unit, and 12 LED lights in each head. These lights are also extremely adjustable, as they can pivot 90 degrees vertically and 180 degrees horizontally. Additionally, they can be mounted on both a wall and in the ground. The 90-degree beam angle results in more focused and brighter highlights on the parts of your yard you plan on illuminating.
Pros:
- CE- and FCC-certified
- IP67 waterproof rating
- Available in packs of two or six
Cons:
- Brightness control switch is hard to reach once the light is installed
- No motion sensor
Wohome Flower Lights
Lily lights
These gorgeous, multicolored flower lights are a beautiful and whimsical way to light up your garden or patio. There are twelve units in the package, each of which is made with fabric, glass, stainless steel, and plastic, so they’re as rugged as they are pretty. Both the stems and leaves are propped up by iron wire, which provides flexibility and durability. The stems and leaves, which are solar-powered, can be bent into different angles and styles. Best of all, the color of the flowers and leaves will not fade when they’re exposed to the sun.
Pros:
- Turns on automatically at dark
- Stays lit up to six hours
- LED lights change color from red to green to blue
Cons:
- Not made for poor weather conditions
- Cannot be mounted on walls
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all landscaping lights wired for AC?
If your lights are not solar-powered, chances are they run off of a low voltage AC transformer. This is because most houses and businesses already have AC transformers in place to power incandescent bulbs. Most houses in the U.S. don’t run on direct current (DC), so it’s harder to find DC landscaping lights.
I’ve heard that halogen lights are better for landscaping because they’re brighter than LED?
Actually, LED bulbs are just as bright as halogen. In fact, an LED bulb can produce the same amount of light as a halogen bulb while using 85% less power. This means you can switch out a 50-watt halogen bulb for a 7.5-watt LED bulb.