The best solar garden lights, with advice from a Gardener's Question Time expert

Telegraph

2 days ago

The best solar garden lights come in a range of colours and designs to brighten up your outdoor space, whether you choose stake lights for highlighting borders, decorative lights for the fence or a pretty lantern for the table. As well as creating ambience when entertaining, some solar lights for the garden can be used for a more practical function to add an extra layer of security around your home.
Solar garden lighting can, however, be a little hit and miss – shining brightly one day, then looking as dull as a scorched August lawn the next. But with advice on how to buy and how to care for your lights throughout the year, you can enjoy the best solar garden lights for more than a single season.
Below, I've tested a selection of this year's most eye-catching solar garden lights that you can buy online. You can read my full reviews further on, followed by answers to some frequently asked questions by Gardener's World expert panellist Matthew Wilson. But if you're in a hurry, here's a quick look at my top five:
What are the best solar garden lights? At a glance
How to choose the best solar garden lights
There are lots of different solar garden light designs on the market. In this list, you'll find novelty designs, 'festoon' string lights for trees, fences and gazebos which look like a string of traditional lightbulbs and solar lanterns to add magic to the lawn. There are stake lights for showcasing your best flower borders and motion-sensor solutions for the garden path.
Award-winning garden designer and Gardener's Question Time panellist, Matthew Wilson, also has five tips on the best ways to use solar lights in your garden:
Use a mixture of lights – festoon, spike and uplighters, for example – to create different effects.
Don't rely on solar lights to provide 100 per cent fool-proof security lighting. It feels like too much of a risk. Motion-sensor lights are best used as an add-on – rather than as the main feature – in your security set-up.
Combine solar lights with other light types, such as plug-in/rechargeable lamps, candle lanterns and so on.
Don't mix bulb colours – a mix of warm whites, cool whites and blue whites don't really look good together in a garden setting.
Use more lights with lower lumens (the unit which measures the amount of light emitted) to create a glow, rather than a few bright lights that will make you feel uncomfortable, disrupt wildlife and annoy the neighbours.
How we test solar garden lights
During my 20 plus years as a journalist I've reviewed everything from the best cordless lawn mowers to the best bee hives for urban beekeeping. Combining my love of gardening and technology by testing the best solar garden lights has been a treat.
For help in choosing them, I followed Wilson's advice, opting for ambience over brightness. I was looking for charming glows, twinkles and flickers, not glare.
I set the lights up in a sunny border in my garden and assessed each light on visibility, design, functionality and aesthetic appeal. After a full day of sunlight, I monitored how well each design lit up after dark and checked in on them at three in the morning to see if they were still shining as brightly as they did after sunset.
I've been testing solar lights for a few years now, so I've also highlighted any changes I've seen over time where relevant.
Read on to discover which designs I thought stole the show and will add style to your garden this season.
If you're upgrading your outdoor space, don't forget our guides to the best garden heaters, best garden chairs and best rattan garden furniture. There's also a new guide to the best fire pits for even more after-dark ambience.
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Best solar garden lights
1. Best Buy Solar Lights: Geemoo 6-Pack Solar Flickering Dancing Flame Lights
Score: 10/10
We like: The impressive warm glow of these solar garden lights, which come in a great-value pack of six
With their fiery, flickering glow, you could be forgiven for thinking that these solar-powered stake lights are candle-lit. They are powered by a high-end polysilicon solar panel with a built-in rechargeable battery. They can light up for up to 10 hours in summer, once fully exposed to the sun.
I thought these solar-powered lights stood out from the crowd due to their noticeably eye-catching glow. When I looked out of the window in the middle of the night, they were the most prominent and attractively hued solar lights shining in my garden.
They were also easy to assemble and good value as they come in pack of six. Although their black plastic waterproof frames don't look or feel like the most premium lights I've seen, I think they are great for lighting up garden paths and flower borders.
Key specifications
2. Best Value Solar Lights: Lutec Fia Solar Wall Light
As a firm fixture on the garden wall or fence, this Lutec solar wall light claims to shine bright for up to 10 hours a night and did so on test. It comes with screws and as an amateur DIY-er, I found it easy enough to fix into place. It has a heavy-duty aluminium frame and LED filament bulb and I think its subtle industrial styling would fit into both urban and country settings.
It brightened up a dark corner with a warm 200 lumen glow, but I think that if you fix a few along a wall with ample spacing between, it would provide an attractive way to lighten up a path or driveway. Every time I look out of the window and catch a glimpse of it, I'm half expecting Mr Tumnus to pass by.
Key specifications
3. Best Solar Lantern: Rockett St George Pretty Stars Gold Outdoor Solar Light
As solar lanterns go, this is one of the most striking designs I've discovered. Described by Rockett St George as 'the glow-up your garden has been waiting for', the twinkling star-shaped light pattern projected through the star cut-outs come dark is certainly impressive. The gold metal design feels well-built and of premium quality. The solar panel sits in the top of the lantern and once it has been in the sun for six hours, the lantern will shine in the dark for up to eight.
It's an eye-catching decorative fixture in daylight too, and while at 34 centimetres high, it's quite large, it's lightweight and comes with a handle for easy transportation – you'll just need a large enough patio set. I've also been quite protective of mine, bringing it in at night to store on the windowsill, where its starlight flickers magically around the window.
Key specifications
4. Best Solar Fence Light: Garden Trading Solar Festoon Light String
With so many solar festoon-style string lights on offer online, it can be daunting to know which model to pick, but I think this Garden Trading design stands out for a number of reasons. For a start, you get up to 20 bulbs that are conveniently spaced apart on a single 12.5-metre string (many just have 10).
The vintage design looked good along my garden fence, but I think they would work equally well along the trim of a gazebo or nestled loosely in tree branches. While they weren't the brightest lights in my test – possibly due to just how many bulbs were working off one small solar panel – I liked the way you can switch between light modes, which included a static and a twinkling setting.
Key specifications
Size: 3m of cable between solar panel and first LED bulb
Colour modes: Warm white
Warranty: Unspecified
Dual power charging (USB and solar): No
5. Best Solar Fairy Lights: Solar Centre Lumify Warm White & White USB Solar Fairy Lights
If your garden needs some instant summer sparkle, these lights will do the trick. While it's not essential, Lumify suggests fully charging the battery via USB for around four hours before using the lights for the first time, as this gives them a boost on first use and means they will run for 12 nights from a single charge without needing the sun. Alternatively, you can leave the solar panel to charge for three days prior to first use with the lights switched off.
There are 300 LED lights in this pack and much like putting Christmas lights on a tree, there's a spaghetti junction of cables to contend with. You'll need to have a clear plan on where to install them. I scattered them around a large garden bush and come nightfall, the fairy lights sparkled brightly for eight hours on a timer.
There is an optional power-saving mode that reduces the brightness too. I didn't see much difference in the two, so left it at full power and prayed for more sun to work the solar magic.
Key specifications
Size: 2m of cable between solar panel and first LED bulb
Colour modes: White, warm white and blended white
Warranty: 1 year
Dual power charging (USB and solar): Yes
6. Best Solar String Lights: Appam Solar Powered Warm White 300 Integrated LED Outdoor String Lights
These string lights add surprising interest to a tired-looking fence and would divide up an area of patio or drape around a gazebo just as effectively. The design has 10 strings fitted with LED lights each 10cm apart from the next and hanging down by a generous 250cm, meaning they'll suit tall fences. Installation was easy; I hammered a few nails in and draped the top of the cable over them to fix it in place. The string lights cascade down freely.
While it's hard to say how well they will last after one season, I found them shining warmly and vibrantly every night and at this price, I don't think you can go wrong this summer. At under £15, they make an excellent change from the standard solar stake or festoon lights you generally see brightening up a garden at night. There's also a generous two-year warranty to fall back on.
Key specifications
7. Best Security Solar Light: 4lite Solar LED Bollard Light
Score: 9/10
We like: The powerful 230 lumens, 10m sensing distance and two motion detector modes
This motion-sensor aluminium LED bollard light is modern in design and great for paths and lawns to add an extra layer of security around your home. You can set it to be on all the time after dark, or so that it just comes on when you walk near it. It has a maximum sensing distance of 10 metres and lit up in a bright and cool white each time I approached.
It's not the prettiest solar light I tested, but definitely practical.
Key specifications
8. Best Solar Stake Lights: Cox & Cox Four Solar Tiered Stake Lights
These stake lights come as a set of four with a warm white bulb inside that lasts for up to six hours after dark. Each light has an attractive matte black plastic finish with a clear ribbed lantern top that's removable and hides the light switch.
The black frame feels solid and the stakes piece together smoothly for a simple set-up. The stake tip that stabs into the earth feels robust too, making all the difference if you're trying to place it in tough soil. I put them evenly around my borders and they looked lovely, lighting up the flowers and foliage come nightfall. They also help to establish a barrier between the grass and the flowerbed, so the kids think twice before they go trundling over my flowers to retrieve their rogue football.
Key specifications
Size: H 30.5cm, D13.3 cm
Colour modes: White
Warranty: Not stated.
Dual power charging (USB and solar): No
9. Best Decorative Solar Light: Fallen Fruits Tulip Bazaar Solar Lantern
The Tulip Bazaar lantern comes in a soft sage green finish that adds a touch of Moroccan style to a garden, patio or balcony. It arrives packed flat in the box with a built-in solar unit and a metal frame that you insert inside to fill the lantern out. A metal hook slips onto the frame so that you can display it on a fence hook or tree branch.
It's made from a durable material called Tyvek, which is designed to be weather-resistant and limit tearing or fading. But as it's lightweight, I would be inclined to bring it indoors on blustery days, so that it doesn't blow away.
The warm glow this lantern emits at night, however, is stunning and its single solar light stayed on for over four hours. I think it looks good on its own, but even better in a set with the similarly styled Fallen Fruits Oval Paisley Solar Lantern or the Fallen Fruits Oval Mosaic Solar Lantern.
Key specifications
10. Best Solar Border Lights: Zink Maltby Outdoor LED Solar-Powered Path Lights
This set of four path lights is easy to stake into the ground but comes with screws for deck-mounting too. Two meters of black cable links each stake light, but I disguised this relatively well in my overgrown flowerbed when I was setting up. With enough sunlight, the charging time for these spots is up to 10 hours and they stay on for up to 11 hours at a time.
Unlike any of the other solar lights I've tested here, these lights comes with a remote control that operates from up to five meters away. This meant I could make use of the eight lighting modes, including the coloured light setting. There's also a fading warm white light, an alternating coloured light and warm white mode and a flashing colour option that's great for a bustling garden party.
Key specifications
11. Best Solar Table Centrepiece: Solar Helsinki Lantern
This sophisticated black lantern is 31.5cm high and 19cm wide and I think works well on a tabletop, for use on a patio, or next to a flowerbed. Its legs are sturdy and while I would have preferred a warm light as opposed to a bright light, its run time of up to six hours didn't disappoint.
Its stand is a little fiddly, so you'll need a solid base on which to place it. While my sample didn't last more than two seasons, I think if it's kept out of the rain and protected from the elements when not in use, it should last longer.
Key specifications
12. Best Tree-hanging Solar Light: Solar Company Solar Bug Light – Smart Garden Bumble Bee
Score: 8/10
We like: How easy they are to hang and how brightly they shine
We don't like: The wires are a little flimsy
Great for adorning trees and adding charm to the fence, these cute bumblebee solar lights measure 14cm in height. There's also a ladybird option. I hung a few from my pear tree and was impressed at how brightly they glowed after dark. Try not to pull on the wires, however, as they do easily stretch and will hang low.
Key specifications
Size: H 10 cm, W 10 cm, D 7cm
Colour modes: White
Warranty: 1 year
Dual power charging (USB and solar): No
13. Best Colour Hanging Light: SOLARBABY Solar Flowers
If the sun has dried up your flowerbeds, give them a burst of colour with this set of four flower stake lights. They look surprisingly like real flowers during the day and can provide a colour-changing light show at night. Not as fun as RHS Wisley's, but one I thought was worth waiting for after a full day of sun.
I've had these in my garden for a couple of years but the flower colour started to get bleached by the sun and the lights eventually diminished, so think of them as an annual solar flower rather than a perennial.
Key specifications
Size: ‎H 44cm, W 9cm per stem (pack of 4)
Colour modes: Multicoloured
Warranty: No
Dual power charging (USB and solar): No
14. Best Solar Light for Pot Plants: Dakota Fields Alyvea Black Solar Powered Pathway Lights
These are described as pathway lights, but I preferred to use them to brighten up my doorstep pot plants. The stems are quite small, which is something to consider if you're borders are overgrown, as they might get lost within. The colourful lights shine brightly, however and the multi-coloured effect makes a refreshing change from standard warm white lighting.
The tips of the plastic stakes feel a tad flimsy, so be careful inserting them into the ground as I expect they might break with too much force. But they're a good pick for some fun and colourful lighting in a modest-sized garden.
Key specifications
15. Best Solar Festoon Lights: 4Lite Antheia Solar Traditional Festoon
These festoon lights are part of a wider 'Antheia' range, so you could kit your garden out with coordinated spike lights and wall lights, too. Some even have in-built motion sensors for added security and all come with the same pleasingly warm white light.
The ones I tried seemed well built and proved reliable, with robust bulbs and a cable that's secure enough to withstand the British summertime. I hung these festoon lights on the fence and they brightened up the area until the early hours of the morning.
Key specifications
Solar garden lights FAQs
What are the brightest solar garden lights and how bright should they be?
'Around 100 lumens will create a soft light on a pathway,' says Gardener's World expert panellist Matthew Wilson, 'while 150 lumens would work for an outdoor dining space.'
Do solar garden lights work in rain and in winter and how long should they last?
Solar technology certainly should work in the rain or on shorter winter days but Wilson says: 'Ultimately, we're asking a small solar panel to do quite a lot of work.' It's better to think of solar lights as soft ambient lighting and have more of them, augmented with other light sources, he explains.
'The solar lights I have in my garden typically stay on for around three to six hours after dusk in summer but only 30 minutes in winter – it all depends on how much sunlight there is and how efficient the solar panel you choose.'
How do you clean and care for solar garden lights?
A typical solar light comes with a solar panel, rechargeable battery and lamp. Some also have a backup USB charging feature. 'With exposure to the elements, outdoor solar lights can get damaged, rust over and their wires can break,' says Wilson. 'If your solar light stops working, it may be that the battery has worn out, so it's worth checking to see if you can replace it with a rechargeable battery.'
To get the best from your light, make sure your solar light panel is clean. Brian Davenport from The Solar Centre – which Wilson recommends as a good quality retailer – advises cleaning the solar panel from time to time with a soft, slightly dampened cloth to prevent the build-up of dirt, debris or snow. Also, check the solar panel is in direct sunlight during the day as they can easily get knocked about by wind, rain, pets or garden wildlife.
An average solar collector needs around eight hours of sunlight for the best results after dark. 'Take your lights inside over winter if possible or when sustained bad weather is on the horizon,' suggests Wilson. 'The reality is that solar lights rarely have the kind of high-quality weather proofing to make them last, which is why they need a little attention when the forecast looks bad.'