Customer Reviews

MAXSA Innovations 40225 Solar-Powered Motion-Activated 80 LED Security Floodlight, Off-White

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

The 80 LEDs are very bright, and I've never had a problem with the battery running out of charge. As long as you keep in mind that it's not a pair of 150w incandescent floodlights, and don't mind the cold LED lighting, then you should be pleased. And the price is less than what an electrician would charge to look you in the face.

I bought 1 unit and received it from Home Controls surprisingly quickly. It's when I ordered 3 more that I ran into trouble. One of them was defective, and Home Controls doesn't pay for return shipping. In other words, if they send you a broken product, it's going to cost you to get a refund or exchange. And the batteries on these things are heavy. So 5 stars for the light, but Home Controls gets the gas face for their customer-be-damned return policy. I won't be shopping with them again.

I've bought a few other solar-powered motion sensor lights in the past, and they usually vary from dim to very dim. But this 80 (count 'em) LED unit is actually pretty bright! It's something of a breakthrough in solar-powered lighting in that regard.

It's not blindingly bright, but it gives off a decent light, about what you'd expect from a medium-sized outdoor lighting unit, much brighter than a flashlight. I held it up to a few other lights for comparison, and I would say it's roughly similar to a 75-watt incandescent bulb in brightness, or maybe a 40-watt halogen floodlight. Being an LED light, the light given off is a bit blue-ish.

I've only had it a few weeks, but it works fine so far. (It fell off a 4-foot railing onto my deck at one point, but still worked afterward.) I charged it up for 5 days at first to be safe. It hasn't run out of battery power yet... although I typically only trigger it maybe 10 to 20 times per night, and I have it set to stay on for only about 30 seconds. You can adjust the time it stays on from about 20 seconds to 2 minutes.

All in all, a very good product.

Got this light a month ago. Easy to install and it works great. At first was a little worried whether it would work as we usually get about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight but it did work so far. Worth the money and am very happy.

11/10/09

Very disappointed with the light. It stopped working for no reason. Contacted seller but not much help as they said that they do not repair or inspect. Money wasted. Do not recommend.

This is my second solar (first LED) outdoor light and I have to say it's not too bad.
It is made of flimsy plastic but it's a light so it doesn't need to be armor plated, just good enough to protect it from the elements.
The light it gives off is very good, I'd equate it to a 100 watt spot light. It lights my patio (400 sq ft) nicely.
The real challenge will see how it operates in a year from now.
So far, I'd recommend this.

UPDATE 9.22.09
I would re-adjust my rating to one star but Amazon doesnt allow a ratings change with re-reviews.
AFTER ONE MONTH THIS STOPPED WORKING ENTIRELY...WASTED $70.00.

At first I was pretty impressed. It worked as advertised.
After about two weeks, It stopped working all together.
I checked the battery and it was fully charged. The solar panel
was working properly.
I opened up the unit and discovered that the motion sensor did not work.
The light and battery were fine.
I'm going to try to wire up an external motion sensor and go from there.
Wouldn't spend the money again.

Dogtag

At first I was very impressed by the system. Works great at first and the light is bright. After 5 months it stopped working and nothing would get the battery to charge again. Other reviewers for the 50 and 80 LED lights, model # 40224 & 40225 had a similar experience. Seems like this is a known defect and Maxsa continues to sell their defective lights, leaving the consumers stuck with their bad inventory. The warranty is only for 90 days but the light breaks after the warranty ends. If I had known this light would last less than 5 months I would have never made such an expensive purchase. Warning - do not buy this piece of trash.

I have amended the review to reflect that fact that the light stopped working after a couple of months. I replaced the battery (as suggested in the manual) and all I got was a smell of burning.

A great idea, unfortunately it seems to be a pile of junk.

This proved to be simple enough to install that I spent more time looking at the outside of our house deciding where to position the panel and the lamp than I did actually installing it.

Having finally clambered onto the roof, the solar panel required 4 screws to hold it in place and seems fairly secure.

Next up was the light itself, which consisted of the LED lights and a motion detector. That has 2 screws to hold it in place. The LED panel will only move up or down, the motion detector moves up or down and in a horizontal plane, which allows for plenty of adjustment. On the base of the motion detector are three 'switches' which control the amount of time that the light will remain on, the light level at which the light will turn on (to avoid it turning on in daylight) and the sensitivity of the motion detector. There's also an auto/off switch on the battery casing. The build quality seems reasonable; the solar panel and the light unit are both plastic, and at first sight the light seems a little on the flimsy side BUT once the light was fixed in place and various fittings tightened it all seems solid enough.

All told I would guess that it took about 10 minutes to install - and required a drill and a screwdriver. I will, once I am sure that it is in the right place, add something to hold the excess wire in place.

So far I am really pleased with the unit; it provides a light similar to a bright moon light which is plenty for our front steps.

I would definitely buy another of these if I had a need for a second security light. What I would really like is something similar that I could turn on as required, whether it be for 10 minutes or 2 hours.

Now the test - will it last ? I certainly hope so.

Hello, as a functional solar light, this item works great. Its distinctive blue shaded light is indicative for the 80 LEDS in this light. This item is extremely easy to set up and comes with stainless steel screws. For the current affordable LED technology, this item will be current for a good few years. Recharging for this unit is important, it must get at least 3-4 hours of sunlight, this seems to work for me, after a string of cloudy days the light did not turn on but after a sunny day it worked like a charm.

Very disappointing that this unit stopped working after just 5 months. I am going to try and contact the manufacture to see if they will replace but it is still irritating after such a short time to have to deal with this.

If you need a bright light you do not buy LED fixtures. If something on the order of a bright flashlight is all you need, this light works fine. Light is bluish like most LEDs fixtures. Has worked great in the two weeks I've had it. I like the fact that it uses a standard battery that you can buy from a variety of sources for $12-$15. For those users who say it's stopped working, did you replace the battery--sometimes batteries are faulty and have short life spans.