Customer Reviews

Malibu 3 Pack Solar Landscape Plastic Flood Light Set with Remote Panel, Textured Black #LZ413

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Off the bat - Readers need to know that a set like this is *never* going to set your yard awash in tons of free electric light. Manage your expectations and be realistic. A tiny little solar panel cannot power a light big enough to be terribly substantial. That said, I love this set.

LENGTH OF CHARGE

Most days I have used the lights, the panel had decent-but-not-amazing sun. Dusk was just after 5pm, and the lights turned on then via the automatic sensor. I thought the charge would drain much sooner, but the lights lasted until morning, with no loss in intensity. The rechargeable AA batteries are removable - awesome! When they eventually stop holding a full charge, you can drop by Radio Shack and grab a set to replace them. That'll be a while though. The fixtures are plastic, but for $39, who cares.

QUALITY OF LIGHT

This is the best set of solar garden-style lights I have seen. In addition to the great charge, they are brighter. Are the three lights together as bright as a table lamp? No. Are they as bright as my refrigerator bulb? No. Are they bright enough to read by? Yes. Even at about six feet away, I can read comfortably. However, keep in mind, these are not for general illumination. They're more like little spotlights. Designed to shine on a path, fence, or tree. The thing being lit needs to be in the path of the beam. The quality of the light is a little weird - that blueish-white you seen on headlights.

USES

I use the lights in a place where we don't have electric. (Great for a shed, for instance. Or of course, outdoors on paths, fences, plants, trees.) Also, these would be pretty neat for camping! They would be perfect on a porch, driveway, or white fence. (The lighter the color of the thing lit, the more light is reflected.)

ENERGY SAVINGS & EASE OF USE

Let's be clear - You are not going to save a fortune in electricity by using this tiny set of solar lights. Using a 50 watt lamp instead (which is much brighter) would only cost you ten cents to run for twenty hours, even if you pay .10 per kwh on your electric bill. It would take about two years of nighttime use to make your $39 back here. However, if you are using a battery lantern regularly, you'll quickly rack up battery savings. I like them because they can stand alone, without wiring or a bunch of expensive D cells. Point the panel toward the sun and plug in the lights.

CONCLUSION

Great reflector, better longer-lasting charge than any I have ever seen on a solar set. Love the fact that the rechargeable batteries can be replaced. Decent output. Light is a little blueish-white and weird. But I think they are pretty terrific for $39.

I bought this solar floodlight over a year ago for the sole purpose of providing enough illumination from a distance to get me into my front door without attracting bugs that could enter with me. It worked better than I could imagine. To my surprise, the blue-white LED bulbs don't seem to attract even a single insect. I wish I knew why they don't advertise it that way.
The lights are powered by three Ni-mh AA batteries of 1500 ma power. A full charge from a bright sunny day will still be providing some light come sunrise. A few consecutive cloudy days will reduce them to a dim glow in a few hours. I found that I could easily remove the batteries and refresh them in my own charger. You could also try swapping the batteries with higher power Ni-mh AA's of your own that now come in 2500+ ma power levels.
I recently moved the solar cell charger around a few times to find a sunnier spot and made the mistake of pressing on the panel instead of putting the stake into the ground first. It stopped working. Fortunately, the warranty is for two years, and Intermatic quickly returned a new solar cell and even gave me new batteries, though still just 1500 ma.

I first started out with a solar powered frog...It was cute, but after a few days of use, it became obvious that it only worked when full sunlight hit it for at least a few hours a day. I then surveyed my neighborhood and found over 8 different types of solar lights that put out dim light on most partly sunny autumn days...On halloween after a completely cloudy day, all of these lights were dark.

I purchased the Intermatic Solar light LZ413 because it had a much bigger solar panel and the display at Lowes was very bright. I had high hopes. I started off with just one light plugged into the solar panel for a week. It put out brilliant light for over 7 hours after dusk. I then plugged in the second one. For the first couple days I received partial sunlight and both lights were brilliant. Then we had the ususual rain for three days straight. Both lights were dim...very dim. I unplugged the second one and within a single rainy day, the first and only light was bright again.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the two unused lights, but I'm happy that I have at least one that does what I hoped. I'd like to buy a solar panel separate, but Intermatic doesn't sell one that way. Maybe I'll donate the usused lights to a science project.

Solar lights have come a long way, and this one gets the closest yet. Maybe in another few years companies like Intermatic will better understand that people want at least as much light on their paths and steps as a single AA battery flashlight can cast.

I own a half dozen of the individual Solar Flood lights, another half dozen of the 3 packs (same light design X 3 connected to a single solar panel) and 3 sets of the Bollard style lamps.

Let me say upfront - NO Solar Light on the market comes anywhere near these!

HOWEVER, please note that Solar lights are not the same as conventional lighting. Once you understand this simple fact, you'll enjoy this product.

They cast a relatively intense beam for about 5-6 feat and then the light loses intensity. They will illuminate anything 5 feet away but after that, become accent lighting. This is an obstacle that Solar lights have stuggled to overcome since their inception.....BUT WAIT....

If you want even more power, take a look at Malibu solar's newest offering, the LZ6002 series on their website (Google it) - Full metal construction, 4 LED bulbs (vs. 3) and a much better design overall. It'll probably cost more, but looks to be the best Solar mini lights out there.

And finally, if even 4 LED bulbs just won't cut it, go ahead and purchase the Malibu LZ605RP Solar Floodlight - It's harder to find, but it has TWELVE LED Bulbs that cast a VERY strong beam through its focussed reflector. Definately the king of Solar floodlights under $60. If you can't find it anywhere online, call the company through their website and they'll sell it to you

I need some night light in my front door area. Due to the nearby windors around the front door area, the motion sensor type of light fixtures don't work. I install the solar flood lights to the roof rafter and put the solar panel on the roof. With 3 LEDs in each light module (the package has 3 light modules), the output light is bright enough to light the front door path but not too strong to create light pollution. I am happy with the ease of installation and the performance of the LED lights. I take one point out because the whole solar panel module is all plastic stuffs (the stand, the enclosure). I can not say how long the solar panel can last (it's on the roof and it will be exposed to sun all year around).

*** Update on 7/10/09 ***
This solar panel has been sitting on my roof top for almost 2 years. I never clean the solar panel surface, and never replace the rechargeable battery. And it still works great. Excellent quality!!!

*** Update on 10/31/2010 ***
Can not believe the longevity of this solar flood lights. It has been sitting on the roof top for 3 years now. Again, I never bother to clean it and I don't recallreplacing the rechargeable batteries. But is still works fine!!! The rechargeable batteries has gone through more than 1000 discharging/charging cycles (far beyond the life cycle of a rechargeable battery). I guess, the slow discharging and charging process also extend the life of the battery. Will come back to update the status next year....

I just ordered 3 sets of these, to add to the two i bought from Lowes last week. I paid 44. per set (free shipping to store) at Lowes, and only $29. with SS shipping, here. These lights are nice and bright, casting nice light on 10-12' talls trees, longer beam than i expected. These are not just for bushes, they work on smaller trees and if you shine them downwards you have a very bright light on whatever you aim them at. Nice long cables allow you to place panel in sunlight and hide light elements in the shrubbery, in the shade. You can stab them in the ground again and again and the plastic point does not bend. I am happy with these for 44.00, thrilled with them for only 29.00. Go, A-zon!

I bought this 3 pack in early August 2008. They are small, cheap plastic and dim. I have three small magnolia trees in the back yard, put one facing upwards at each tree. Not worth it! The dim light they provide is about 2 feet upwards, and almost nil to the sides. Maybe putting all three lights around each tree would be a little better. I purchased this ---> a couple weeks ago Malibu 3-Pack Solar Cast Aluminum Flood Light and Remote Panel with 4 White LEDs, Black #LZ6002RP (2)------ MUCH better...for, like 20-25 dollars more. They are built better, and the lighting is better. I also have a large willow tree in the back yard, and put all three facing upwards at this willow tree, and the light is pretty good. Remember, these are solar lights, not hard wired lights, so the lighting isn't going to be that great, period. Some other notes about this original product are, the AA batteries that come with it go into the solar panel, and each of the lights have a cord that plugs into the solar panel. Each light and the panel have a spike that can be shoved into the ground, and they also come with mounting fixtures...it's pretty simple. But overall, don't buy this, I know it's only 30-35 bucks, but really isn't even worth that...

I read the reviews and even though my expectations were not very high, I purchased a set. Not even my already low expectations were met. As somebody mentioned, flashlights are more powerful than these lights. They are white LED's, so the light is rather ghostly: blueish and very dimmed. Don't buy them unless you are looking for a rather undefined glow in a very limited spot. Another piece of advice: make sure you have a spot for the solar charger that remains exposed to the sun for most of the day. Otherwise, these lights are a one-night show. More powerful batteries will not help. On a positive note, I was well impressed by the construction: rather sturdy and good quality plastic.

Based on the statement, "Our most powerful solar floodlight... provide improved light output," I purchased three sets. Unfortunately, the light output is very disappointing. IMHO, you shouldn't expect anything more than mere accent lighting from this unit. To refer to these as "floodlights" is to misrepresent this product. There certainly is no flood of light, so don't expect to light up the night. I've got a brighter flashlight on my keychain.

Used this solar lights for more than a month now, and I can tell you that they are great! Even on cloudy days, the batteries still have a decent charge and the lights can run throughout the night.
Each light has 3 LED bulbs and can produce a bright white light. There is an on/off button at the solar charger which worried me at the beginning because I don't want to turn it on/off manually. It turns out that the light turn on and off by a sensor, great, but the manual never said that. So the only thing I would like to see is a better instruction manual. They come with three lights but I only used two since they are so bright.
Great product, highly recommend!