 stood up to the sprinklers and lit right up |
| Date Of Review: July 24, 2010 |
| Reviewed by: LJ Web, CA USA |
Latest update: we turned a sprinkler on it by accident, and it sat there for 2 hours getting soaked, and still lit right up! The longer I have this lamp the more I love it.
First update: be sure you remember that the lamp turns on only IN THE DARK! This threw me for a few days and I almost sent it back, but re-read the other review and realized I'd been trying to switch it on in the daylight sometimes, and the little sensor won't let it come on unless it's dark.
Been wanting it since last January, when the power went out for a week, but the only reviews at that time were not good, so I kept searching for a better one, but nothing else even comes close to the functional design of this one. The other solar lamps & lanterns out there seem to all be unshaded nightmares for my light-sensitive eyes. And it's not only the pain of glare, but glare seriously reduces the effective light from any source.
Finally took the plunge and ordered this little lamp from Amazon, since they're so good at standing by their products, in case I get a dud, but this seems great so far.
I put it in the sun for 3 days at first, just to be sure of a full charge, because that seemed to be a possible cause of the first terrible review months ago, and then I turned it on and - voila-- bright light. Bright white or a dimmer shade of yellow. Keeps going all night and into the morning. If it gives problems later I'll update this review, because this is an important item in my life.
I love that the full shade keeps the awful glare of LEDs out of my eyes. Plus it's white underneath and nicely curved to perfectly reflect more light down onto where you want it so you can work under the light. I definitely can read fine on a dark night under this lamp, tho of course for regular use I'd want several to give the eyes the best care.
Last night I couldn't find the flashlight and so I just grabbed this thing and carried it out on my errand to the shed so I wouldn't step on any snakes (they're never there but i always assume they are when I can't see) and wow-- it lights a good wide swath forward and to the side-- just perfect out here in the country.
Comes with the best manual. One page only. No words, just pictograms that are kinda cute, fun & easy to decode.
Only gripe: no mention of where or if you can get a replacement battery when it becomes needed. Maybe they're common and I just don't know, cuz I don't know much about batteries. THe other thing is that we get wind here and I don't want this to get damaged by tipping over so I'm working on a way to attach it to the table securely. Cleverly, the battery is placed in the very bottom, so the weight of it keeps it upright, and it has not tipped over at all in a week outdoors here. It is smaller than I imagined while looking at the photos, and this turns out to be fine becuase it means less "sail" area to catch wind. Plus, the low height keeps the light close to where you need it. It's about a foot tall.
Pros:
Great shade protects eyes from glarey LEDs
Bright lights or mellower ones, whichever you select
Easy to operate, one switch, 3 settings: white, yellow, off
Works good, runs long
Metal construction seems strong & tough
Looks pretty, solar panel is nicely built into top to blend with bronze color
Cons:
Replacement batteries available?
Could be tippy in wind.
Packaged in a solid block of styrofoam for protection, very landfill/earth unfriendly
In summary, it seems like the people who designed this worked hard to make it very functional, simple, versatile & elegant. So far it's doing very well on all counts. I like it a lot and now I don't dread the dark nights of the winter power outages to come, plus it's fun to use outdoors on summer evenings now. I hope they'll find a non-styro packaging and they'll have a perfect product.
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Response To Negative Reviews
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| Date Of Review: May 1, 2010 |
| Reviewed by: Debora D. Silkotch, Anza, CA USA |
I'm another of those rural homesteaders who's trying to become more self-sufficient. My Smart Solar lamp arrived yesterday and I'm very pleased with it. I wanted to address the reviews that claimed that the switch doesn't work, or only works when the lamp is in odd positions. First, there's a light sensor at the top of the lamp next to the solar panels, and the lamp will only turn on in a dark environment. This is probably so that the lamp can be left "on" out on a patio table and will automatically come on at dusk and shut off at dawn. So if it's daytime and your lamp "will only work when upside down," that's why. Second, the switch doesn't "click" or anything, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. Try it at night or in a dark room, and it should work fine.
I gave the lamp four stars instead of five only because I wish it were a bit brighter. You can read by it, if you're right under it, and it's just right as a patio table lamp for romantic dinners, and it would be great in a power outage, but it's not really a day-to-day substitute for a standard 60 watt bulb.
It's great for what it is, though. I may order another one, just to have a couple on hand when the power goes out. |
Bad Switchs
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| Date Of Review: December 29, 2009 |
| Reviewed by: One Happy Camper, Eastern Washington |
| Like the first rater I ordered one of these for our old farm house. The first one would only turn on if laying on its side. The replacement would only turn on if held UPSIDE DOWN. The lamps themself are wonderful heavy rubbed metal. If the switch was not a problem I would have ordered more, now I have none! We need things made in America with quality control. |
Love this lamp!
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| Date Of Review: August 30, 2009 |
| Reviewed by: Marianne Mccarthy, California |
| I've only had this lamp for a weekend, but I absolutely love it. It produced light the first day with only 3 hours of sunlight. (We didn't hook up till the afternoon.)The yellow ambiant light is perfect for evenings outside. We've yet to see how reliable the battery is after months of use, but I like it so much that we ordered another. |
Disappointing - Will try again if they improve it.
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| Date Of Review: November 22, 2008 |
| Reviewed by: Earth Witch, A garden of delight |
| We often lose power in our rural area and I thought this would be a nice alternative to our battery flashlights and oil lamps. It just didn't work well. We carefully followed the instructions and we finally got some light, but not much. The switch to change the intensity did not work at all. The light we did get was weak. We returned it. I think the technology is just not reliable, yet. For now I will stick to our Aladdin brand table lamp and battery head light. |
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