3 stylish solar garden lighting styles – WOW!

Everything and everyone’s going solar. Not so long ago solar garden lighting was a bit rubbish, with feeble solar panels and badly-designed, cheap-looking plastic light fittings. Now, as solar panel tech leaps ahead at long last, the power of the sun can be harnessed with a lot more confidence. Add the fact that some garden solar lights come with alternative USB charging and you can understand why people are falling so truly, madly and deeply in love with these designs. Let’s explore. Which is your favourite out of these three best-sellers?

Superb solar garden lighting to die for

First, if you’re intrigued by the main photo, here’s the full thing: the GLS Polaris LED Solar Lantern. It’s an absolute beauty, a symphony in real glittering glass with a tough, broad metal collar and a sturdy, chunky handle. The pattern moulded into the glass, which for some reason has a vintage French feel about it, adds extra oomph to the style, and the wooden top keeps things natural-looking. She comes in two sizes, one tall and slim and the other squat and chunky.

The traditional-looking Callow Rattan Effect Outdoor Solar Lantern with LED Candle is full of charm, with its natural-looking and feeling resin rattan body and beautiful, smooth, curvy shape.

A brilliant garden solar lamp with no cables, flames, or heat, it’s made from an an iron frame – really strong – embellished with a warm natural brown, hand-woven PE resin rattan. A pretty fringe effect on the rim completes the design, which could easily belong on a table in tropical island bar. The clever flickering yellow-orange LED candle looks very like a real flame without any of the danger or hassle and it stays glowing for 6-8 hours after a 6-8 hour solar charge in the sunshine.

Sized H31.73 x 19.3cm, its a good size for outdoor lighting drama. The simple on-off switch keeps things easy to use and when you leave it switched on, it’ll come on after dusk and turn itself off again in daylight. Clever stuff. One thing: it might be designed for the outdoors but it’s still wise to bring it indoors if it pees down to avoid water damage in the longer term. And, of course, bring it somewhere dry in winter.

The powerful 2V 100MA crystalline solar panel keeps thing charged up and the 1.2V AA 300mAh Ni-mh rechargeable battery gives it a good, long life. Rated IP44, it’s classified as ‘Waterproof’.

And then there’s… this! Our cool, boxy, uber-simple Callow Rattan Effect Square Garden Solar LED Bollard Light is another popular solar garden lighting choice. It’s a deceivingly simple square pillar-shaped lamp whose tough metal frame has been hand-woven with strong, weatherproof PE resin rattan.

It’s super-simple to use, just fix the ground plate on the earth spike or use the screws to affix it to a fence or whatever with the provided screws.

Perfect for nice-looking mood lighting as well as making your space safer in the dark, these ones are particularly useful for marking out your outdoor entertainment area. You can also use them to mark out the location of your pathways, and dangerous places like the garden pond. Or light the way to your front door.

She’ll charge fully in 6 to 8 hours to give you the same 6-8 hours of light, perfect for a long and leisurely after-dark party or gathering. Leave it switched on and like the second model we talked about, it turns itself on after dark then off again the next day, when it recharges itself without you having to do a thing. Fire and forget!

The bright white 3500K LED bulb always feels cool and uses up a tiny amount of energy. The powerful 2V 70MA Crystalline silicone solar panel performs really well and the 1.2V AA 500mAh NiMh rechargeable battery keeps going, and going, and going. Your size? H49.2 x W9 x D9cm.