Does Solar Bling Really Work?

Solar Bling is an outdoor lighting system that uses the sun to power itself so you don’t need to string it up with extension cords. The biggest question is, does it actually work, and if so does it work long enough to be useful?

Overview
Outdoor lighting can really make a difference to your home’s nighttime appearance. In recent years solar powered lighting as become the most popular way to add useful and decorative lighting to an otherwise dark and unlit home. Perhaps you’ve driven through your own neighborhood and saw other houses with outdoor lighting, either lighting up a walkway, or adding light accents to trees or other features of the home. If you’ve wondered how they did it, they’re probably using solar lights which can be placed anywhere and don’t require any upkeep.

The Claim
The makers of Solar Bling say that each strand is 25 feet long and contains 50 bulbs. They claim you’ll be able to set it so that it is on continuously, or you can make it flash and blink so that you can create a certain effect. They even suggest that you could wrap up your bicycle in them for riding at night. They say they can be hung anywhere because they generate their own power,

The Hype
There is a TV infomercial for these, which shows the various ways you could use them, and makes it look as attractive as possible to convince you to buy. They’re also good at exaggerating the problems that arise with traditional outdoor lighting, like not being able to find a plus for your outdoor lights, or having to have extension cords all over the place. They even show a woman shocking herself to the point of seeing her skeleton, which is a little much. Most of us realize the hassle of outdoor lighting and just don’t attempt it, rather than electrocuting ourselves to make it happen.

The Cost
Solar Bling is $27 and you get two sets. Keep in mind the stats on this of being 25 feet long. We found a string lighting set at Home Depot that is 16 feet and sells for $25. So in essence you’re getting 34 extra feet of lights for the same price. This makes it a good choice for bigger projects that are going to require more lighting.

The Commitment
The big premise here is that you wouldn’t have to figure out a way to plug these into a socket, since they’re self-generating and only need to be able to charge up during the day to be used at night. You wouldn’t need any help installing them, or wiring them up, they just go where you put them and automatically start to work once a sunny day hits.

Evaluation
The idea of solar powered outdoor lighting is nothing new or even very remarkable, outdoor solar lights have been around for years now. The claim is that they’re using an advanced solar panel to generate the power needed, but we’re pretty sure it would simply be on par with the kind you can buy at the home improvement store down the road. They do a good job of coming up with ways that you can use these stringed lights, like illuminating a dog house, wrapping a tree, or lining a railing, as well as bringing them camping or using them on a boat or other remote places.

It’s nice that the lights will turn on automatically once the sun goes down, and also that you get a control switch so that you can manually override them if you don’t want them on for any reason. They point out that even if the power goes out in your home your outdoor lights will still work, but we couldn’t really figure out the benefit to that.

One thing to keep in mind is th

at if the sun isn’t shining on the day you want to use your lights at night they’re not going to be ready for you. Also, these are meant to be used for decoration and aesthetics, not as your primary source of light, so if you go into it expecting that they’ll illuminate your backyard for a party or event, you’ll likely be disappointed. It’s the look you’re going for, which is why they call it bling, it’s like you’re accessorizing your outdoor spaces.

Final Solar Bling Review

Solar Bling is getting our Solid Try rating. Compared to what you can buy at Home Depot the price is not bad for what you’re getting. The one thing to be aware of is that the pricing structure is not return friendly, so if you don’t like it you’ll be out $14 plus return shipping costs, so either way the company is making money once you place an order. Other than that, it appears to be a good buy, and a good savings over solar powered lights available at the store. The nice thing about buying them in the store is you can always return them for the full purchase price if they’re defective.

Our Recommendation
These make sense if you have a big home or plan to use 50 feet of stringed lights. If you want smaller sizes you could do just as well by going to your local hardware shop. We’d like it if they set this up so that they shouldered some of the risk, because as it stands if the lights work or don’t work they’re still making $14 just to ship it to you.

What do you think? Does Solar Bling work or not?