2025 test16 productsFlashlights & Lighting
Which Outdoor Solar Security Lights Brand Wins?
We compared 16 outdoor solar security lights options head to head. APILAB came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
APILAB
Price shown in test: $30 for one light
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Runner-up
Philips
Price shown in test: $29 for two lights, or $14.50 each
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Specs | Brightness on brightest setting | Motion detector range | Dusk to dawn brightness (initial) | Candela intensity, brightest setting | Candela intensity, dusk to dawn / always on setting | Dusk to dawn brightness after 5 hours | Total run time | Lateral motion sensor field of view | Dusk to dawn brightness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1APILAB$30 for one light | 940 g, the heaviest light tested; claims 2,000 lm, high brightness for 3 to 4 hours then medium light for 12 to 14 hours after dark, 30 percent solar conversion rate, 6 to 8 hour charge time, 6,000 mA hour battery, made in China | 185 lm at the test port at around 30 seconds, extrapolated total 873 lm, third place behind the Philips and Daphino | no motion detector, skipped from this test | 137 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 646 lm, first place, described as very impressive | 590 candela, third place behind the Philips and Daphino | 410 candela, first place | dropped from 137 to 131 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 618 lm, still first place | just over 14 hours | not tested | not tested |
| 2Philips$29 for two lights, or $14.50 each | 340 g; claims 1,200 lm, 302 LED lights, motion sensor range up to 49.2 ft, 180 degree induction angle, improved solar conversion rate, 1,800 mA hour battery, made in China | 109 lm at the test port at 30 seconds, extrapolated total 1,301 lm, first place, by far the brightest light in the lineup | 21 ft, first place, described as very impressive; the best motion detector in the lineup | 11 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 131 lm; described as the brightest light in the lineup and performing well in this test | 671 candela, first place, more intense than Daphino | 73 candela | held steady at 11 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 131 lm | just over 14 hours, powered down at the same time as the Aootek and HMCITY | tied for first place at a 170 degree field of view, along with MIHANI and Intelamp | not tested |
| 3Intelamp$36 for one light | 655 g; claims 1,200 lm, 6,000 mA hour battery, 270 degree wide coverage, 180 degree motion detection range, customizable motion duration of 20, 30, or 40 seconds, split design with a flexible 9.8 ft cable, made in China | 133 lm at the test port, extrapolated total 756 lm, described as performing well | 14 ft, described as a little bit better than average | 40 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 227 lm, second place behind the APILAB | 495 candela | 373 candela, second place behind the APILAB | dropped from 40 to 24 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 136 lm, third place | just over 14 hours, lasting a few minutes longer than the Philips, Aootek, and HMCITY group | tied for first place at a 170 degree field of view, along with Philips and MIHANI | not tested |
| 4Aootek$12 for six solar lights, or only $3.33 each (these two figures do not reconcile mathematically, $12 divided by six is $2.00, not $3.33; kept verbatim per hard rule, flagged as a likely caption garble rather than corrected) | 110 g; claims a 270 degree wide angle, 120 LEDs, high efficiency solar panels, IP65 waterproof, made in China | 61 lm dropping to 60 lm at 30 seconds, extrapolated total approximately 227 lm (light panel measured as 3.78 times larger than the test port) | 10 ft | 6 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 23 lm | 141 candela | 13 candela | unchanged at 6 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 23 lm | just over 14 hours, powered down at the same time as the Philips and HMCITY | not tested | not tested |
| 5Peasur$21 for six lights, or $3.50 each | 105 g; claims waterproof construction, three lighting modes, motion detection, reliable service in harsh weather | 53 lm dropping to 52 lm at 30 seconds, extrapolated total approximately 141 lm | 10 ft, performed the same as the Aootek | 5 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 14 lm | 45 candela | 5 candela | dropped from 5 to 3 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 8 lm | very close to 23 hours, second longest of all lights tested | not tested | not tested |
| 6HMCITY$25 for six lights; the per-unit price is missing from the transcript, which reads 'At a price of $25 for six lights, or brand' with the per-light dollar figure apparently dropped by the captions before the brand name; left blank rather than calculated, per verbatim-or-omit | 115 g; claims three lighting modes, IP65 waterproof, up to 30 percent solar conversion efficiency, absorbs light for 8 hours during the day, made in China | 106 lm at the test port, described as by far the brightest so far at that point in the video, extrapolated total 386 lm | 7 ft, described as really struggling in this test | 10 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 36 lm, described as once again brighter than the Aootek and Peasur | 165 candela, moved into the lead at that point in the video | 16 candela | dropped from 10 to 9 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 33 lm | just over 14 hours, powered down at the same time as the Philips and Aootek | not tested | not tested |
| 7Brightever$11 for two lights, or $5.50 each | 165 g, by far the heaviest light at that point in the video; claims IP65 waterproof, heat resistant, frost resistant, 1,200 mA hour battery, 6 to 8 hour charging time, 8 to 10 hour working time, made in China | 29 lm, described as definitely not the brightest, extrapolated total 162 lm | 15 ft, described as not very bright but moving into the lead for motion range at that point in the video | 2 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 11 lm, described as still not the brightest | 47 candela, about the same as the Peasur | 4 candela | dropped from 2 to 1 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 6 lm | 18 hours 22 minutes | not tested | not tested |
| 8INCX$24 for two lights, or $12.00 each | 310 g; claims extremely bright at 3,000 lm, a 1.8 W / 5.5 V solar panel, 2,200 mA hour battery, motion sensor detection range of 26 to 32 ft, made in China | 125 lm dropping to 115 lm at 30 seconds, described as the best yet at that point in the video, extrapolated total 860 lm | 9 ft, despite being one of the brightest lights in the lineup | not tested | 390 candela, described as the most intense light yet at that point in the video | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not applicable; explicitly skipped from the dusk-to-dawn brightness, 5 hour retest, candela always-on, and total run time tests because this light does not have a dusk to dawn mode |
| 9Daphino$25 for two lights, or $12.50 each | 335 g; claims 2,500 lm, a three-head light with a total of 156 LEDs, sensing distance up to 40 ft, 5.5 V / 8 W solar panel, made in China | 174 lm dropping to around 157 lm at 30 seconds, described as the best yet at that point in the video, extrapolated total 993 lm, second place overall behind the Philips | 15 ft, described as even brighter than the INCX with a better motion detector | 19 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 120 lm, described as continuing to outperform most of the competition | 605 candela, described as by far the most intense light yet at that point in the video, second place overall behind the Philips | 68 candela | dropped from 19 to 16 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 101 lm | out of battery at close to 8 hours, tied with MIHANI for shortest run time of the lights tested | not tested | not tested |
| 10MIHANI$26 for two lights, or $13.00 each | 345 g, the heaviest light at that point in the video; claims 2,500 lm, sensing distance up to 30 ft, 158 LEDs, 180 degree sensor detection angle, 1.2 W solar panel, made in China | 97 lm at 30 seconds, extrapolated total 420 lm | 12 ft, described as not quite as good as the Daphino | 11 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 48 lm, described as continuing to trail the Daphino | 475 candela, second place behind the Daphino at that point in the video | 50 candela | dropped from 11 to 9 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 39 lm | out of battery at close to 8 hours, tied with Daphino for shortest run time of the lights tested | tied for first place at a 170 degree field of view, along with Philips and Intelamp | not tested |
| 11WdtPro$26 for two lights, or $13.00 each, the same price as the MIHANI | 465 g, by far the heaviest light at that point in the video; claims 3,500 lm, 360 degree illumination, 15 hours of run time after just 3 hours of sun exposure, a 50 percent solar conversion rate, a 2,500 mA hour battery, motion detection up to 60 ft, made in China | only 24 lm despite being a large and heavy light, extrapolated total 286 lm | 10 ft, described as not as good as the Daphino or MIHANI | 7 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 84 lm, second place behind the Daphino | 309 candela | 78 candela, third place in the always-on candela ranking | dropped from 7 to 4 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 48 lm | 18 hours 25 minutes | not tested | not tested |
| 12TEKNET$30 for two lights, or $15.00 each | 280 g; claims a 27 percent solar conversion rate, 10 to 12 hours of illumination after a full day of charging, 416 LED lights, motion detection from 13 to 20 ft at a 120 degree angle, made in China | 49 lm at around 30 seconds, extrapolated total 492 lm | 15 ft, described as performing better than average, tied with the Brightever and Daphino | 3 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 30 lm, described as really struggling in this test | 266 candela, described as trailing most of the competition | 12 candela | dropped from 3 to 2 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 20 lm | 23 hours 7 minutes, the longest run time of all lights tested | not tested | not tested |
| 13Tuffenough$36 for two lights, or $18.00 each | 400 g; claims 2,500 lm, 210 LED lights, IP65 waterproof, a 270 degree wide angle floodlight, motion sensing from 26 ft away, a 2,000 mA hour rechargeable battery, made in China | 103 lm, described as losing quite a bit of brightness as it heated up, extrapolated total 721 lm | 16 ft, second place, described as even better than the TEKNET | 15 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 105 lm, described as performing well | 527 candela, described as also intense enough | 61 candela | dropped from 15 to 14 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 98 lm | out of battery at 11.5 hours | not tested | not tested |
| 14Adiding$21 for two lights, or $10.50 each | 360 g; claims 202 LEDs, a solar panel with a 16.4 ft cable and remote control mounting option, 2,800 lm of brightness, a 4 hour charge time in direct sunlight, and only a 20 percent solar conversion rate | 70 lm at around 30 seconds, extrapolated total 555 lm | 15 ft, described as almost as good as the Tuffenough | 4 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 32 lm, described as continuing to trail the Tuffenough | 275 candela | 14 candela | dropped from 4 to 3 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 24 lm | 20 hours 18 minutes | not tested | not tested |
| 15SUPERDANNY$25 for one light | 375 g; claims 113 bright LEDs, a 16 ft cable for remote solar panel placement, lighting coverage up to 676 sq ft, a 4 hour charge time for 12 hours of lighting, a polycrystalline solar panel with an 18.5 percent conversion rate, made in China | 36 lm, described as isn't so super, extrapolated total 332 lm | 11 ft, described as not quite as super as some of the other lights | 3 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 28 lm, described as not so super on dusk-to-dawn mode | 171 candela | 53 candela | dropped from 3 to 1 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 9 lm | just over 15 hours, described by the host as pretty good despite not being the brightest | not tested | not tested |
| 16JACKYLED$37 for one light, described as the most expensive light tested | 605 g; claims 299 LED lights, a 16.4 ft extension cord, a monocrystalline panel with a 21 percent energy conversion rate, a 4,000 mA hour battery, output equivalent to a 100 W incandescent bulb, up to 15 hours of light production, made in China | 34 lm, extrapolated total 422 lm | no motion detector, skipped from this test | the transcript contains a direct contradiction here: it first states 'The Jackie LED does not have a dusk to dawn mode,' then in the very next sentence gives a dusk-to-dawn reading of 30 lm at the test area for an extrapolated total of 372 lm, second place behind the APILAB. Both the 372 lm figure and the second-place finish are reconfirmed in the closing ranking recap, so the numeric data appears real despite the contradictory 'does not have' statement; both are recorded here and the contradiction is flagged rather than silently resolved | 361 candela, described as performing a little bit better than average; no always-on setting, consistent with the later dusk-to-dawn contradiction noted above | not tested | now at 14 lm at the test area, extrapolated total 174 lm, second place behind the APILAB | 19 hours 13 minutes | not tested | not tested |
How it was tested
- initial brightness on the brightest motion-activated light setting, measured with a compact light integrating sphere and extrapolated to total lumens based on the ratio of light panel size to test port size
- motion detector trigger range in feet, walking toward each light with a white piece of paper
- lateral motion sensor field of view in degrees
- dusk to dawn mode brightness immediately after a full charge
- peak light intensity in candela on both the brightest setting and the dusk to dawn / always on setting
- dusk to dawn mode brightness again after just over 5 hours of continuous run time
- total battery run time on the dusk to dawn setting until each light powered down
“For the graded categories on the right side of the chart, I've converted the raw data into a first through 16th place ranking and the Appy Lab came in on top with an average finish of 2.8.”