With batteries that charge via solar panels throughout the day, the best outdoor solar lights can effectively help your household lower its carbon footprint. "In most cases, there is no need to bring in an electrician to install it." "Solar lights, compared to low voltage and line voltage outdoor lights, are safer and more DIY-friendly since there's little to no wiring required at all," says Sarah Jameson, marketing director of Green Building Elements. One great way to illuminate your outdoor space is with solar lights. If you’re looking to use one of those platforms, check out Other good outdoor smart lights.Brightening up your outdoor living area can drastically improve the way your garden or patio looks, and it might even inspire you to spend more time outside when the weather is warm. This product worked well with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri Shortcuts, but it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit, SmartThings, or IFTTT.But we always prefer to use the highest form of security, whenever possible. When it comes to concerns about being hacked, smart bulbs are pretty low risk. Feit doesn’t offer two-factor authentication (2FA), a common security process that requires you to input a verification code when you log in to the app.And, even more confusingly, if you want to schedule an animation, the only way for it to work is if the animation was the last setting used before the bulb was turned off-you can’t simply tell the animation to happen at any time when the bulb turns on. Instead, to do either of those things, you have to create an automation, which you access from the main screen, under Smart Scenes. However, you can’t simply choose on or off, and you can’t pick a specific color and/or dimming level. For instance, when you click on Schedule, you can choose times for a bulb to go on and off. The Feit app can be confusing, and it has odd roadblocks.We also paired lights with these platforms to trigger lights with other smart devices (such as security cameras). Everything we tested can pair with some type of voice assistant, such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Siri, so you can operate it by voice. We also set up Schedules and tested any other features. We used iPhone and Android devices to look at the app controls, to see how easy it was to set up and control the lighting devices, when you’re at home as well as away. (For suggestions, check out our guide to Wi-Fi routers and our guide to Wi-Fi extenders.) If you have problems getting good Wi-Fi outdoors, consider upgrading your router or adding an extender or repeater. Since all of these products are designed to go outdoors, we tested a variety of spots outside of our home to determine how well they stayed connected to Wi-Fi. For bulbs, we used a light meter to measure lux (or the amount of light that spreads in a given area), working with the same equipment, under the same conditions, at various angles and dimming levels. We also compared Color Rendering Index (CRI) ratings, when available, to judge color accuracy. We looked at specs for lumens, which is a measure of light output.
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