The 6 Best Outdoor Light Bulbs, Tested and Reviewed

Best Solar-Powered

Lerekam Solar Landscape Spotlights

$40 $27 at Amazon View on Sears.com

For hassle-free, high-value garden lighting, we love the Lerekam Solar Landscape Spotlights. We positioned four to light up trees and bushes in our front yard and two for a backyard gate. The Lerekam lights do demonstrate the convenience of solar-powered, dusk-to-dawn light bulbs. There's no need for extension cords or wiring, and no wasted energy on lighting when it's not necessary.

Each spotlight is made up of 40 LED bulbs that combine for 1,000 lumens when set to the highest of the three brightness levels. We preferred the highest setting, which we estimated could shine 20 to 25 feet away. Our tested model was fixed at a daylight, cool-white color temperature, so you'd have to purchase the separate warm-white or multicolor versions of the product if you prefer another tone of light. 

The actual installation was impressively quick and easy; it took a bit longer to decide where to place them in our yard. We attached the lights to their mounting brackets and to stakes we drove in the ground (wall-mounting hardware is included). We wished the brackets could adjust to wider angles for tall trees, but we were still able to cover enough of our plants and gate. 

As with all solar lights, we recommend fully charging them first for the best results. Also, on those cloudy days when the solar panels don't pull enough charge, you can power up the rechargeable battery with a USB cable. 

_{Amount: 2, 4, 6 | Brightness: 1,000 lumens | Wattage: 65 watts}

Best Motion Sensor

Leonlite LED Motion Sensor Floodlight

$40 $30 at Amazon $55 at Walmart $73 at Wayfair

The versatility of the LeonLite LED Motion Sensor Security Light makes it an excellent choice for keeping many exterior areas safe and secure. Its motion detection, designed to reach roughly 70 feet, was more than enough to monitor a 10-foot garage-adjacent space we wanted to keep free from raccoons and other animals. Smaller critters went undetected, but deer triggered the lights, as did cars in the driveway and construction work on the sidewalk. Then, we were able to switch to dusk-to-dawn mode to illuminate the area all night and keep animals away. 

The motion sensor captures a wide, 180-degree angle, and small knobs can fine-tune its sensitivity and how long the lights stay on when triggered. The two floodlight heads can swivel and rotate 360 degrees to point anywhere you need them to, shining up to roughly 30 feet away with solid light output in our space. Knobs adjust the brightness as well, but you will have to make your color temperature decisions at the time of purchase. You can choose from a model with warm white light (3,000K) or cool daylight (5,000K), or one that includes both plus 4,000K in between. 

We found the installation process to be straightforward, taking 15 minutes with two people. It does require a hardwired electrical connection, but it's simple enough to screw into place and connect if you have existing floodlight wiring at the location. Once mounted, the motion sensor light felt sturdy and heavy rain did not affect its performance. 

^{Amount: 1 unit with 2 lamp heads | Brightness: 1,800 lumens | Wattage: 20 watts}

Best Smart

GE CYNC Smart Outdoor Flood Light Bulb

$44 at Amazon $25 $20 at Walmart $25 at Target

If you're looking for outdoor bulbs with more customizable features and wireless controls, the Cync smart home line from GE features these convenient PAR38-shape floodlight bulbs, UL-listed for outdoor use in wet locations. 

As one of the brand's newer Direct Connect models, these lights can easily be adjusted via your WI-Fi network in addition to Bluetooth, without the need for any additional device to serve as a hub. We simply screwed them into a pair of sockets by a front door and window, and within a matter of minutes, were able to control them both with a phone app and voice commands through Amazon Alexa. (The Google Home platform is supported as well, but not Apple's HomeKit.) 

The 1,300-lumen maximum brightness is quite high for a multicolor smart bulb, and you can dim them or change their colors from anywhere with an internet connection. You can also adjust the color temperature anywhere from an amber 2,000K to a bluish 7,000K, so we were able to match the fixed-temperature bulbs elsewhere in front of the house.

We easily set up custom schedules for when we wanted them to turn on and off, and they essentially ran on their own hands-free after that—aside from switching to festive colors for the holidays. 

^{Amount: 1, 2, 4 | Brightness: 1,300 lumens | Wattage: 14.5 watts}

Best Floodlight

SANSI Motion Sensor Outdoor Floodlight

$70 $52 at Amazon $56 at Home Depot $56 at Lowes

You don't have to fiddle with many settings to get the Sansi Outdoor Integrated LED Floodlight to do its job of flooding an area with light. Set to emit a crisp 5,000K white light at a powerful 6,000 lumens, it had no problem fully illuminating the 11-x-16-foot deck and 50-x-80-foot backyard where we tested it. 

The lamps shine with a wide, 320-degree beam angle, and they're situated with three lamps on each of the two arms, so you can easily adjust the lights to cover the space you want. Like most outdoor floodlights, this unit has to be wired to an existing electrical junction box, a process that took us about 25 minutes. The time included removing an older halogen floodlight that used 150 watts of energy and would get excessively hot. In contrast, the Sansi light's LEDs use just 45 watts to produce an output equivalent to 600-watt traditional bulbs.

Our fixture was connected to a light switch, which can be important if you want to be selective about when to run the light since there's no built-in motion sensor or timers. You do get a dusk-to-dawn mode, though, which ensures the light will only activate in the dark if you keep it constantly powered. 

^{Amount: 1 with 6 lamp heads | Brightness: 6,000 lumens | Wattage: 45 watts}

Best Strip Lights

Govee WiFi Outdoor LED Strip Lights

$115 at Amazon $80 at Target $69 at Home Depot

Govee's outdoor strip lights, equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity, can serve as a replacement for outdoor Christmas lights with a simpler setup, more advanced controls, and year-round applications. The RGBIC technology allows for independent control of each light for fully customizable colors across the strip. (If you also want a true white light with tunable color temperature, though, look for a product labeled RGBICWW.) 

Within the Govee app, you'll find expansive customization options, including over 64 colorful preset scenes ready for various holidays and occasions throughout the year. You can set schedules and routines, use Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, integrate with compatible smart gadgets, and even sync the lights to music. 

The lights come in rolls, each containing 32.8-foot-long strips, and we tested out two rolls along the front of our house. You can't cut the strips into shorter segments, but if you need more length, you can combine up to three units together in a line for just under 100 total feet.

We installed the lights using the included mounting clips and adhesive tape, which we found to be a simpler task than putting up and taking down Christmas lights every year. Thanks to the quick setup (just five minutes), we were able to spend more time exploring the seemingly endless setting options on the Govee app.

^{Amount: One 32.8-foot strip | Brightness: 120 lumens per meter | Wattage: 36 watts}

Best for Landscape Lighting

Phillips Hue Calla Base Kit

$130 $102 at Amazon $130 at Target View on Philips-hue.com

Philips Hue has long been the premier name in smart lighting for both indoors and out, and the brand's Calla outdoor pathway light is one of the best landscape lighting options on the market. As a cylindrical bollard-style lamp, it's ideal for shining a bit of light down onto a space for accent lighting and visibility—we positioned our test unit to cover an under-lit front yard section that included our front steps and a path. 

Both the tunable-temperature white light and the rich palette of 16 million colors impressed us with their brightness and range. The white light reached 10 feet all around it, with darker blues and purples still lighting a decent 5-foot radius. The colors are also capable of more advanced animations and effects than most competitors. 

The "kit" in the product's name refers to the included mounting equipment and outdoor-rated power supply, plus cabling to hook it up to an electrical source. It doesn't include the Philips Hue Bridge, which is an indoor hub that links the light to the internet and drives its advanced smart features. 

Once connected, the weatherproof bollard can integrate with up to 50 Hue devices, as well as products from most leading smart home ecosystems: Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and more. You can control it with voice assistants from those platforms and customize activation using timers, location-based geofencing triggers, and more. 

The upfront costs of establishing a multi-device Hue lighting configuration can be prohibitive for many households, but the Calla is a high-quality addition if you're already using the system or willing to invest in setting one up. 

^{Amount: 1 (with power supply and mounting kit) | Brightness: 640 lumens | Wattage: 8 watts}