Nanoleaf Solar Garden Lights Review

The Nanoleaf Solar Garden Lights are a simple yet effective lighting solution from a company that primarily earned its reputation by designing premium lighting panels and blocks for office and gaming setups. Those panels and blocks boast advanced customization through an application, something that these new Solar Garden Lights do not. Again, the Solar Garden Lights are simple, but they are also effective in lighting up a garden in a wide variety of ways. Here is my review.

The power of solar

The “solar” part of the Solar Garden Lights is what interests me most. I’ve used solar-powered lights before but, being in the UK and not getting too much clear sunlight, they remain very dim. With Nanoleaf’s product, I was happy to see how the lights can be powered by solar, yes, but also by USB-C as a backup solution. 

There are eight LED bulbs on each Solar Garden Light. When extended out, the lights take the shape of a flower, which seems appropriate for their target setting. 

When fully charged, the lights do look impressive. I’m a big fan of how the solid colors look, but the animated scenes are a bit too much. Though, I suppose they will come in handy during the Christmas season and during other holidays where wacky lighting is preferred.

The solar charging kept the lights bright for the four to six hour increments that I set. The lights would then recharge through the day and look nice and bright again in the evening.

Easy does it

Each light is stuck into the ground. Nanoleaf provides two different stake heights, which is a nice touch. 

Boasting an IP65 rating, these lights are designed to withstand the weather, which is obviously an advantage for a product intended to live outside. 

As alluded to in the introduction, there’s no app to control the Solar Garden Light. Instead, a simple remote control is provided. Users can switch between solid RGB colors, a variety of animated multicolor scenes, and white lighting (both cold and warm). Timers can also be set to turn the lights on for a set period. 

Remote control only

The Solar Garden Light’s biggest strength of simplicity is also its biggest weakness. Without app support, this product doesn’t feel very “Nanoleaf.” There’s no advanced customization to get the exact lighting you want, no integration with smart home assistants, nor any other features besides what is accomplished on the remote. 

Disclosure: Review sample provided by Nanoleaf.