11 best solar garden lights to create a gorgeous twinkly glow, tested by experts

Score: 93/100

There’s something particularly elegant and atmospheric about string lights and we loved the vintage look of these bulb festoon ones. They’re warm and bright, providing good visibility as well as making a great garden party decoration.

They were easy to install and impressed testers with their run time, lighting up for just under seven hours. The bulbs switched on quickly when the sun started to go down too. There’s only one lighting mode, so you can't adjust the brightness, but these robust lights were hard to fault, making them a very worthy winner.

Score: 88/100

This path light shone in our tests, illuminating a large area even on its lowest setting and glowing for up to five hours. Depending on the setting you opt for, it also responds quickly when movement is detected nearby.

Some found set-up tricky, as you need to screw the base into a solid foundation. It’s also not the sturdiest design, so make sure you place it somewhere where it won’t get knocked or battered by bad weather if you can.

Score: 87/100

Providing over six hours of bright light a night (try saying that fast) on test, these stakes are an ideal choice for lining pathways or spotlighting features in your garden.

Our panellists loved the ambience they created, although our testers had a few issues when assembling them, as the plastic stakes suffered some minor cracks when driven into the ground.

Once in place, however, they responded to changes in light quickly, and while they aren’t the most premium up close, our panellists liked their overall “sleek look”.

Score: 86/100

Testers loved this light for its compact and portable design. Its head tilts up to 360 degrees, which means you can direct it wherever you need the light, and its comfortable carry handle makes it easy to move outdoors and back in again.

Screwing it together was a little fiddly and there's no nighttime sensor. Instead, tap it two or three times to turn it on and adjust the brightness. If anything, however, that makes it more versatile; whether you’re gardening, reading, camping, or hosting, this light is the perfect companion.

Score: 82/100

With eight lighting effects and a warm, white colour, these vintage string lights received high praise from our panel. They were user-friendly, quick to charge, responsive to dusk, and long-lasting, staying bright for eight hours.

If you need to run them longer, there is a power-saving mode, but on test this reduced the brightness by half. The wires are fiddly to untangle and make sure you tighten the bulb covers if you're hanging the lights in a windy spot, but these look pretty both on and off!

Score: 80/100

This clever wall light switches on at dusk at a low brightness of 30 lumens – and when it detects nearby movement, it brightens up for 15 seconds at a strong 230 lumens. This both conserves energy and adds an extra layer of security.

Both our lab testers and at-home panel were impressed by the sensor's range – it consistently detected movement up to four metres away. They also noted how bright the light was, as well as the long runtime. It’s not the prettiest design, and the lightweight build doesn’t feel very durable – but when dropped from two metres, it was unscathed. A practical option that's perfect for illuminating side passages, sheds or garages.

Score: 74/100

These won’t light up your garden (and weren’t the brightest on test), but the delicate string lights are perfect for adorning bushes, fences or pergolas to give your garden a soft, twinkly look.

Testers found the wiring time-consuming to unravel, but once done, it blends discreetly into the background, leaving you with shimmering drops of warm light. The lights remained on overnight and responded quickly to the setting sun too.

This set of four stake lights is perfect for spotlighting pathways, grass edges and focal points in your garden. They turn on automatically after charging throughout the day and are made to last overnight, adding a soft, warm glow to your outside space, whether you're entertaining late into the night, or just want to add a little light when you're out with the dog before bed!

The unique pebble design of this light is both practical and decorative. You can choose to illuminate your outdoor space with a bright white light or warm white glow, or even opt for alternative mood lighting with eight different colours.

We also love that the Shapelights are waterproof and can even float on a pond for extra theatricality!

This is one of our favourite sets for brightening up your flower beds. They are expensive, but each piece contains over 90 twinkly bulbs, which sway gently in the breeze, making for a truly dreamy display at dusk.

They come in small or large sizes, in sets of three or six stake lights too – so there’s plenty of light to dot around and make a real statement.

These solar stake lights are much larger than average, standing at 77cm tall compared to the 25-30cm height of other stakes in this list. Each one gives off a subtle, flickering glow similar to a flame, creating a relaxing ambience.

Simply set up and charge throughout the day before they automatically turn on as the sun goes down.