Brightening outdoor spaces with string lights can make it a nice place to enjoy evenings. These are the best outside lights to buy.
If you don't already have outdoor patio lights, add the warm glow of string lights to your outdoor space and convert it into a vibrant entertainment area -- or a cozy little retreat -- for your family. Installing outdoor string lights is pretty easy and the options that we've shortlisted are great to add style and functionality to your yard, patio or garden. all weather led strip lights
Out of all the options we tested, our favorite outdoor string light is the Enbrighten classic LED cafe light . The bulbs themselves feel robust and when bought at a discount, these bulbs offer great value.
If you aren't aware, outdoor electric lights come in all kinds of fun shapes and sizes, from smart lights to those trendy Edison-style bulbs. Our list includes both smart and traditional string light options -- including solar powered lights. If you like the look of nonsmart outdoor string lights, you can always plug these into a smart outlet or plug. But these lights will also let you schedule times for the lights to turn on and allow you to shut them down from your phone or voice with a smart speaker.
Of course, if you're not 100% on the string lights train, there are other ways to spruce up your outdoor area with additional light sources. Consider getting a fire pit or a patio heater, particularly if you're more concerned about staying warm on those cooler nights. In this handy little guide, we'll check out more of the best outdoor string lights you can find -- all tested by CNET experts.
This set has the most attractive bulb of the bunch, in my opinion. The bulbs feel heavier duty than the other options because, rather than being a thin clear plastic shell of a bulb, they're partially filled in to create a visual with inset air bubbles. This added to the look and the feel of the light set and immediately made me feel like they were of superior quality when compared to most of the other units.
Enbrighten also ended up with the third brightest light output per bulb, according to our testing. They were initially the most expensive set I picked up, but they often drop to $30 on Amazon, making them a great value for someone looking for great quality.
The Amazon page lists several models, including smart plugs and dimmers. Enbrighten says these lights have a linkable length of up to 750 feet (about 20 strands total) and a warm, soft light output at 2,700K.
Nanoleaf is known for making some of the best smart lights you can find. In addition to traditional light bulbs, the company offers some really unique wall-mounted lights. Even the "normal" bulbs have a non-traditional shape, and that style carries over to the bulbs of the Nanoleaf Outdoor String Lights.
With a heavy-duty acrylic "bulb" cover, these lights are not only more durable than most, but the shape of the acrylic refracts the light in multiple directions for a beautiful look. With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Matter all in the mix, you'll have a variety of ways to control your outdoor string lights. While there, I have experienced a disconnect or two in my time with the lights; there is an in-line control box to manage the lights without a phone.
I've been using these lights in my outdoor space for about a while now, and the vivid colors and warm whites are fantastic. The lights get very bright and can also be dimmed to the perfect level for any occasion. Aside from the ability to choose any of the 16 million colors supported by these lights, you can also choose from preset themes to get the perfect ambiance for your patio.
Doubling down on my earlier sentiments, I didn't love any of the solar light options. As far as the options I had to work with, this Hampton Bay set seriously outperformed the competitors. Solar performance still comes at a price, however. These lights were the most expensive per-bulb option on my list — nearly doubling the runner-up at $6 a bulb.
A single strand of these lights won't do much for you if you're looking for a light night hideaway for catching up on your most recent book adventure, but if you don't have any options for hard-wired power, these are still likely your best bet.
Generally, the solar options are outfitted with a dusk-to-dawn sensor that controls their operation, and additionally, Hampton Bay offers a manual override to turn on or off at your discretion. The lithium-ion rechargeable batteries in this set are also replaceable.
If you're truly looking for "value" and not just the cheapest option, I would recommend checking out Magitec. These lights tested as the second brightest bulbs overall, and this particular offering is for a two-pack of these light strands. So double the linear coverage at 96 feet versus the next longest single strand at 48 feet.
Magitec sports all the standard options — hanging hooks, IP65-rated water-resistant seals and shatterproof, dimmable, LED bulbs. We measured these bulbs with a lumen output of about 165 per bulb. Buying 30 total sockets means you're getting close to 5,000 lumens total. That is some serious light output.
These bulbs come out to $2.33 a bulb, which puts them in the lower (cheaper) half of the list overall as far as price goes. Now, based solely on the cost per bulb, Feit Electric comes through as the cheapest in this category at $1.86 a bulb for this 15-bulb strand. Other than its value, this set isn't particularly impressive. The light output on this unit is about 40 lumens per bulb for a total output of approximately 600 lumens — the second lowest for our AC-powered options. These are also some of the only incandescent options we tested. That means more energy is used to run these than the comparable LED options. If you're looking for light coverage on the cheap, this is a good option.
Govee is another fantastic smart light maker with lights for nearly any style. The brand offers a range of outdoor lighting options, including multiple smart outdoor string lights, but here, I'm highlighting an impressive budget solution.
The plastic bulb cover, which is a frosted white when the lights are off, has a more traditional look. These lights may not make a statement during the daytime hours, but at night, you'll have 16 million colors to choose from, including tunable whites. One of my favorite things about Govee lights is the excellent pre-set scenes. These offer everything from fun and active lighting scenes to calm and relaxing options. You can also pick a single color or create your own custom lighting scene.
You can control these lights with the Govee app on your phone, but you won't have Wi-Fi or other smart home connectivity options. Instead, you'll connect to the lights via Bluetooth. This means you won't be able to manage the lights when you aren't home. When you are, you'll be able to set schedules and timers for your lights to automate your evenings a bit easier.
These lights by Anpro, which are aimed at campers, are ones that you'll want to make sure to pack for your outdoor excursion.
To start, they aren't solar-powered, but they do run off a solar-rechargeable 5,000mAh lithium-ion battery. On a full charge, Anpro says you can get over 18 hours of minimum brightness and up to 6 hours of maximum brightness. One nifty perk is that the solar-chargeable battery has two USB ports to charge the battery or charge your phone.
Instead of hanging downward like the traditional Edison-bulb style options, the light capsules are in line with the nylon braided power cord, which is more durable and less prone to tangles than traditional cords.
The lights aren't super bright, at only 120 lumens, but there's enough light, especially in an enclosed tent space, to keep you from tripping over every single thing or person inside the tent with you. They'd offer some nice ambiance in an outdoor space, but again, not enough light to be super helpful for seeing much out in the open.
You can read more about my testing process below, but the main thing you need to know is that these Brightech lights are the brightest of the bunch.
These bulbs topped out at nearly 200 lumens each, about 15% and 30% more light output than the second and third-place bulbs, respectively. At 15 bulbs, you're looking at close to 3,000 lumens for one light strand. The included LED bulbs are made of glass — so they feel durable with a nice weight to them, but they aren't shatterproof like some of the other models. Another aspect of these lights that will attract some people is the fact that the cord attached to these bulbs is white. Most units have a black cord, so some people specifically seek out white ones.
These lights are one of the more expensive per-bulb sets, and their performance overall is just above average. If you're a fan of mood lighting by way of color options, these may be the lights for you. You can control the light colors and modes via the included remote control, or there is also a control button near the plug on the power cord.
The colors look good, and these lights are pretty bright too. I measured these bulbs at about 80 lumens each, and with 18 total lights, that makes for nearly 1,500 lumens per strand, and you can link up to four sets for a total of nearly 6,000 lumens.
I am not a fan of colored lights peeking out from every corner, but for those who are, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better option.
Feit electric incandescent outdoor string lights : Mentioned above as an alternative to the best value pick, Feit Electric offers the cheapest per-bulb offering in our AC-powered outdoor string lights. The only incandescent product we tested, this one scored in the lower half of units for brightness. If you're just looking to cover areas with lights for the bottom dollar, here's your pick.
Real Living Globe LED solar light set : Since they are solar-powered, they're intended to be used outdoors, but they're very small and have the lowest light output of all tested units. Even taking into consideration all 15 bulbs, the total light output would be about a tenth (3 lumens) of what you'd get from the iPhone in your pocket at 30 lumens.
Real Living multicolor solar light set : In comparison to the Real Living set mentioned above, the bulbs are larger but don't seem to be super durable. It is still on solar power, so intended for outdoors, but not bright enough for much use other than decoration. They're four times as bright as the globe set, but at a total of 8 lumens, that phone in your pocket is still more than three times as bright.
Hampton Bay 24-light indoor-outdoor string lights : These lights are fine. They performed at or just below the median in our light output tests. The price is still on the higher side, currently tied as the most expensive AC-powered set.
Patriot Lighting solar cafe outdoor string lights : As I said before, I'm not much of a fan of any of these solar options. The bulbs with this kit do feel a bit more durable than those of the solar category winner, Hampton Bay, but the main power cable is beefier with Hampton Bay. The light output is still fairly low, and the cost per bulb is still a bit more than the AC-powered options with much less light.
Portfolio outdoor LED Edison string lights : Another OK set. The price is average, performance is average to below-average and the durability is so-so. There are better options.
There's a lot of hands-on evaluation that goes into this product category. One of the main reasons for that is the bulbs themselves. It's difficult, if not impossible, to use a product's specs or photos to get a feel for how durable you can expect the bulbs to be. Sometimes you'll get lucky with a "shatterproof" notation in the description, but not always.
outdoor rgb light strip Another bulb aspect to consider is the physical connection. Some of these come preinstalled and you can't replace them yourself. Some are preinstalled and can be removed. Most bulbs, in my experience, come packaged separately for you to install yourself. Most of the time, that isn't a problem. Occasionally, since these products all attempt to have a waterproof seal, the bulbs can be difficult to install. A couple of times I found myself gripping and twisting the small bulbs hard enough that I was concerned they might shatter in my hands. None did, but it might be worthwhile to have a pair of gloves on hand if you find yourself in the same situation.