Solar Dusk Sensor Garden Lantern

Solar lighting lives or dies on its battery, and this lantern carries an 800mAh lithium cell that takes six to eight hours of daylight to fill and then runs for twelve to fourteen hours. In practice that means it covers a full winter evening and still has charge at dawn, which is more than most garden solar lights manage once the days get short.

A dusk sensor switches it on automatically as the light drops, so there is nothing to remember and nothing to wire. There is also a manual on-off switch for the months when you would rather it stayed dark. The body is iron and ABS with a frosted panel, and the LED inside is warm white at 3000K rather than the cold blue that gives cheap solar lights away.

The oval form stands 37cm tall and the round one 35cm, both slim enough to sit on a step, hang from a shepherd's hook or stand in a border without dominating it. It is rated IP65 for rain and splash. Site it where the panel gets direct sun for most of the day, and bring it indoors if you are not using it over a hard winter. A wipe over the solar panel every few weeks makes a noticeable difference to how long it runs, since dust and pollen cut the charge more than most people expect.

• Oval 14 x 10 x 37cm; round 12 x 8 x 35cm
• Iron and ABS body with a frosted panel
• Integrated LED, warm white 3000K; solar powered, no wiring required
• 800mAh lithium battery; 6-8 hours to charge, 12-14 hours runtime
• Automatic dusk-to-dawn sensor plus a manual on-off switch; IP65 rated
• Site the panel in direct sun; performance drops in shade and in midwinter
• Contains a lithium battery; recycle the whole unit through WEEE at end of life