I tried another bulb in the first socket, and just as I was about to give up, I tightened it just a bit more and it lit up. The Bob Vila team distills need-to-know information into project tutorials, maintenance guides, tool 101s, and more. Aside from all of us trying to make the most of at-home entertaining admits a pandemic, string lights in the yard just add a special ambiance and at a low cost.

Like the other Brightown set, these string lights are dimmable—we connected them to a dimmer cord and took them down to barely a glow. Its best feature lies in creating a magical effect when the copper string is kept in a compact space. The heavy-duty strand features 34 S14 Edison-style bulbs, providing an ambient 2,700K warm white light. These bulbs, although glass, were much more confidence-inspiring and never broke in our testing process. Second, make sure the product is water-resistant (or waterproof—even spots under a porch or gazebo roof can grow damp in bad weather).

Sure, it's a splurge, but rest assured you'll get plenty of use out of this festive set of string lights. The Lemontec Commercial Grade Lights were also a nice incandescent light but a little brighter than the Brightown. Most Edison-style string light bulbs are an S14 bulb size, which is a medium-size, oval-shaped bulb that’s 32 millimeters (just over 1.

The copper wiring can be wrapped around trees, bushes, and columns, or strung along walls and ceilings, but we obtained the best effect by concentrating them in a small space. For some installations, a cabled string light will be a better option, but for some niche uses — in a garden or an off-the-grid cabin, these will be a fun accessory. Lumens are different from wattage, as wattage measures how much power a bulb consumes and not necessarily how bright a light appears.The lights come with a compact solar panel with various mounting options — stake it in the ground, screw it to a wall, or clip it to an existing structure. These lights came with a solar panel in place of the standard AC plug, so they can be installed almost anywhere. We tested brightness with a light meter at a fixed distance away from a single bulb to get an idea of the brightest and dimmest bulbs. We tested multiple lights in the LED Edison style, and the SUNTHIN Outdoor LED was a great alternative to the bulkier competition. These bulbs are less energy-efficient and have a much shorter lifespan than LED bulbs, usually lasting around 1,000 hours or up to a year of regular use.

These plug-and-play lights without a dimmer are a decent choice for those seeking softer ambient lighting. The tiny bulbs are usually no larger than a grain of rice and resemble fireflies shimmering on a wire. The app promises different "scenes", but ultimately, we used it for the dimmer and remote on/off function.Because the Brightech is our only solar-powered patio light, it is the dimmest of the lights we tested. For more spacious areas or to illuminate a large event, more than 100 feet of string lighting is usually necessary. Each socket on the string has its own clip, and we hooked them to clotheslines to form an overhead grid pattern. Although we tested just one strand, users can connect up to 12 strands of light—enough to illuminate a large area. We scrolled through the lighting modes using the remote, but we didn’t care for the flashing strobe effect that seemed better suited to a dance party than the calm outdoor ambience we desired.