Solar String Lights (Warm White)

Think of these as a pocket of candlelight that charges itself while you're busy with everything else. Drape them along a porch rail, wind them through a shrub, or hang them from the pergola, and the sun does the rest all day. At dusk they switch on automatically, and 100 warm white LEDs turn the yard into a cozy, lantern-lit evening.

In 1882, Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, hung 80 hand-wired bulbs on a Christmas tree in his New York parlor, so you can blame him for the first electric holiday sparkle. Solar lighting has a longer runway: French physicist Edmond Becquerel first noticed the photovoltaic effect in 1839, and it took more than a century for sunlight-to-electricity to become practical enough to power a string of lights. That's a lot of patience for a little glow.

• Lights: 100 warm white LEDs spaced 3.94 in (10 cm) apart
• String Length: 32.8 ft (10 m) of light string plus a 6.6 ft (2 m) lead cord
• Solar Panel: 2.5 in (6.4 cm) square; 6 hours of sunlight powers up to 10 hours of light
• Light Modes: 8 settings, from steady on and slow fade to twinkle and chasing, with auto-on at dark
• Mounting: 5.5 in (14 cm) ground stake with a 3.6 in (9.2 cm) mounting bracket