Frostfire Solar Ice Rocks - Path and garden solar lights (Set of 3)

Ratings for these solar lights run hot and cold They are beautiful. Many also are DOA or weaken then stop working after a few nights use. The problem is due to the old weak factory installed 300mA 1.2V rechargeable batteries in the units. I bought 10 3-packs (30 total lights) in late June 2015. The expiration dates on the installed batteries was April, 2015. Another reviewer noted a battery issue with the Solar Ice Rocks, so I also ordered enough PowerDriver® 16 Pack 1600 Cycle 1200mAh 1.2V Ni-MH Nimh Pre-charged Rechargeable AAA Batteries to replace the original ones. Out of the box 5 of the Solar Ice Rocks were nonfunctioning on initial dark room testing, but all lit after battery replacement. I shifted out all the other units batteries too. It's now early August and all units charge well and stay lit from dusk to dawn. For me the time and extra expense ( 1 buck each) of fixing the Ice Rocks has been worth it so far. Yes they should have had good new batteries to begin with. Otherwise these Ice Rocks look great at night, don't seem to attract bugs, and tolerate rain and moderate wind. Once i did move them to the seats of outside deck chairs when a severe storm blew in.They were fine afterwards. Some top Ice portions of the Rocks have developed slight pale yellow tinting ( also noted by a few other reviewers ) but they still look decent unlit out in the hot South Carolina sun.

So far so good, well made heavy glass lens and plastic base. Appear to be sealed against moisture and are rated IP44 which means "Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect". They are not designed to be submerged however and I will plan to take them in during heavy rain or flooding conditions. The battery compartment cover is held on by 4 small stainless steel Phillips head screws and a rubber gasket sits underneath the cover to provide the water resistant rating. The battery itself is a standard removable AAA form factor and the specs are 1.2V Ni-MH 300mAh - this ensures the longevity of the device as the battery can be easily (and cheaply) replaced when its performance degrades over time. The battery should only be replaced with a rechargeable Ni-MH with similar ratings. The ON/OFF switch is a Push/Push type on the bottom of the base and is sealed by a rubber membrane to make it water resistant. It might be hard to operate by someone with large fingers, the blunt end of a pen or pencil helps in that situation, but don't use anything pointy that could tear the membrane. The LED's are "Cool White" in color temperature and do not come on until it gets dark enough - usually just around dusk which is ideal. In my experience so far, they seem to charge adequately even without direct sun all day. I'm not sure how long the LED's will go on a full charge, but with sunset currently around 5:30PM, they are still burning brightly when I have checked them around 12:30 AM. One thing I am not sure about is if these units will charge if the switch is in the OFF position, the paperwork seems to imply the switch must be ON for them to charge, but it is vaguely stated. Also because the switch is a sealed Push/Push style, you can't tell by just looking if the switch is in the ON or OFF position, you must move the cube to a dark place and see if the LED comes on. Therefore, if the battery is completely drained it might not be possible to determine if the switch is in the ON or OFF position, hence you may not know if they are charging or not. Other than that I think these are a well made product and are likely to function well and last for many years, particularly since the battery can be replaced.

The 3 star rating is because it is too soon too tell if it will live up to a 5 star rating. Either way I will edit this review and provide an update in a few weeks. The good news is that the Frostfire Solar Ice Rocks arrived on time and were well packaged into a compact box. They were easy to remove from the box and pretty much self explanatory, open box, remove from box, press button ON (located on the bottom of light), setup outside and enjoy the show at dusk. They are relatively small, 3x3x3" and are of good weight, so I doubt they are easy to blow away unlike most solar lights that are often very lightweight and chintzy. Now, my only issue with this set is that compared to two of the lights, one of the lights seems dim, so dim that it is dying, so I am going to let them sit out for a few days in the sunlight before deciding on initiating a return. If it does not become as bright as the other two, perhaps it is defective and may need to be exchanged. We'll see. I've only had them for a few days now and aside from the one dim light they are very nice lights and arrive, for the most part, as described and will work well just about anywhere (ie. garden light, deck light, stair light, poolside lighting etc) Update 7/15/14: unfortunately, the solar ice rocks do not live up to a 5 star rating, let alone the initial 3 star rating I gave them - all 3 ice rocks stopped working, after 3 days. I placed them in full sun to recharge and since not one but all three are no longer even giving off any light at all, I am convinced they are defective. For this reason I am reducing my rating from 3 star to 1 star, I would give it zero stars if it were an option! I am hoping the replacement set will work more than 3 days because they seem like nice lights, but it would be nice to have working lights for me to make a conclusion as such!

Updated -August 2017 --- My original review were for the Frostfire blocks from Innovationstore for $19.99 --- I've recently ordered more from the same page but sold by: Lighten Glimmer LED Light and they are NOT THE SAME. These new ones come in unmarked boxes with no branding, a different plastic cover with odd protrusions. In addition, instead of the small cover plate it has a large cover plate that takes up most of the base of the block. The switch looks less well sealed and the join between the transparent plastic and base was very poorly glued. In short, I returned them. The originals are 4 star... these new unmarked ones (which I suspect are just knock offs) are vastly inferior. --- BE WARNED... and if anyone knows how to get more of the Innovationstore version... please let me know! ------Original review------ I love these. They are durable, albeit not indestructible. They give off good light for a long time, often making it till dawn. The batteries will last a few years and are easy to replace. I've had good luck with eneloop batteries so far. They ARE well sealed, but their ipx4 rating is frustratingly accurate. The battery cover is made of the same durable plastic as the nicely weighted base. It has a rubber sheet as a gasket and generally functions well at keeping out water. I had ducks knock on off my dock, and I found it lit up 4 feet under water... BUT that plastic will deform a bit over time and loose some of its ability. I've found flipping it over when replacing the batteries can help a bit with that. The big problem for me is that these sit on a pvc dock, so water can pool underneath them. As temperatures change, the sealed cube will draw in minute drops of water from the battery cover (it's only opening). It took two years for me to figure this out. Those small amounts can gum up the works, and these can't be drained easily, but they are durable enough that I've had good luck striking an open cube down against my leg (opening towards the leg) to get most of the water out... Droplet by droplet. I've also found putting small rubber feet on them seems to help alleviate this temperature driven suction problem. All in all I love these... I've gotten a few duds, but the good ones have lasted over two years so far on my dock through all Michigan can throw at them. I swapped batteries after year two and they work better than ever. I do wish I figured out the feet trick earlier... The battery contacts will rust when wet... But my environment pushes the limits of this design. You really couldn't do much better without a substantial increase in cost, and at this price point you won't be devastated if one fails or is carried off by very determined water foul! They are solid, heavy enough to stay put, give off good light, and serve well if cared for. I find I keep buying more of them... That should say it all.

Update 4/20/16 - Have to knock a couple of stars off as many have failed after a year or so outdoors. If these were cheaper, I would just order replacements, but at this price, I expect them to last longer. These lights are very nice and after a few weeks during which we've had a couple of thunderstorms, they still work well and are bright. I'm also impressed that in a couple of spots where they don't get a lot of direct sunlight, they still light up at night. Our neighbor has already asked where she can get these and we happily referred them. The only reason I give these 4 stars instead of 5 is that I wish these were a little cheaper. Getting 12 of these to line up our walkway costs more than we wished, but we're happy with the look.

These cubes are very attractive. They produce an amazing amount of bright light. And the light lasts many hours into the night. Then why only three stars? Because although the light is bright, it doesn't light anything up. They just produce a big source of light that is so bright you can't comfortably look at them directly. I thought I could use them to guide us along a path from the back of the house to a patio in the back of the yard. They don't do that very well. More like runway lights than path light. In fairness, these aren't promoted as path lights; rather they are garden lights. So, I find myself now trying to hide these lights among the plants, so that one will see a glow from the garden rather than a glare from the path. We'll see if they get enough sun that way. All this raises a question: if the technology exists for making a light so bright, why doesn't a manufacturer create a solar path light that throws this amount of light onto the path? Some manufacturers are moving in that direction, but only incrementally. Path lights all draw your eye to the source of the light rather than to what is intended to be lit. Why not combine this technology with a design that hides the source of the light and that directs the light onto the path?

These lights are a perfect size for our new pathway, we have a design that allows these lights to be tucked into the corners of the border. They are small enough to be sunk into the ground so that they are the same level as the top of the border, very cool, remind me of runway lights and really do look like ice. They get sun all day and are quite bright and some mornings are still lit at 5am. Good value, we will probably get more, have had many compliments!

Perfect little lights. They have a good weight to them and lit up my pathway perfectly. I wanted something that would clearly define the pathway without the brightness of spotlights. I bought three packs, and after seeing how great these work I plan to buy 3 more to accent the stone work on the front of my street facing courtyard. If you dig up about a half inch of rock (or dirt) and set the lights with a slight recess they look like professionally wired lights. They are well worth the price. I highly recommend. If I have any issues I will come back to update this posting!

Buscaba unos puntos de luz para el balcón, y aunque están pensados para el jardín, se pueden colocar en el balcón sin ningún problema y dan luz suficiente para al menos ver algo. Se trata de tres luces solares (se recargan cuando les da el sol) y se encienden con la oscuridad. Todo de forma automática, no hay que hacer nada, ponerlas al sol y ellas mismas se encienden cuando empieza a anochecer. Es una muy buena compra, ideal para el verano. Me gustó que se pueden mojar, están selladas, y siguen funcionando sin ningún problema. Producto totalmente recomendado.

Diese Leuchten in Eiswürfeloptik sind toll und absolut zu empfehlen. Sie gehen zuverlässig an, überstehen auch starken Regen, machen ein angenehmes Licht (mehr Design als Ausleuchtung) und laufen bei uns inzwischen sehr zuverlässig seit mehreren Wochen. Über die Langlebigkeit kann ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch kein e Auskunft geben.

Just bought a few to test and so far I am pretty impressed. Left outside for a few days and they look great, they easily last all night! (All night in the summer being around 5 hours) Despite the heavy rain they are still going strong and they give a nice, attractive white light. Won't light up your patio like electric lights and you'd be a fool to think they would, but they are great for lighting a path or edging a patio. Think of these as runway lights, they are just for marking areas and for giving a nice look. It's early days but I've bought 9 more as I am so impressed, they are a bargain at £5 each (Currently)

I Segnapasso funzionano Ottimamente. Si caricano con il sole durante il giorno ed appena al tramonto si accendono con l'effetto piacevole della luce nel ghiaccio.

J'ai acheté ces lampes à l'occasion d'un anniversaire il y a 2 ans pour éclairer un peu le jardin et faire joli. Bien que l'éclairage ne soit pas très fort, elles sont extrêmement jolies, je les ai posées le long d'un petit mur dans le jardin. Elles peuvent aussi être posées le long des marches d'un escalier par exemple. Elles ont maintenant passé deux étés dehors entièrement, sous la pluie, et l'arrosage. Elles sont rangées pendant la saison froide dans une boîte à l'intérieur. Je viens de les ressortir et je vois avec plaisir qu'elles fonctionnent encore toutes parfaitement cette année. Un bon achat durable dont je suis très satisfaite.