What You Don’t Know About Landscape Lighting Kits
The pleasure of a beautifully landscaped garden can't be overstated. Extending the relaxation and enjoyment into the night, though, requires the installation of landscape lighting. In the not so distant past, this was both a labor intensive and prohibitively expensive objective. Fortunately for those of us who don't have Kennedy or Rockefeller in our names, low-cost, easy-to-install landscape lighting kits have come to the rescue. But before you begin shopping for them online, take the time to know what their limitations are. After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch and you're sure to be disappointed if you don't educate yourself first.
Low cost landscape lighting kits such as those manufactured by companies like Malibu Lighting are, in principle, a great idea. Their plastic construction offers several advantages over designer, metal counterparts. But along with those advantages come a few disadvantages you may not be aware of, and that's what could lead to a big letdown. We'll go over the good, the bad and the ugly but, as you read this article, I ask you one favor; don't make up your mind until you've reached the end.
Let's get the ugly out of the way first as it's really the easiest to cover. Plastic landscape lighting kits aren't pretty. I don't mean to imply that they are repulsive, just that their low-cost manufacturing and molded plastic parts lack the variety and intricate design options you might find in their metal counterparts.
Inexpensive kits will almost always be made of plastic which means you'll get a dime-a-dozen design at a baker's-dozen discount. Forget about variety in the kit. Your set will include a bunch of lights that all look the same. Unless, of course, you buy a kit containing both path lights and spotlights in which case all the path lights will look the same and all the spot lights will look the same. But let's face facts here; if you want to save money, stylish independence is a fairly small sacrifice to make.
Moving on to the bad, we only have one real concern and that's in brilliance (or the lack thereof). It's the very construction material of landscape lighting kits that hurts their performance because, as you might already be aware, plastic has a much lower melting point than metal. That lower melting point limits the heat they can endure from bulbs which means having to opt for lower wattage and, by extension, luminescence. Higher wattage bulbs common in metal lights would turn your plastic landscape light into a puddle. If you plan to light up trees and large features, you'll have to pay the extra money for metal lights.
Now that we have the negatives out of the way, let's go over what's good about inexpensive plastic landscape lighting kits and that means discussing cost. I've already mentioned they are cheap, but what does that really mean? Well, going back to Malibu as an example, you can get a 20 piece plastic kit from Malibu containing 16 path lights and 4 spot lights, a power pack and all the cable you'll need for about $60 USD. Compare that with a metal kit by the same company containing only 6 lights for around $120 USD and you see what I mean when I say inexpensive.
What may not be so obvious in terms of savings is what you'll save should one of your lights be damaged by a clumsy guest or an overzealous landscaper with poor lawnmower control. A damaged plastic light will cost you very little to replace. A damaged metal light, crushed by a stray lawnmower or weed-whacker will cost you substantially more. I've trashed one of my own lights and can assure you, this is a very valid consideration.
It's also important to note that plastic construction isn't really all that bad. At night, when your lights are doing there job, they'll be virtually indistinguishable in appearance from metal lights. The plastic is also surprisingly durable, withstanding weathering and wear and tear quite well. Finally, an advantage over metal lights, your plastic lights won't get dings and dents. That might not sound like a big deal, but my own metal lights started showing dents and it took me a while to realize that rocks and debris thrown from my lawn mower were the cause.
Having read this far I hope you've come to appreciate that there are some definite up sides to plastic landscape lighting kits including initial cost, replacement cost and durability. Saving money is the big selling point. Just know that you will be limited to using them to define paths and borders or spot lighting smaller features. If you have grander ambitions involving uplighting trees and statuary, you be better served by more expensive, higher-wattage metal lights.
