How does professionally installed outdoor lighting compare to solar or store-bought options?
Quick Answer
Professionally installed outdoor lighting from Lights Over Atlanta delivers brighter, more consistent, and far more durable results than solar stakes or big-box DIY kits. Our systems use commercial-grade brass and copper fixtures, professional-grade LED bulbs, hidden low-voltage wiring, and timed or photocell controls that work reliably year-round. Store-bought solar lights are a budget-friendly accent, but they typically fade, fail, or look misaligned within a season or two and cannot match the design intent or longevity of a custom system.
Detailed Answer
We get this question a lot, and the honest answer is that solar stakes, big-box landscape kits, and a professionally installed system are not really the same product, even though they all live in the front yard.
Solar lights and store-bought DIY kits are designed to be inexpensive, low-commitment, and easy to push into the ground. The tradeoff is that they are powered by small solar panels that struggle in shaded or tree-heavy yards, which describes a lot of Atlanta. Their plastic housings yellow and crack under sun and rain, the included bulbs are typically low-output and dim, and the spacing and angles are dictated by where the panel can collect sun rather than what actually looks good against your home. Most homeowners we meet have already cycled through one or two sets of solar lights before deciding to upgrade.
A professionally installed lighting system is engineered for the opposite outcome. Lights Over Atlanta uses commercial-grade brass and copper fixtures that hold up to weather and time, professional-grade LED bulbs rated for 50,000 to 100,000 hours of use, and hidden low-voltage wiring that connects everything to a central transformer. Photocell or astronomical timers turn the system on at dusk and off at dawn automatically, with no maintenance from you. Most importantly, the layout is designed, not improvised. Our certified designers apply the Gestalt Principles of Design to place uplights, downlights, path lights, and accent fixtures so they work together as one cohesive look rather than as a row of disconnected stakes.
The difference also shows up in the long run. A custom installation comes with a lifetime warranty on LED bulbs and transformers, optional maintenance plans, and a system that can be expanded or rebalanced over time. Solar lights typically need to be replaced wholesale every couple of years, and you absorb that cost and effort yourself.
For some properties, a solar accent in a single bed makes sense, and we are not going to talk anyone out of that. But for homeowners who want their property to actually look polished after dark, year after year, professional installation is the route that pays off. To see what a custom design would look like at your home, call us at (470) 870-0606 and request a free quote.