INTRODUCTION
Where i live (and i imagine in many other parts of the world) electricity doesn't come cheap so whenever i have some free time i always look for ways to reduce electricity costs (and why not reduce my carbon footprint in the process) whether that's by using auto off conserve power sockets or by using LED light bulbs wherever i possibly can. However if you also happen to have a small backyard like i do then you probably know that it's not really possible (cost-wise) to have it illuminated during the entire duration of the night. Now i have tried numerous solar lights from time to time and although some did produce satisfactory results they only lasted but a few months tops thus didn't really fit the bill. Roughly 4 months ago i was looking to replace a few faulty solar lights with something of higher quality so when i stumbled across the Albany Solar Premium Spotlight by The Solar Centre i just had to try them out.
Formed in 2005, The Solar Centre has become one of the UK’s leading new eco brands. Our constant focus on product innovation using the latest battery, LED and solar technology ensures year round reliability across our range. The Solar Centre supplies a large number of businesses and organizations of all sizes including high street retailers, e-tailers, government departments, local and county councils, schools, colleges, universities, NGOs and charities.
As clearly stated by its name the Albany is a small weatherproof spotlight made out of brushed aluminum (thus the premium part) paired with a 2W solar panel (via an 1.8 meter long cable) and a rechargeable battery pack. Contained inside the aluminum enclosure is a tiny yet durable and high performance CREE LED bulb that can output a brightness rating of 125 Lumen with a white color temperature of 5500k. A frosty glass reflector placed at the end of the spotlight allows the Albany to illuminate an area of up to 82 feet (25 meters) while the 2W solar panel with its light sensor and rechargeable battery pack doesn't only operate the device automatically but it can also provide it with enough power for up to 10 continuous hours. Last but not least The Solar Centre gives the CREE LED bulb an MTBF of 50.000 hours and backs it up with a 12 month warranty. So on paper the Albany sure looks great but is it really? Let's take a closer look to find out.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The Solar Centre packs the Albany premium solar spotlight inside a small cardboard box that has the main product features listed at the front right beneath a product picture.
Another product picture this time with both parts is placed on the left side.
A few words about the product are placed at the rear of the box (strangely enough here the total runtime is not 10 hours as stated at the front but 8).
The bundle is secured in place via two pieces of formed cardboard.
Inside the box you will find the brushed aluminum spotlight with the 2W solar panel (and the u-bracket and disc mounting bracket are pre-installed), two Allen keys, metal mounting stake, 2 piece plastic mounting stake, plastic bag with screws and wall plugs and the user guide.
THE ALBANY
The brushed aluminum body of the Albany measures just 52mm in height and 63mm in diameter so it fits pretty much everywhere.
I would had probably used either a higher output CREE bulb or more than just one but even so 125 Lumens from such a tiny LED that uses solar power is not bad at all.
Thanks to this mounting bolt you can remove the u-bracket (wall mounting) that comes pre-installed on the spotlight and replace it with the metal stake/spike.
The metal stake can be used to place the spotlight in your garden.
Unlike the spotlight enclosure the 2W solar panel is made almost entirely out of plastic.
Solar panel quality may not be the best I’ve ever seen but i didn't expect it to be either (nor is it needed for a tiny solar light).
The rechargeable battery pack is placed right beneath the solar panel and an on/off button is placed on the other side.
There are three AA 2000mAh batteries placed inside (total of roughly 6000mAh) which you can replace whenever they stop working (i expect it will be at least 2 years before that happens).
By default the solar panel comes mounted on a short plastic stand but you can remove it and replace it with the two part plastic stake as seen above (you can also place it in the garden although i do recommend high places where the sun can reach it with ease).
The Solar Centre actually sent us two Albany premium solar spotlights to have a better idea of what they can do.
RESULTS
Unlike the backyard of my mountain house which is almost as large as the house itself (if not larger) the backyard of my town house is not really that large (roughly 10-11 meters in length and 5-6 meters in width).
Usually the only thing i have illuminating it is a small MiPoW solar RGB LED which as you can see from the above picture doesn't do much (looks nice however when it changes colors).
The E27 15W LED bulb (1500 Lumens) which i turn on whenever i need to go out at night leaves nothing to be desired in terms of illumination.
I also have 4 secondary smaller LED bulbs around the backyard to make things even brighter whenever someone comes over (these need to be replaced with natural white LED bulbs).
This is how the backyard looks with the two Albany solar spotlights mounted vertically (since the yard is only 10-11 meters from one end to the other there was no reason to place them in the garden or on the wall). Remember that although the Albany can cover an area of 25 meters it works even better if the area they need to cover is smaller (they were both placed at a height of roughly 2.5 meters).
CONCLUSION
Although as mentioned earlier I’ve used numerous solar lights through the years the Albany is actually the very first spotlight so because of its somewhat tiny size i didn't know what to expect (aside the promotional material i got from The Solar Centre). I've known CREE and their LED modules for many years now but I’ve only used flashlights with their solutions inside so again i had no idea of what to expect. Well pictures speak louder than words so you can all see that two Albany spotlights can produce very good results and although my backyard is nothing exceptional in terms of size still to be able to compete with a 1500 Lumen LED bulb is great in my book. Unfortunately I’m not saying that the Albany is perfect since it has some things we’d really like to see improved on. For one the solar panel is quite small which means that if you happen to live in a place without much sun (like some parts of the UK) it may not be able to fully charge the 6000mAh battery pack inside and thus the spotlight will not work long enough at night. A larger solar panel would reduce the time needed to recharge the battery pack and thus it would be a win win scenario. Also a model with a more powerful CREE LED would not be a bad thing since there are people out there with huge backyards so using for example 3-4 Albany lights instead of 6-8 would obviously be preferable. As for battery life that strongly depends on the how strong the sun is each day and whether or not the solar panels are placed correctly. So although some nights the lights would keep going up until almost 7 in the morning other times they wouldn’t make it past 5 (this is overall caused primarily by the small solar panels).
A single Albany Premium Solar Spotlight will set you back roughly 50Euros directly from The Solar Centre website so although certainly more expensive than your average solar garden light it’s not really that expensive for what it offers. Of course as we’ve pointed out already it has room for improvement and we hope The Solar Centre will do exactly that in the near future but for people who are looking for a tiny solar light to illuminate large areas things can’t get much better than this and for that the Albany gets our Golden Award.
PROS
- Spotlight Build Quality (Brushed Aluminum Enclosure)
- 125 Lumen / 5500k CREE LED
- Weatherproof
- Solar Powered
- Up To 10 Hours Run Time
- Battery Pack Access
- Easy Installation
- Available Mounts
CONS
- Solar Panel Size (Recharge Time)
- LED Brightness
- Price (For Some)