The $50 Costco Must-Have For Lighting Up Your Yard

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When it comes to projects around your house, there are the mundane ones you complete frequently as routine maintenance — mowing your lawn and pulling weeds, for example — and there are the occasional undertakings that dramatically transform your property's appearance — like installing new outdoor lighting. If you're looking to light up your backyard landscape with a Costco find, there's a $50 option that keeps things affordable. The Lutec Craftsman Style Outdoor LED Wall Lantern is well-reviewed by customers, 81% of whom give it five-star feedback (at the time of this writing), for its appearance and function.

This wall lantern comes with a number of features that are designed to streamline its installation and day-to-day usage. It is equipped with a quick-connect installation kit, which should help to minimize your stress when connecting electrical wires. The Lutec Wall Lantern is made from shatter-resistant tempered glass to help it stand up to life outside, while the included frosted glass light diffuser gives a softer glow. No matter what climate you live in, the lantern is designed to be weather-resistant. Its design also takes rusting and corrosion into consideration, with protective measures to prevent both. 

A dusk-to-dawn sensor in the lantern ensures that there is ample lighting at night, and it automatically shuts it off during the day; this is ideal for busy individuals who might otherwise forget to turn exterior lights on and off. If you're worried about knowing how to choose and place the right size outdoor light, this lantern's dimensions are 7 inches by 8 inches by 12.8 inches — providing enough of a statement without feeling too big. Finally, the lantern's light quality is designed to be effective but also welcoming, providing 800 lumens of warm light in 3000K Soft Warm White Color Temperature.

Thanks to a reasonable price, these lanterns can be implemented around your property without being too much of an expense. Security lights are one of the best backyard lighting options, and you can mount these next to your front door and garage for extra nighttime illumination. Use them on your back patio, too, to give a warm, glowing ambiance to evenings spent outdoors. If your shed needs a little more brightness, these lanterns can be installed there as well (provided that there is electrical wiring in the structure). Happy customer feedback includes reviews like this one: "These are beautiful looking – a dramatic upgrade over the smaller, more 'contractor bulk' lights installed when our development was erected. Plus they are bright enough that they effectively illuminate our American flag that flies opposite one light. Finally we appreciate the dusk-to-dawn feature which eliminates having to install a timer." Another writes, "I thought they were beautiful on their advertisement. And I am blown away. They are even more beautiful in person. Well worth the money!"

Although most customers are very pleased with the lanterns, some negative feedback includes installation difficulties and malfunctioning sensors. One customer writes, "[It t]ook me 6 hours to install them and the solar sensor doesn't work on one of them." Costco has a generous return policy for the majority of its items, but it's always best to hang onto packaging until you're sure a product is worth keeping. If you're looking for something that doesn't require electrical connections and can be placed anywhere on your property, consider something like these WdtPro Solar Lanterns ($29.99 on Amazon) that are waterproof and give off a warm glow, similar to the Lutec Craftsman ones.