About three weeks ago, I was offered a free 50 foot, Southwire LED String Lights set (model 7164SW) for review via the Amazon Vine Program, and I accepted. We like to grill for as long as we can into the fall. We have a fully enclosed deck off the kitchen that is a full floor up from the ground in the back of the house. I think the interior space is approximately 16x12, not huge but a nice size. The enclosed deck makes grilling late into the season, regardless of rain, relatively easy. Due to strict building codes, the deck was not approved for permanent electrical lighting. So at this time of year, with the sun going down earlier and earlier, grilling at 7pm starts to involve using myBORUiT Headlamp that I purchased back in 2015. That headlamp works great for night grilling, but it still sucks to walk around with a headlamp on my head. Ah, but now I have my deck all lit up very nicely with this 50 foot Southwire LED String Lights set! Was out there grilling with it tonight, just a few hours ago, fully well lit, in what would have been complete inoperable darkness. Let me tell you that I don't write a lot of five star reviews. You can check my Amazon profile and see that five stars is a rarity from me. This is a five star product. The quality of the design and construction merits it. Starting with the plugs on the cable, which are heavy duty, crystal clear plastic that allow you to see the electrical connections to the three individual wires within. The conductors themselves look to be a brass alloy, so they are resistant to moisture and humidity. The female connector at the other end of the cable is not only clear but it's actually also lit with it's own small LED. The cable itself is heavier and of better construction than any of my other 50ft outdoor extension cords that I use around the house and garden - very heavy duty, extremely flexible and durable looking. The five individual lighting nodes are spaced approximately 10 feet apart with the inital one located approximately 8 feet from the plug for a total length of approximately 60~62 feet (including the length of each of the five light units and another foot of cable after the last light). Each lighting node is made of a durable looking, sealed, yellow plastic housing with a round mounting hole molded into the center of the back. Each light node has three rows of 11 LEDs on the front under a clear plastic lens and two rows of 3 LEDs on the back of each node. Depending on your usage, it could be very handy to have those LEDs on the back. I mounted my light string using existing hooks around the interior perimeter of my deck that already hang bamboo shades. I used plastic zip ties to secure the light nodes to existing hooks and ran the wire all around the perimeter using those same hooks to an existing outdoor electrical outlet near the door. I managed to get a node in each corner with the additional 5th node mounted in the center of the 16 ft side. For me, a very easy and inexpensive setup that can be easily modified and easily taken down before the freezing cold northeast winter (for which I see no point in leaving them outside). The 50 foot string has claimed total of 4000 lumens of light output and is listed as using 39 watts of electricity. I used myP3 Kill A Watt P4400 Electricity Usage Monitor to double check the electrical usage. With the 50 foot string turned on, the Kill A Watt P4400 read 37 watts initally but dropped to 35 watts within a few minutes. FYI: the Kill A Watt P4400 is supposed to have an accuracy of +/- 0.2%. I don't have a way of objectively measuring the light output, but I'd say 4000 lumens is probably pretty accurate given my experience with various LEDs lighting sources lately. The five light nodes light up my 16x12 deck brightly, evenly and completely. Also, I'd estimate that the color temperature of the light given off is approximately 4500~5000K. It really looks nice and natural to me. It's definitely not warm white (2500K), but it doesn't feel harsh or too blue either. As far as actual temperature, the light nodes get warm, but not hot to touch. Overall, I think this is a great, high quality, indoor/outdoor light set. I actually described the quality to my friends as "epic." From what I can tell, Southwire is an American company although this set is manufactured in Indonesia. If this set is any indication of the quality of other products from Southwire, I'll definitely be checking out more of their product line.
