Written by Terry Smith
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Best outdoor floodlights [UK]: top LED led flood lights with sensors high quality reviewed
This article was last updated on November 16th, 2021 at 1:58 am
Since I bought a new car and converted my shed into an office with a new outdoor cctv security floodlight cameras for my shed I have become completely conscious about security. It’s amazing who and when just randomly walk on your property, dump things in your bins, and generally behave in ways you and I would deem totally unethical, the UK has become pretty relaxed and this is an unsavoury bi-product. So I decided to fight back and add the best outdoor flood lights I could find based on value for money, reliability (IP rating – for rain and outdoors), and power use of course 🙂 – here’s a look at those in action:
After installing the security cameras I decided the next step was more, and brighter lights everywhere. Let’s be honest, garden solar lights are lovely but they lack that power to really bother an intruder. An LED floodlight however is just the ticket! After a little research I came across the best outdoor floodlights which I’ve thoroughly tested and pleased to share my persona experiences with you.
I rated my outdoor floodlights based on brightness, how much energy they use, how good the motion detection (honestly some don’t trigger when they should – frustrating) was or if it was too sensitive (and then some trigger when they should not 😀 ), ease of installation, and or course price. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn the ones I picked are pretty cheap and do an incredible job of lighting up around my home and garden. Outdoors is now an area I am fully able to navigate at night without the risk of tripping over one of the kids toys 😀
So with that in mind please take a look at our picks for best outdoor floodlights pick in the UK based on LED floodlights only:
Editor top picks for the best picks best outdoor flood lights in the UK (LED only):
Best outdoor flood light: Motion Sensor LED Security Light – perfect for your average home and workshop setup
Best outdoor LED flood light with sensor: Motion Sensor LED Security Light with motion sensor – must have if you want PIR version
Most powerful flood light: Natur 500W LED Outdoor Floodlight – great for football pitches or large areas
Best energy performance: MustWin 50W Security Lights with Motion Sensor – produces 6000 Lumens from just 50 Watts
Best value for money: CLY Security Lights with Motion Sensor – 20 Watt flood light version
Best alternative if the top pick unavailable and you want outdoor, security, and PIR: Lepro Outdoor Motion Sensor 50W PIR Sensor Security Lights
What to look for when buying the best LED outdoor flood lighting in the UK
There’s loads of things to sensibly consider when buying LED floodlighting. Firstly, you want to remember LED lasts much longer than halogen so don’t do it to yourself – buy properly. The next consideration is how powerful you need them – I’ve decided to give you an example of what 50 Watt outdoor flood light setups can do in this article to help you understand you really don’t need that many Watt’s unless you’re lighting up a football pitch then you’ll choose the Natur 500W LED Outdoor Floodlight 😀
Getting and LED with a sensor really doesn’t cost that much more either and works superbly in tandem with your security. It also benefits you when coming home in the dark too. You also want to consider aesthetics as well as crucial IP rating which designates whether a light is suitable for outdoor use or not. Don’t worry, I have you covered in the help buying an outdoor LED floodlight section below:
LED lasts longer than halogen
Don’t mess about with Halogen bulbs. They are a thing of the past. If you have to screw a bulb (or fit it) then you are buying wrong. I’ve ripped them all off the wall at this house as the seals have corroded and all light bulbs broke – pure hassle. The only place halogen makes sense to me (although less so more and more is building work site lights)
Don’t buy cheap, buy once. The top picks in this article like the Motion Sensor LED Security Light and Lepro Security Lights are specifically designed to ensure you only wire up (or in my case bring round an electrician) once. They are not expensive for what they do – securing your home and making the garden navigable at night for a few quid is an absolute bargain – you’ll wish you did it sooner.
How powerful are LED flood lights
The LED flood lights come as a sealed unit that require no maintenance or bulb changes. Don’t panic, they literally last so long it’ll blow your mind. They don’t cost that much either, so when the time comes, you’l already have 50,000 or more hours use from them. Make sure you pick the right wattage for you too. In my example I am using 50 Watt LED flood lights and I have four of them to light up my whole drive and home. This is absolutely overkill. If you are trying to cover a small area then you may consider a 20 Watt LED flood light and still find it overpowering. Here’s what a few 50 Watt LED flood lights (the Motion Sensor LED Security Light) can do combined with a camera in pitch black middle of the night:
LED flood lights with sensors are best
There’s no question led flood lights with sensors are best – mine are PIR, this is passive infrared sensor if that helps :D. I certainly will only be including flood lights with motion detection (with exception of one long range super bright floodlight – the Natur 500W LED Outdoor Floodlight) – this then means you can turn up and down how long you want the light to stay on for once they have detected movement. You obviously want to make sure you set the motion sensors correctly too. I don’t mind it going off if a cat intrudes but birds and so on is overkill. Here’s what a motion sensor looks like – the non sensor flood light simply won’t have this:
They all come with changeable settings in my review so don’t worry about that, I’ve taken care of that already. Here’s a look at those cats I don’t mind which between my security cameras and floodlights now get caught red handed 🙂 Obviously if you don’t like cats then it’s a case of looking at cat scarers on our other article.
LED garden lighting aesthetically pleasing
Garden lights are often soft light and well designed. That doesn’t mean you can’t work something out for your LED flood lights. Consider you can set them to turn on and off in a matter of a few seconds (as little as five seconds is the norm). So if you want to use them as garden lighting for extended periods of time they can normally be set to on fully all night if you so choose. They don’t need to be a permanent feature, just there, doing their job when needed:
Understand IP ratings – what you can use indoors and outdoors
IP44 and IP65 are two terms you want to become familiar with. One is for the outside and can be uncovered – this is the IP65. The IP44 is outside use but should be covered. This is an important detail that I fell foul of when I bought my lights. I can be absolutely sure I have invalidated the warranty with this install as I have not followed their instructions clearly:
You can also see the security camera floodlights I installed too (notice this picture is before I cladded my house – this article has been updated and doesn’t it look much better now 🙂 ) and these are IP65. Annoying right? Well I think so because even as a garden expert (electric novice) I still made this mistake and the sales patter wasn’t clear about this off the bat. If you intend to use these outdoors with no cover then please ensure they are IP65 rated as the whole idea is to only do this once! I’m glad my mistake helped you 😀
Best outdoor floodlights [UK]
1. Motion Sensor LED Security Light
My top pick is actually not the LED I used first time. Why you might be wondering? Well I made a mistake that you can learn from. The LED floodlights are practically identical to mine in performance and price except these are IP65 rated. Mine are only IP44 rated making these much better for outdoor use. Now that’s really annoying to me that I had to research and understand what that means but in a nutshell IP65 is designed for outdoor on walls. The difference is IP44 can be used outside and under roof cover. IP65 like the ones in this listing can be used wherever with no cover. Now, I know that’s my fault but look at your average listing, it’s an easy mistake to make, so much so I am not including IP44’s in any of the reviews here to be sure the same doesn’t happen again.
Like my lights they are 4000 lumens and literally turn night into day with 70 LED’s. All 50 Watts versions I tested give off so much light it’s practically impossible to tell any difference, they are simply put, more than adequate for a 20-30 metre range and you’ll still see clearly. Here’s a look at the range from the front of my property at night to give you a clearer idea of what you are buying here:
Why I like the Motion Sensor LED Security Light by LOFTer is mainly reliability and the fact these are a quality PIR outdoor flood light that will last and last :). They do everything else as expected from a motion censored LED floodlight (10ft is adequate for my needs but something you should consider – no one can get 3 metres from my home without triggering one of the four lights or the floodlights from the cameras). The sensor is adjustable and the right can be adjusted to remain on from 7 to 420 seconds which is absolutely fine, they are good in the snow (the beast from the East proved that) and they definitely live up to their IP65 rating. They have a sun and night mode which means you can easily select whether these come on in the day or not. Don’t take this lightly – it’s a great design and some models don’t have this. I nearly pulled my hair out setting up an old Halogen light some years ago 😀
No why I like these the most is they do their job at the right price. It’s unusual I pick based on the cheapest however these are the best outdoor floodlights in the UK at this money, quite frankly, I hope the manufacturer doesn’t read this review or I can imagine an increase is on the way! 🙂
In terms of installation the mounting bracket is pretty much a standard. You’l want three fixings in which they provide. I never use these and always upgrade them to fisher fixings. There’s no way I would ever use the flimsy fixings that come with al these sets – I have pebble dash so I really need it bedded in well…
Like almost all floodlights you can manoeuvre the right exactly where you want with a 180 degree range up and down – just make sure you pick the right direction on install as you cannot change this after – it is only vertical adjustments that are possible. These are the right lights with a good bit of power for a 30ft garden. A definite buy with confidence.
2. Lepro Security Lights Outdoor Motion Sensor
I like the Lepro Outdoor Motion Sensor 50W PIR Sensor Security Lights. They provide a little more power than my top pick but honestly, at that many lumens (4200) it’s impossible to tel the difference with my old eyes. These came in second only down to the price. They do al the same jazz as the top pick with a few differences. There are only 54 LED and the time settings can range from 3 to 480 seconds lit. The detection distance is much greater at 10m but you have to consider the greater the distance the more likely you are to throw false positives and also the light isn’t that bright at 10m distance so I prefer to have a detection distance similar to the clear light – hope that makes sense. If you want a light to come on from a distance for the barbecue or whatever at night though, this may well be your thing but don’t expect to turn night into day from 10 metres, 50 Watt you want the next pick for that :D. Also another thing to consider, if you buy the Ring floodlight cameras and these are to work in conjunction, they are 10m detection distance too. So you might want to sync entirely.
These are very nicely built fixed units so no worries on rain penetration and being made from aluminium there’s no rust to worry about either. They fit just as easily with three fixings as the best pick and in general are really a very good option. The main difference between the two is the detection range. If you want further, pay up the extra few quid – you can buy these with confidence.
3. Natur 500W LED Outdoor Floodlight
I thought its about time we tried to turn night into day with a top floodlight pick.
Do you need long distance and do you need bright? Yes, then the 500W LED Outdoor Floodlight by Natur is absolutely what you want. Strategically placed you wouldn’t need garden lights seeing as these will light 30-40 metres and maybe even a little more at the right height. Being IP65 you can place it anywhere, it’s also still fitted with three fixings which are not provided but that’s no drawback as I would expect you to use fishers to completely ensure this thing is fixed tightly.
Despite being much larger than the other picks (obviously more LED’s), it’s still on the same bracket mounting which makes it a little less sturdy – don’t get me wrong, it’s adequate but I would definitely like to see the bracket upgraded further in the future to carry the additional weight. You’re going to receive this thing in the post an think I am one of those sad over engineering types – well I probably am but it’s still worth pointing out in my opinion. They are welcome to send me the latest model and I will gladly update the review for them to this point.
Overall, if you need serious light and reliability you won’t go far wrong and this is very well priced too.
4. MustWin 50W Security Lights with Motion Sensor
Back to sensible garden lighting 🙂 The MustWin 50W Security Lights with motion sensors are a very good comparison to my second pick and almost identical in costs. They claim 5000 lumen from their 50 watt but I would say I can’t tell the difference genuinely between any of the four floodlights in this review at 50 watt. They do have one advantage over the second pick though and that is the length of time. You can pick 7 seconds all the way up to 13 minutes. This means you could again strategically place lights to save on further garden lighting. Moving 4 times an hour at night with a barbecue and friends around is very doable – just heading to the fridge for a crisp beer alone 🙂
The sales description is a little misleading in a good way (for once you’re thinking) :D. When I tested this right the detection seemed to be upwards of 3 metres, maybe even further which is not as stated in the sales – they mention two metres. Perhaps they are being cautious and do not wish to oversell – I can’t fault a suppler for that!
The other thing that’s cool about this light is he design. In my mind this is easily the best looking floodlight, so if you’re design orientated and prefer a bit of style mixed into your overall thought process for buying a product this one doesn’t give up anything on performance – so a worthy buy then if you pay a few more quid than the top pick.
Ike the other top picks the motion/light/and sensors for night and day are all easily adjusted. Being IP65 (waterproof) rated you can buy with confidence for outdoor, uncovered use.
5. CLY Security Lights with Motion Sensor
CLY Security Floodlights are worth a mention. Again I am not sure on the 4000-5000 lumen range – you can’t pick one and another apart so I would assume them all on a pretty level playing field for that. One thing I particularly like about the CLY is the 3000k warm light. This would be much better for relaxed garden light settings I feel than intruders. I might put a light like this by the front door to be a bit friendlier (I’m not friendly – I went Cool white :D) but it would certainly suit that setting well.
The design is sleek and looks nice in white, with a 2 year guarantee and a seller active with decent customer service this might is well worth a shout.
The detection range is 12m, probably the longest detection range of all the 50 Watt products reviewed today. It’s pretty reliable on that too from testing. I don’t like that much distance though, it seems to throw too many fast positives. The PIR is definitely good on this unit though. The settings are easy to handle too, you’ve got sun and moon – then, the timing is variable and runs on 15 second intervals. Simply select which time you want the light to stay on for after detection and it’ll work as expected. Taking of which the operation range is 15 seconds up to 10 minutes.
Overall as best outdoor floodlights in the UK go, this one was we’ll worth the inclusion on the list.
6. CLY Security Lights with Motion Sensor - 20 Watt
When I last reviewed flood lights the CLY Security Light at 20 Watt was unavailable. Now it’s back it has to be included as the best budget pick for outdoor flood lights. It’s also been upgraded to IP66 which means outdoor truly is outdoor and if you look at the reviews when you follow my link you’ll see this was already a quality product with super feedback! So now it’s better you’re getting even more of a bargain!
it’s almost identical to the 30 Watt version above though it’s slightly less power and costs less. However with that said, for your average porch or side of building, if not placed too high like I have done with the 50 Watt Motion Sensor LED Security Light setup then you’ll easily be able to make out who or what is coming toward your property. And it’s certainly ample for bringing in the bags from shopping in the dark too. That’s probably why this is a top seller – ticking the most boxes for the average home.
Just to recap – it’s got the night and day motion sensor with 4 easy to use timer settings for the motion sensor 10,45,120, and 600 seconds. Those settings cover almost everyone’s personal preference so there’s no problems there either.
Installation is nice and easy – three screws into timber or if brick – you have wall plugs supplied too so a complete kit and definitely worth the money and pick as best value in the UK!
