Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 Review: Affordable Illumination with a Few Limitations
The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 offer an accessible entry point into the world of smart landscape lighting. These lights promise to illuminate walkways, enhance landscaping aesthetics, and bolster home security when integrated with Eufy security cameras. While they offer good value for the price, they don’t quite reach the pinnacle of performance compared to more premium options.
Design and Features
Eufy has been aggressively expanding its outdoor lighting product line, and the E10 pathway lights are a testament to that dedication. Similar to other Eufy landscape lighting products, these lights connect to your home Wi-Fi network (2.4GHz band only) after an initial Bluetooth pairing. While Bluetooth-only operation is possible, a Wi-Fi connection unlocks the full spectrum of features.
The lights boast a stylish bollard design, featuring durable aluminum enclosures with a matte black finish. Inside, RGBWW LEDs provide a wide range of color options, allowing for vibrant hues and tunable white color temperatures. Each bollard emits light from a 3.5-inch frosted plastic band around the enclosure and a smaller lens on top, creating both outward and upward illumination.
What’s Included
The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 kit contains four bollard-style lights, stakes for ground mounting, a power supply, and a 50-foot low-voltage cable with an inline on/off switch.
Brightness and Color
Each light produces 350 lumens, which is adequate for pathway illumination but might not provide a broad pool of light. If brighter illumination is needed, consider the Eufy Outdoor Spotlights E10, which produce 500 lumens each, but keep in mind that a four-light kit costs significantly more.
Beyond basic illumination, the E10 pathway lights offer a broad color palette and tunable white color temperatures, ranging from a warm 1500 Kelvin to a cool 9000K. Individual light addressability enables customized color schemes, and animated routines can cycle colors through the entire chain. The app also includes numerous preset lighting effects.
Build Quality and Weather Resistance
The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 are well-built and offer solid weather protection. The individual bollards have an IP65 rating, signifying complete protection against dust and resistance to water jets from any direction. However, the power supply has a lower IP44 rating, meaning it’s only protected against objects larger than 1mm and water spray from any direction. It’s crucial to protect the power supply with a weatherproof outlet cover. The lights are rated for operation between -4 degrees Fahrenheit and 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Eufy utilizes secure DIN-style barrel connectors that are well-protected from the elements. The cable carries a low voltage of 27 volts and can be buried directly in a 6-inch trench according to the National Electrical Code.
Installation and Cabling
The system’s maximum cable length is 50 feet, with lights spaced up to 9.8 feet apart. The initial cable segment from the power supply to the switch is 11 inches, followed by a 13.4-foot cable with the switch. A 4.9-foot segment connects the switch to the first light. T-connectors link the first three lights, but the cable ends with a single-ended connector, preventing expansion beyond four lights.
If more than 50 feet is required, multiple kits are needed, but avoid using extension cords for permanent lighting, especially underground. The limited expandability contrasts with more flexible systems like Philips Hue, which offer a variety of power supply sizes and versatile cabling options.
App and Smart Features
It’s advisable to test all lights and install firmware updates before permanent installation. The Eufy app, primarily used for security products, offers limited control over the pathway lights. For full access to smart lighting features, the Eufy Life app is essential.
Both apps enable color and white temperature customization and offer numerous lighting scenes based on holidays, seasons, emotions, events, and even flags or weather.
A unique AI feature generates custom lighting scenes from user-entered phrases (up to 100 characters). While this feature is interesting, its practical value is limited.
The most compelling feature is the integration with Eufy security cameras via WonderLink technology. This allows cameras to trigger the pathway lights based on specific events. This is similar to the integration between Ring cameras and lights and Philips Hue cameras and lights, though with each, cameras can only trigger lights made by the same manufacturer.
Within the Eufy Life app, you can configure a camera to trigger a specific lighting scene when it detects a person between sunset and sunrise. You can even set the lights to flash red when a person is detected, but the system cannot differentiate between known and unknown individuals.
Final Verdict
The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 provide a solid smart lighting solution. They are rugged, weather-resistant, and offer good quality light with a wide range of colors and white color temperatures. Integration with Eufy cameras is a valuable feature.
However, the four-light limit and 50-foot cable length restrict its application to shorter pathways. The maximum distance between each bollard may also be limiting. For those with a larger budget, Philips Hue landscape lighting offers superior flexibility and scalability.
Considering the price, the Eufy lights deliver good value. A single Philips Hue Calla light and power supply can cost more than a 4-pack of Eufy lights, making the Eufy E10 a more accessible option for many homeowners.
