Designing the Perfect Path Light
From our archive (2013). This post describes the original design of what became our SL07 Path Light. Specs have evolved since; see the product page for current details.
If you haven't already noticed, we are obsessed with quality path lights. Not only are path lights required for safety, they also play a large role in the appearance of your garden in the evening light. On the installation side, we've installed thousands of path lights in residential gardens, and our experience tells us the most problematic fixture has been the path light. If you've been installing path lights for a while, you probably have your own list of issues with the fixtures you've used.
Common problems with path lights
Some of these problems include, but are not limited to: aluminum path lights with a 1/4" stem that always seem to break at the stake, premium sand-cast path lights so top-heavy they need to be cemented in to keep from leaning, and companies using copper plumbing parts simply glued together. Another common issue we've run into is lack of light output. Many companies restrict output with metal bars in the front connecting the stem to the hat. This creates odd shadows and doesn't disperse the light evenly across the surface.
Finding the solution
We decided that to find the perfect path light, we would have to design it ourselves! The first requirement was a dedicated LED light source. We developed a path light using a Cree CXA chip, a 4-watt, 400-lumen light source. We chose a heavy-duty 1.25" solid virgin cast brass stake, and gave the luminaire a 9" ABS ground stake and a 20" cast brass stem. We recommend burying 6" of the stem along with the 9" stake. That's a total of 15" of the luminaire in the ground, which gives it a solid base so the path lights always stay perfectly straight and don't keel over.
Every component is threaded together, with no glue in sight. This gives the luminaire tremendous strength. We even threaded the lens into the luminaire itself. The lens is twice as thick as any lens on the market, and if it's ever broken, it's designed to simply be replaced.
Besides being able to withstand just about anything one could throw at it, the path light also gives amazing light output, which is so important to us. It creates a 14" circle of light, and the light source is completely hidden within the luminaire to enhance its appearance. We even designed an 18" extension stake for anyone who'd like a taller path light in their garden.
In our opinion, this is the most durable, beautiful path light ever made. It ticks all the boxes for those installing it, and we're sure it will meet the expectations of the end user.
See how the design has evolved in The SL07 Path Light.
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About the author: Patrick Harders, LC, is co-founder and CEO of Sterling Lighting and founder and principal lighting designer of Dayloom. He has more than 25 years of experience designing and installing outdoor lighting, and he's one of only five landscape lighting designers in North America with Lighting Certified (LC) accreditation. His projects have won multiple international lighting awards, including landscape lighting winners in 2018 and 2021, and he leads design of Sterling's luminaires.
