BELL Weatherproof Portable Spike Light, PAR38 Bulb, CFL Compatible, Bronze

Works as intended. Seems solid. Would buy again and the price was great.

When I bought my first outdoor lights, many years ago, they were nice metal things that had a rubber gasket that fit tightly against the bulb to keep water out of the socket. Over the years I have added more outdoor lighting to my landscaping, only to discover that the only thing available was now made from plastic. Not only was it plastic, but it's designed is a cone shape that catches, holds, and actually funnels water directly into the light socket, causing the bulbs (which are expensive) to corrode and short out the entire lighting system. I have checked with every hardware and lighting store in town. All they carry anymore are those horrible plastic things....and they cost more than my metal one, too. I was about to give up my search when I found these babies! They are made from a heavy duty metal that will last forever AND they have the tight gasket around the bulb. I ordered two the first time, because I wasn't sure what the quality of these lights would be, because they are so reasonably priced... I was thrilled, and promptly used the two new lights to replace two that had corroded the bulbs so badly that I couldn't even get the bulbs out of the socket anymore. I just placed an order for three more, just to keep them on hand in case I decide to add more outdoor lighting around the pool this spring. As long as Hubbell continues to sell these wonderful outdoor lights, I will never waste another penny on those poorly designed plastic monsters, and my bulbs will last three times longer now, too! Other than the fact the the cord is really really short, limiting the arrangement possibilities of multiple lights in the same area, these lights are sturdy and designed to protect the working part of the expensive flood and spot light bulbs. What's not to love?

Excellent flood light holder. Easy to use and very sturdy.

Works fine. Longer cord would be nice.

I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of this light. The people leaving bad reviews are confused and don't know what the product is supposed to be or how it works. It's a simple light socket, no it is not going to be water proof forever. At such a low price, it wouldn't be a big deal if you needed to buy a new one with every light bulb anyway. The quality is significantly higher than that of any other chinese product that looks similar. This is a genuine Bell product, UL certified, and correctly grounded for safety. Most of the chinese products don't have a ground, and are not certified by anybody. For some reason they also cost more, this product is a win win. It is exactly the same as a typical outdoor style hard mounted lamp holder used on millions of homes, and made by the original manufacturer that basically set that as standard. This item is not meant to be permanently left out in your yard. It is for seasonal only. It is only designed to be plugged into an extension cord and is as temporary as any extension cord would be. If you need a PAR38 lamp holder, with a stake, you cannot find a better quality one at any price.

I like that this light fixture is metal and the rubber seems to be pretty tight around the bulb so far. I bought this to use for my motion lightbulb (GE+ led par 38) and it's perfect. I didn't want to put it high and let it shine in all the neighbor's yards, I needed to have it detect motion around my new vehicle because someone damaged a tire during the night. I'm hoping the motion light will scare off this person as it was cheaper than a camera. I staked it and walked around after dark and it came on exactly as I wanted. Great buy for me and I recommend. Even though the cord is short I didn't mind as I plugged it into an outdoor extension cord and I like having the heavier duty 3 prong plug which is on it.

Overall a good light for the money. All metal construction. Grounded. It has a rubber gasket that "hugs" the base of the bulb when screwed in. This keeps water out. You MUST puts some rubber-friendly lube on the gasket. Otherwise the bulb is hard to screw in and you cannot feel when it is screwed down tight enough. In my case, I over-tightened the bulb and broke a critical piece inside the base. The metal "cup" inside, where the bulb threads fit in, ripped away from the ceramic cup that it sits in. The mfr should have included a small packet of rubber-friendly lube or made the inside parts stronger to accommodate the force it takes to screw in a bulb without lube. The lube would also guarantee a water-tight fit. I fixed the light with spare electrical parts and used a food-grade lube bought here on Amazon.

Much better construction than the plastic spike lamp fixtures, but having to buy a separate 3ft extension cord (in my case) to reach the main extension cord I'm using is just silly. It allows for another electrical connection that could go bad, and if you wanted to just plug this directly into a outside outlet; impossible since they are up the outside wall by code to keep them out of the elements, way further than the attached cord on this fixture could reach. The good news is that they have a ceramic socket vs. plastic and the fixture body is metal vs. plastic. Also the LED flood light bulb that I use fit this socket better so that there was room to seal around the base of the bulb with electrical tape to make sure no rain or snow water gets into the socket. Good outside flood lamp fixture if you can deal with the short power cord.