The solar accent lights are nice and easy, but might or might not be what the homeowner is looking for. We have a set of the small LED ones, and one flourescent spotlight; none put off a lot of light, but it's still nice for accent. Not to mention no cabling required! Of course, not much profit, either. The ones I've seen have all been powered by nicad batteries, which die pretty quickly, but were easily replaceable.
I tell you what, though- our set of little solar accent lights were a real lightsaver after Hurricane Isabel knocked out power for 8 days- these things are nothing, just a AA nicad and an amber LED, but we'd set all 10 out all day to soak up the sun, and set them around the house at night so we could see- a couple down the hallways, a few in the kitchen and 3 in the bathroom. They were about as bright as candles, but without the risk of fire
Re: the life, all our lights are all still working, and it's been about 2 years since they were installed.
[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 04-11-2005).]