A Review of Utilitech’s Outdoor Motion Sensor Security Floodlight

 

As talked about in the security lighting section of this page, security lighting can be an important step in deterring thieves from breaking and entering your home.

Utilitech claim that their outdoor motion sensing floodlight has an effective range coverage of 7600 square feet. This should be ample to protect the backyard area of even a fairly large home. But is it any good? Let’s find out.

The outdoor motion sensor light comes in a well packed box, there is a detailed set of of instructions that should help even a complete novice install the fixture correctly.

The first thing you notice as you pull the unit out of it’s styrofoam housing is how solid and well made it feels. The lamp housing and mounting point are made of corrosion resistant die cast metal that won’t rust (as long as you don’t make any dings or chips in it).

The unit can accept two incandescent lightbulbs rated up to 150 watts each. This should give you plenty of illumination although I am doubtful it will fully light an area of 7600 square feet effectively.

This particular unit offers the option of staying illuminated for one or five minutes when the sensor detects movement. There is also an option for all day or night only operation. Night only operation is useful if the unit is mounted outside, this means it will only turn on once it gets dark. All day operation is handy if you plan to you use you unit in an indoor setting like and attic or garage.

The motion sensor part of this unit is connected to the lighting fixture wirelessly and powered by batteries. This is advantageous because it allows the sensor to be mounted in a different area to the lights. This would be useful if you wanted the lighting fixture to illuminate the maximum surface area by placing it up high, but did not want the unit to activate until someone got within, say, 20 feet of your property. To do this you would mount the lighting fixture high up and the motion sensor lower.

One of the interesting aspects of this wireless motion sensor is that multiple lighting fixtures can be purchased and all connected to one sensor.

Installing Utilitech’s Outdoor Motion Sensor Floodlight

Installing this lighting fixture is a breeze, a screw through one centre hole is all that’s needed to affix the unit to a a wall, garage, shed or whatever you want to mount it on.

Once the main lighting unit is up, you’ll need mount the motion sensor. Before fixing it to the wall permanently I thought it would be wise to test out different positions, I did this by temporarily attaching it to the wall with some rolled up gaffers tape. Once the optimal position has been found, the motion sensor can be affixed with the included mounting screws, however, because the unit is so light and I did not want to make more holes in my wall, I bonded it to the brickwork with some marine adhesive.

How Does it Perform?

The motion sensor is very sensitive, I tried to sneak around it but it caught me every time. You really have to choose the placement of the sensor carefully, otherwise every small bug or bird will activate the light.

The two lights on the main unit can be angles independently of each other. This feature is handy for keeping your neighbours happy as you can angle the lights away from their property.

So what about that 7600 Square feet range that the manufactures claim? Well, I think to does cover about that but at the outer edges of that range there is not a whole lot of illumination. On the plus side, if you did want further range you could buy a second lighting fixture and connect it to the same motion sensor.

Conclusion

I think this is an excellent security lighting fixture that will suit most peoples requirements. It’s low price and and flexibility in a rage of different situations make this product one to consider for anyone looking to purchase an outdoor motion sensing light fixture.