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Over the course of a couple of months we put 11 outdoor lights through an assault of durability tests to find the ones you'll be able to rely on all year round for many years to come.

The lights we tested range in price from £10 up to more than £60 (depending on how many metres you buy). We've tested mains-powered lights, battery-powered lights, icicle lights and fairy lights so that we can recommend the most durable sets, whatever your requirements. 

Surprisingly, fewer than half of the outdoor lights completely survived our durability tests. Clear signs of corrosion and poor soldering were the most frequent causes of early failure. Find out which lights suffered this fate. 

Prices and availability last checked: 7th March 2022.

Our recommended solar lights still work in low light winter conditions. Discover the best solar lights in our tests . 

Only logged-in Which? members can view the test results below.  If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the outdoor lights we tested. 

Join Which? now to get instant access to our Best Buy recommendations below.

Cheapest price: from £26.98 for five metres (including starter cable), available at Festive lights .

You can buy these lights in five-metre increments up to 100 metres in length. They're relatively pricey for outdoor lights, but it's claimed they can survive 'prolonged outdoor use'. 

Log in or join Which? to find out how they fared in our tough durability tests and whether they're worth the investment. 

Cheapest price: £21.99 available at Amazon

These outdoor icicle lights offer 10 metres of cable and 400 lights for your money. The lights also have eight modes and a remote control to switch them on and off.

Log in or join Which? to see if these lights survived rough treatment and severely wet conditions.

Cheapest price: £12 for 300 lights at Homebase

These lights are relatively cheap for a whopping 30 metres of cable if you buy the 300-light version. They also come with a built-in timer that turns the lights on for six hours and off for 18 hours. 

Log in or join Which? to see whether it's worth a trip to Homebase for these lights.

Cheapest price: £7.99 available at Amazon

These battery-powered lights are one of the biggest-selling outdoor lights on Amazon. 

They're 10 metres in length and there's 100 lights on the string, but will they survive the great outdoors? Log in or join Which? to see if we recommend them.

Cheapest price: £21.99 at Lights4fun

This string of 200 lights is almost 20 metres in length and powered by three D cell batteries. It also has a timer function. 

Log in or join Which? to find out if these lights can survive wet and freezing conditions, and how well they deal with rough treatment. 

Cheapest price: £21.99 available at Amazon  

These mains-powered fairy lights are 20 metres in length and have 200 lights in the string. They also come with a remote control, so you can turn the lights on and off from the comfort of your sofa. 

Log in or join Which? to see what we made of them and if they survive sustained subzero temperatures and our other tough durability tests.

Cheapest price: £12.99 available at the Christmas decorations outlet (out of stock)

It's a lot of lights for £12.99 and they're spread over 24 metres of cable, plus they have a timer as part of the package too. 

But has Premier cut corners on the durability and robustness of these lights? Log in or join Which? to find out.

Cheapest price: £35.98 for two metres at Lights4fun

These lights are connectable so you can buy them in increments of two metres all the way up to 40 metres. You can buy them in white, warm white or a mixture of colours. 

They're a bit light on different flashing modes, as you can only either have them on or off, but their main selling point is the claimed durability of the lights. Log in or join Which? to see if they lasted.

Cheapest price: £23.99 for five metres available at Christmas direct

Available in eight colours with either green or white cabling, these could be the perfect outdoor lights to make your home or garden look fabulous all year round. 

In our tests we put them in subzero temperatures for 12 hours, dunked them in buckets of water and gave them some severe rough treatment. Log in or join Which? to find out how they fared.

Cheapest price: £19.99 available at The Range

You get more then 30 metres of lights with this set and 400 LEDs, which is impressive considering the price. 

But will they still be shining after a typical British winter? Log in or join Which? to see if they impressed or disappointed.

Cheapest price: £12.99 available at WerChristmas (out of stock)

These bright white lights are almost 20 metres long, have eight light modes and 200 lights in total. 

Log in or join Which? to find out if they have enough backbone to get through a tough winter.

To keep long-lasting lights it's essential to store them correctly in any months when you might not be using them, making sure they aren't kept in a big tangled heap. 

We know from our research that outdoor lights have an issue with longevity. They simply don't last long enough, and many end up in landfill far too quickly. 

We set out to find out if there are outdoor lights that will survive tough British winters, and how much you need to pay for them. 

Of course we couldn't test these products over three or four years like we might like to - by the time we could publish the results you wouldn't be able to buy the lights anymore. 

So we designed a really tough set of tests to simulate the type of conditions these types of lights might endure over a harsh British winter. 

Each set of lights was subjected to a sustained shower with a hose, and then also fully submerged in a bucket of water for an hour. 

Dripping wet, the lights were put into a freezer for 24 hours at -16 degrees. 

Before we even started the durability tests the lights were all left outside in all weathers for three weeks. This was enough of a test for many of the lights to already show signs of corrosion. 

We set up the lights, bashed them against fence posts and sharply tugged the wires repeatedly where they entered the plug socket and all along the cable. 

This tests simulated the type of rough treatment the lights might receive if they're being untangled, or put up without much care.