Predator Guard Solar Powered Predator Deterrent LED Light - Scares & Deters Nocturnal Animals Away, Built to Repel Coyote, Fox, Skunk, Bear, Racoon & Wild Creatures - Protect Your Property!

The media could not be loaded. As the owner of a Free Range poultry collection, as you may imagine, I've been very interested in protecting all of my livestock.Looking at my free range chickens, the most frequent question asked is "how do you keep them from being eaten"?There is no short answer to that, as it involves sound coop construction, good structure placement on the landscape away from tree lines and other areas frequented by predators. My most vulnerable poultry at night would be ducks, as they tend to remain on the pond or seek tiny islands or brush for nesting.Many people will write about the effectiveness of flashing light technology as a deterrent to night predators. My Honey Bee Apiary is among my most vulnerable to night raids as I do live in black bear country. I can say that these flashing light systems do appear to deter black bear visits... I have noticed their tracks in range of smelling honey emitting from the bee colonies... If "I" can smell it, then the bears must be VERY interested and yet, they pass...Back in 2005 I began by using the Nite Guard units... they worked remarkably well on open range and I attached them to my portable chicken coop. With a light on every side, the chickens avoided attack from Raccoons, Fox, Bear, Coyote and other night predators that would have honestly had little problem breaking into a portable coop structure.Those units by Nite Guard worked for years and some even continue to blink faintly for a few minutes after sunset, even with their solar panels nearly white and opaque from weathering. Nite Guard had a great idea and it worked! I have free range chickens that survived more than 6 years.Later, a few years ago, another flashing light unit hit the market... Solar Nite Eyes... I immediately loved those new units as they brought new features such as Two flashing led lights (apparently to appear as the eyes of another animal) and have a larger solar panel than the Nite Guard units had. My favorite change was the addition of a magnet so I could just park them on any steel surface such as T-Posts or Metal Doors, even worked on gate hinges. I loved those units and have been using them for a few years now.And this year, I found yet another version of solar powered flashing light units called Predator Guard.When I saw them, I just thought to myself, isn't this just a repeat of Solar Nite Eyes and Nite Guard? So, I got my hands on several of them and was impressed with the changes that have been made, improving on the two predecessors...Bigger Solar Panel, charges in less timeAngled Solar Surface so snow doesn't build up as quickly as it does with Nite Guard and Nite Eyes.A ON/OFF switch! YES!! I was excited about that, as this allows me to charge and store them without having the units run down. If you want to have one in your glove compartment to use as FAKE security system for your car, or a LOCATOR in a large parking lot, it remains charged until you are ready. None of the other units do this... that is, allow you to turn them off if not needed.Predator Guard has a Magnet...Predator Guard has an enlarged screw/nail hole so you can slip it on and off without unscrewing.Bigger Face... so it appears more imposing if it's used on your house or doors for security blinkers...It has the lowest profile of all four unit designs.Then came yet "another" flashing light unit called Yard Sentinel Predator Eye...Out of the package, it appears to me, exactly like the Nite Guard unit that has been out for many years. With no improvement at all on the original design... in fact, based on my measurements, there is no difference between Nite Guard and yard Sentinel... I even phoned Nite Guard to ask if they were making units under two company and design names and they are NOT.HEAD TO HEAD, UNIT TO UNIT Comparison...Now I am a nut about being fair and accurate if I plan to compare anything... so rather than use single units, I obtained six of each design. The following are my observations regarding individual unit performance.All units from each manufacturer were removed from their packaging within 15 minutes of each other.All units were put on the same east facing window sill and allowed to charge from sunrise to sunset.Even though, I could have turned off the Predator Guard units, I did not in order to see them perform with equal charging time.All four units began flashing at or around the same time, Nite Guard, Nite Eyes and Predator Guard all came on virtually together with Yard Sentinel starting a little later.In the morning, each of the units continued flashing with pretty equal intensity, though Yard Sentinel seemed a tad dimmer than the others and flashed at a lower rate.I left all of the units in the same location through our past week of winter (low light) weather.Nite Guard- Flashing FaithfullyPredator Guard- Nice and brightNite Eyes- right on que with the others.Yard Sentinel Predator Eye.... I'm sorry to say... DEAD, not flashing at all... (all six of them)I would also like to point out that if the rechargeable batteries in these units ever go completely caput, only one unit allows you to take it apart and that would be Predator Guard.So, my final personal observations have left me with TWO FAVORITES-Solar Nite Eyes - magnetic and versatility in placementPredator Guard- ability to switch on/off, magnetic, replaceable battery.Assuming flashing light technology works and does indeed repel those night freeloaders, then two units outperform the others.As a side note... it is easier to START with these units before wildlife discovers the buffet than it is to deter them AFTER they add your animals to the menu. I'm sure if a bear had already visited my honey bees, he/she would be back no matter what, but I put the flashing lights out at the same time I began my bee research.So, I am posting this review on my favorite unit/design, Predator Guard, even though it's about all of them.Get them, they work and work well... please read my review of Solar Nite Eyes to see how I have found many ways to use them...UPDATE 1/30/2018 I have been using the new "variable frequency" flashing versions for over a year and they seem better as the flashing is varied instead of the hypnotic consistent blinking... they are still working and I'm still very happy with them. The neighbor's cat isn't going to care, nor is a dog, but those animals aren't going to eat my chickens or goats at night. Black Bears have been deterred on more than one occasion. I'm back for more!

UPDATE: I ended up having to return the 4th one as well. Since it was a day past Amazon's return date, I had to return it via the company's warranty guarantee. Not happy that they make the CUSTOMER pay to ship back their DEFECTIVE products!I do a lot of research before buying most things. These were the most-often recommended and highest rated. I also check for fake ratings on Fakespot, which I HIGHLY recommend. Fakespot gave the reviews an “A,”—meaning most were genuine—which isn’t common. Still, just because the REVIEW quality is good doesn’t mean the PRODUCT is good. Just that you can pretty much trust the reviews.Still, I should have paid attn. to the fact that Amazon reviewers didn’t even give them 4 stars. What I’m SURE I didn’t notice was that only 46% of reviewers gave these 5 stars. That’s also unusual. Somewhere in the 60’s is more common. (But again, make sure they’re not fake first!) At any rate, I decided to try one and get more later if the first worked well.I was delighted to see it working strongly the first night. So much so that I ordered 3 more just a few days later. Didn't pay a whole lot of attn. (and could see only the first from indoors), but I had tested them under a light and then holding my hand over the panel to darken it. They all flashed. So I thought I was all set.Till I discovered some time later that 2 or 3 had stopped working. (Or maybe never did beyond after a few days.) Then the 4th one quit! Had many back-and-forth emails with the co., as I REALLY wanted these as part of my coyote arsenal. Company insisted it was b/c they have to have 4-5-6 hours of direct sunlight; won't work if it's cloudy. (Never mind that they did for a few days or that ALL the other 14 solar devices I have in the same area do.) I’m not dumb; I know how solar devices work. Knew I couldn't place them in shade but NO clouds? Seriously? What good does that do for something you need every night? (Unless you live in San Diego.)Tried MANY experiments, including putting a NEW rechargeable battery in one. I'm quite sure all 4 had crappy (or old, or old & crappy) batteries, as every test--including using a charge detector---proved it. I returned the first one and decided to keep experimenting with the other 3. I put a newish battery in another…which in 12-15 emails, the co. NEVER suggested trying! It worked great; I thought my problem was solved. (Other than that I was going to have to spend ANOTHER $11 on rechargeable batteries, in addition to the $85 I’d already spent on the lights.)Or at least I thought new batteries were the solution till last night, when the one with new battery blinked partway through the night, then quit. I'm almost positive it had been sunny yesterday. I didn’t pay attn. all day, but maybe it started out sunny and then got cloudy. (But again, coyotes are around, no matter the weather. So what good is that?) Got so fed up, I decided to return all 3.Hadn’t yet collected the last one (the one with the good battery) from the yard and I came home tonight, and now it’s blinking away like crazy again! (It was sunny today.) Wish I could keep these longer to keep experimenting, but my 30 days are up tomorrow. (Tip: CHECK them every so often when you get them to see if they’re still working. I thought the 3 I couldn’t see were. Had I checked earlier, I’d have started experimenting earlier.)So. It appears these need IDEAL conditions to work: new batteries + FULL, DIRECT sunlight for a minimum of 4 hrs. And that may not get you through the night. I’m tempted to replace them one at a time and start over again because I REALLY want these (or something similar). On the other hand, the 14 other solar devices (strobe lights & motion-detector lights) work a WHOLE lot better and are a WHOLE lot less expensive. I just like the “eyes” idea of this and want a variety of things, as coyotes habituate quickly, and when they learn that things won’t hurt them, you have to confuse them with something else. Maybe I should just move to San Diego!UPDATE: Even the GOOD one (that I said was suddenly working when I came home) went out partway through the night. Returning it, too. These are unreliable and not worth the money. Changing what would have been two starts to one.