The lights work great - Howevet, I live in Northern Minnesota, and the sun does not rise very high in the sky here, and our house shades the sun until 11- 12. Pine trees shade the sun after 12 pm.
I didn't know how much sunshine charge time there would be in the location I chose, I just liked the concept of streaming lights from one focal center. I put them on our flag pole.
The lights come on before 5pm and usually last about an hour. I suspect they will last longer as the season goes on - it's January 3rd - and the sun will rise higher in the sky everyday. I'll leave the lights on until spring thaw, so we will enjoy for many months!
The lights were easy to put out, the stakes came with it to anchor the light strings in the ground. (Thus I'm not removing until the ground has thawed).