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Home Depot is the go-to retailer for a lot of people, but that doesn’t always mean its products are the best. While the store does indeed have a solid selection of hand tools, certain brands, such as Kobalt, are absent from Home Depot’s shelves. The reason is that many big-box retailers have exclusive contracts with specific companies. And, although Home Depot offers a wide variety of outdoor lighting accessories, the quality of its dusk-to-dawn light bulb adapters varies depending on the brand. 

Home Depot light bulb adapters mostly receive a bad rap from user reviews, but there are two brands to watch out for in particular: Woods and Westek. On Home Depot’s online store, these are the two most prominent brands, as they have the greatest number of different options. However, customers often complain about the quality of these adapters, particularly in terms of performance. For example, one of the most sold dawn-to-dusk adapters is the Westek light control for fluorescent bulbs, which has an abysmally low rating of 2.7/5 stars. The most common complaint? The sensor simply fails to do its job properly. Even the most reviewed Woods adapter is said to “turn on and then off intermittently.”

Dusk-to-dawn adapters from Woods and Westek also suffer from flickering. Reviewing a Woods adapter with an additional manual timer, one user writes, “Completely useless, the sensor is too sensitive… 20 minutes of flickering before I threw it out.” The cause of the flickering may be from the sensor’s inability to distinguish between the light from the bulb and the light from the sun. One user says, “The photocell triggered by the light they power… ended up with a strobe effect.” Fortunately, if you shy away from the popular brands, you can find some quality Home Depot dusk-to-dawn adapters.

The first brand names to appear when you search on Home Depot’s online store are often the cheapest, in terms of both quality and price. For example, one well-received option comes from Dewenwils. The brand name itself isn’t front and center in the listing, and the price is slightly higher than that of many Woods and Westek options. Those few extra dollars make the difference in the sensor’s performance. One owner writes that their “previous similar sensor on two garage light fixtures… did not work. These two new sensors work perfectly.” Dewenwils also offers a white two-pack with a rotatable sensor, and users say its sensitivity works “perfectly” for accurately sensing when to turn on and off.

eSenLite has an expensive adapter, but users overall find it to be highly effective. Even Westek offers a slightly more expensive option that generally wins user approval. While the single adapter costs nearly as much as one of the two-packs, most users report that it turns on and off as expected. One reviewer, comparing the high-end single adapter to cheaper Woods adapters, writes, “Very happy… This item goes off and on [at the] same time, whereas Woods’ control was extremely erratic.”

The pattern is clear: customers of dusk-to-dawn light bulb adapters recommend spending a little more. Even if a brand is owned and promoted by Home Depot, it’s worth looking into the less-popular brands. In the case of adapters, many users end up simply throwing away the lower-quality, cheaper options, so the higher-quality options are worth it.

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Home Depot allows customers to leave ratings on reviews on individual product listings. The ratings are out of five stars, providing a rough idea of how users feel about their purchase. We went through the reviews to gather individual takeaways, since different people have different standards for what constitutes a quality product. As is the case with this particular product, the reviews of the most popular listings often need to be cross-checked with those of less popular listings to find a consensus. In other words, popularity does not necessarily mean quality.

In the same way that online retailers often display their partnered brands first, they also sometimes curate the reviews. Thus, it’s also necessary to check outside sources that aren’t Home Depot. We explored forums like Reddit and BudgetLightForum.com to gain additional insights into the quality and performance of Home Depot dusk-to-dawn light bulb adapters.