Mainstays Pillar Candle Trio, a tale with a happy ending...

After moving into my new home, I had decided that it was imperative to make my bedroom special.  I sleep here and work here.  It is my office and my sleeping area.  I spend a lot of time here and it's my own space.  During the day, the lights are on and I am working, but at night, when its time to unwind and read, I like a little ambiance.  Candles. The thing is, I hate candles.  I always forget about them, they melt wonkey, stop burning, there are rules about wick trimming and wax hugging.  I want something that is candle-like that turns on and off.  Period.  I tried many night lights.  Some were stupid colors, some were too harsh, too poignant...okay the projector one that made stars on the ceiling was cool for a while, but really, I got sick of that after about a week anyway.  I wanted something special.

A quick shop around and I found these.

Mainstays LED Pillar Candle, 3Pk 747663473573

Firstly, they are lightweight. While I appreciate that a bit of weight in a product will sometimes be an attribute to a higher quality, I really wanted a lighter weight candle trio to go on a rather decorative shelf above my bed. I simply don’t trust it to hold a lot of weight and for that, I was happy to know that these are very lightweight, while still being a dependable and nice looking part of my decor.

In terms of looks, from a distance, they are quite natural. On closer inspection, they are obviously a plastic candle and quite false, but it seems no matter how much money is spent on a false candle, it is always apparent, upon close inspection, that they are indeed false. That being said, the benefits of the false candle in that there is no mess as is associated as with a live flame, no heat, and no need for a protective surface , outweigh the few—indeed, very few benefits of live fire. These particular candles have a very pleasant, warm, soft, natural looking yellow flickering light that make them very pleasant and relaxing like its live burning counterpart. All the ambiance without the hassle.

There is a timer feature, which I will explain in a minute; however, the candles can be easily turned on with just a flick of a switch whenever you like, but will turn themselves off after a few hours. If you are like me and want to use them as a nightlight during a certain time every day, you want to flip the unit over. On the bottom you will see the on/off switch and opposite that, an LED light with a black button next to the LED. What you want to do is, turn the unit on at the time you would like the unit to turn on daily, then press and hold the black button. The candle will turn off and the LED light on the bottom will glow red. This sets the time when the candle is to turn on every day. To tell the unit how long to stay on, you press the black button again for every hour you want it to stay on before it shuts off again. I have mine running from 8 at night until 11 at night, so 3 presses of the black button. To set the timer finally, simply press and hold the black button on the bottom until the candle turns back on and the red LED light turns off. You have just set your timer on 1 candle. Repeat the process for each candle individually and they will turn off and on without any help from you. If you ever want to change the hours, simply repeat the process during the time you would like the candles to run.

In my opinion, these are a really great value for 3 nice sized candles. They look so nice when they are lit. They flicker naturally, but with no fuss, mess, or danger that goes along with having live fire you can forget about. Once you have set the timer, you never have to touch the unit again as they are quite dependable and long lasting on 3 AAA batteries. They are lightweight enough to be set on any shelf (even the delicate ones) and really look great no matter where you use them. I would suggest using them in a bathroom to go on after dark to light that area at night, a teenager’s room (they seem to really like candles and this is such a safe alternative), or as a soft light to enjoy anywhere in your home at any time.
I would not use these to give off any substantial amount of light, as they are far too soft for that. These are for ambiance and small amounts of general decorative light only.