LED landscape lights will probably always be dim. That's what LEDs do best. (Really.) That and colored light.

Solar path lights just don't harvest much energy from the sun, partly because they're small and partly because most folks wouldn't pay the cost for a decent-sized PV panel on one. Thus, no matter how efficient their lamps, they will never be really bright, either.

If you want really bright light, get line voltage (not low voltage) landscape lights and have them professionally installed. From what I've seen, that's what most commercial installations still use. It's also what I see in rich folks' gardens and back yards.

So, what is the difference between line voltage and low voltage. Where would I find line voltage. I think the ones I have looked at through Kichler and Hinkley are low voltage.

Thanks!

Line voltage means that the fixtures work on full-fledged house current at 120 volts. Line voltage current is potentially dangerous, so using it for landscape lighting forces you to jump through some extra hoops to protect the wires from damage by some errant shovel. Low-voltage fixtures use transformers to step that voltage down to, perhaps, 12 or 24 volts. The lower voltage is safer, so the wiring doesn't have to be so well protected, but it also can create efficiency problems and the need to use larger-gauge wire. In comparison to your cheapie solar lights, either line or low voltage is likely to be a huge improvement, and the low-voltage installation process would be easier.