Viajero 4W Solar Fountain with 3000mAh Battery, Latest Upgraded Fix Floating Waterlevel Switch Solar Powered Water Pump for Bird Bath Birdbaths Garden Backyard Pond Pool Outdoor

Some tips: If you have problems with the water blowing out of the birdbath use the yellow tip. I also used a suggestion from another reviewer - I tied a small anchor (a heavy bolt) to the unit to hold it in place. Yes it frequently stops working but thats basically because algae builds up underneath the unit where there is a little vent. If it stops working, just pull it out of the water and wipe off the vent underneath. Usually just pulling it out of the water and putting it back will start it again. Keeping your birdbath clean and free of algae & gunk will keep this from happening. The battery keeps it running hours after the sun is gone from the unit. Overall its a great purchase, works as described. Took all of 2 minutes to get it up and running.

I chose this fountain to use in my birdbath because of the backup battery that should keep it going as the sun shifts away from it during the day. It's working great straight out of the box on an overcast day--starting intermittently and building up to a continuous flow. I'm surprised to see that it's working so well on this cloudy day!The birds love it. They had been ignoring my new bird bath for 3 days. I was amazed to see that just half an hour after I placed this little fountain in the birdbath, the birds began flocking to it. I think they are drawn to the sound and appearance of the moving water.it comes with a number of attachments. The yellow attachments are suitable for a bird bath, while the black emit an impressively high spray that would be perfect for a larger water feature. I may paint the yellow attachments a more neutral color.Crossing my fingers that this holds up over time...It's a lot of fun. I'm very impressed with it so far.UPDATE: Well, I loved this thing right up until it died just 3 months after I bought it. The"battery" that was supposed to keep it pumping never worked but I didn't mind the intermittent action of the fountain. I was diligent about cleaning out the little filter every day. So what this is really is cute plastic junk for a little while and then just plastic waste.I replaced it with the tried and true "Water Wiggler" which also attracts birds. I've learned my lesson!

9/9/19. Customer service contacted me and sent me a new fountain! I think it speaks volumes on their integrity. Let's hope this one lasts a lot longer! I am very confident! Highly recommendAt first I thought it was great! Obviously there was NO battery back up, but it worked nicely. Kept it clean, kept bird bath full ( little suction cups don't work and it floats to edge and a tiny breeze sends spray out of birdbath) didn't even mind asking someone to come fill birdbath when I was out of town one day. However, today it stopped working. Made sure pump was clear, covered it, waited and nothing. Can't find paperwork to get their contact info and it's 10 days past Amazon's return date. I'm really upset. Loved it and felt the price was worth if I got even 1 season out of it. However 40 days makes this a ripoff!

Bought this 11 months ago, put it in large bird bath. It goes idle when not enough sun, but even in forested foothills outside Seattle, it runs most of the day spring summer and fall. Best thing is no more mosquitos hatching in the birdbath!Because of good design, the floating fountain is never clogged by debris that’s always blowing into water, and water never shoots outside bowl. Easy to use, totally hassle-free.Often small solar powered outdoor items never work or break soon after purchase; this one is still going strong almost a year later (though tossed it in the garage over winter).Back to get 3 more; one for the kiddie pool, one for another wildlife water bowl, and one for a friend. I’m really picky about quality but 100% recommended this item.

BACKGROUND: I've used products that are "solar powered with battery backup," or "small submergible water pumps," each purchased from different companies--Solarbotics, Whisker City, and Thirsty Cat Fountains. I've had those for years and they've worked with great success. Recently, I looked up this "Viajero 2.5W solar fountain pump with 800mAh battery backup" (for use as a bird bath fountain), and its product description promised to work as well as the items previously mentioned. Low scoring reviews of this product did warn me against it, but sometimes without getting into enough detail for me (regarding how/why there were issues). So I decided to try this product at its word. REVIEW: My experience in short reads as the headline states. However, if you live in an area with lots of direct sun and are considering this product as a bird bath fountain, you may want to keep reading. PROS: The pump is strong when it's able to run. Open the pump as shown in the photo to confirm that it's clean/clear of debris, and if so it should work well in direct sunlight. Keep the intake vent facing away from the "solar collector" (see Viajero company's diagram) for best water suction results. After following the "charge up" instructions, once you've submerged the pump in water and it's under direct sunlight, it should immediately run--so if it's not running, wiggle the pump to get any air pockets out of the way. The solar panels in direct sunlight will power the water pump effectively. The backup battery is *only* enough to help through rare lack of direct sunlight (such as cast shadow). CONS: The backup battery cannot be replaced- the casing for it is sealed to keep out all water- so a replacement product is the only way to test a new battery. The Viajero company is quick to respond and willing to send a replacement product. Though I charged the battery backup under direct and indirect sun for a week before first-time use, the battery's output was little to none and couldn't keep up steady water streaming. Leaving the product out- to run in direct sunlight, or to charge in cloudy weather- the fountain sporadically worked. Removing from water and putting the product in direct sunlight again for 24 hours resulted in half a day of steady water streaming. After that, due to cloudy weather, shadows, and/or shortened daylight hours, this product again was too weak/drained to stream steadily. I expect it would've continued, as though "off and on again," in short bursts (depending on how much direct sunlight I got)--but I chose to return this product instead of trying it longer. When the water wasn't flowing steadily, the wild birds might've been too wary of it to even try. For all of these reasons, I opted to get my money back via returning this product. To solve my remaining issue, I may try a "plug-in small submergible water pump" (like the kind found in fish aquariums). Hope that anyone who's reading this will have better success!