Hozelock3538 0000 Solar Cascade 300 Water Pump

The pump is fairly easy to assemble and produces a good head of water in full sunlight. Clipping the solar panel to the ground peg is a bit tricky as the panel slopes backwards making it difficult to locate the panel on the peg. The suckers on the pump base are not strong enough to hold the pump firmly to the pond liner. I removed them and stuck the pump body to a brick. The big problem is that the operation between solar and battery power needs manual intervention. This is not obvious from either the pre-sales description or the user manual. The solar panel has two buttons on the back; one enables solar power and the other battery operation. Check the attached picture before reading further. The solar power button (top) must be on at all times and displays a green led. The panel takes about 24hrs to charge up the batteries at which point you press the battery button. This illuminates a red led and the battery will cut in to power the pump when the sun is not shining. So far, so good. The problem arises when the battery has discharged as this turns the battery switch off. So when the battery has recharged you need to press the battery switch again. This procedure needs to be repeated each time the battery discharges. In my case, about once each day. This is a complete pain particularly as the solar panel slopes backwards so you cannot see either of the leds or buttons when viewing the panel from above. As my panel is in a flower border it also means walking across the border to get to the solar panel. My wife is not amused! In hindsight I definitely would not have bought this pump had I known of this restriction.

This is our second Hozelock Solar Cascade, The first lasted 4 years but was destroyed by a careless lawnmower!! Although the reviews on Amazon weren't brilliant, we decided to go for the same model again as it had worked for us. The new one was cheaper on Amazon than the Garden Centre we had used previously. It's working well. The only reason I haven't given it 5* is because I think that the height quoted is a bit of an exaggeration. The new one is performing just like the first one & the height suits us fine for a small pond. We take it in in the wintertime so can't comment on winter action.

Delivery was faster than expected despite lockdown. The item is easy to assemble and worked perfectly from the outset. I was looking for the model up from a basic panel and pump, one with batteries so it would work during cloud cover. The other products on the market seem to have lights and remotes which I didn’t want as it’ll be situated in my allotment pond and not in the back garden.... so this is perfect if all you want to do is put it in a bio filter and keep a small pond clear.... as well as for use in water features etc. It just comes on in daylight, any excess charge is stored in the battery and it stops when the batteries are low after dark... simple. Batteries are 4 standard rechargeable NI-MHAA 500 and easily replaceable too.

very good so long as the sun can see the panel :) it would be far better if there was a way to connect 2 panels so yuo could angle then slightly differently and catch the sun for longer in the day.

Works in direct sunlight ..so mount in direct sun. Will work on solar battery for approx 3-4hrs before running out of steam.The heads are too big for our pond so we don't use the extension and head still does the job well.

Poor all round experience.Poor performancePoor for run time lasts a few hours then cuts out.Poor when asking for refund as it expired by one dayOffered to help with returning to Hozelock but never actually did help. £54 down the drain

Was not happy with Casecade kept on cutting out , you can only take out filter on one side only and i had to go and check every 2 to 3 hours if it was still working either solar or batterys .plus im sending the product back to Amazon uk.

Very flimsy tubing for the water spray totally split when fitting together. Weak cheap plastic . Would not recommend or buy from this company again.