David Nebenzahl wrote:

There must be something in between this gold-plated stuff and the Malibu
crap one finds at Home Despot and elsewhere. Anyone have any specific
suggestions?

You need to draw a distinction between what Home Depot stocks in their retail
locations (I agree - Malibu is crap) and what they sell through their web site.
They no longer show the Progress Lighting fixtures I bought, but I'd stack the
quality against any other mid grade brand.