The 7 Best Metal Wind Chimes

The Bursvik is the chime that most people end up recommending, and the reasons are the boring structural ones rather than anything about styling. It is aluminum, which is the alloy that rings, and the tubes are long enough at a 37 inch overall length to produce a note that sits low rather than tinkling.

The second thing it gets right is where the tubes hang from. A tube free at both ends has two still points about a fifth of the way in from each end, and drilling there lets the tube ring almost undamped. Cheap chimes drill near the top edge because it is easier, and the sustain dies. This one does not have that problem, which is audible immediately.

The black finish is a practical choice as well as an aesthetic one. Dark anodised and coated aluminum holds colour better than thin painted finishes, which chalk in strong sun, and it hides the marks a clapper leaves on the inside of the tubes over time.

Two honest caveats. A chime this long is genuinely loud in an exposed spot, so think about the nearest bedroom window before choosing where it hangs. And like every chime, the nylon cord is the part that will eventually fail, not the metal.

Bottom line: the safe recommendation in this category and the one to buy if you want a low, clear note without researching alloys.

• Overall length: 37 inches including disc, windcatcher and cord
• Tube material: aluminum alloy
• Finish: black outdoor coating
• Tubes: tuned set
• Hanging: top disc with braided cord
• Use: patio, porch, garden and balcony

For a garden, a deck or a large porch where there is room for a full length chime to swing clear. It suits anyone who wants a low note rather than a bright one, and it is a common gift choice for a housewarming or as a memorial piece. Skip it if your only hanging spot is a small balcony a few feet from a window, where a shorter chime is far easier to live with.

Hang it clear of walls and corners so the tubes swing evenly instead of being buffeted into each other. Check the cord at the top disc once a year, since ultraviolet light is what degrades braided nylon, and restring with waxed cord or braided line before it parts rather than afterwards. Bring it in during a severe storm if the hanging point is not solid. Rinse rather than scrub the finish.

If a deep tone is the reason you are shopping, this is the chime in this group that delivers it, and the reason is straightforward physics rather than tuning craft. Pitch falls with the square of tube length, so a 45 inch chime is not a slightly deeper version of a 30 inch one, it is a different register.

The heavy walled tubes are the second half of the story. Thicker walls carry more energy, so the note is louder and the decay is longer, and thin walled tubing is the usual economy in chimes that look long but sound weak. ASTARIN states the heavier tubes explicitly, which is the kind of claim worth paying attention to.

Six tubes rather than five gives more possible combinations, which fills out the sound in gusty conditions without tipping into the clatter you get from very high tube counts packed close together.

The practical consequences of size are real. This needs a hanging point high enough that the bottom of the chime is not at head height, and clear space in every direction. It is also genuinely loud in an exposed position, so consider where the sound travels before committing to a spot.

Bottom line: the pick when a low carrying tone is the entire point, provided you have the height and the space for it.

• Overall length: 45 inches
• Tubes: 6 heavy walled aluminum tubes
• Tone: deep, long decay
• Finish: black
• Presentation: sympathy and memorial gift packaging
• Use: gardens, hanging brackets and open outdoor spaces

For open gardens with a high hanging point, and for anyone who specifically wants the lowest note available rather than a general purpose chime. It is also a common choice as a memorial gift. Not the right chime for a balcony, a small porch, or anywhere the bottom of the tubes would be at head height.

Settle the hanging point before you buy. Measure from the hook down and add clearance so the chime swings freely and stays above head height. If the tallest point available is a porch beam, a shorter chime will sound better in that spot than a long one that cannot move. Also weigh how exposed the position is, since heavy tubes in a windy garden sound often.

The FSVGYY sits in the size most gardens actually want. At 32 inches it is long enough to produce a note people recognise as deep, and short enough to hang under a porch roof or in a small yard without the bottom of the tubes ending up somewhere inconvenient.

Tone follows from the aluminum tubing and the length, and there is nothing exotic about it: the alloy rings, the tubes are cut to a tuned set, and the decay is smooth. What you are buying at this size is the compromise rather than an extreme, and it is a well judged one.

The black finish is the same practical choice made by most of the chimes here. Coated aluminum resists the chalking that painted finishes suffer in strong sun, and it hides the internal marks a clapper leaves over years of use.

The limitation is simply that it is not the deepest option. If you want the lowest note available, a 45 inch chime will beat it and nothing about the build changes that. If you want a chime that sounds good and fits a normal space, this is the more sensible purchase.

Bottom line: the right size for most gardens, and the pick if a 37 or 45 inch chime would be too much for the space.

• Overall length: 32 inches
• Tube material: aluminum alloy
• Tone: deep tuned set
• Finish: black
• Hanging: top disc with cord and windcatcher
• Use: patio, porch, yard and garden

For smaller gardens, covered porches and anywhere a full length chime would hang too low or sound too loud. It is also a good first chime for someone who is not sure how much noise they want outside a window. Less suitable if a genuinely low note is the specific thing you are shopping for.

Hang it from a bracket or a branch with clear space on every side, not tucked against a wall where turbulent air makes the tubes clatter. If it sounds too often, move it to a more sheltered spot rather than shortening the windcatcher cord, which changes how the clapper strikes. Check the cord at the top disc once a year.

The SuninYo is a memorial chime that takes the tuning seriously, which is the distinction worth caring about in this part of the market. Tuned tubes are cut to the notes of a chosen scale so that no combination struck by a gust sounds wrong, and that is a manufacturing decision rather than a description of the sound.

At 36 inches it sits alongside the Bursvik in overall length, which places it comfortably in low note territory for a normal garden. The aluminum tubing gives the smooth decay the category is built on.

The included S hook is a small but genuinely useful inclusion, since a chime that arrives without one sits in a box until someone finds a hook. It is a basic item, and on an exposed site a heavier stainless hook is worth fitting instead, but it means the chime can go up the day it arrives.

As a memorial piece it is presented plainly rather than heavily personalised. If an engraved panel matters, the Pgzsy chime here goes further on that; if the tone matters more than the wording, this is the better made choice.

Bottom line: a well tuned 36 inch chime that arrives ready to hang, and the pick for a memorial piece where sound comes first.

• Overall length: 36 inches
• Tube material: aluminum alloy, individually tuned
• Included: S hook
• Finish: outdoor rated
• Presentation: memorial and sympathy
• Use: garden, porch and home decoration

For anyone buying a memorial or sympathy gift who wants the chime to sound genuinely good rather than simply look appropriate. Also a reasonable general purpose garden chime for anyone who likes the plainer styling. Skip it if you specifically want an engraved and personalised panel as the main feature.

Replace the supplied S hook with a heavier stainless one if the hanging point is exposed, since a thin hook can open under a sustained load. Hang clear of walls so the tubes are not driven into each other. Inspect the cord annually and restring before it parts, noting the position of each tube first so the tuned order is preserved.

The Pgzsy is the chime in this group that leans hardest on the memorial side, and it does so without giving up the acoustics. Six individually tuned aluminum tubes is a real specification rather than a description, and the pentatonic style tuning means the wind cannot produce a combination that grates.

The engraved panel is the reason most people choose it. It replaces the plain windcatcher with something that carries wording, which changes the object from a garden decoration into a specific remembrance. That is a personal decision rather than a technical one, and it is worth being sure of the wording, because it cannot be changed later.

Acoustically, the panel does add mass at the bottom of the assembly. In practice that makes the chime a little slower to start in light wind and slightly steadier in strong wind, which most people will read as an improvement rather than a fault.

One thing to watch when ordering: this product appears in single and multi pack listings that look almost identical. Check the quantity before buying, since the photographs and the titles are very close to each other.

Bottom line: the pick if the engraving matters as much as the sound, with tuning good enough that you are not trading one for the other.

• Tubes: 6 individually tuned aluminum tubes
• Tone: large deep tone set
• Panel: personalised engraved windcatcher
• Presentation: sympathy and memorial
• Use: garden, patio, balcony and home
• Note: sold in single and multi pack listings

Two things to settle before ordering. First, the wording on the panel, since engraving is permanent and there is no revising it later. Second, the pack quantity: this chime is listed both singly and in multi packs with near identical titles and photographs, and it is an easy mistake to make. Beyond that, compare it with the SuninYo on whether the engraving or the tone matters more to you.

For anyone buying a memorial gift where a personalised message is the point, and for gardens with room for a large tube set. It also works simply as a deep toned garden chime for someone who likes the panel styling. Not the right choice if you want something you can pass on or repurpose later, since the engraving fixes its meaning.

The Winzwon is the plain version of everything else on this page, and that is the argument for it. There is no engraved panel to specify, no solar head to keep clean, and no memorial framing. It is aluminum tubes on a cord, which is the thing that actually makes a wind chime work.

Size and weight put it in the lighter half of this group, which has a consequence worth knowing: lighter tubes need less wind to sound, so it will speak in a breeze that leaves a heavy 45 inch chime silent. On a sheltered porch that is exactly what you want. Outside a bedroom window it is the opposite of what you want.

The tone is bright rather than deep, again because of the tube length rather than the alloy. For a balcony or a covered porch, a brighter chime a few feet from a door is usually more pleasant than a long low one.

Specification detail is thinner than on the tuned memorial chimes, and the listing does not make a claim about individual tuning. That is the honest gap between this and the more expensive options here, and for a first chime it is a reasonable one to accept.

Bottom line: the value pick, and genuinely the right chime for a porch, a balcony or a first purchase.

• Tube material: aluminum
• Type: hanging outdoor garden chime
• Hanging: standard hook mounting
• Finish: outdoor rated
• Use: patio, porch, yard and balcony
• Presentation: housewarming and general gift

For a balcony, a covered porch, or anyone buying their first chime and not sure how much sound they want. It is also the easy gift choice, since there is nothing to personalise or specify. Skip it if you specifically want a deep note, where tube length rather than anything about this chime is the deciding factor.

Hang it clear of a wall so the tubes can swing without being buffeted. If it sounds too often for comfort, move it to a more sheltered corner of the porch rather than tying up the windcatcher, which stops the clapper striking cleanly. Give the cord a look each spring and restring with braided line if it has started to stiffen or fade.

The DesGully is the one chime here bought for something other than sound. A solar panel in the head charges through the day and lights the six tubes through a colour changing cycle after dark, which makes it a piece of garden lighting that happens to chime rather than the other way round.

On the acoustic side it is fair rather than exceptional. At 37 inches the tubes are long enough to produce a proper note, but the lighting head adds mass at the top of the assembly and the electronics inside change how the structure behaves. Expect a decent sound, not a match for a dedicated tuned chime of the same length.

The solar arrangement is genuinely convenient. There is no wiring, no outdoor socket and no batteries to change, and it will run all season provided the panel is kept clear. A panel dulled by dust or pollen charges poorly, and most complaints about short run times trace back to that rather than to the battery.

The honest expectation to set is lifespan. Aluminum tubes will outlast everything else here by years, but LED and battery hardware in an outdoor fitting has a finite life, and when it stops lighting the chime does not become repairable in the way a restrung tube chime does.

Bottom line: buy it if you want the fixture visible after dark and accept that tone comes second to the light.

• Overall length: 37 inches
• Tubes: 6, LED illuminated
• Power: solar panel in the head, no wiring
• Effect: colour changing cycle after dark
• Use: garden, patio and outdoor decoration
• Note: lighting hardware has a shorter life than the tubes

Site it where the head gets direct sun for most of the day, not under a porch roof or a dense branch, since charging is what determines how long it runs at night. Wipe the panel every few weeks, particularly during pollen season. If run time drops sharply, clean the panel before assuming the battery has failed, because a dulled panel is the far more common cause.

Keep the solar head clear of leaves and debris and do not aim a hose directly at it. In freezing climates, bringing the unit indoors over winter will considerably extend battery life. Hang it clear of walls like any chime so the tubes swing freely rather than being knocked together, which is harder on the lighting hardware than on the aluminum.