I have been looking at outdoor lighting and was surprised by the ratings. Only a minority is rated for wet locations. I need 2 wall lamps that will go beside a door that has no roof overhead - they won't be on any kind of porch. I assumed all exterior lighting would be fine, well, outside. But I see that a minority of fixtures are "rated" for damp and others for wet locations, while most are "weather resistant" and a very few "weatherproof."

I would like the kind of expert advice I know I can get here. It seems to me that weather resistant and weather proof refer to the materials used overall. I have looked up damp and wet rated, and I see that those actually seem to refer to how the electrical components are shielded.

It seems that for both safety and long life, I should probably look for something rated for wet locations - would that be correct? Would a fixture that is merely weather resistant actually be less safe?

Naturally the two that I like best are not rated for either damp or wet locations. Does this mean that the manufacturer has must not bothered to get them lab tested, or that they have been tested and not made the grade?

Thanks in advance.