Do LED Christmas Lights Suck

For some time now, lots of people -- us included -- take been heralding LED Christmas Lights as a wonderful innovation. We, and many others, accept for years proclaimed LED Christmas Lights every bit a bully boon to Christmas Enthusiasts.

But some of you simply aren't seeing it.

Instead, lots of Christmas Enthusiasts remain unconvinced virtually the advantages of LEDs over incandescents. And that's not just a knee-wiggle opinion. A number of Christmas Enthusiasts have tried LEDs and merely haven't liked them. They haven't liked how the lights look, and they've been disappointed with the durability of the lights.

So Which Is It???

If you're shopping for Christmas lights, it's quite understandable if you lot detect yourself dislocated nigh the situation.

On ane hand, you have experts like us telling you that LED Christmas lights are the greatest things since sliced breadstuff. Merely on the other hand, you besides keep hearing well-nigh people that have been So disappointed with their LED lights.

And so where does the truth lie?

There's Good News, and There'southward Bad News…

Are LED Christmas lights a fabulous advocacy in engineering science over old-fashioned incandescents? Or are they a consumer's worst nightmare?

The respond is sort of a good news / bad news scenario: The truth is that both extremes exist.

Information technology's unfortunately true that lots of consumers have had a bad experience with LED Christmas lights. They've purchased lights that haven't lasted long, or that simply looked terrible.

Only it'southward too true that LEDs practice offering a great technological bound over incandescents. Consider this fact: Virtually every commercially-installed Christmas low-cal display you lot'll see this season volition consist of ONLY LED lights - no incandescents. Our ain installation department has such confidence in LEDs that we absolutely decline to install incandescents on any of our commercial lighting job sites.

And while early on LEDs were sometimes inferior to incandescents in advent, that's no longer true. The quality, bulb intensity, and overall wait of quality LEDs have evolved significantly over the by decade. They now match or surpass the wait of incandescents.

To put it frankly, at that place are good LEDs, and in that location are bad LEDs. And you tin can guarantee that you e'er and only buy the good LEDs by following ii simple rules.

Golden Rule #one: Don't Buy Two-Piece Light Sets

Many LED light sets sold -- especially the cheaper light sets -- are of a two-piece design. That simply means that you can remove the seedling from the socket. The culling is a one-piece design, where the bulb and socket are manufactured equally a single unit.

Initially, you might call up that the two-piece design offers some advantages. Just in truth, the separation in the bulb and socket allows dirt and moisture to enter the lighting system, significantly increasing the likelihood of a light prepare failing.

I know what you might be thinking. You're remembering all the times y'all had a bulb fire out on a string of incandescent lights, and had to replace information technology. And you're probably thinking that with a jumpsuit design, you won't be able to do that.

Don't worry; you won't demand to do that. A typical LED bulb lasts for a minimum of 25,000 hours. Yous're not going to have to replace burned-out bulbs.

Only so you know: Pro Christmas light installers use ONLY one-slice light sets; they won't touch on two-slice sets.

Golden Rule #two: Avoid Big Box Stores

It's an unfortunate fact that there are lots of poor-quality LED Christmas lights on the market. And most of them are sold at big-box retailers. The reason is simple: those stores are buying at the lowest possible toll, so they can sell to you at the lowest possible toll.

That'due south a model that works just fine for laundry detergent and toilet paper. But not and then much for Christmas lights.

Specialty retailers similar Christmas Designers work hard at sourcing only top-quality lights and decorations. We're non looking to sell at the cheapest price. Our goal is to clinch that we always and merely sell summit-quality lights.

Consider these four major differences between our Pro Grade lights and the retail lights you'll find at a typical big-box retailer:

  1. One-piece Design: Our Pro Form lights avert the bug that are typical with 2-piece light sets. Most light sets sold at the large retailers are of the less durable two-piece design.
  2. Quality Diodes: Our Pro Grade lights are manufactured with brighter, more durable diodes than cheaper retail light sets.
  3. Better Color Consistency: Color consistency can be a trouble with LEDs. Colors can vary from year to year and from the light ready to light fix. With cheaper light sets, in fact, colors can vary past every bit much every bit forty%. It's a trouble that can be particularly noticeable with warm white lite sets. But our Pro Grade lights are required to conform to a color differential standard of less than 3%. That ways that any color variations within our Pro Grade line will be undetectable to the man eye.
  4. Optimum Light Line Length: It's a rule-of-pollex that pro-Christmas light installers know very well: The longer a light line, the more likely information technology is to fail. Longer light sets are more hard to work with. They're more likely to tangle, and they tend to receive more abuse during installation and takedown. Retail light sets are often much longer than they should be - again, for reasons of economy. Just all of our Pro Grade LED Christmas Lite sets are designed at an optimum length, mostly betwixt 23 and 33 anxiety. That makes the light sets more durable and easier to use.

Only Follow the Rules…

Don't permit some of the horror stories you've heard about LEDs scare you away. They really are SO much ameliorate than the old incandescents. Just follow the two golden rules for buying lights, and y'all'll relish all the advantages of LEDs while avoiding potential problems.

Considering LED Christmas lights -- if you purchase the right lights -- actually are the greatest things since sliced bread. And maybe fifty-fifty improve!