{"id":20514,"date":"2022-12-02T13:22:20","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T13:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/02\/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-led-christmas-lights\/"},"modified":"2022-12-02T13:22:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T13:22:20","slug":"what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-led-christmas-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/02\/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-led-christmas-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Pros and Cons of LED Christmas Lights?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You can still buy traditional and LED Christmas lights, but which is better? Let\u2019s take an in-depth look at cost, safety, durability, and even comfort to help you decide whether you want to go old-school or space-age with your holiday lighting.<\/p>\n

LED vs. Traditional Christmas Lights: What\u2019s the Difference?<\/h2>\n

Before we dig in, let\u2019s talk about the fundamental difference between traditional and LED Christmas lights because that difference informs everything we discuss.<\/p>\n

Traditional Christmas lights are tiny incandescent bulbs. If you hold one up to your eye and really study it, you\u2019ll see a teeny tiny filament inside the little glass bulb. It\u2019s just like the much larger filament in a standard incandescent light bulb or even the filament in a powerful movie projector bulb. Electricity runs through the resistive filament, the filament glows, and you get a lot of heat and a lot of light.<\/p>\n

LED Christmas lights are a different story. Instead of a filament that glows red hot when electricity is passed through it, LEDs generate light when a little tiny specialty semiconductor is excited via electrical input. If you look closely at the bulb there isn\u2019t a teeny filament strung between two metal tabs but a piece of plastic over a teeny little circle or square. The plastic is just there to give the Christmas light a traditional shape, all the light comes from that small semiconductor.<\/p>\n

That fundamental difference explains the variation in the purchase price, safety, and even how the lights look strung on your tree or around your eaves. Let\u2019s dig in and compare.<\/p>\n

Purchase Cost: Traditional Is Cheaper Off the Shelf<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re shopping for brand-new light strands, buying incandescent holiday lights is cheaper\u2014although not as much as you\u2019d think anymore.<\/p>\n

Historically, the premium for LED lights was astronomical. Worse, the consistency and quality of early LED light strands were lacking. That put a lot of people off buying LED lights, and we can\u2019t blame them.<\/p>\n

But the cost has come down significantly over time, and LED strands are only about 30% more than traditional strands\u2014sometimes nearly even on parity with them if you catch a sale. Still, bulb-for-bulb traditional lights remain cheaper than LEDs.<\/p>\n

Keep reading, however, because the price off the shelf shouldn\u2019t be the stopping point for your financial calculations. Once you factor in operational cost and longevity, you might find paying more upfront isn\u2019t a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Operating Cost: LEDs Are a Clear Winner<\/h2>\n

Purchase cost isn\u2019t the only consideration when you\u2019re buying goods that consume electricity. Christmas lights have an operating cost, and you might be surprised how quickly things add up if you\u2019re stringing a lot of incandescent bulbs\u2014upgrading to LEDs can lower your holiday electric bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LEDs use around 1\/10th the electricity that traditional Christmas lights use, so switching over can slash how much energy you\u2019re using. The savings are even more dramatic if you\u2019re a fan of big flashy C9-style bulbs.<\/p>\n

A single strand of traditional C9 bulbs pulls down 175W, but the equivalent LED strand only pulls down 5W. That means you could swap one old C9 incandescent strand for thirty-five<\/em> LED strands for the same energy cost.<\/p>\n

Safety: LEDs Can\u2019t Be Beat<\/h2>\n

Of all the different aspects of traditional and LED lighting we\u2019re discussing, there\u2019s only one category where life and property are on the line: fire safety.<\/p>\n

And LEDs are a clear run-away winner in that category. When improperly stored and strung, Christmas lights are a fire hazard<\/a>, and LED lights mitigate most of that risk.<\/p>\n

While the wires on LED lights are just as susceptible to fraying, rodent damage, and other mechanical failures as any other wires, the bulbs are far more durable, and they generate a fraction of the heat. Further, they consume so little electricity, by comparison, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to overload your home\u2019s electrical wiring.<\/p>\n

Color Temperature: It\u2019s a Toss Up<\/h2>\n

Besides the cost, one of the biggest complaints you\u2019ve probably heard about LED Christmas lights is that they\u2019re too bright, too white-blue, and they just don\u2019t have the same look.<\/p>\n

And those are completely valid complaints. Early LED Christmas lights had a very strong laser-bright white-blue coloration that is, frankly, pretty offputting if you\u2019re a fan of the warm glow of traditional lights.<\/p>\n

Unlike LEDs, traditional Christmas lights have an extremely consistent color temperature. The filament governs the temperature, and after more than a century, the process is completely dialed in. You can buy traditional lights from ten different companies and they\u2019ll all look either exactly the same or so close it\u2019s hard to tell.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different story with LED lights. They\u2019ve gotten so much better over the years and now you can buy warm white LEDs that look warm white, but that warm white might not be consistent between brands and it\u2019s a bit of work to find a perfect fit if you\u2019re a real traditionalist when it comes to Christmas light color temperature.<\/p>\n

Durability: LEDs Don\u2019t Care if You Drop \u2018Em<\/h2>\n

There is nothing more frustrating than stringing lights on a cold November day and breaking a bulb\u2014or finding out the reason your strand won\u2019t light up is that the bulb was broken from the moment you dug it out of storage.<\/p>\n

In this arena, LEDs are king. Short of mice getting in the box and chewing up the actual strand, the lights are practically indestructible. Instead of glass bulbs, big or small, they have plastic bulbs.<\/p>\n

Further, the majority of them are solid plastic all the way through, so they won\u2019t crush under pressure, snap off, or otherwise fall apart as tiny traditional glass bulbs do.<\/p>\n

Repairs: It\u2019s a Toss Up<\/h2>\n

Replacing damaged bulbs in a strand of incandescent Christmas lights is an annoying part of stringing lights up, but at least it\u2019s an option.<\/p>\n

For LED Christmas lights, it\u2019s a toss-up whether or not your can repair them by replacing damaged bulbs. Some LED strands have discrete removable bulbs you can replace, just like you would with a traditional incandescent strand. Some LED strands are all-in-one, and the individual LED lights are all wired together. If one or more bulbs are damaged, there is no replacing them.<\/p>\n

That said, however, in roughly a decade of using LED holiday lighting, I\u2019ve never had an LED burn out or otherwise needed to replace a bulb\u2014the longevity and durability of LED lights are worth factoring in.<\/p>\n

Smart Features: LEDs Are the Clear Choice<\/h2>\n

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