LED LIGHTS -Questions

[allshoppedout]

Some of my lights died last Christmas and I was thinking of replacing (gradually) with electric LED lights for OUTDOORS. If you own them and could answer any or all of the questions below it would help me a great deal

 

1-where did you find the best deal?

 

2-Did you notice the multicolor ones fading? (Front of my house gets TONS of sun and my red bows turn "orange" in just 2 Christmases...and in the past I've had my regular multi sets get discolored in 1-2 Christmas Seasons..they look PASTEL like Easter lights!)

 

3-Do you seem to use LESS sets because they are brighter? (making the expensiveness of them kind of balance out..)

 

4-Do you notice any savings on your electric bill because you used them?

 

5-Do you prefer the appearance of the round shaped or cone?

 

Thanks a bunch

[redraccoon]

We have purchased sets from all over - but my best "deals" so far were clearance LED's at Target.

 

I have not really noticed any fading - and we live in the desert.. LOL But I know that full sun exposure can cause fading even in regular lights, so that could be whats going on.

 

Less sets? I'm pretty sure that is against my husbands DNA code or something. :)

 

I can't say I noticed a huge savings on the bill. Dh has been steadily replacing strands every year - as well as putting up new - so maybe thats why. At least the bill hasn't been any More than previous years. I figure even if we're not saving a lot of $, at least we're using less power and thats better for us and the environment.

 

As for cone vs round - I like them both, but for the outdoor stuff I think I prefer the cone. The seem to make a brighter light.

[racerfan]

Sorry I cant help you here. We tried the LED lights but could not stand the color (we used white). We ended up getting Rope lights that we outline our front porch with.

[mrs.winter]

I myself Like the old lights I dont like the color of the LED lights!! Jmho....

[Mandy4Matt]

I bought the multicolored LED icicle lights from Sams. I didn't notice anything on my electric bill..but I absolutely love the way they look..and my hubby says that they will last longer.

[allshoppedout]

(redraccoon, I guess if your lights don't seem to fade in the desert sun, then I might be ok, I remember reading once that the LED ones are not "supposed to fade" that the color is inside, not on the bulb cover thing, but it look like the cover was colored to me in the store...thanks)

 

As far as the color goes, it seems like they have improved the white/clear and it looks less blue then I have seen in previous years...I don't know if they look different outside in the dark, but in Target on display the lights looked very bright and nice and were not hot at all, which is great...maybe I would not like them in the dark...if they would light a tree up in the store on display I could get a better idea, it would be all over the tree, not just a tiny sample..

Thanks everyone for your input, and I look forward to more comments... I don't want to buy them and not like them, they are a good bit more expensive than typical lights, but it would be worth it if they last longer/don't fade

[nate-dog]

Can't say it exactly qualifies as fading, but LED lights run cooler than standard ones - meaning that they won't "melt back" to full visibility on their own in the event of a good snowstorm.

[Rockfordmom]

I read somewhere home depot gives you $3 credit for led holiday lights for every string of standard ones you bring in

[Rockfordmom]

here the info is, it's only good for a couple more days, the ad that I saw it in had $5.99 lights in it so if you took off the $3 they would be $2.99, but I didn't notice what lights were on sale for $5.99 or if they are on sale anymore

 

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=SF_EV_Christmas_Light_Trade-In&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[Angelseyes28]

Didn't someone have LED lights listed in their black friday ad? Maybe I'm mistaken.

[Chewbybell]

We have several strands of LED lights, we also have the traditional ones as well (traditional on the house, LEDs on the trees, driveway and around the garden). I do like the LED ones a lot, we would probably have all LED ones but we have not been able to find all orange ones to do the house in (we are big OSU fans),and it took me years to collect all the traditional bulbs to do it in orange. The LED ones do not melt the snow though, so if you have them like around the ground (like we do around our garden),they will glow underneath the snow, which is pretty cool. The best deals we got on ours has been from Lowe's and from after Christmas clearance at Wal-Mart. Ours have not faded at all, but neither have our traditional ones (we have trees surrounding our house that keep it shaded almost all day). I do not know if it has saved on our electric bill or not since my husband keeps adding more and more of everything every year

[allshoppedout]

Thanks everyone. I did buy 5 sets from LOWE's when they had them for 3.33 for 50. I plugged them in and went out on my back porch and they looked ok to me, brighter, a little different but nice. Left them plugged in 1/2 hr and NO heat at all, that is so neat... I am down sizing on the decorations a bit...I have less time, getting older, etc... We are definitely not doing lights on the house this year, not after the winter we had here last year.

When I was referring to fading I should have been clear (because some lights sold have a "fade" function). What I mean is that the traditional ones I had in the past became very pale from so much sun--often resulting in red ones looking PINK and BLUE looking very pale blue, etc...It looked more like Easter lights after 2 years of use.. LOL. I did do clear many years for just that reason, but I am looking for a change.

I appreciate your opinions. :) Think I am decorating outside this week, cleaning the kitchen today.