Comments on: Should You Switch to LED Christmas Lights To Save Money?

By: Sheldon

Sheldon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:41:51 +0000

Thanks for your review and comparison. Currently weighing out whether to go LEDs or incandescents. You make a good point in regards to the durability of the lights. In my experience with incandescents, it’s not the lights that give out after a few seasons of an Alberta winter, but the wiring of the lights. This forces me to throw out the lights after 3-4 years, regardless of the bulb quality (ie., lights would still work, if not for the wiring failure). Would get pretty expensive if you had to do this with LEDs (likely the very same quality of wiring….).

By: Janell

Janell — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:54:09 +0000

I bought LED lights to replace my halogen MR16 bulbs the other day from a website called Eaglelight.com that I would recommend enthusiastically. They had good service (good phone and email support), great FAQs so I knew what I needed, and competitive prices; also, their shipping was fast and the LEDs were as good as advertised. http://www.Eaglelight.com. Excellent online shopping experience.

By: John

John — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:28:50 +0000

I thought I would try the GE LED bulbs this year. It turned out to be a big mistake. These things are crap! About ten percent of the bulbs had the plastic covers/lenses fall off. I’m going back to traditional lights.

By: gwdMaine

gwdMaine — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:44:26 +0000

Think straight lines with lighted length. Bushes are one thing, but if you’re outlining windows, a porch, roof lines, etc. lighted length is pretty important. It’s an issue with mini-lights between manufacturers - they’re all different. You replace a set and all of a sudden you can’t get there from here. . .

Part of it also has to do with length between lights. That usually varies at 4″ 5″ or 6″ - But - When’s the last time you bought a true half gallon of ice cream? Everyone’s downsizing but keeping the price the same to hide the price increase. It’s a real pain with Christmas lights - what you once could cover with 300 lights now takes 500. . .

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:30:17 +0000

Thanks for the comments! Hmm, I don’t know if I have two Christmas light boxes around to compare “lighted length”… it’s an interesting point. Driving around my neighborhood tonight I saw a lot of different decorations and while the LED Christmas lights might be “bright” I noticed they don’t really “glow” or give off any light around them. I noticed this while driving around looking at lights from inside my car:

If you cover a bush with regular Christmas lights it will be bright enough to actually see the leaves and branches. If you use a similar LED Christmas light strand you just sort of see a bunch of glowing dots floating in darkness.

I don’t know why the LED lights are so much more expensive. Sure, the LEDs might be a little more costly, but they’re showing up in just about every electronic device and even toy on the planet, so you’d figure their real cost to produce and manufacture has got to be pretty darn low by now.

By: gwdMaine

gwdMaine — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:32:44 +0000

Excellent post. Thanks for quantifying the payback - I knew it was bad, but hadn’t taken the time to figure it myself. It’s hard to go against the “Green” movement these days, but the only legitmate “geen” savings here are electricity savings. But even those are not what you think. Take a look at the overall or “lighted” length of your LED string. It will be less than the standard mini-light one. If you are using a lot of lights, you will need to by more LEDs to get the same coverage. Less electricity, more plastic, no reasonable payback. Until the cost comes way down, there is no reason to go to LEDs. I wonder what the profit margin is on a string of LEDs?

By: Lynne

Lynne — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:37:15 +0000

I am sure that the savings are great for the LED lights, but I am seeing some in my neighborhood and they just plain look strange. The only way I can describe them is “plasticky” or fake looking. They aren’t as pretty as the traditional lights and I don’t know that I believe all the hype about the “green” movement anyway. Someone is getting rich off of all the transition. I am saving A LOT of money by not switching. Has anyone determined how much it would cost to go out and replace the bulbs that you use for 1 month, with the lights you have had for the past 2-5 years that cost you NADA!? Then determine the savings. Maybe $8.00 per month for pretty lights compared with $100.00 to go out and buy 10 news sets of LED lights is better savings for todays economy.

By: Gene

Gene — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:39:54 +0000

“A lot of environmental websites like to claim that LED Christmas are good for the environment…”
As you point out, making new lights takes plastic, energy, etc. so replacing existing good lights would be a waste. The only Christmas lights that ‘good for the environment’ are no lights, unless they invent some that create energy and/or absorb carbon. At best, Christmas lights are likely to be ‘less bad for the environment’ than some other lights.