The Benefit of LED Christmas Lights

For a few years now, the plan has been to decorate our Christmas trees with strands of LED bulbs. Like most of the world, we’ve been using incandescent for just about ever. I knew the switch was coming. I just wasn’t sure about when. It was this year. We had no other lights. The switch came this year.

The last time I visited Home Depot, I was sure to pick up two strands of LED bulbs. But I’ll tell you, when I entered the store, I almost grabbed two of the incandescent, simply based on price. I think they were selling those 100 bulb sets for a bit over $5, while they were selling the 50 bulb sets of the LEDs for just over $11.

Why did I pass by the incandescents and choose the LEDs? Well, a few reasons. First, I’ve had incandescents in the past and I’ve watched some weird things happen with them. They’ve gone black, one bulb blows and the whole string goes out. One time, we watched and smelled as one of the wires roasted right before our eyes. The plastic burned off the wire. What a mess.

Now, I’m not sure the fact that the bulbs were incandescent is to blame here, but what I am sure of is that LED are awesome on energy and longevity. Check this out.

These are the specifications of a 50 bulb set of GE Christmas lights. Do you see what it says next to the “Total Set Wattage?” That’s right. 3.2 watts. For 50 bulbs. That’s like a night light. I don’t want to hyperbolize here, but that’s like you can plug these things in for a zillion years and pay no money. That’s hardly any watts.

Incandescent Christmas lights don’t draw a lot either, but they draw much more. The same set of incandescents would draw around 20 watts to the 3.2 for the LEDs. Again, that’s not huge, but it’s enough to change what I buy when I’m standing in the store looking at both types. Check out Christmas light energy consumption here.

Another thing that’s really great about LED lights is that they last a really long time. The set I purchased claims a 20,000 hour average life. That’s a long time. And it’s really good when compared to the 3,000 hour life of typical incandescents. Check out a good article here about that.

So what do you think? Have you tried out the new LED Christmas lights? What about the color? Are the warm ones as warm as what you’re used to? I think they are a bit brighter, but I’m fine with it. Please leave your comments below.