Christmas Lights:
LED vs. Incandescent

 

Christmas lighting displays are becoming increasingly sophisticated, as some festive holiday devotees hang thousands of lights, and even choreograph light shows to music. This Florida home used more than 26,000 lights, mostly LEDs, and controlled them with an 80-channel lighting control system. The homeowner set up a miniature FM radio transmitter so cars passing by could listen to the Christmas songs the lights danced with.
Credit: Lauderdale Christmas

Most Christmas lights on the market today fall into one of two categories: strings of incandescent "standard" bulbs, or LED lights. While neither style is a perfect solution for would-be decorators, knowing the difference can help consumers make an informed decision.

Energy
The clearest advantage between the two lighting options belongs to LED lights, in the category of energy use. A Consumer Reports breakdown of power and energy use found that mini-sized LED bulbs incur 30 cents' worth of electrical power over a period of 300 hours, while the same length of mini-sized incandescent lights used $1.30 over the same period. For C9-sized bulbs, three strands of LED were found to cost only 14 cents over 300 hours, while two strands of the same-sized incandescent lights cost $11.

LED lights also run cooler than their incandescent counterparts, making them less likely to burn fingers, or overheat and cause Christmas tree fires.

Brightness
C7- and C9-sized incandescent lights were found to be much brighter than the LED equivalents; however, the mini LED-sized bulbs were found to be slightly brighter than the mini incandescent bulbs. Also, LED bulbs may flicker when plugged into a circuit on a dimmer switch, which can be bothersome.

Cost
While prices have declined in recent years, LED lights still cost more initially to purchase. For the same number of bulbs, LED light strands can cost almost double that of incandescent lights. Certain colors of LED lights also cost more than others, as manufacturers must use a range of semi-conductor materials to create certain colors, increasing production costs.

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Incandescent lights typically come in two sizes, C7 and C9. C7 lights are ideal for trimming a tree or outlining a yard, and C9 bulbs are popular for hanging on rooftops and to wrap large outdoor trees. LED bulbs are also available for light strings in these sizes, and are usually sold as replacement bulbs.
Credit: Centsible Holiday Lighting

Sizes like the C7 and C9 have the same number of LED lights as the incandescent, but LED strands are shorter, so you may need to buy more strands in order to complete a lighting project.

Durability
In a stress test performed by Consumer Reports, all bulbs on strands of LED lights were still lit after 4,000 hours of being on, while every strand of incandescent bulbs had at least one or two burned-out bulbs before reaching the 2,000-hour mark. The plastic lights in LED strands held up better than the glass incandescent bulbs, which were more prone to breaking.