LED vs Incandescent Christmas Lights: Which is Better?

I am writing this as I reflect on the past 6 Christmas Lighting seasons. The bottom line is, I believe that LED lights are by far better for most applications, though there may be a few instances where incandescent Christmas lights may win out. As a professional Christmas light installer, I definitely without a doubt prefer LED Lights! Read more to find out why.

When I first started out in the Christmas lighting business I was installing only incandescent lights. My reasoning was people were not going to want to pay for LED lights because they were too expensive. What I didn’t realize was that after 3-4 years Led lights pay for themselves through lower electric bills and by outlasting incandescent lights. Pro grade led lights can last 4-5+ years, where as incandescent lights may only last 1-2 years.

There have been studies done on the exact power usage of both types of lights verses what each type of light set costs. All of that can be kind of complicated and a little bit difficult to figure out, especially when lights sets have a huge price range depending on where you buy the lights at and whether you are buying standard or pro grade. To keep it simple, Led lights make up for their higher up front cost by lasting longer and using a fraction of the electric power. Most people want to enjoy Christmas lights every year. So unless you just need a one time deal it makes more sense to buy LED lights.

As far as looks go between Led vs. Inc. lights, it depends who you asks. For myself, I have seen and installed both on many houses and I think they both look great. Led lights have come a long way and look brighter and better and more true in color than ever before. Every year, I see more houses lit with Led lights than anything else. Led lights are really catching on and I do believe more and more people are preferring to go with Led lights.

My final and biggest reason for preferring led Christmas lights over incandescent lights is the quality and performance (and I would say probably ever single professional holiday lighting company would agree with me on this). Starting out hanging Christmas lights for customers, I would get so many services calls because of the incandescent lights failing. Power breakers and gfci switches would often trip (even when following the electrical guidelines for Christmas light installation), especially on bigger light displays, just because of the sheer amount of power required to run that many incandescent lights. Also glass bulbs were constantly breaking or burning out. They just did not hold up well. Right now I am phasing out to only using led lights. I do still have a few homes that I use incandescent bulbs on. On these homes. I have to replace the bulbs every single year to prevent having so many service calls. Furthermore, incandescent lights are a nightmare on big jobs. You have to use a ton of extension cords because you can only plug so many lights end to end before blowing a fuse. With Led lights, you can plug a crazy amount of lights end to end with no power problems. This just makes installing the lights so much simpler!

Here is a quick summary between Led and incandescent Christmas lights:

PROS FOR USING LED LIGHTS

• Save money in the long run
• They last 3x longer
• Bulbs don’t break or burn out
• Use way less electricity
• Can plug up to 9x as many lights sets end to end
• Unlikely to blow circuit breakers on big jobs
• They look beautiful and modern

PROS FOR USING INCANDESCENT LIGHTS

• Save money if only using for 1-2 years
• Some people still prefer the look of incandescent lights
• Work better on smaller Christmas light displays