LED Christmas lights

[Shrimpburrito]

Since there is a fair amount of discussion here on LED lights, I thought I'd post this question here: has anyone had great success with LED Christmas lights? I love the low energy requirement and the fact you can string a gazillion strings together, but I'm not crazy about spending the premium if they only last a few years before sections of lights die as happens with our incandescent light strands. They usually develop a loose connection somewhere, and sometimes they will come back to life with some shaking, but I don't know where those loose connections are.

Also, I presume the individual replacement LEDs, while probably not nearly as necessary as incandescents, are far from universal, so that could potentially be a problem.

We picked up a set of these to try out (the frost version):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S47W4I

...and I am impressed so far. They are brighter than our incandescents, seem well built, and best of all, only draw about 3 watts for 50 bulbs. Incredible. But they were $17 delivered......quite a bit more than we're used to paying for a string of lights during post-Christmas clearance sales. I don't mind paying something in that ballpark if they are going to give 10-15 years of maintenance free service and I know longer strands are cheaper per bulb, so we'd ideally get those.

Dave

 

[B&T2]

We picked up three strings after they were marked down at Lowes after Christmas a few years back and put them on our tree for the third year now. No problems at all so far. Due to the premium prices for them i prefer the after season mark down prices if i can find them

Tim

 

[rumbleweed]

I have 8 strands that I use for outdoor lights as they get the most use. One LED finally died this year but replacement was very similar to the small Incandescent bulbs. The strange thing was the strand worked fine with the dead LED,when it was warm but when it got cold at night it would not light. Replaced the bad one and fine again. Only caution is you can not plug standard strings into many LED stings. Also if you use some auto controllers ( ie X10) they don't draw enough current to shut off properly. I have a 15ft string that is solar ( single AA cell rechargeable) that I use for camping. Provides effect with no impact on TM battery.

 

[scrubjaysnest-TMO]

I have a 15ft string that is solar ( single AA cell rechargeable) that I use for camping. Provides effect with no impact on TM battery.

We don't have any strings but carry a couple of garden type that change color. We got them at the True Value in Grants NM. Picked up some at Lowes before the current ones but the battery would jam up in the spring around the battery. Needed an insulating sleeve.