Outdoor Christmas lights - Should I buy cheap or expensive?

[EightyTwo]

I've put Christmas lights round the outside of my house for many years now and am quite happy with the installation side. However, I have been buying cheap Chinese LEDs off eBay and, of course, they don't last very long. I'm wondering it there's a better way...

Should I spend about £50 on 1000 LED 10x3m curtain from China that may last a couple of years (provided that it's not too windy or wet) or £30 each for 100 LED strings of "professional grade", rubber-covered thick copper connectable lights, that should last for years?

If it's the latter, does anyone know of a particular system of connectable lights that I should use and where to get them? I don't know if there's such a thing as a "standard connectable plug/socket" but it would be handy to be able to mix suppliers/manufacturers. I'd like to be able to connect strings, nets and individual pieces (baubles, stars, bells, etc.) together. Any ideas gratefully received as it's getting close to ordering time..!

 

[Echo the husky]

The TLC heavy duty outdoor lights are great.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Should I spend about £50 on 1000 LED 10x3m curtain from China that may last a couple of years (provided that it's not too windy or wet) or £30 each for 100 LED strings of "professional grade", rubber-covered thick copper connectable lights, that should last for years?

Well - since you ask, I'd advise neither.

 

[Echo the husky]

Well - since you ask, I'd advise neither.

That was how I started my reply, but I decided against it!

 

[flameport]

that should last for years?

Do you actually want them to last for years? As in having the exact same lights every year for the next 10 years or more?

 

[EightyTwo]

Do you actually want them to last for years?

Yes. I put them up at the end of November and switch them on on 1st Dec (first day of Advent). They get left on (with a timer) until Twelfth Night and taken down as soon at I can (usually the nearest weekend if it's not too wet or frosty). The display is similar year-on-year but we make changes as sets of lights fail or we come up with new ideas. We tend to build things with home-grown bamboo canes and cable ties and then attach strings or pipe lights as well as covering the house, outlining the windows and hanging strings in trees and shrubs. Some people may not like the idea but it's the nearest thing we have to a village display.

I hate waste. Throwing 999 working LEDs away because one has failed or rusted out really galls. However, I'm a tight-wad too and don't want to spend ten times as much in something that will last five times as long, go obsolete or give grief.

 

[HERTS P&D]

WOW, I bet the kids love it.

Andy

 

[EightyTwo]

WOW, I bet the kids love it.

Yes they do. The worst of it is that one mum told me that they use the lights to work out if they're late for school - the timer shuts off at 08:30 so, if Santa is "sleeping", they're gonna be late! No pressure on setting the timer right then?!?