Looking to buy those big white christmas lights for our new home this year. I think they are C9's. Anyone have experience with them? Anyone know of any good deals or places to buy them. They seem really expensive. $60 for like 25 lights!!!

I recommend the C9's that are LED. They aren't the same but are close, biggest advantage is the bulbs don't break and don't use a ton of electricity so you can sting them end to end. Incandescent C9 strings can't be strung end to end.

Some led c9s can look crappy - a faint pale blue. I love an incandescent C9 - bright white. Just keep spare bulbs and you're good. Incandescents use more electricity but unless you're Clark Griswold, you won't notice it

Home Depot has 25 foot strands for $10. $60 for a strand is C9s is nuts!

Plus with incansdecants, you can remove the clear bulbs and insert green or reds (or whatever color you want) to change things up. Can't do that with led strands

https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/premium-c9-LED-Christmas-Lights--739.htm

Thanks for sharing the link.

I've never seen the vintage style C9s in LED - they don't carry those in the big box stores .

Going to order some of those to line the roof, reminds me of my grandparents house, except if you touched those bulbs you got burned lol.

https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/vintage-christmas-lights

What about the C9 lights that have multiple colors or that have flashing patterns? I was looking at some GE ones the other day.

Bottlerocket said:

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Incandescents use more electricity but unless you're Clark Griswold, you won't notice it

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I must be Clark Griswold because my December electricity bill is triple what it is in January since most my heating is gas. I have about 3000 incandescent mini bulbs going. Calculate out the kilowatt-hours just to be sure. Once my current strands and backups go out, I'm switching to led. I can only string about 6 or 7 strands together before blowing a fuse with incandescent. LED lets you do 20 or more.

When using C-9 LEDs, or LEDs you have ~150-200 actual feet of line before any issues.

But.. Always Separate Roof + Ground Lights .. Ground lights will fail with alot of variables, , but roof lights can stay OK all year.

Anyone who thinks incandescent is a white color and not a nasty yellow needs to visit an optometrist lol

LED white 6k +-500 color is the best for a white bulb.

- Gotta add a Red bulb to the Pure White Bulbs to break it up.


The LED Glow Effect of a lot of Pure White bulbs is sought after by a few , and usually not a favorite with neighbors

I invested in a bunch of these last year. I have them alternated with red. It will take years, but will eventually come out ahead with the energy savings over the incandescent C9s.

It's nice not to have to worry as much about shattering them while putting them up/taking them down too. I typically have to replace 20 or so incandescent glass bulbs, only had to replace 3 LEDs this year, and they're still under warranty so the company is sending replacements.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F9AHK5O?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I would also recommend vampire plug in connectors. They make it really easy to connect strings together without, even mid string where they intersect, without having to run extension cords all over the place.

Any recommendations for good prelit wreaths to hang outside windows?

htxag09 said:

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Any recommendations for good prelit wreaths to hang outside windows?

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https://www.christmasdesigners.com/christmas-decorations/christmas-wreaths/pre-lit-decorated-wreaths.html

For a bit extra, I would recommend get the ones with decorations. Solid Quality





and.. If You have a Chimney, a 6 or 8 Foot Pre-Lit Wreath Really Adds a little something extra

https://astorialightingco.com/

Took this plunge, never hanging Christmas lights again. Permanently attached to the soffit. Programmable LED's with a great warranty and WiFi too.

I had red, white and blue chasing patterns for Election Day.

Cheaper than hiring someone to put in low-voltage ground lights and none of the hassle of wires shorting out or changing bulbs.

Loving them.

Bottlerocket said:

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Some led c9s can look crappy - a faint pale blue. I love an incandescent C9 - bright white. Just keep spare bulbs and you're good. Incandescents use more electricity but unless you're Clark Griswold, you won't notice it

Home Depot has 25 foot strands for $10. $60 for a strand is C9s is nuts!

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I think people buy into the "energy savings" thing a bit too much when it comes to lights. You might save $5 on your December electric bill but you paid $60 for each strand of lights.

I buy the $3 mini-light strands every year at Home Depot and have pretty good luck with them. Only 1-2 burn out in between each year.

I was looking at that same company two years ago; my wife and I went to Austin home and garden show and saw their booth, which we fell in love with the idea. For the longest time, I couldn't find the company.

Can I ask you what the cost was for your house?

Would appreciate cost per linear foot.

This is an almost identical solution that may be worth looking into as well. https://inceptionlighting.com/residential/

txaggie2012 said:

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https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/premium-c9-LED-Christmas-Lights--739.htm

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Just ordered a bunch of stuff here for our new place. Glad to see independent endorsement, considering what I spent. Hopefully they last a long time!

$3200 for 200 linear feet
These are pretty cool

HalifaxAg said:

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https://astorialightingco.com/

Took this plunge, never hanging Christmas lights again. Permanently attached to the soffit. Programmable LED's with a great warranty and WiFi too.

I had red, white and blue chasing patterns for Election Day.

Cheaper than hiring someone to put in low-voltage ground lights and none of the hassle of wires shorting out or changing bulbs.

Loving them.

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What does something like this run? Is it one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of deals?

I called the company, and they say it runs on avg $24 linear foot; my house would be right under $4k. I meet with the company tomorrow to go over my house. Hoping to get a lower price if we decide to pay cash. They also have financing.

Currently, we have no outside security lights around our house, so it's extremely dark minus the porch lights, but we can't keep them on because of the bugs that love to swarm the house.

Absolute said:

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txaggie2012 said:

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https://www.christmaslightsetc.com/premium-c9-LED-Christmas-Lights--739.htm

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Just ordered a bunch of stuff here for our new place. Glad to see independent endorsement, considering what I spent. Hopefully they last a long time!

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Finally got some of these up. Very happy with the c9 leds.