Are smart Christmas lights worth the investment?

Kurt KnutssonDecember 20, 202210753 views

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Time to decorate your house in the spirit of the holiday season. Of course, nothing will lighten anyone’s spirits more than, well, lights.

Whether they’re strung along your Christmas tree, or illuminating your front porch and walkway, Christmas Christmas lights are guaranteed to make even the Grinchiest of Scrooges feel all aglow – literally. Aside from safety and lowering our power bill, I’ve converted most of our lights to LED smart light bulbs and installed smart plugs on each one to turn them off and on and automatically turn them off when we go to bed.

This was the first year that every strand of Christmas tree lights worked without needing to find burned-out bulbs or toss the whole string in the trash out of frustration. What saved my lights were these inexpensive holiday light and cord organizers that come in a pack of 4. I’ve got a total of 12 worth every penny. While most of us simply dig out our tried and true Christmas lights from storage every year, some people like to keep up with the times and invest in smart Christmas lights.

What are smart Christmas lights?

Smart Christmas lights are LED lights that are controlled by an app, and depending on the model, can change colors, or even do special effects such as a timed light show. Of course, smart bulbs aren’t just used for Christmas decorations, as many people invest in them simply for their household lighting.

There’s little doubt that smart Christmas lights are bound to be more visually impressive. The thought of trading in your old string of incandescent lights for color-changing smart lights seems very tempting. But before you throw away the Christmas lights you’ve been using or so, you might want to examine the differences and see if it’s a right fit for you.

Cost

Classic incandescent lights can sell for under $10
They come in fairly long strands
Top-quality LED smart lights usually start close to $150
Some of the strands are on the shorter side, so you might need to buy more boxes than you would classic lights

Energy

Incandescent lights tend to convert only one-twentieth of the energy they use into visible light, using more than 90% of the energy on heat
Smart lights tend to consume up to 75% less energy and last almost 25 times as long

Safety

Incandescent lights use heat to produce lights
As a result, bulbs will get hot, making children reaching for bulbs on trees a problem
Though the risk is low, the heat-inducing lights pose the risk of a fire next to flammable objects
LED lights are not generated by heat, and will not burn the hands of little children

Are Christmas smart lights worth it?

With all this in mind, is it worth forking over hundreds of dollars to dazzle your guests and neighbors with Smart Christmas lights this holiday season? Quite possibly, yes.

Needless to say, no one should ever break the bank for home decorations, no matter the occasion. But upon taking a closer look, it becomes clear that what might begin as a sizeable investment will save you money if done right.

Good smart lights will end up shrinking your electricity bill, last you for years, eliminate the need to replace them, and will pose less of a safety hazard. Another thing to consider, since smart lights often come in colors not traditionally associated with the holiday season, it might also be easier to put them to use year-round.In the end, making you plenty “merry” throughout the year.

Should you choose to go for incandescent lights or Smart LED lights to decorate your home or Christmas tree, here are some highly-rated recommendations: