"James" wrote in message
net...
Ok, so this year I went out to buy some more outside Christmas lights.
Much to my surprise, I could not find any REAL lights, just the fake led
lights. I looked at all the big box stores, including Lowe's, Home Depot,
and Target. All I could find was the fake led lights.

You aren't looking very hard. There are plenty of the "old fashion" lights
out there. Wally World has most display space for conventional light sets
than the LED sets.

I agree they lack the brightness of the incadencent although I have some
white led strings which come quite close. (The most "normal" looking ones
have bulbs that look like the mini incadescent strings. The LED is a "hot
spot" that looks a lot like the filament of an old style bulb. The more
diffusion around the LED the less "conventional" it looks.)

But, hey, just use twice as many strings. In the medium run you save two
ways: 1) you still save a LOT of power; and 2) the individual bulbs
almost NEVER burn out. To me, the long life is the "tipping point."

One thing I don't like about the LEDs is that they are only "on" for about
30% of the power cycle.

Basically, they "flash" 60 times each second.

That's way too fast you notice unless your eyes are "scanning" the lights.
Then it's quite easy to see that would be a "light streak" with the old
style lamps become a light of "light dots."