Stringing up Christmas lights has traditionally been one of the most tortuous of holiday tasks. Untangling wires, balancing on a ladder and attaching them to the house are all chores associated with this endeavor, but the biggest problem for many people is finding that mysterious broken bulb. Hours are lost and tempers flare, but this is where LED Christmas lights can show their true benefit.

LED Christmas ights use light emitting diodes rather than the traditional miniature incandescent bulbs. LEDs are much like incandescent bulbs except that they do not have a filament inside that can burn out and take the entire string of bulbs with it. Instead, they are illuminated by the movement of electrons in a semi-conductor material. Another benefit of this light source is the absence of excessive heat and wasted electricity.

LEDs have been around for a long time, but only caught on for use as Christmas lights in recent years. One reason is that older LEDs originally came in only red. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, emit only white light but are encased in colored glass. Another problem was a lack of brightness of LEDs. The potential was there however, and advanced LEDs solved these problems. Today you can find LED christmas lights in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They can blink just like the regular incandescent varieties and come in a wide range of colors.

The end result is a string of lights that use about one-tenth of the electrical current of the more commonly used incandescent lights. They are also encased in thick plastic rather than flimsy glass, so broken bulbs and mistakenly stepping on one won't result in a holiday tragedy. As mentioned, the life of LEDs are extremely long-they are used often in the dashboards of jet planes-so burn out after one season is highly unlikely. One last benefit is the relative thickness of the wires used for these lights, making wires less likely to get tangled in the closet or garage.

Caring for LED lights is simple with such a long life and tough casing. Users can simply roll them up and store them at the end of the holiday and fully expect to come back next year and find them still functioning.