Where do you buy your LED lights

[Tigman009]

I am trying to convert most of my display to LED this year.  I have been searching on line and there are many different sites to choose from.  I am looking for mini green and mini red.  I was able to convert all of the white last year from the big box store, but they do not sell red or green.  Just curious as to where you buy yours?
Thanks
Mike

[jnealand]

I buy lights wherever I find them locally.  Most of my LEDs come from Home Depot and Big Lots.  Some folks do not like the HD lights but I have used them for several years with no problems and no negative comments from my viewers.  I do not like the Martha Stewart brand that HD sells now, I have had most of mine for several years and I have 64 strings on my megatree.

[tbone321]

You might want to wait until next year for this conversion.  Then you can take advantage of both the post season sales (becoming more and more rare) and many of the online sites start their pre-season ordering at signifificant discounts from their regular prices.

[Tigman009]

None of the box stores have red or green LED's.  Three years ago Walmart had them for 6.97 a box.  Should have bought them out then, but I had no idea how addicting this hobby could be.  The cheapest I can find right now are from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login but they are still about 12.00 a box for the Red - LED - Wide Angle 5mm.  I thought for sure you could get them for about half of that.  Guess the price of LED's are not going to come down anytime soon.  Still looking for a cheaper website

[jnealand]

After Christmas is good, but the pickings may be slim.  I always go to all my local stores on Dec 24 to see what kind of stock they have left.  That way I know where I want to be at 6am on Dec 26 and in what order I want to go from store to store.  On the other hand you have to get in the habit of watching all the sale ads starting now.  Big Lots has sales with 20% off from time to time.  My 64 strings on my megatree came a few years ago when Home Depot had a trade in sale before Thanksgiving where you could get a couple of dollars off of an LED string for every incan string you brought in.  When I did it then the coupon given for every trade-in string could be used to buy up to 5 strings of new LEDs and it said to give the coupon back to the customer in the fine print.  I had multiple coupons so I bought 5 per coupon , put them in my car, walked back in and bought 5 more per coupon until they ran out of colors I wanted.  Then I went to several other Home Depots looking for the colors I wanted.  HD have been more restrictive with coupon conditions since then, but my point is that you need to watch and read everything.  GE had coupons in the past and Lowes took them and that was a good deal also.  Read posts on DLA, DIYC, and Planet Christmas to watch for deals.  Good luck.

[duane.mosley]

None of the box stores have red or green LED's.  Three years ago Walmart had them for 6.97 a box.  Should have bought them out then, but I had no idea how addicting this hobby could be.  The cheapest I can find right now are from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login but they are still about 12.00 a box for the Red - LED - Wide Angle 5mm.  I thought for sure you could get them for about half of that.  Guess the price of LED's are not going to come down anytime soon.  Still looking for a cheaper website

i know big lots has the red 5mm wide angle. 35 ct for 5 bucks. if you have a big lots near you i would try there.

[shaunkad]

I will be making my one led strings from my dead mini strings cost is about 4 dollars a string.

[meman]

I just picked up another case (12 boxes)  of red C6, 60 ct strings last week when Big Lots had their 20% off...came to $6.80 a string. You won't find a lower price anywhere until after-Christmas closeout sales. BL usually has two more 20% off days from now till Christmas...if you join their online rewards club the coupon gets emailed to you automatically.

You'll have to pay full retail for green C6 60 ct strings..$10.99, and only one national chain has them..Walgreens. They are known to have buy one get one half off sales several times before Christmas.

Hope this helps,
Mike E.

[typoagain]

I have started buying my lights from Jeff at illumimax.

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He does a pre-sale each year and them gets in his inventory and distributes it. This years sale has already been completed. However, he always has some stock left over. His prices are better than most retail, but you might be able to find better prices with on sale merchandise.

However, I am finding that all of his stuff dims properly and is of better quality than I can find locally. You can drop him an email at the above address and he will happily let you know if he can help you.

I have met Jeff personally (at the Academy) and have done business with him several times in the past. I do not hesitate to recommend him and I trust him. That is a lot more than I can say about a lot of other vendors out there. His customer service is beyond par. He does however have a regular job that takes him out of the country on occasion, so he may not be able to ship overnight. If he has any delays he will tell you up front. Getting inventory that he already has in-stock  by the end of the month should not be a problem.

[Tigman009]

Thanks for all of the inputs.  I'll keeping watching the adds and hope for the best.

[Jeffl]

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I wouldn't buy any now as they are way too expensive. This is one of those things you have to pre-order a year in advance.

[duane.mosley]

Thanks for all of the inputs.  I'll keeping watching the adds and hope for the best.

do what meman says, go to big lots, join the online club. they will send you an advance notice on sales and if you make 10, 20 dollar purchases, they will give you another 20%. they have every color on c-6 except green, and they have cool white, red, purple, pink, and multi color 5mm. as well as red, multi and white m5. i have already notified my local store of my large purchase plans and the manager said when i am ready, let them know and they will make sure they have everything i need. basically place my order. she said it would take a couple of days to get but they get them.