I am wrapping some trees in my yard with incandescent lights, and next year I was considering putting three colors on each tree and controlling each string with an LE channel, but then I started wondering if it makes sense to go with smartstrings instead....Here is how I broke it down and was wondering if my cost based analysis is correct:
Cost for LE approach with incandescents:
3 strings of 100 incandescents - $15 (I can do better than this for some strings, but these $4.99 strings have served me well)
Cost per port of LE: ($4.18 + $2.50 + 3.90) (LE + Output Coord + Extension Coord to light) = 10.58 ... 3 ports per tree = $31.74
Cost per tree 3 color indandescent - $47.74
Cost for LE approache with LEDs:
3 strings 105 LEDs - $42.75 (Not sure if this is a good price or not....this is from ChristmasDesigners.com)
Cost per port of LE: ($4.18 + $2.50 + 3.90) (LE + Output Coord + Extension Coord to light) = 10.58 ... 3 ports per tree = $31.74
Cost per tree 3 color LED - $74.49
Cost for Smart Strings:
100 node string - $58.90
Smart string controller - $10.70
Smart string hub - $48.19 ... can control 16 strings = $3.02 per tree
12V power supply - $4.00
CAT-5 Cable (hub to controller) - $3.87
Extension cord (to hub) - $3.90
Cost per tree Smart String = $84.39
So to go from what I was thinking to Smart Strings it is not quite double the cost, but if I was going to go LEDs to wrap the tress the Smart String is too close in price (especially given the extra features and colors you'd get) to justify 3 LED strings. Does this align with people's experience. Did I miss a cost somewhere (I have a dongle and I think that will be adequate for what I want to do to start anyway, and read it can be upgraded to handle pixelnet)?