Driving home last night from my son’s violin lessons (an hour away from our home) I was struck by the difference in appearance between “normal” headlights and the new halogen lights that are becoming all the new thing in car headlight technology. I reflected that they perfectly illustrate the differences between cool slash pure slash winter LED Christmas Lights and Warm White LED Christmas lights.

Whether they are sets or bulbs, the whites are in the same category – cool or warm. The cool sets – like the Halogens are sharp and crisp with blue overtones. The warm sets are ….. warmer with yellowish overtones.

The cool white sets look good if you have solar lights that also have that sharp icy look. Quite a bit of the landscaping lighting that you see on the market nowadays has this cooler look so to stay complemetary, it’s nice to know that your Christmas lights won’t have to clash. Pure white LED’s seem to be a prominent choice for commercial applications – both in downtown areas and at large facilities.

Warm white is the color most likely to blend in with traditional mini lights and C7/C9 Christmas light bulbs. There is still limited availability of LED lights in every form of Holiday lighting so if you are going to mix incandescents and LED, warm may be the way to go.

On both style of lights, their warmness or coolness is most noticeable when you hold them up to each other. They both tend to look more neutral but if you put them next to each other or next to their counterpart colors, the visual differences become clear.

As far as popularity, the preference for warm and cool seems to be running 50/50 with strong feelings either way. As it is with all Christmas lights, it’s just a matter of taste 🙂

So if you are still on the fence about whether you are a cool or a warm led person, take a drive after dark and oncoming traffic may be able to shed some light on your decision.

Shellie Gardner
Shop for White LED Christmas Lights