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We just bought some LED Christmas lights that are labeled 'warm white', but when we hook them up they look ugly in the light they emit and seem very blue in their color to me. The specific kind I got are "Holiday Time LED Mini Light Set 50 count" UPC 7-64878-78510-9.

I'd like to find some LED lights that look much more like traditional incandescent bulbs in the spectrum they emit. I do not mind paying a premium, does such a product exist today?

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  • 'warm' LEDs xmas lights I've purchased were, indeed, warm and not the cool blueish ones. Perhaps you got a mislabeled package/returned in the wrong box?
    – DA01
    Dec 5, 2011 at 14:59
  • Five years gone, I'll bet you found plenty. If not, try Target and look at the name brand lights, or at least ones that have them lit on display. Dollar-store or bottom-shelf brands tend to pretty iffey on quality, ie. color quality. That's because of variation in LED manufacturing, they are tested for color quality and "binned". Good brands buy out of the best bins, and guess where the rest go.
    – Harper - Reinstate Ukraine
    Dec 20, 2016 at 18:47

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Led lamp color is measured in kelvins. Warm White is 2700 kelvins or 27K. This is 'supposed' to be equal to incandescent table lamps. Next is 30k which supposed to be equal to halogen. Next is cool white which in LED's can range from 39k to 45k. The next is 50k and then 65k. The higher the number the bluer the white is. It sounds like you want 27k.

The bad part of this is on Christmas or string lights, they are made so cheaply that they probably don't put any of this on the packaging. Another thing about cheaper LED's is even when the color is listed on the package, the color will change from batch to batch.

Click here for Google search on warm white Christmas lights and maybe you can find something more suitable for you.

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  • You're right, larry, that they vary a lot from batch to batch. Fun LED tip: When you are all decorated stick your tongue out and give the tree a big raspberry. "BthBthBthBth". The tree will look like its dancing.
    – Trout
    Dec 8, 2012 at 1:10
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I'm in Canada and the best LED lights I found were Right White LED's. The company website is down and I can no longer find them....good thing I stocked up on them back in 2010. They only come in mini but they look exactly like the traditional lights. I actually put up some of these lights with old traditional lights I have o the same tree and no one can tell the difference....wonder why no other company has picked up on the technology.

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  • Rather than listing a specific brand (which tends to be OT per our faq for the very reasons you describe, i.e. some brands become unavailable over time or vary by location) perhaps you could suggest what to look for to determine which lights have a more traditional look and color.
    – BMitch ♦
    Dec 6, 2012 at 19:58

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