The best outdoor Christmas string lights

For a roofline, the Brizled C9 set - large warm white bulbs that still read as bulbs from the street. For a porch or window surround, the Brightown C7 set. For wrapping a tree or railing, the Brizled 5mm wide angle set.

The decision that matters is not brightness or brand - it is bulb shape against viewing distance. A mini bulb on a two-storey roofline becomes an indistinct line from the pavement. A C9 bulb on a front-door surround looks like municipal decoration. Match the shape to the distance and almost any decent set works.

Holiday lighting publishes less hard data than any category on this site. No set here states a lumen figure and only one states a per-bulb wattage. The criteria are therefore about what is actually knowable and what actually decides the result.

1. Bulb shape matched to a real job. The single biggest determinant of whether a display looks right, and the one nobody shops on.
2. Published run length, not just bulb count. 100 bulbs over 32 ft and 100 bulbs over 16 ft are completely different products. Length is what you measure against the house.
3. Whatever the maker will commit to in writing. One C7 set publishes 0.6W per bulb; nothing else here publishes wattage at all, and we say so rather than filling the gap.
4. Outdoor rating and connectability. Whether it can legitimately go outside, and whether runs can be chained from one outlet.

We did not test these sets or measure anything. Every figure here is the retailer listing's own, with the page it came from in the sources below, and where a maker publishes nothing we write that rather than estimating.

Brizled C9, 16 ft, 25 bulbs - the pick. The traditional roofline bulb in LED form: 25 large C9 bulbs over 16 ft, which is roughly 8 in. spacing, in warm white.
Who it is for: anyone outlining a roof, a gable or a long fence that people see from a distance. Who should skip it: anyone wrapping anything, and anyone with a compact single-storey frontage where C9 at 8 in. spacing reads heavy.
Cons: no lumen figure published; not dimmable; 25 bulbs is one short run so a full roof needs several sets; C9 bulbs are bulky to store.

Brightown C7, 25 ft, 26 bulbs - for closer range. The mid-size strawberry bulb, and the only set here that publishes a per-bulb wattage - 0.6W.
Who it is for: porches, door surrounds, window frames and railings that people pass within a few feet of. Who should skip it: two-storey rooflines, and anyone set on warm white - these are clear bulbs and read cooler than a frosted warm set.
Cons: no lumen or kelvin figure; not dimmable; C7 and C9 bulbs are not interchangeable, so replacements must match the base.

Brizled 5mm wide angle, 100 LED - for wrapping. The wide-angle lens throws light sideways instead of straight out of the tip, which is precisely why a wrapped tree looks even rather than patchy. Connectable end to end.
Who it is for: tree trunks, shrubs, railings, posts - anything circled rather than outlined. Who should skip it: anyone who wants individual bulbs visible from the street.
Cons: no published length, lumen or kelvin figure; not dimmable; connectable has a stated maximum that is worth checking before chaining.

Brightown cool white, 32 ft, 100 count - the long cool run. The longest single run here and the least expensive set, in the icy value.
Who it is for: white, gray or modern frontages, and anyone who wants the display to sit with snow rather than against it. Who should skip it: anyone whose windows glow warm behind the run - the clash is obvious - and anyone topping up an existing warm white display.
Cons: no kelvin figure, so "cool white" is unquantified; no lumen figure; not dimmable.

None of these sets should be nailed, stapled or screwed to anything. Holiday light clips grip a gutter lip or a shingle edge and come off in spring with no trace, which is both better for the house and the only option if you rent - hanging Christmas lights without nails covers the hardware.

If this is an annual chore you would rather stop doing, the alternative is a permanently-fitted eave product that does holiday color in December and plain warm light the rest of the year - the best permanent outdoor holiday lights.

And for ambient patio lighting that stays up through the summer, that is a different product again: the best outdoor string lights for patios.