davidr- you should check out the Inova flashlights. Well, I finally did. I was at a Target store the other day and saw an Inova Radiant on closeout at a very attractive price (not much more than the Chinese knockoffs) so I gave it a try. I have to admit that I'm impressed. I tried it with the somewhat used AA alkaline cells from one of my Maglites (I use mostly NiMH rechargeables, but keep alkalines in the ones that don't get used very often). Open circuit voltage of the AAs totaled 2.98 volts. The Inova certainly seemed significantly brighter. But how much? The bluish light that "white" LEDs emit can be a fooler. I wanted some numbers. I used my old photographic light meter to measure the relative output of the two lights. It's calibrated in unidentified units (lumens? footcandles? Lux? Ivory? ;-), from 0.2 to 1600 in two sensitivities. I measured both lights on the high scale (50-1600 whatevers). I chucked the Inova in the vise and aimed it at the meter's PV element, so that the "hot spot" covered the PV (its edges aren't very sharp, so this was approximate). It turned out that this was exactly 6" from the meter. I then chucked the Mag into the vise 6" from the meter and adjusted its beamspread to cover the PV, getting the coverage as close to the Inova's as possible. The Mag measured 300 <mumbles>, and the Inova 1600 <mumbles>. I don't know whether the light meter's scale is linear (suggesting 4x the output for the Inova), but I'm going to assume that it's pretty much colorblind. It certainly seemed to confirm what my eyes told me. I then measured the current consumed by the lights. It was almost identical - the Mag used 305ma, the Inova 308ma. Remember, this is with a somewhat used battery, just slightly below nominal voltage. Results would no doubt be different with brand new or very nearly flat cells. Thus we can safely say that the Inova's efficacy is significantly higher than the Mag's. Now, some user-level notes on the lights. The Mag is considered a top-shelf item. It's constructed of machined aluminum and is made in USA. The beamspread is adjustable. It costs about $10 (less on sale). The Inova Radiant is part of the company's budget line. It's made of polycarbonate, and is made in USA "with US and imported components" (my guess is that the LED itself is Chinese, but I don't know for sure). It costs about $20 (I paid less on closeout). I'd say the Inova is pretty solidly built for the low end of the high end. ;-) I find the bluish light color unattractive but that doesn't really hurt its utility. I miss the Mag's beamspread adjustment a bit, but it's not that big a deal. My real concern with the Inova is the switch. It has a push-on / push-off switch on the end. On other gear, I've found these switches aren't especially long-lived. Time will tell.

Hi! I am a great Christmas enthusiast myself, so here's what I have learned over the years that might help you. I have found that most SPT1 insulation wire is 20-AWG and most SPT-2 insulation wire is 18-AWG, so you might want to look for SPT2, even though the wires will be thicker. Also, even though regular 18-AWG is rated at 10 amps, you have to de-rate to 5 amps because the sockets have little tabs that pierce the insulation to get to the copper wires and that somewhat damages the strands of wire. That means your maximum per continuous strand is 600 watts (120V*5Amps), but you can cut the strand and put a female connector sold for this purpose on the end and start a new strand. I checked you links, and they don't seem to mention wattage or current requirements, but if you order a box of 25, that information should be printed somewhere on the box or the device itself. I am assuming it will be very low, since they are meant to replace 7-watt bulbs in an effort to conserve energy. I have bought some in the past that consume .35 watt. To give you an idea, at .35 watt you could string together 1714 bulbs. If they were the 7-watt variety, you could only string 85 together.

We have a pre-lit artificial tree that we've used now for 10 years; however I don't turn the lights on much therefore it's probably getting less use than most. It's 9' and came in two pieces (separates about half-way up the tree). The lights are tightly wrapped around the branches. The biggest challenge is finding what gets plugged in where from year to year. Our is a 9' and I love the height; however at the age of 52 the next time we get a tree I'm not sure how big we'll go--it's getting heavier every year! Our church has a 12' pre-lit tree that we just replaced after maybe 8 years (can't remember when it was purchased). They also had a problem finding what gets plugged into what and they think they shorted out part of it. You can remove all the old lights but you would have to be extremely patient, allow a lot of time and it would be a PITA. Then you could either re-wrap (very,very time consuming)or just string lights. We opted to buy a new tree after debating for awhile.

Kids really like the inflatables and they do have the advantage of taking up very little storage space. I had a few that I bought on clearance at the house before the divorce but I only have a porch and a small slope to decorate at the rental - the inflatables wouldn't work. I'm sure people thought blow mold decorations were tacky too but I still love those. I bought my dad a blow mold Santa at a yard sale this summer for $2 - it was in great condition. I knew the one he had was quite faded. I was at an antique market a couple of weekends ago and they were selling the same size Santas for $55 and up! They wanted $95 for Santa in his sleigh with his reindeer.