Everyone wants to know how the lights compare with one another. Well let’s ask a few questions and see.
LIGHT SPACING – The bigger question is how does your light spacing effect the price and appearance of the lights? If you are getting 12″ spacing bid by Trimlight or Everlight and comparing it to 9″ spacing with Jellyfish Lighting or Gemstone Lights, the pricing is not comparable.
Jellyfish Lighting – 9″
Gemstone Lights – 9″
Trimlight – 6″, 9″, 12″
Everlight – 6″, 9″, 12″
Oleo – 10″
12″ spacing will result in fewer lights being installed on your home. This will reduce the cost of the system.
NUMBER OF LED’S – Jellyfish Lighting and Gemstone Lights have 3 LEDs in each pod, every 9″. Trimlight, Everlight, and Oleo have a single LED. When you are comparing pricing, brightness, and overall appearance; each will be affected by the number of LEDs. If you look at 100 feet of lights installed on a home; how many LEDs would actually be installed on the home?
Jellyfish Lighting – 399 LEDs (133 pods with 3 LEDs each)
Gemstone Lights – 399 LEDs (133 pods with 3 LEDs each)
Trimlight – 6″ 200 LED’s / 9″ 133 LEDs / 12″ 100 LEDs
Everlight – 6″ 200 LED’s / 9″ 133 LEDs / 12″ 100 LEDs
Oleo – 10″ 120 LEDs
Let’s say we get two quotes, one from Jellyfish Lighting and one from Trimlight. Remember, the lighting is not the same. Their lighting design is not the same. The number of LEDs is not the same, even the spacing of the lights is likely not the same.
LED LIFETIME USE EXPECTANCY – Simply put, LEDs are a technology. They can fail. They don’t have unlimited life. One may say, it has a 100,000 hour lifespan while another says 50,000 hours. How is this number calculated? If you tested the LEDs by running them the full lifespan of 100,000 hours would take 11.4 years running them 24/7 (100,000/24/365). That would be impossible to test. So, LED manufacturers do what is called an L70 or L50 test. They estimate how long they will last by running the lights in a test environment and measuring the loss of brightness. L70 refers to when the lights reach 70% brightness and L50 refers to when the lights reach 50% brightness. Either way, the “life” of an LED is simply a guess.
Other factors will influence your lights. The components, the climate, the location of the installation, the quality of the installation, the manufacturing, and more. If all conditions were perfect and as predicted, how would one light brand compare to another?
Jellyfish Lighting – 22,000 (estimated lifespan with all componentry)
Gemstone Lights – 50,000 (estimated lifespan of just the LED)
Trimlight – 50,000 (estimated lifespan of just the LED)
Everlight – 50,000 (estimated lifespan of just the LED)
Oleo – 100,000 (estimated lifespan of just the LED)
ACCENT LIGHT VS CHRISTMAS LIGHT – Each Permanent Christmas Light brand has a different strength. One might be designed more as an Accent Light, while another more as a Christmas Light. Some may provide both. The actual result may depend upon the home’s architecture and the installation location.
One thing to remember is that looking at the number of LEDs, the overall brightness, and the location of the installation. If the lights point out from the house, they are not accent lights, they are Christmas Lights. If the lights point down, are they bright enough to both be seen from the street and illuminate the walls of the home?
Overall, a homeowner should ask themselves, am I looking for a Christmas Light that I will use for just holidays and special occasions? Or would I prefer a light that has practical everyday use all year? Many homes are built without can or recessed lighting in the eves. Would you like a light that provides this feature? Many people building a new home may not realize that a permeant track light system may be able to replace can or recessed lighting and also provide seasonal and holiday lighting as well. More and more, those systems that double as an Accent Light and Christmas Light are more attractive to customers.
Jellyfish Lighting – (1) Accent Light / (2) Christmas Light
Gemstone Lights – (1) Accent Light / (2) Christmas Light
Trimlight – (1) Christmas Light / (2) Accent Light
Everlight – Christmas Light
Oleo – Christmas Light
WARRANTY – Here is what my question would be. If the lights break, will you fix them? What if my dealer stops working for you? Does my warranty follow the product or the dealer? If I sell the home, does the warranty pass to the new homeowner? Do you have wiggle room to exit or deny the warranty? Is it bumper to bumper with no conditions or is the warranty vague and ambiguously determined by the company?
A warranty is only as good as the company’s willingness to honor it. You need to remember it’s an electronic, lights are going to fail over time. If the warranty is too grandiose, it may untimely not be honored as sold.
Jellyfish Lighting – 1 Year Labor / 3 Year Parts
Gemstone Lights – 5 Year
Trimlight – Limited Lifetime
Everlight – 1 to 15 Year
Oleo – 5 Year
About Author
Thank you for the overview! We have Gemstone lights on our home in ID, and I’m now trying to decide which ones to install on our home in CA.
Our Gemstone lights are beautiful, the local guy who installs in our area was amazng to work with, and the system basically works exactly as advertised. The Android app is a little flakey sometimes, which, in addition to no Gemstone dealer in my area, is what caused me to look at other options.
Yesterday, I just serendipitously bumped into the guy setting up the local Trimlight dealership in CA, which caught my atention. Basically I overheard him talking with a friend at the grocery store about his new business!p, but I’d not heard of them (or any options) when we bought our Gemstrone system in 2021.
After reading other comments and your overview, depending on price, I might end up put up a few strips from Oleo to handle the Christmas lights, and wait for Gemstone to get a dealer down in our area to do the whole house properly.
Thanks!
– DMac