Tree lights

Picking a set by tree height

A hundred LEDs per foot of tree gives an even glow; double it for a bright tree. So a 5ft tree takes 500, a 6ft tree 600 to 1,000, a 7ft tree 700 to 1,500, and an 8ft tree 1,000 to 2,000. The 1000 Warm White Treebrights at £24.99 is the set most people buy for a 6ft or 7ft tree, and a 2,000 set does an 8ft tree in one string. Check the lit length too: 1,000 LEDs on 25m of cable wraps a 7ft tree in a spiral with no bare patches.

Cable colour

Green cable disappears into a green tree. Clear cable is for white, black, grey and flocked trees, where green would stand out. The Supabrights ranges in pink, turquoise, red and blue come on clear cable and are meant to be seen as colour on a white or silver tree.

Bulb colour and modes

Warm white (20 sets) is the traditional candle tone. White (13) is cooler and suits a modern scheme. Multi coloured (14) is the classic family tree. Vintage gold (6) is deeper than warm white and suits a Victorian room or a pine with cones. Nearly every set has eight modes, from static through twinkle, fade and chase, and a memory that returns to the last mode when switched on. Most have a timer.

Retro and specialist

Noma's Canterbury Bell and Victorian lantern sets reproduce the large coloured shades of the 1960s and 70s on modern LEDs, at 80 to 240 bulbs. They are brighter per bulb than a micro LED set and are the choice for a tree in a bay window seen from the road.

Lead length

The lead on a tree set is usually 5m to 10m, which reaches a socket on the other side of a room. The figure is on the product page; if the socket is behind the tree a short lead is fine, if it is across the room pick a set with 10m.