JeffF Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Went to their website to order my standard case or two and after some searching on the internets I find this...http://www.lowes.com/pd_106666-84523-W11A0569_5003694__ So bummed since these have been a staple of our display for the past 7 or 8 years. I should have a few cases out back but since I probably replace a thousand or so bulbs a year they will not last long. Man, part of me is hoping they'll be back next year but I doubt it. Again, just bummed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 You replace a thousand or so bulbs a year? I would switch to LED in a heart beat instead of throwing money away on replacing that many bulbs a year.I've purchased LEDs in 2006 I'm still using today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Blatt Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 So bummed since these have been a staple of our display for the past 7 or 8 years. My entire display has consisted of Lowes brand incans, just not that color. Every year I try and get to the store as soon as they have "holiday land" set up to see what incans they carry. I expect sooner rather than later, those of us who still decorate "old school" will be forced to update, whether we want to or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericm Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 My entire display has consisted of Lowes brand incans, just not that color. Every year I try and get to the store as soon as they have "holiday land" set up to see what incans they carry. I expect sooner rather than later, those of us who still decorate "old school" will be forced to update, whether we want to or not!I am one of those that had to upgrade to led's, ran out of power at my house and was way cheaper to upgrade then to increase the power to my house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Blue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Ouch, this hurts. While they were far from a primary element of my display, I use these gold Lowes lights on a couple of trees and in my nativity. Going to need to find a replacement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Blue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 The one bit of good news, it appears, per the photos on the web site, they've gone back to the energy saver incans - the ones that draw 0.2 amps per 100 rather than the 0.33 amps per 100 that Walmart sells (and that Lowes switched to last year). That switch bothered be so much last year I actually emailed them. No, they're not as low-power as LEDs, but, you get that nice warm incan feel while losing about 40% of your power draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archer Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Mega....here we go again right!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Hold the phone!!!Had to work out of town today and decided to stop at the area Lowes and... BAM! Gold incans!!!They still aren't available online even though the SCU hasn't changed. Odd but this just made my day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archer Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 JeffF....please clarify your replacing 1,000 bulbs a year! Do you replace the whole strand if it does not light due to a bad bulb or do you replace individual bulbs at the rate of 1,000 a year? If you replace the whole strand it's 10 strands a yr that you replace. I have over 150,000 mini incans in my display and over a season I may replace 20-30 bulbs that otherwise keep 1,000 to 2,000 bulbs from lighting. I have on my shelf a minimum of 60 cases of Holiday Living lights and that's after a winter and summer of building new projects.....started this year with 89 cases. I went to our local Lowes and they have them on the shelf....Holiday Living.... $2.99/box.Wait a month and they will be around $2.00/box. LEDs are $23.00/box of 100. I took photos to remind me why mini incans are cheaper.kevinkolak.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 JeffF....please clarify your replacing 1,000 bulbs a year! Do you replace the whole strand if it does not light due to a bad bulb or do you replace individual bulbs at the rate of 1,000 a year? If you replace the whole strand it's 10 strands a yr that you replace. I have over 150,000 mini incans in my display and over a season I may replace 20-30 bulbs that otherwise keep 1,000 to 2,000 bulbs from lighting. I have on my shelf a minimum of 60 cases of Holiday Living lights and that's after a winter and summer of building new projects.....started this year with 89 cases. I went to our local Lowes and they have them on the shelf....Holiday Living.... $2.99/box.Wait a month and they will be around $2.00/box. LEDs are $23.00/box of 100. I took photos to remind me why mini incans are cheaper.kevinkolak.comWell, not gonna beat the drum too hard,but I don't change any bulbs cause they don't burn out & don't break when I drop them. LEDs rule!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archer Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Your pockets are deeper than mine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Blue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) I went by my nearest Lowes on my lunch break - confirmed they have gold incans on the shelf. Also confirmed they are still selling the 0.33amp strings, not the 0.20amp strings they used to. As far as the LED vs Incan talk - meh. I use both. I prefer the look of incans in most cases, but to each his own. I use LED's out of electrical load necessity where I can blend well with the incans, and in certain situations, I prefer their look. (The blue LED's in my "pond of lights" are pretty spectacular). There's no right or wrong... it's what you like in your display. Edited October 15, 2015 by Stephen Blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted October 16, 2015 Author Share Posted October 16, 2015 JeffF....please clarify your replacing 1,000 bulbs a year! Do you replace the whole strand if it does not light due to a bad bulb or do you replace individual bulbs at the rate of 1,000 a year? If you replace the whole strand it's 10 strands a yr that you replace. I have over 150,000 mini incans in my display and over a season I may replace 20-30 bulbs that otherwise keep 1,000 to 2,000 bulbs from lighting. I have on my shelf a minimum of 60 cases of Holiday Living lights and that's after a winter and summer of building new projects.....started this year with 89 cases. I went to our local Lowes and they have them on the shelf....Holiday Living.... $2.99/box.Wait a month and they will be around $2.00/box. LEDs are $23.00/box of 100. I took photos to remind me why mini incans are cheaper.kevinkolak.com I only replace individual bulbs. I try to go through almost everything as I get the decorations out of the storage shed. My daughter and I have made testing lights at the end of October a tradition of sorts. Here's a picture from 2013 when I was doing the mini trees one Saturday morning... If I recall correctly that wasn't even all the mini trees. Throughout the actual lights-on season I keep an eye out for burn out bulbs when I'm doing maintenance. If I have to fix a non-working string then I take a look in the nearby vicinity for any dark bulbs. I don't think I'm overly anal about replacing bulbs... I just embrace this part of the hobby. I haven't started doing anything yet for this year so I'll try to save all the bulbs we replace. Probably easier to count will be the cut off power cord ends I save(to replace any cords that have rust). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archer Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 I would guess you have a power surge of some sort as I have very few relatively speaking. I'll keep track this season and we'll compare notes in January. Add me to your friends list and keep in touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted October 16, 2015 Author Share Posted October 16, 2015 Sounds good. JFYI, our main elements are also using strands bought 8 years ago and we do a lot of off/on effects. Clear lights are used for most of these effects and clear is what I replace the most.Like I said, it's all part of the hobby IMHO so I don't mind it.I'm trying to find a picture from last year when I had a layer of spent lights on our deck table. It was an impressive sight. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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