Which brand for quality / reliability?

[slw2206]

I'm new to addressable LEDs so looking for a little advice on which brands are best to buy (I'm in the USA).

I learned long ago with my traditional LEDs that paying a little extra for quality and not having lights/segments going out mid-season is worth it. To that end, I've got 25,000 Wintergreen Lights around my property, and in 5 years not a single LED has failed!

As I dive into addressable LEDs, what brands should I try to stick with if I want quality and reliability? ChatGPT seems to think Mattos and BTF-Lighting are 2 of the best... I saw conversations on the forums here that mentioned Ray Wu, but the cost to ship from AliExpress is insane!

Open to your suggestions and advice. Thanks!

 

[merryoncherry]

There are a lot of distributors for a tangled web of China suppliers fronted mostly by Ray Wu, Paul Zhang, and ScottLED. Most of the pixels sold have been solid, with a few notorious "bad batch" years. Short answer, for playing around right now I would go scottledusa, as you would get small quantities quickly at low prices. You can branch out if you want a larger order, or wider product variety, or can accept longer lead times.

 

[AAH]

I've had 1 pixel failure ever in about 10 years of using Scottled pixels. All of my bullet nodes are 5V which are more reliable than 12V but no epoxy failures in all of that time. I have some pixels that have literally sat in the sun and rain for a full year and the pvc (????) sleeve that the nodes are in are starting to look quite sunburned but the nodes are going strong.
ALL the pixels come from China which Donald has tariffs slapped on. All the suppliers in the US will be paying some sort of tariff.

 

[fugley]

personally id sometimes call it luck of the draw ... i have avg priced from a some what known supplier from amazon which been on the roof through snowy winters & NZ UV sun for the last four or fives years without removing them NOT ONE FAIL

10k of the cheapest wouldn't touch with a barge pole pixel from AliExpress ... first year two fails, second year 4 or 5 fails, this year nothing (wasn't going to turn down 5000 pixels for 800NZD with free shipping)

and then some from a well known supplier we just wont talk about never mind the cost

 

[MikeKrebs]

One thing about aliexpress is that freight is usually a little high. Depending on the order size, ask for a quote and see if the freight comes down or maybe if there is another way to ship than the standard ways on aliexpress.