Energy efficient and bright LEDs are popping up at more and more retailers in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors (even warm white). Below are some of our current favorites, and if you are planning to upgrade to LEDs, you can find information on how to recycle your old lights here.
TOP ROW
1. Starry String LIghts 10 ft, $25 from Restoration Hardware
2. Snowflake Strala Light Chain, $20 from IKEA
3. Twinkling LIghts on White Wire, $23 from Christmas Light Source
4. Multi String Light Set, $19 from Party Lights
5. Cordless Holiday LED Light String, $15 from Brookstone
BOTTOM ROW
6. Solar LED Light String, $40 from Solar Illuminations
7. Color Changing Lights, $25 from LED Wholesalers
8. Warm White C7 Lights, $19 from 1000 Bulbs
9. Warm White Twinkle Lights, $30 from Holiday LEDs
10. Snowball Strala Light Chain, $20 from IKEA
MORE STRING LIGHTS ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• The Do's & Don'ts of Holiday Lights
• Upgrading to LEDs? How to Recycle Your Old Lights
• Best Outdoor String Lights 2011
• String Lights In The Bedroom
(Images: as credited above.)
8 Secret Spots to Hide Valuables at Home
The Live/Work Studio of Robert Siegel Handmade Ceramics
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Howard Butcher Bloc...
Why I Rent Apartments When I Travel
Recipe: Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans
Love the snowball strala light chain from IKEA! Would look great in a living room or bedroom/
I bought a set from Amazon (RTGS products) that look just like the Restoration Hardware one you show and I love it! I can leave them in my ficus braid tree year-round without worrying they'll get the tree leaves too hot. The color isn't quite pure white. It's close enough for me, but be advised LED's don't have white down yet. These do not look blue, like the old "white" LED's did. They give off a warm, slightly yellow/pink glow, which, to me, is a vast improvement over the blue.
Thanks for that tip, susan. The RTGS lights are 1/4 the price by the foot.
I bought Phillips Twinkle Lights at Target. The description sounded good with only 20 out of 100 that twinkle. Well, the twinkle is rapid fire and is too distracting. I will be taking them back. I really like the Starry Lights.
DO NOT BUY the Restoration Hardware ones. Yikes. They cast a horrible greeny light. I am a warm yellow/gold light kind of person. I have edison bulbs, and dimmer switches all over my apartment. I lit these puppies up, and they are terrible. I had such high hopes for my little potted tree, too. Alas it remains naked, and two strands of these lights remain wrapped up in my "give-away" closet.
A lot of cheap white LEDs have that ugly greenish cast (Candlepower Forums calls it "urine-ny"). White is a really hard color for LEDs to make: there's always some other color cast in it. And even the good ones look different from incandescent lights, so mix them carefully.
That being said, I have a mix of warm white and cool white LED strings on my step railings and they look like silver and gold. Very nice for Christmas and weddings too.
I have the RH Starry String Lights in the "Diamond" color - and they are whiter than white not a glimmer of green, yellow, or blue in them/
Recycling link above is broken.
DO NOT buy the Solar Illuminations lights. We bought about 10 of those light strings for an event and the batteries didn't even last a month. The company was exceedingly unhelpful, all they would say was that it was user error and that we needed to put the solar panel in a sunnier spot. This was clearly not the case because the lights started out bright and the panels were in direct Florida sunlight all day long. Terrible company that makes a terrible product.
some people on the street behind us have several strings all around their roof. even 3 houses away, with lots of leafy branches blocking the view, i can't look at their house more than a few seconds before it makes my eyes and brain crazy. it's insane how quickly they flash, led brightness makes it worse.