The BEST Outdoor Lights

Hello and happy Friday to you! Hope you have a wonderful weekend planned! We have nothing but rain in the forecast so I'm hoping for some time on the couch with a Lifetime movie or two.
I had a different post planned for you today but I had to share this find with you! You all are always so helpful!! When I shared our finished pergola earlier this week and asked about outdoor lighting SO many of you suggested the string lights from Costco.
A little background first -- I have been researching these lights for months. Even before we decided to do the pergola, I was trying to figure out a way to add them to the deck and patio. Every time I'd come across someone raving about a set they liked, they were at least $50 a strand. I nearly choked every time and did the whole "I will NEVER spend that much on outdoor lights!" gasp -- even though I know better to say never by now.
Literally every time I found rave reviews about them, they were expensive. So last week I found some on Amazon that had nearly 1000 reviews and like 950 of them were positive. People were like, oh, I dropped a bulb on the hard floor and it didn't even break! Well two minutes after I pulled them out of the package two bulbs tinked against another one and then blew the whole strand. It literally took two minutes. The glass was wayyy too thin. And those were $30 a strand I think?
I always look at the negative reviews too and even though there weren't many of them, someone mentioned Feit string lights and said they were infinitely better. They said those were more commercial grade and held up much better. The company we first ordered from on Amazon also had the more industrial version, but they were $80 a strand (choke) and the lights were only every three feet. I wanted more than that.
SO. Enter the rave reviews from all of you about the Costco version. And what do you know…after I got them home I realized they were the Feit brand that reviewer was talking about:

I am SO pleased with them so far. I actually unscrewed the bulb from the store display to feel the thicker glass -- much better than what we had before.
These were $60 each and that was hard to swallow, BUT they are nearly 50 feet long (the other ones we ordered were 25). And the bulbs are every two feet, not three. They are crazy heavy duty too.
My favorite part? That the bulbs come already off (makes installation MUCH easier) and they give you a ton of extra bulbs! This is what we have left after hanging two strands:

I believe you can also buy more on Costco.com and they also have other colors available.
Here's a closer look at the lights:

They have a much more industrial look -- the bulbs are more of a light bulb shape and not a globe. And the bulbs have a very slight amber coloring to them -- but you don't really notice it.
I got two strands up in less than an hour. I just draped them through the beams -- be careful though because the stands are HEAVY. I gave myself a fat lip when one flipped over a beam and knocked me in the mouth. ;)

Before I put them up we noticed there are little holes for hooks or zip ties on every light. We contemplated just hanging each one down on cup hooks instead of draping them, but decided we liked this better.
A sweet reader on FB shared her photos of how they did it -- and I like that too. It's a much cleaner look for sure. I liked it way more than I thought I would, so we'll decide after we stain it if we want to do that. Installation would take quite a bit longer because you have to hang the cup hooks at just the right spot.
It got me thinking that you could also weave the strands through the other direction so you don't see them under the beams. I don't know though -- we love this way!:

Just weaving them through is a much more relaxed look and looks more whimsical to me. I don't know what we'll end up with but we do know WE LOVE IT. All of us just stood out there last night with goofy grins on our faces because it was so pretty.
We plan to string the lights to our trees too, but I think we'll need help with that. The strands are HEAVY and they need support (the instructions say to attach them to a cord or rope) -- plus I don't think we have a ladder tall enough to get them where we want them. So that may come later. A reader on FB also mentioned that the squirrels may try to eat the wires so that is something we have to consider too!
Just had to share these because we're so happy with them so far! You definitely get what you pay for when it comes to this item. I know many of you said you were pleased with the Target versions too though, so if you are looking for some of these, check those out too.
Thanks so much for the suggestions and your help, as always! Have a great weekend!