To hate this about Christmas tree lights?

[GardenAnarchist]

Picture the scene: You've spent ages trimming your Christmas tree with strings of fairy lights, sparkly baubles, shiny tinsel. Gorgeous! Then you switch on the plug socket... and your tree turns into a flashing strobe beacon visible from space. After rescuing any epileptic family members in the vicinity, you grope around the light plug for the control button and it takes 8 (eight) presses through a series of barely distinguishable but eye-watering flickery-flashy-blinky settings, to achieve the steady state of... ON.

Just why??

Why isn't ON the first default setting?
And while we're on that, why is there a setting of "pretend I'm ON, then just as the user withdraws their finger from the button, fade everything to black"?

I have multiple sets of tree lights bought over the last 10 years and they all do this. Some need 8 presses, some 7, some 9 😫 If I put my tree lights on a timer to save electricity, I come downstairs in the morning to a scene like a Star Wars laser battle and have to crawl on the floor to press all the buttons the requisite number of times.

YABU - Only a boring stick in the mud wants a steady glow on the tree. Clearly, at least 8 times more consumers prefer all the other blinky-flashy settings giving the electric storm-cum-Laserquest-kids-birthday-party vibe!

YANBU - Surely there must be a market for tree lights that just have OFF and ON? And maybe a third setting of gentle twinkling?

They’re inside, but if I only turn them on at 8pm/9pm, they’d be carrying on into the night by themselves

There are hundreds of possible options for fairy lights why buy what you don’t like?

we have lovely pretty static pastel ball lights from John Lewis (they were £40 3 years ago) worth every penny H loves them I can’t hang them they are effectively his

they aren’t glaring or flash

totally possible to get what you want it’s a consumer world

Thanks for the ridiculous assumption that all epileptic people are affected by flashing lights. Do your homework.

They've got a timer so you don't need to turn them off, they know what time to turn on and off. But at least you aren't making your street look like a rave like where I live! Mind you 8 hours is the awkward part, it could do to be 5 hours on these things.

I hate sitting next to flashy strobe light trees when visiting on xmas day.

You sit down in the afternoon after more sugar food and booze than youd ordinarily eat... The TV is blaring, kids are being..kids, the place is heated to about 88 degrees...

You choose a comfoy spot in which you hope to fend off that headache lurking in the back of your head.

...and the tree basically assaults your retinas.

What's worse is that is the room where everyone is until bedtime and you can't escape the fucking strobe lighting in the corner of the room.

Yes OP!

Also 8 presses on ours to get to a nice twinkle. Unfortunately our 3 year old knows where the button is and enthusiastically changes them to the super flashy settings. 🫠

I know haha, but it all depends on them being turned on at the right time first. Otherwise the 8 hours is all out.

I totally get you. When you find the setting you want, it always reverts to the awful flashing one every time you've turned them off and back on. I like the twinkle, but not the flash, why can't they just twinkle? Barmy. Also, migraine inducing

My daughters epileptic so the fast flash setting is a definite no in our house

Worse though is when were driving at night and some house is light up like the deck the halls house with it on multicoloured fast flash
She reacts to coloured lights and flashing, great fun!

Wait. Did I write this? Are you me??

Mine take 8 clicks, it irritates me every time.
I could have written this post!

The ever changing sequences of flashing / fading etc is the ‘demo mode’ to show all of the ways that the lights can be annoying, irritating and aggressive all at the same time.
One of my sets remembers the setting, but another one takes 7 presses to get it to show constantly.
Guess which set is connected to the most difficult to reach socket under the tree? I can’t change it unless I completely redecorate the tree (so I can make it easier to reach by turning the tree).

Drives me insane 🙄 just when you’ve got a lovely setting you like it’s actually on some sort of ‘go through all the settings’ setting - honestly, it’s just too fucking hectic. Let’s start a fairy light business 😂

I’ll be the first to own up then! I love them. The brighter and flashier the better 😂. My Christmas tree looks like a manic disco.

Strangely, although I have chronic migraines that I’m medicated up to the eyeballs for, the flashing lights don’t bother me at all. They affect my daughter though, so I can only have them in full rave mode when she’s out. Remote controls save all the hassle of button clicking.

We go for the soft warm light no flashing ones so no pressing, but it does sound annoying.

Oh my god! This annoys me so much as well. Mine is also 8 presses to go through to get to the static option. I cannot bear the mad flashy options and there are so many of them!

DH likes them though so if he puts the lights on in the morning I'll have to go and fix them. I can't believe so many people feel the same!

Oh gosh I complain about this every year. My daughter is autistic and light sensitive and I have aural migraines so it’s total carnage if we hit the button the wrong random number of times. Whyyyyy

My DH. If left to his own devices. Drives me mad when lights give you manic flashing plus a dizzying array of strobing options first - just no. It's the fairy light equivalent of this: !!!!!!!

I bought new Christmas lights for the tree this year. Thankfully, just on is the first setting. But I decided I’d see what the other settings were like. I think I had to press the button 73 times to get back to just on, all while wedged under the tree with lights flashing in my eyes because of where the socket is. Oh well, at least I won’t do that again.

Well currently 7% of people who've responded appear to disagree with you op, but that can surely only be because they've been blinded by the aggressive chaotic-disco-lights setting and couldn't see the YANBU voting option.

An extra annoyance is that we've got a few sets of identical lights for our windows yet incredibly none of them seem to have the crappy sequence in the same order so I can't even learn that it's 8 presses to get to the sane option.

Yes, another one here that hates the necessity to have lights flashing and that's not even just the Christmas tree. I like to take my dog for a walk most evenings but having to walk past numerous houses where one flashes on and off, the other some other routine, the one next door completely different to the others - I just end up walking with my head down to drown them all out. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas lights but please can they be ON or just a gentle twinkling. Christ, I sound a right moany old cow - Bah humbug!!!

Said that very thing yesterday.

Well currently 7% of people who've responded appear to disagree with you op, but that can surely only be because they've been blinded by the aggressive chaotic-disco-lights setting and couldn't see the YANBU voting option.

@Timeslides

Lol I thought the exact same thing, so many bloody settings when all I want is the constant! X

I have a pre lit Christmas tree and it only does on OP, I've tried to find a gentle flicker or something but it doesn't do anything else!