Pre-Lit vs. Unlit Christmas Tree: Which One to Buy

Choose pre-lit if setup time matters most. The lights come attached and evenly spread, so there is no string to wind around every branch and no guessing how many you need.

Choose unlit if you want control. You pick the bulb type, the color, the count and the pattern, and you can change all of it next year without buying a new tree.

If you are undecided, count the strings you already own. A box of working lights makes an unlit tree the simpler and cheaper start. An empty box points to pre-lit.

The main saving is time. Wrapping lights evenly around an unlit tree means working branch by branch, and the bigger the tree, the longer it takes. On a pre-lit tree that part is done: you assemble the sections, plug in and shape the tips.

Shaping still takes a while on any artificial tree. Our 6 ft pre-lit pencil tree needs about 30 minutes of spreading tips. Our 6 ft spruce with a plug-in trunk, a much fuller tree, needs 55 to 70 minutes, and its 9 ft size 120 to 150 minutes.

The lights are spread for the tree they are on. Our pre-lit pencil tree carries 200 warm white LEDs across 390 tips on a tree 21.75 in wide.

Freedom over the lights. Warm white one year and multicolor the next, a single color, larger bulbs, a different flashing pattern: on an unlit tree each of these is your call.

There are no built-in strings to fail. If a string stops working, you swap that one string.

An unlit tree also suits a minimal look. A green tree with ornaments and ribbon and no lights at all is a real option, and an unlit tree makes it easy.

Our unlit Norway spruce has hinged branches and comes in 6 ft, 38.6 in across with 888 tips, and 7.5 ft, 45.3 in across with 1,388 tips. Our unlit 6 ft pencil tree has the same 390 tips and 21.75 in width as our pre-lit one, so the only difference between the two is the lights.

It depends on width as much as height. Among our pre-lit trees: 200 LEDs on the 6 ft pencil tree, 400 on our 6 ft warm white tree, 480 on the 6 ft full spruce, 690 on the 7.5 ft spruce, 880 on the 9 ft spruce and 600 on our 9 ft flocked Fraser fir-style tree.

Compare counts on trees of similar width, not only similar height. Our 6 ft pencil tree and our 6 ft full spruce share a height, but the spruce is twice as wide and carries more than twice the lights.

If the count on a pre-lit tree looks low for your taste, you can add a string of your own over the built-in lights. For an unlit tree, our guide to putting lights on a Christmas tree covers how many to buy for each height.

On most pre-lit trees the light color is fixed, so decide before you buy. Warm white gives a soft, candle-like glow; multicolor gives the traditional colored look.

Dual-color trees take the decision away. Our Nordmann fir switches between warm white and multicolor with a remote, our spruce with a plug-in trunk does it with a foot pedal across 11 modes, and our slim flocked tree offers both as well.

Check the light mode too. Our 6 ft pre-lit pencil tree stays steadily on. Our 6 ft fiber optic tree is the opposite: fiber optics and 24 multicolor LEDs run through preset flashing patterns, with no steady-on setting.

With an unlit tree, any of these is possible with the right string, and you can change it from year to year.

A pre-lit tree needs an outlet within reach of its cord. Our 6 ft pre-lit pencil tree has a 6.6 ft power cord, so measure from the spot to the nearest outlet before you settle on a corner.

On a traditional pre-lit tree, the light strings of each section are plugged into each other by hand as you build it. A trunk-connected tree skips that step. On our spruce with a plug-in trunk, the lights connect through the trunk as the sections join, so there are no separate light-string plugs to link.

An unlit tree needs power only if you add lights, and then the cords are yours to route. Start at the bottom near the outlet and work up, so the plug ends up where you need it.

None of our trees is sold for outdoor use, pre-lit or unlit.

This is the main worry with pre-lit trees, and it has a simple fallback: the tree still works as an unlit tree. Wrap a string of your own over the dark section, or over the whole tree, and carry on.

Before you do, check the plug connections between sections and read the manual that comes with your tree; it says how the lights are wired and what to check first.

On an unlit tree the same problem costs you one string. That is the trade: an unlit tree has no built-in lights to fail, and a pre-lit tree never needs lights wound around it.

Usually, because the lights are part of the tree. Compare its price with the same tree unlit plus the lights you would buy for it, not with the bare tree alone.

If you already own enough working strings, unlit is the cheaper route. If you would buy new lights anyway, the gap narrows, and you get the setup time back as well.

A pre-lit tree packs away with its lights attached, so there is no string to untangle next year, but the bulbs go into the box with the branches. Fold the branches in gently and do not force the sections into a tight box, where bulbs and tips get crushed.

With an unlit tree, the lights come off and are stored on their own. Wind each string around a piece of cardboard or a spool and label it, so next year you know which strings work.

Both kinds come apart in sections. The branches on our spruce with a plug-in trunk are hinged and fold toward the trunk for packing; our unlit Norway spruce has hinged branches and a folding stand.

For a small corner and the least work: our 6 ft pencil tree with 200 warm white LEDs, 21.75 in across.

For a full tree with both light colors and no plugs between sections: our spruce with a plug-in trunk, in 6, 7.5 and 9 ft.

For a full tree and lights of your own choosing: our unlit Norway spruce with hinged branches, in 6 and 7.5 ft.

For a colorful, changing display with no stringing at all: our 6 ft fiber optic tree with an attached star.