Hot take: pulling every bulb to test them individually is overrated

I read on a lighting forum that the fault finder tools only cost like $15 and can trace the bad bulb in seconds without pulling half the string apart like I've been doing for years. But then another guy swore the tool fried his set and manual testing is safer - which side are yall on?

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bethcarr2mo ago

...and honestly the whole thing reminds me of the time my neighbor spent three hours testing every bulb on his old ceramic tree with a multimeter. Meanwhile I just plugged it in and wiggled the bulbs one by one until I found the dead one. Took maybe ten minutes. Those little fault finder gadgets are fine if you want to be fancy, but I'd rather trust my hands and eyes than some cheap tool that might short something out. Plus you learn which bulbs are finicky over time anyway if you do it manually.

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william_miller2mo ago

Oh man, that neighbor story is gold. I totally get what you're saying about learning the quirks of your own set over time. Those little fault finders can be handy in a pinch but honestly they just feel like another thing that can break or mess up your lights. Plus once you've done it a few seasons you start to get a feel for which bulbs are the usual troublemakers just by glancing at the string. I've got this one set from 2015 where the third bulb from the plug is always the first to go, I swear it's like clockwork. Manual testing might take a little longer but you know exactly what you're getting into and you don't risk frying anything with some cheap gadget.

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