What glass neon is
Traditional neon is glass tubing heated and bent by hand, then filled with a small amount of gas and sealed. A high voltage across the gas makes it glow. Neon gas itself glows red-orange; other colours come from different gases and from coatings on the inside of the glass. It is a genuine craft, practised by a shrinking number of glass benders, and a well-made glass sign has a depth of light that is hard to match.
What LED neon is
LED neon is a strip of small LEDs inside a flexible silicone tube. The silicone diffuses the light, so instead of a row of dots you see a continuous line, which is what gives it the neon look. The tube is shaped into letters and fixed to an acrylic backing, and it runs from a low-voltage power supply that plugs into an ordinary socket.
The colour comes from the LEDs and from the silicone jacket around them. A white jacket looks white when the sign is off and glows your colour when it’s on; a coloured jacket keeps its colour by day as well. Our guide to choosing colours goes into that properly.
Side by side
| LED neon | Glass neon | |
|---|---|---|
| What it’s made of | LEDs in a flexible silicone tube, on acrylic | Hand-bent glass tube filled with gas |
| Power | Low-voltage supply from a normal socket | High-voltage transformer |
| Heat | Stays cool enough for a bedroom wall | The tube runs warm and the transformer gets hot |
| Weight and knocks | Light; survives a bump | Heavier; glass can crack |
| Dimming | Dimmer and remote, smooth from bright to low | Possible, but specialist |
| Colour changing | Available with colour-changing tube | One colour per tube |
| The look up close | A smooth, even line of light | A deeper, more luminous glow; the glass itself is beautiful |
| Outdoors | Needs an outdoor-rated build | Needs an outdoor-rated build |
Where glass still wins
We make LED signs, so it would be easy to tell you glass has no place any more. It does. Up close, glass neon has a richness of light that LED doesn’t fully reproduce, and an old glass sign carries history that a new sign can’t fake. If you are restoring a period shopfront, or you want an heirloom piece and you’re happy to look after it, a good glass bender is worth seeking out.
Glass also has a particular sound and flicker some people love. LED signs don’t hum, which most people consider a feature.
Where LED wins
For a sign that lives in a home, a wedding, a café or a shop, LED is simply easier to live with. It is light enough to hang from adhesive strips if it’s small, cool enough to sit above a child’s bed, dims from a remote, and plugs into the wall without an electrician. If it gets knocked off a shelf, it usually survives. And because it is shaped rather than blown, intricate script and logos are more affordable.
Three things people often ask
“Is it real neon?” Not in the gas-filled sense. LED neon is named for the look, not the chemistry. There is no neon gas inside, and we say “LED neon” everywhere so nobody is misled.
“Will it look like dots?” No. The silicone jacket diffuses the LEDs into one continuous line, so from normal viewing distance you see a smooth tube of light. Up very close you may notice the line is a touch more even than glass, which is the point.
“Can I leave it on all evening?” Yes. LED neon is designed to run for hours at a time, and it uses far less power than a glass sign of the same size. Our care guide includes a running-cost calculator once we’ve published measured figures, and the dimmer lets you turn it down when the room doesn’t need full brightness.
If you are still deciding between the two, think about where the sign will live and who will be near it. A bar back with nobody touching it is glass territory if you love glass. A child’s room, a rented flat or a wedding that moves venue is LED territory every time.
Why we make LED
We chose LED neon because we wanted to make signs people could design themselves, see priced instantly, hang in an afternoon and live with for years. A glass sign is a beautiful object; an LED sign is a beautiful object that you can also put above your bed. Every one we make is drawn first, approved by you, and covered by a 3-year warranty on the LEDs, the power supply, the dimmer and the remote.
If you’re curious about what happens between your drawing and your doorstep, our guide to how LED neon is made walks through each stage.