Drop-In vs Integrated Fixtures

If you are thinking about adding outdoor lighting to your home, you will have to decide between a drop-in or integrated fixture. What does this mean, and which is better? We will give you some pros and cons of both and let you decide!

A drop-in fixture is one where the lamp is “dropped-in” or connected to the socket inside. An integrated fixture has the light source built in so there is no separate lamp for you to place.  For this reason, when it comes to preparing for installation, the integrated fixture is ready to go when you take it out of the box. On the other hand, you must take apart a drop-in fixture, place the LED lamp inside, and close it up. You may be thinking, why would I want to add that extra work but don’t decide just yet!

There are many advantages to using a drop-in fixture. LED lamps do have a long lifespan, but just like an old light bulb, they will eventually dim and burn out. With a drop-in fixture, you can simply just replace the lamp with a new one, keeping the fixture in place which makes for easy maintenance. When the light source goes out in an integrated fixture, the entire fixture must be replaced. This can be costly if it is past its warranty, and you may even run into the issue of that fixture not being made any longer. Distributors discontinue fixtures all the time as they develop new and improved options so then you must decide if you can handle a mismatched look.

Speaking of new and improved, new LED lamps are coming out all the time as technology advances. If you choose to use drop-in fixtures, you can upgrade the lamps inside with the latest lamps at any time. To upgrade an integrated fixture, you guessed it, you must replace the entire thing.

At this point you may be asking, what do we use then? BOTH! It truly depends on the application. When placing a fixture in water, we choose integrated as there are less entry points for the water to get in and cause any damage. When installing up lights and path lights, we tend to choose drop-in fixtures for their ease of maintenance. Having access to both options and using them appropriately is the best answer!