I feel your pain! I'm recovering from the flu (or thought I was!) and just before I got sick I noticed that part of a strand outside went out (mind you, these are all brand new heavy duty lights this year). Luckily it's not as visible as it could have been, since I'm in no shape to do anything about it. I agree with you about the more expensive not being ANY better than the cheap ones. I really need to go to WalMart, because I'm obviously paying way too much at Target.
Glad you're feeling better!