The short answer
Buy it if any of your lights go outside. The maker publishes a capacity for extension cord — 150 feet of 16 AWG per reel — which no other reel set we have read states, and cord is the bulk of an exterior box. Skip it if everything you own is indoor mini strands, because a cheaper three-reel bag publishes the same strand capacity and metal reels. We have not tested it; everything below is what the published specification supports.
What this review is, and is not
We do not own this product and we have not wound a strand onto it. That is true of every product on this site and we say so on every page. What a spec-based review can do is read what the maker has committed to in writing, compare it with what its competitors commit to, and tell you which claims are checkable and which are not. That is what follows.
What the maker publishes
Every figure the Install N' Store product page states| Specification | Published value |
|---|
| Reels included | 3 XL reels |
| Reel dimensions | 13" x 13" x 5" each |
| Capacity per reel, C7 | Up to 75 ft of C7 bulbs and holiday wire |
| Capacity per reel, mini strands | Up to 150 ft |
| Capacity per reel, extension cord | Up to 150 ft of 16 AWG |
| Bag dimensions | 13" x 13" x 15" |
| Bag fabric | 600D poly-blend |
| Reel material | Plastic, described as high quality |
| Included hook | Spinning hook, stated to support up to 10 lb |
| Handles | Reinforced carrying handles |
| Warranty | One-year limited warranty |
| Bag closure | Not published |
| Load rating | Not published |
That is a fuller specification than most of the category prints, and two lines in it do the real work. The first is the cord capacity, which we come back to below. The second is 600D on the bag: a published fabric weight rather than an adjective, which puts the bag itself on the same footing as the best tree bags we rank.
The cord line is the whole case
Every reel set publishes a strand capacity. Almost none publishes what the reel holds when you wind extension cord onto it, and extension cord is what an exterior display is mostly made of: a hundred feet of 16-gauge cord weighs and bulks more than the strand it powers. It is also the item that tangles worst when it is coiled by hand and dropped in a tote.
The Install N' Store states 150 feet of 16 AWG per reel. That single published number lets you plan an exterior kit in a way nothing else here allows: cord on one reel, C7 line on another, minis on the third, one elevation per bag. The full method for keeping cords and clips with the run they belong to is on storing light cords, clips and hardware.
Three XL reels: enough for one elevation
Three reels at 13 inches across is a genuinely large reel set, and the 75-foot C7 figure is the one to plan against, because C7 and C9 bulbs on a run are what fill a reel. For most houses that is one exterior elevation: the front gutter, the porch, the shrubs. A full roofline with the side returns needs two sets, and the maker does not pretend otherwise.
The reel material is described as high quality plastic and nothing more. Plastic reel flanges are the failure point on cheaper sets when a heavy exterior strand is wound tight, and the Zober three-reel bag publishes metal reels for exactly that reason. This is the one place the Install N' Store's specification is thinner than a competitor's, and it is the con we weight most. The strand-count arithmetic for every reel set is on light storage by strand count.
The spinning hook
The included hook is the feature the name refers to: the reel hangs from it and spins as you wind, so a strand comes off a gutter and onto a reel in one motion without the reel sitting on wet ground. The maker states a 10-pound capacity for the hook, which is the only load figure on the product and a sensible one — a loaded XL reel of C7s is well under it.
It is a genuine convenience and it is the part of the product a spec review cannot judge: whether the hook is worth using depends on how it hangs and how the reel spins, and nobody publishes that. Buyer reviews on the retailer's listing are a better source than we are for it, and we say so.
The bag: a cube, not a box
Thirteen by thirteen by fifteen inches is a cube that takes the three reels stacked and little else. It sits on a shelf; it does not go under a bed, and it does not lie flat in a shallow tote. The 600D fabric is a real specification, the handles are stated reinforced, and the closure is not described at all, which is an odd omission on a bag whose contents are the point.
Against the rigid alternatives — a four-reel box publishing around 18 by 15 by 12 inches — the bag is smaller, softer and hangs on a garage hook. The trade between those formats, including crush resistance, is on light storage reels versus bags.
Against the two obvious alternatives
The Install N' Store against a three-reel fabric bag and a four-reel rigid box | Install N' Store | Zober 3-reel bag | HOMZ 4-reel container |
|---|
| Reels | 3 XL | 3 | 4 |
| Strand capacity published | 150 ft mini / 75 ft C7 per reel | 240 ft total, with bulb counts | Not published |
| Cord capacity published | 150 ft of 16 AWG per reel | Not published | Not published |
| Reel material | Plastic | Metal | Not published |
| Container | 600D bag, 13" x 13" x 15" | 600D bag, 12.5" x 15" | Rigid box, dimensions not published |
| Warranty | 1 year | Not stated | Not stated |
Read across and the decision writes itself. Outdoor lights with cord: the Install N' Store, on the cord line and the warranty. Indoor strands only: the Zober, on metal reels and published bulb counts, at a lower price bracket. A rigid box that publishes neither capacity nor dimensions is the one we would not buy without more information.
The honest downsides
Plastic reels where a competitor publishes metal, at the size where heavy exterior strands stress a flange. No stated bag closure. A cube that does not fit under a bed or in a shallow tote. Three reels, which is one elevation, so a big display is two purchases. And a price bracket above the basic three-reel bags, which is fair for the cord capacity and the warranty and unnecessary if you never wind a cord.
Verdict
The best-specified reel set we have read for an exterior display, on the strength of one published number nobody else prints. For an indoor-only household it is a good product at the wrong price bracket, and the three-reel Zober is the sensible buy. We have not tested either; our method and its limits are at how we pick.