I have seen permanent outdoor led lights you can mount once, and manually change which color patterns there are based on the season.
However I’m skeptical of amazon reviews and skeptical that anything outdoor can last more than a year or two.
Has anyone had success with something similar? I like the idea of mounting once, using it a couple times a year and leaving it up for a purpose and not to be tacky.
With LEDs in general the power supply is usually what makes a good one. Bean counters love to save money there because you can design a supply with very few parts, if you add a few more you can have a good supply. A better quality supply will have protection for itself and the lights. LEDs really like to run at their rated voltage, and they hate power spikes.
For lights used outside the IP rating (how water resistant it is) usually needs to be taken with a few grains of salt.
If I wanted something permanent-ish I would talk to people that install it professionally.
While I have done Christmas lighting, I have never done Christmas light fixtures themselves. I do a lot of outdoor lighting for work. For my own personal stuff at home I always make my own power supplies.