Backlit halo letters run $35 to $120 per letter from our floor in Lu'an. That's the range. Not $15. Not $300. Anyone quoting you below $35 is cutting metal thinner than 1.0mm or using LEDs that die in 14 months.
US retail installed runs $400 to $1,000 per letter for the same halo-lit look. So factory-direct saves you 50-65% on product. But you still have to pay shipping and tariffs. I'll get to that.
Look, a 12-inch stainless steel halo letter with decent LEDs costs us about $55-70 in materials and labor. We sell it for $80-95. The guy in Dallas sells it installed for $800. That's not greed. That's rent, permits, truck rolls, and insurance. But if you're importing 50 letters, you don't need his overhead.
Here's what nobody tells you: the per-letter price drops when letters get bigger or when you order 20+. Size doesn't scale linearly. A 24-inch letter isn't double a 12-inch. It's maybe 30-40% more. We bend fewer returns per square inch of face. The LEDs spread out. So don't ask for a price per inch. Ask for a drawing.
We make back-lit halo letters every week. The quote depends on face material, return depth, LED count, and finish. Not on your logo's complexity. That's the truth.
Stainless 304 is the default. 1.0-3.0mm thick. 10+ year outdoor life. Brushed #4 or mirror #8. For 90% of mainland US, 304 is enough.
Now, if the sign is going on Miami Beach or Galveston, order 316. It has 2-3% molybdenum. Costs 20-30% more than 304. But it'll last 15+ years in salt air instead of pitting in 5. I've seen this go wrong: a contractor put 304 on a seafood restaurant 200 yards from the ocean. Three years later, rust freckles. The client blamed the sign company, not the ocean.
Aluminum is the lightweight option. Weighs 1/3 of steel. We offer 1.0-1.6mm. It won't rust, but it dents easier. For an 8-foot wall sign, aluminum's fine. For a ground-level sign where drunk people lean on it, use stainless. We also do stainless steel letters non-lit if you're comparing options.
The ugly truth is most buyers overpay for mirror finish. Brushed #4 hides scratches from install. Mirror #8 shows fingerprints from three feet away. Unless it's a jewelry store lobby, brushed is the better buy.
Face material doesn't affect the backlit halo effect much. The light comes from behind. So choose metal for durability, not for glow.
Here's what nobody tells you: the LED is not where you save money. Not if you want the sign to last.
Quality modules from Samsung, Osram, or Lan Jing 100-150 lumens per watt using SMD 2835. L70 lifespan is 50,000 hours. That's roughly 10 years of nighttime use. We warranty those for 2 years. Power supplies get 1 year.
Cheap modules? 12-18 months. Then you're renting a boom lift to replace them. A $20 difference in LEDs becomes a $600 service call. I've watched shops learn that lesson on a 40-foot pylon.
SMD 5730 chips give you 40-60 lumens per chip for the brightest halo. SMD 5050 is RGB capable if you want color changing. But RGB adds a controller and more failure points. Don't order color-changing unless the client specifically asks.
Color temperature matters. 4000-5000K is neutral, like corporate retail. 3000-3500K is warm, better for restaurants and hotels. 6000-6500K looks like a hospital parking lot. Ask the client once. Don't assume.
If your halo letters use an acrylic back to seal the LEDs, specify UV-resistant acrylic. The Mitsubishi or Degussa grade lasts 5-8 years. Domestic acrylic yellows in 1-2 years and kills the halo. That’s a rookie mistake I still see on orders from guys trying to save $3 per letter.
Express shipping gets small orders to your door in 7-15 days for $30-100. That's for samples or maybe 10 letters under 20 lbs total.
Air freight runs $4-12 per kg and takes 10-20 days. For a 200 kg crate of halo letters, that's $800 to $2,400. Sea freight is cheaper but slow: 50-70 days, $80-200 per cubic meter LCL. Full container load runs $1,200-3,000.
Then add the US Section 301 tariff. It's about 30% on most fabricated metal signs. Some importers lie to themselves and hope customs doesn't notice. Customs notices. Budget the 30%.
Look, if you need 10 letters for a storefront next month, air freight is the answer. If you're stocking inventory for a franchise rollout, sea freight saves real money. We'll pack in foam, cartons, and plywood crates. Letters arrive without dents. That's not a promise, it's 16 years of packing.
We hold CE, RoHS, and ISO 9001. Our facility is 3,000 square meters with 50+ workers. We export worldwide. That's real.
But here's the brutal honesty: we do not hold UL 48. Getting UL 48 costs $4,000 to $15,000 and takes 4-9 months with quarterly audits. If your US city requires UL-listed signs, we can build with UL-listed components, but I won't fake the listing. Ask your local inspector first.
IP65 is the minimum outdoor rating. It means dust-tight and water jets from any direction. IP66 handles powerful jets. IP68 is submersible—overkill for 99% of signs. Cheap suppliers throw "IP68" on everything. Ask for a test report. Most don't have one.
CE marking costs 20,000-50,000 RMB. We have the certificate. If another factory says they have it, ask for a photo of the certificate with today's newspaper. You'd be surprised how many go quiet.
MOQ is 1 piece. Lead time is 7-15 days. That's not an estimate, that's the 10-step process we run for every order:
That's the flow. No part gets skipped because you're in a hurry. Rush orders just mean overtime, not missing QC.
Look, if a factory promises 3-day production on 50 halo letters, they're either lying or they have nothing else to do. Neither is good.
Here's the factory range per letter, not installed:
For a 24-inch stainless 304 backlit halo letter with Samsung LEDs, expect $90-110 from us. A 12-inch aluminum halo letter with domestic LEDs might be $40. That's the spread.
We also make front-lit channel letters and light boxes if you're pricing a full storefront package. But the backlit halo is our premium look.
We can't give you UL 48 certification. We can build fire-retardant acrylic faces and use UL-listed LEDs, but the final assembly listing is on you.
We can't quote a 40-foot pylon sign with foundation drawings. That's structural engineering, not factory work.
We can't guarantee colors match a Pantone exactly on metal powder coat. We get within industry tolerance, usually 90-95%. If your client uses a colorimeter, order a sample first.
Here's what nobody tells you: the factory that promises all three is the one that'll ghost you when the sign gets held at customs. Better an honest no than a fake yes.
Backlit halo letters are worth the money. They look premium, they last a decade if you use 304 stainless and Samsung LEDs, and they make a storefront look like it knows what it's doing.
But don't buy on price alone. A $35 halo letter with cheap LEDs is a $500 problem in 18 months. A $110 letter with good LEDs is a 10-year asset.
Send us your design. We'll quote with material, LED brand, thickness, and IP rating in writing. Then compare us to the other two. We're in Lu'an, Anhui, China, founded 2010. We ship worldwide. You'll get the same sign the big shops pay $800 for, but from the factory floor.
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