50% failure rate is unacceptable for anything that im hauling 18 hours into the desert and back... but thats me.

i use a lot of the 5050 RGB LED strips. ive ordered 40+ pf the 16 ft strips and havent had any major issues with them other than a finicky controller or a few (ie: less than 12) temperamental LEDs out of the thousands. ive used em in clothing, on bikes/scooters, decorate our camp, tent/trailer lighting, etc etc. you can cut them to fit (cut every 3 LEDs) and use the rest of the strip with another controller. the tough part is they prefer a 12v source, which is harder to implement on your person/bicycle.

these are not bad either, theres a differnt version with more flexible wires ive had god luck with. we actually still have 4-5 in a box that have made it through 3 burns. not bad for 5 bux. also, AA's are easier to deal with.

you have a lot of options