I've used gutter screens for years against pine needles, oak leaves, pin-oak leaves, maple 'spinners', beechnuts, gum tree balls, and all the assorted debris that occurs when you share space with 40 other trees :) I began with cheaper coarse-holed type -- and they work fine if you don't have pine needles or maple spinners, but small debris *will* work through the spaces and eventually you will have to remove screens and clean out the gutters. Not a fun job but only once a year instead of 6 or 7 times, does make it better. I am replacing those with the newer, better, mesh type screening. Link is to my preferred type (the coarse portion provides much-needed support for the fine mesh), which -so far, knock on wood- has not required any cleaning of gutters (we check once a year anyhow). I found them at my local HD, so they are quite available.

Just as, or even more important is to keep the downspouts clear (mesh does okay, but coarse guards need help), and I found the inverted-v type (with screen) to be most effective.

If you are moving into an older home, it will probably be cost-effective to check the "drop" of the gutters - you want water to run to the down spout, not become a skeeter-breeding mini-pond between spouts; also check the fastenings (straps and/or extra long screws) which attach the gutter to the eave. Small holes and rusted areas can be repaired at little expense, but you may find you have rust being held up by paint, which is a whole different story :BTW, to clean out the gutters, cut the bottom and part of one side off a 1/2-gallon milk container to use as a scoop :) beats getting your hands/gloves torn to pieces from rough/rusty metal edges! Might use 2-liter soda bottle or some other size, depending on the size/shape of the gutter. Buy an el-cheapo broom or convert an almost-worn out one: cut the handle to about 18" and trim the broom-straws until short enough to be very stiff/non-flexing, use after or with the scoop to get the smallest pieces of shredded leaves out of the gutter.

Here is a link that might be useful: gutter screen

The best gutter gaurds that I have seen is the Clearwater Gutter system. It is the only system that will give your money back if your system gets clogged and they can't fix it. All other systems just claim that they will come out to clean it, just what you were tring to avoid in the first place.
I have had it on my home for 2 years and it works great. I have a ton of pine trees and pin oaks and not one problem. For the best price buy it through BJ'S Wholsale Clubs, about 30% off normal price.

There is a trade-off with using any type of leaf gutter guard. My neighbor shared this with me.....while they do a good job of keeping out debris, when we have really heavy downpours/storms, the reduced surface area because of the screening causes the rain to just cascade over the screening and floods the foundation of the house. If your land closest to the foundation is not sloped appropriately, you could put tremedous pressure against your house foundation. Just a thought....

Or, you could just have some Leaf Relief gutter guards installed. They are manufactured by Alcoa and can handle any tree debris.

I have open gutters. I clean them with my shop vac.

I have an attachment that is candy cane shaped made just for cleaning gutters. I don't even have to get up on a ladder.

My vac has enough suction that it even picks up small stones out of the gutter.

My neighbors put those mesh covers on their gutters and the mesh just gets clogged with wet leaves. It reduces the efficiency of the gutters and they still have to get up on a ladder and scrape the leaves off of the mesh.

If you buy a shop vac you will find all sorts of other uses for it in and around your home - great for cleaning the basement and garage, even the auto interior and trunk.

Hey bud wi,

How do you know if the gutter is clean if you are using the shop vac from the ground? Do you have a mirror attachment?

The Shop Vac idea sounds a lot safer than climbing on the roof, which what I do.

I imagine that the user can tell from the noise if the vac is still picking up material.

The shop vac idea sounds okay if you are afraid of heights or if you are unable to climb a ladder. But what do you do if you should have a lot of debris on the roof itself?

The best system I have seen and shopped is Gutter Shutter. They don't use any sub-contractors, the screw in the system, don't nail/ferrell. Wide 6" gutter, .032 thick aluminum with baked on enamel. Trap door at bottom of down spout to get to a strainer for small debris washed down so it don't collect outside the down spout. 16 colors, looks great, like crown molding. Not a "topper" system, using your old gutters, Gutter Shutter is a complete system. Entire house done for $4235, most were more unless they were just topper systems. GREAT PRODUCT, WORK FANTASTIC

We did our research for gutter guards on the internet and found that AsktheBuilder.com had a review of gutter guards. To make the long and short of it, he chose MasterShield for his home.

We've got oaks and maples, a real problem in the spring. I remembered that my neighbor, who's an architect, put guards on his house a few seasons ago and when I asked him about what he had picked, it just happened to be the same thing as AsktheBuilder. He chose it cause it cause it had this fine microfilter made of stainless steel and liked its engineering from the rest. I figured he knew what he was talking about, and had MasterShield installed. Like that other person says, well worth the investment.

My neighbor has GutterGloves and the feedback is it worked well for awhile, but then the micro mesh became clogged. He tried brushing it off, but the real clogging was the fine-oily debris that clogged the mesh. The stuff would shoot over in a rain.

I recently purchased the gutter-shutter system. It works great and looks really good on my house. I got estimates from all the gutter people and this system was a little more expensive, but they guarantee it for life and it really stood out for me about the top piece and the strength the gutter has. I would recommend it to anyone. BTW