"It looks to me like rather than reinstall the gutter, they place this metal to attempt to make it work." I agree with Tre. Your gutters were originally installed high on the fascia and didn't allow for insertion of that style gutter guard, so they had to modify it to make it work. It is difficult to remove aluminum gutters and reinstall them without damaging the gutters. I don't have enough experience with this style gutter guards to say if this is a typical retrofit or not, but it doesn't look pretty. I'd expect that repositioning the gutters (and potentially have to replace them) would likely double the cost to do the job. I believe the contractor should have made you aware of this before he did the work.

I used the Home Depot type that handymac describes for many years--they worked fine. I rarely had to go up and do any cleaning--when I did, it was so easy. I had one side tucked under the shingles, and the other side clipped to the edge of the gutter. Before that I had the similar type but without the extra mesh, and those allowed the locust leaves, maple flowers and maple seeds in. When I got new gutters I unfortunately got permanent gutter covers--don't know a brand name, flat perforated metal. The holes are small, and don't seem to let anything through, but because they sit flat on the gutter (actually tilt down slightly toward the wall) debris piles up and packs under the shingle overhang, so I have to climb up twice a year to clean it even though nothing is actually in the gutter itself. I had ice dams for the first time, too, after these were installed. Of course the guy who nstalled them won't return my calls about his "guarantee" that I wouldn't have to clean.

There doesn't seem to be any kind of consensus on here. Some people are happy with every system out there, some are unhappy. In general, the "as seen on TV" products tend to be overpriced for what you get, and while there are some good contractors installing them, there are also some very sleazy ones. My opinion is to get some cheap ones, and see how they work. I can't see buying any of the expensive systems when half of the people who've bought them love it and half of them hate it - and that seems to be the case for EVERY gutter guard type system out there. Personally, I'm leaning towards just paying to have my gutters cleaned several times a year and not trying to put any sort of guard system on them. If there was one product that everyone was singing the praises of, I'd get it, even if it was expensive. But there doesn't seem to be.

3onthetree, thank you for letting me know that we should not install the splash guards on the inside edge of the gutter! That makes sense! worthy, thank you for letting me know about the product. Have you used or installed it? Anyone else? Would like to know how it has worked for others.