I always put a real tree in my formal living room, but I wanted a new artificial one for the game room and I found one that I really liked at Lowes. It is a 9ft. slim fir style w/ a few pine cones, no lights( they did have same tree w/ lights) this tree is decorated in birds & houses. I have been puttig off this purchase because I couldn't find one that looked real, but this one sure does.It was on sale for $150.00.

I bought an 8' noble fir from Tree Classics in 2003, it has white lights. They didn't offer LED back then so I have no idea which kind of light is better. I've never had any problems with my tree or the lights. It arrived quickly with no problems. It looks great. Over the years I've never seen any artificial tree elsewhere that looks better. Before I ordered it, I ordered the sample branches of all the types of trees which helped me decide which type I liked the most. I liked being able to do that, it did help to look at the types before deciding. I just looked at the Tree Classics website and they do still offer that option, you just have to type in sample in the search window to find how to do it. The sample branches cost $25 which is then a credit towards any tree purchased. My tree has lasted for 6 holidays so far with no problems at all. A couple individual lights have broken every couple years when we would take it in/out of storage, but they are easy to replace with standard replacement bulbs from any local store. The tree looks great, but it does take up space and is heavy. I squish it together with bungee cords to store it in it's box each year, then when I take it out I have to separate and fluff each branch when I set it up (wear gloves). Cheaper trees with less branches may not need that. If I did it again I'd probably go a slim version to save space in the room and to make it easier to move around. I also learned to mark the places where the tree divides with some clear tape so that when I take it down I know where to pull to separate the sections, the seams completely disappear otherwise and the first year it took me forever to get it apart. Oh, and if you ever need to remove a broken light bulb, turn off the lights first! Otherwise, if you touch the wires exposed by the broken bulb you'll get shocked. Trust me!

Yes, I do meant that they are out in stores already. In stock on the shelves. Not out of stock. They make nift little bags that you store around the base now that you pull up and over the tree to drag it out and keep needles to a min. :) My old artificial one was shedding like a persian cat anyhow. :) I found one that holds 2 gal. of water. :)

We bought a Krinner about 5 years ago and it's the best one we've ever had. There are 2 sizes, we have the largest and it easily holds our 9 - 10' trees. It has 5 prongs to hold the tree and you simply depress the foot pedal and it ratchets the prongs to the trunk. The foot pedal even locks for safety. It holds a lot of water so you don't need to constantly refill the reservoir. It's available on Amazon and other stores. I should add that it's heavy - it weighs 18 pounds and has a 20" diameter base so it even remained steady and stable when my son's dog decided to jump over the couch and hit the tree about 2' above the base. That could have been a disaster. Here is a link that might be useful: Krinner This post was edited by maire_cate on Mon, Dec 16, 13 at 23:04