We needed a new Christmas tree. We were looking at another brand that is featured on all those Christmas movies on TV and they were ridiculously expensive. I started doing research and National Tree Company kept coming up highly rated. We first bought a less expensive slim model to “test it out” in a different area of the house. When we got the tree and put it up, it was awesome! The tree went up easily and looked great. As with any artificial tree, how much time you spend “fluffing the tree” determines how good the tree looks. I took about 45 minutes and it turned out awesome. We then bought a full size tree for the main tree and it was even better. Make sure to look at the branches on the bigger tree. At first I didn’t realize many of the lower branches had 3 big branches on a single branch. It really filled the tree out. I can’t imagine the TV brand tree being worth hundreds or thousands more. I would suggest buying a good tree bag for off season. These things seldom fit well back in the box.I purchased this to use as a second 7.5 foot tree in our study. My main tree is 10 years old and it's from Smith & Hawken (not the Target S&H, the one that went out of business). When you shop for artificial trees, the number of tips is usually listed somewhere. This tree has 796 tips, while my old S&H tree has 3,674 tips. Granted, my other tree has a 46 inch diameter, but it's the same height as this one. The point I'm trying to make is that the number of tips really makes a difference. On this National Tree, I spent an hour fluffing it, and you can still see right through (see photos, I turned off the flash on one). I've noticed the designer trend now is to completely cover the tree to where you really can't see the greenery, and that would definitely help this tree, but I'm assuming any number of decorations and picks would help fill it in. (It's January now, and I won't decorate this one until the end of 2019.) There is about a three inch gap between the trunk and where the tips start, so the hinges and wire are visible. I'm thinking it might be beneficial to wrap that with some PVC branches. However, the color on this tree is also lighter than what I'm used to seeing. In the photos, I'm holding up a piece of garland from another manufacturer to show the difference. It's kind of unusual to find a pre-lit tree with PE tips at this price point, and the tree does look better with the lights turned on. I was a little dismayed by the "new" smell, which brings to mind cigarette smoke and a men's college dorm. Hopefully that will go away over time. You do have to spend some time fluffing this tree, and that means handling every branch tip, which doesn't take that long since there aren't too many. My advice: spread the tips from the inside out, then work your way back. The branches should have a starburst effect, and angle toward you. Wear cotton or disposable gloves to help keep your skin oil off the tree. And if you can, visit a nursery that has real Douglas firs, to help you shape your artificial one. Overall, this is a nice spire of a tree, which will really shine with the appropriate treatment.Beautiful tree!! We have 20 ft ceilings so we needed a nice tall tree (this one is 9 ft) but don’t like a really wide one so this one was perfect!! The tips of the branches look real but the body is like a basic artificial tree. The tips are quite long, however, so that is really all you see and it altogether looks very real. This pic is what the tree looks like without ornaments so when I hang them eventually it will fill out better.Assembly was very easy. I put up the entire tree all by myself while my husband was out of town (on purpose because there’s no way he’d let me decorate this early but hey it’s 2020!). It came in 4 separate sections that are numbered and stack on top of each other. Each section of lights plugs into the next.All in all no cons about this tree. All the lights work, very easy to put together, and very real looking. And a great deal!Middle section of lights stopped working after a day. My husband spent two hours testing all the bulbs and found the faulty light and note it works great.It fit my space perfectly. Liked the tree but would love more lights on itI have 9 ft ceilings so this 7.5 foot treefits perfect. Its footprint is great, slim and sturdy. The tree’s branches are soft and realistic looking. I was able to adjust them so that there was minimal viewing of the pole in the middle. The lights are a warm white, which I love. This is a pretty tree that checks all my boxes at a great price.This tree is beautiful and you don’t have to rearrange your whole house to fit a tree. It’s very sturdy, easy to put together (one person) and is easier to decorate. I was hoping it would be worth the price and it was.Just put it up for the 2021 season and all of the lights still work. Impressive. The mechanics are all in good shape as well. I store it in a large bin so it does not have to compress much between seasons. Therefore, branch shaping is minimal each year.The tree is nice. It’s great for small spaces and condo living. For a $300+ tree I do think it took a lot of adjusting to get it to look “full”. You’ll see in my photos that mine is not anywhere near as full as the advertised photo. But it’s decent.I’m impressed with the “feel real” look of the external branches and find them to be sturdy even when holding some heavier ornaments. I like the number of lights, not too many and not too few.This tree doesn’t come with a step switch (on/off), but I noticed my local Canadian Tire now sells power extension cords for that very purpose. I hooked mine up to a remote control outlet which Is even more convenient!The tree arrived in good shape but the stand was broken. My husband was, however, able to fix it. The dimensions given are correct but it takes a while adjusting to a skinny tree as we have always had very large ones. But this one fits perfectly on our new condo.Fabulous tree tall and slender for smaller areasGreat tree