I have vowed that this year will be the last year we are using our artificial tree. For one thing, it's nearly 8 years old and some little branches are starting to break off. For another I am *SICK* of putting on the lights. (DH doesn't do the lights, I have taken this job over so the tree will look decent. )

Anyway, a few of my friends have bought the pre-lit trees and I wanted opinions on those from people who already have one. How difficult are they to put up? What is the life expectancy of the lights on the tree? For that matter, what happens if one (or more) lights won't light up? I really need more info about these. Also, where is the best place to buy one?

I am wanting one probably 7 feet tall with PLENTY of lights on them. But, I also don't want to spend several hundred dollars on this.

Any advice or suggestions is much appreciated. Thanks!
Suzanne

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We broke down and purchased a pre-lit tree a few years ago. While I miss the smell of a live tree, these suckers are SO easy to put up because the lights are wrapped around the branches. Ours is in 3 sections and they open and close like an umbrella, and then snap together and into the base. We bought ours at K-Mart, its one of the Martha Stwart trees.

IMO, nothing beats a live tree, but this isn't too bad.

S

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We bought a Fiber Optic one a few years ago and I love it. 7 1/2 ft tall all you do is pull it out of the box put it in the stand fluff the branches a bit and done. The colors of the lights change because of the fiber optics we never put regular lights on anymore.

my sister has one she got last yr. we finally got it put up yesterday and then today when she plugged it in there is a huge gap that wont lite! she only used it one yr and paid over 200 .00 for it. it worked fine ysterday but not today . so instead of taking the whole thing down, she is getting a string of lites to put in the gap that wont work.

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I vowed I would never have an artificial tree...

Until this past January when I bought a 9 foot pre-lit artificial tree on clearance for $30.

We're supposed to put it up this weekend, I'm anxious to see how it looks. We always bought a live tree (and paid a fortune for it!) but after wrangling it home, fighting it to put lights and garland on it, watering it NON-STOP and sweeping up piles of needles every fifteen minutes I decided that we could at least try an artificial tree just once to see if we liked it.

I'll update after we set it up. Wish us luck!

We were forced to go to artificial, because of allergies.

I loved it when the pre-lit trees came out! You just stick it up and fluff it out! No arguing on who will take the lights off! Seems like everyone hates to do that!

Like Mom2RandD said, I don't miss sweeping up the needles either.

Well, we've always had artificial and this year we're going back to a live tree! DH hates artificial trees and he's finally getting his way this year. My biggest concern is how long it's going to last. I want to put my tree up this week and I want it to last till after Christmas. We can take it down right after--but I want it to be nice until then. He assures me that is possible but i'm skeptical.......

How long do you usually have up your live tree?

We usually put our live tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. They can/will last that long but you have to be HYPERVIGILANT about watering them. They'll still drop needles like crazy, or at least that was always the case with our live trees.

We put up our new artificial tree today and I have to say that I am more than pleased with it! I was really worried when I took it out of the box and assembled it (though it took me forever to figure out in what order it went together ) but once it was assembled and fluffed it looked FANTASTIC! DH and I are so happy with it.

This has happened to me, usually all that is wrong is there is a light in the strand that has come loose. Lucky I usually find the errant light rather quickly. Tell her sister to try checking the lights and making sure they are each plugged in tightly.

DH & I were just discussing how we will NEVER buy another tree that is not pre-lit. This is our 7th Christmas with this tree. We bought it for around $150-175 (6-1/2') at Wal*Mart and it is a beautiful looking tree!

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we always have live trees...and we know they are fresh because we always go and cut them down!!!
This year my oldest is trying to convince me to cut three trees (we usually have 2-12 footers) but I'm not sure If our electric budget can handle another tree..lol
We put a total of 5 up now..2 real and 3 fake..in our 1925 Victorian house.

Don't have ours up yet, but last year after Christmas, Amazon had a $279.99 pre-lit tree on sale for $49.99 PLUS free shipping. Keep your eyes open for these deals after Christmas. HTH!

Here's something to check out!

http://www.lakeside.com/details.asp?...&Nao=1&R=16644

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my neighbor wants a bag to cover her pre lit tree with so she can just fold and cover it and sit it in our barn after using it. I dont know what these are called . any ideas what they are called and where to find one at????

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