If you’re looking for the most affordable option, a $25 smart plug can add smart features to your existing tree and lights. But the 7.5-foot National Tree Company Feel Real Downswept Douglas Fir is a realistic, competitively priced, versatile, and especially attractive option that we recommend first among the dozen-plus trees we’ve tried since 2016. When we viewed our test models as plain green trees, the Vermont White Spruce looked most like the real thing. Balsam Hill’s 7.5-foot Nordmann Fir Color + Clear LED tree comes from the company’s “most realistic” line, a category that has increased in popularity over the past few years. Our crash course in artificial Christmas trees began in 2016 when Wirecutter senior staff writer Tim Heffernan visited a fake-tree manufacturer’s New Jersey headquarters. It’s one of a number of new trees, from multiple manufacturers, that come with app-controlled LED lights that you can program directly or set to multiple pre-programmed patterns—pushing their abilities beyond the seven or eight presets that most white-plus-color trees come with. If all of these options fail, customer support is on hand to help, though we’ve found it extremely difficult to get through to a live agent as the holidays grow closer. And like most trees its height, it comes in three sections. For the 2019 guide, Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers spoke with three major tree manufacturers to identify the latest offerings and track new developments in the fake-tree world. And whereas most trees require you to hunt down the light strings’ plugs among the foliage and manually connect them, this tree’s trunk-mounted PowerConnect system automatically does the job for you when you stack its three sections together. As you stack the sections, the branches fold out under their own weight—though you then have to fluff them, a tedious task that can take an hour for one person working alone. If you figure you can get at least a few years out of this tree, versus paying an average of about $80 annually for a live one, you’ve got yourself a bargain. 220 likes. If a smart tree is a bit outside your budget, here are a few alternatives that might work for you. Viewed from a distance, the shape looks like someone curtsying in a hoopskirt, and it’s cute. Judging from the photos, we think it’s quite pretty when decorated, but it lands in a very specific aesthetic subset, and with such wide-open spaces between the twiggy greenery, it’s a shame that Balsam Hill’s Easy Plug connectors aren’t better disguised on this model. In response to reader request, we’ve added more information about potential troubleshooting issues, links to parts or accessories you may find helpful, and additional advice on how to use our recommendations safely. This model lacks the company’s PowerConnect feature, in which the lights connect when you attach the central pole. And in an unusual touch for a tree of its price, the light strings connect automatically when you stack the tree’s three sections together, thanks to cables and plugs that run through the “trunk.” That’s much easier than the usual process of hunting down bare plugs among the foliage and manually hooking them together. Our interviews with National Tree Company and the American Christmas Tree Association yielded a few key facts about trends in the industry. To make a tree (of any price or level of realism) look good, you have to “fluff it,” a tedious but necessary process in which you manually separate and arrange the branch tips to give the tree more volume and a more realistic shape. From what we’ve found through reporting, people are now using trees with this feature as non-Christmas decorations, setting them to Halloween colors when it’s time for trick-or-treaters, for example, or team colors for sports events. And it has more than twice the number of lights (1,620 versus 750), creating an opulent display that our testers universally preferred. Each year, children look forward to getting the tree out of storage, putting it together, stringing the lights, and hanging the ornaments — while adults then have the less fun task of setting up timers and replacing bulbs that have gone bad in the intervening months. Our long term tester of this tree reports that in its second year the glitter and needle shedding persists, and that a portion of branches developed some slight discoloration, possibly due to heat in her storage space, but overall “it’s still as magical.”. Once you get a live tree back home and secure in the stand, you just need to put its best face forward, and it looks realistic automatically … because it is in fact real. Living trees have color variations and other “imperfections,” and that’s part of what tells the eye that they’re real. You could use all-white for a more sophisticated look during a grown-up holiday party, for example, and use the multicolor mode when the mood is more festive. We’ve seen Balsam Hill’s incandescent versions, as well, and although they have a warmth that LEDs can lack, they can’t switch colors in the same way. At just 32 inches, it’s barely half as wide as the 59-inch Downswept Douglas Fir, so it doesn’t look like any pine you’ll find in nature; it’s more like a cypress. One last point: You operate the Vermont White Spruce’s lights via a small remote control; in contrast, most prelit trees, including the Downswept Douglas Fir, have you use a button on the power cord. Indoor Pre-Lit LED Splendor Spruce Artificial Christmas Tree with 49 Lighting Combinations >; Instructions /. More lights, more realistic branch tips, more money. 5. Fun, kitschy, and proudly artificial, this all-white option proved surprisingly beautiful, and it makes a fine alternative to the traditional holiday aesthetic. On the other hand, there are alternatives that are not as pricey as a smart tree and allow you similar options. Home screen of the tree that Wirecutter staff writer at Wirecutter and climate-controlled. We worry that the Winchester White Pine is more sensitive to light placement our! 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