Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: I packed away the tree and it was pretty easy! A tad time-consuming but I was also being very meticulous in ensuring each branch was straightened and bundled up. I was weary it would fit back into the original box but it did! There was some shedding but nothing obscene - hopefully it won't shed much next time since this was my first time using it. I still love this tree, I was sad to put it away! -------- Great tree! This is my first xmas tree so I don't have much to compare with. I absolutely love giant, full trees though and this to me is pretty full compared to others I've seen! Of course I wouldn't mind a few extra branches, but for the price, this is a great value! I did find another 7.5' tall tree that had about 2x as many branches but was about $30 more expensive, so I tried this one. I'm happy with it! This comes in 3 parts (top, middle, bottom) and fluffing them out did take some time, but I'm a perfectionist and I also enjoyed doing it, so I didn't mind! I agree with some other reviews that the top part is a bit narrower than the rest of the tree; I wish the top branches were slightly longer. However, I have been able to make it work with my decorations. My tree is also pushed up against a corner so I think that adds to the fullness (the branches against the corner are just kind of smushed up/downward and fill in any gaps when looking at the tree from the front). Overall the shape is great! I have 8' ceilings (exactly) and with the top fully extended, it didn't touch my ceiling but was close. I didn't measure it exactly. However, I folded the top (single) vertical branch down halfway to beef it up, so it could hold my tree topper, which is about 6" tall. There are a few inches between the topper and ceiling now. It's really easy to adjust the top branch if you're worried about the tree being too tall. I was worried about that before I bought it, but I was able to make it fit great with my room. :) The branches do shed a little, but not drastic and I didn't mind since it was the first time I set it up. In the middle/bottom sections, the branches are on individual hinges which made it very easy to set up (and probably pack away when that time comes). The top section branches are just wired to the "trunk" but the wire feels really beefy, so I'm not worried about them breaking. The stand seems to be pretty standard and just fine/sturdy for keeping my tree upright. I don't have kids and my cat doesn't play with the tree/ornaments so I can't comment on how robust it is to resisting "pulling" or being climbed on. :) When I bought this, there was a description that mentioned this comes with a stow-away box, so I was excited it would come with a nice container or something to store it in. However, it just arrived in a cardboard box, inside of another cardboard box. The boxes are pretty stiff so they're nice, but I was expecting more of a plastic container of some sort. Oh well, minor details, and the description is gone now I think.. Overall I'm very happy with this tree! I'll update again after a few more uses! :)