We got ours from Treetopia.com - because they not only had TONS of reviews for each tree, but also the reviewers post their own pictures so I can really see the possibilities. Also each tree has several product image shots with zoom so it's really easy (or kinda harder - because of the vast selection) to make a choice.

Instead of brand shopping, a creative type could make her own. I have a tabletop artificial tree custom handmade by a crafty co-worker of my husband. It's the right size for us since we have no kids and a small living room.

I had friends who'd make their treee from driftwood and decorate it with bromeliads. They disassembled the components to return them to the garden after New Year's. It was green, meaningful, and took no space to store.

Definitely avoid something perfectly cone-shaped like in the picture that accompanies your question!

You could also get another kind of potted tree, that you aren't allergic to, to decorate, and then enjoy year-round as a houseplant. My in-laws decorate their ficus and norfolk pines, rather than buy a tree.

If you get one of those trees where the branches come out (rather than those ones that unfold like an umbrella), you can rearrange the branches to make the tree look less like an upside-down ice cream cone and more like real tree.

this is so not happeneing...why does AT advocate artificial trees and Re nest talk against it..:(

Your comment reminds me of my relatives, may they rest in peace, who'd buy a pine sapling each winter to decorate in their living room. After New Year's, they'd plant each tree in their front yard. By the time their kids were grown, their front yard was a tiny pine forest!

I have one of the old silver ones, and I love it. It's not trying to be real. :)

I like my parents' artificial tree, which is nearly 20 years old now. Rather than that canvas stripping many of them use to make needles, this one has needles molded in plastic so they actually look like what you'd find on a real tree. Visitors invariably think it's real.

I bought a funky pink one at WalMart a couple of years ago with lights attached. Cute, but not as pretty as real one.

I found a great one at Target on clearance. LED's were important to us, and the prelit version didn't have em', so we bought the unlit, separate LED's ad put it together ourselves. Still easy to take apart to store. It turned out to be a pretty great tree. Multiple people seemed to think it was real, and quite frankly, even though it'll never compare to the gorgeous $600+ tree I wanted, it was an amazing deal.

Vintage. I have an aluminum tree from the 1950's and I love it!

OK, I have to ask -- what seems more environmental to you: buying a beautiful real tree for (say) $50 that took at least fifteen years to grow and now is dead, waiting only for a lapse of attention in keeping it watered to drop all its sharp prickly needles on the carpet? OR buying a pretty realistic reusable fake tree (which, in my case, gets totally covered in ornaments anyway) that lasts for years and creates no fire hazard??? Obviouly I prefer the fake for inside, with the beautiful real ROOTED trees in the yard instead -- where someday they may achieve the majesty those trees are capable of!

But to answer the question asked, I don't think brands matter, you should look at the trees in person and see how big they are, how full or narrow (to go with your space), how much you can adjust the branches to suit your ornaments, etc. They rarely look like their photos.

I suggest that you do NOT get a pre-lit tree. They are lovely the first year. They MAY stay lovely the second year. But at some point the lights will burn out and it is finger destroying to un-clip those millions of lights (one or two tough pastic clips per bulb) to remove them! Oh so NOT worth it! (Ask me how I know! No, don't bother!!)

I prefer LED lights. They run cooler, use less power, and last longer. They improve a bit each year, but sometimes the strand length is less than optimal and the colors are sometimes a bit off from what you are used to. Shop around. (100 lights per foot of tree height is the formula I learned -- about right!)

DO NOT get a pre-lit tree! It might look perfectly arranged and pretty, but a year or two later you're going to get a blown bulb or dead LED, and then you'll have to sort out how the tree was wrapped.

The space-conscious should be aware of how wide a tree is - we got a much slimmer tree that fits perfectly into our apartment. A lot of shops only sell the "traditional" Christmas tree shape, and we were glad to find a slightly slimmer tree.

If you're in NY take a daytrip up to Newburgh to the Christmas in America Christmas Tree Factory, or you can go to their website: www.christmasinamerica.com . They have a huge selection of trees that are made right in their factory. They have several different types, sizes and prices. I was one of those real tree purists for many years until my husband convinced me to go with an artificial one so we went to the factory and got a gorgeous tree that looks very real. I love it.

I have a vintage aluminum Evergleam tree that I bought on ebay. It's awesome and looks amazing without lights. I'm not a fan of the fake green trees.

I went to a lecture last year at the university here, and the professor (of horticulture, I think) said that real trees are more environmentally friendly than fake ones, even taking into account the years/decades you might have a fake tree. Really, Christmas trees are like anything else that's farmed, but people get emotionally attached to trees and hate to think of them dying in the living room. I have a fake tree because I typically go visit my parents for a couple weeks around Christmas and New Year's and don't want to come home to a dried out stick.

I have a prelit Christmas tree from Treetime.com since last season and really happy with it. To me there is a big difference in a real and fake tree but the fakes are surprisingly more realistic than the real ones after just 1 week being setup. I'm sure a lot of you know how just a few days later they start to sag and after just 2 weeks real Christmas trees droop. The artificial ones have no issue and the pre-lit options take the fuss out of setup times and look more professional. Anyways, if anyone's interested the tree we got was the Deluxe Evergreen Mixed Pine and couldn't be happier.