Our old tree served us well for many years, but it was time to replace it. This tree has much more realistic branches and they are molded, so they won't shed like the old one did. It also has LED lights, which we expect will last a lot longer. The LED lights provide a lot of options as far as colors and blinking/pulsing modes, but we will probably use them as clear, steady lights. We worried that the white would be too blue, but the color is a nice warm white. I recommend this tree.