Private family - Tree Genie XXL Test

Here is the stand straight out of the package with all the posts inwards and the lever down and locked in the packaging.


This is the lever that you'd push down, with your foot, once you get the tree into the stand to secure the trunk inside the stand. The circular red knob you see above is what locks the lever/pedal so it stays in the position it's in and doesn't fling back up.


This is the tree stand open and ready to receive a tree trunk. The way you get the claws to open is to push the lever in an upward motion. Don't be startled, but it is a bit powerful and loud when it opens all the way. It startled me when I first did it. I thought I broke it! Rest assured, it doesn't break that easily! At the bottom of my post, you will find a video I posted of how to operate the tree stand.


Since the lever only needs to be pushed up for the claws/posts to open, thereby possibly having your tree fall topple over onto your floors, I read many review on Amazon that suggested putting something in the hole to make sure the locking mechanism doesn't accidently side up. The way the posts could possibly open is of the red button slide up AND the lever was pushed up. The likelihood of that happening is pretty small, but I don't like a lot of risk so I just put this in to minimize any risk of that happening, no matter how slim the possibility! The instructions even suggest you do this with something that fits in the hole. That is so far my only criticism on this stand. Since the instructions suggested this, it would have been nice to have a metal rod or something that was made to fill that area to physically block the lock. That way, you have everything you need rather than going out to fashion one yourself.


Here is how out 7-8 foot tree looks in the stand. Those plastic posts may not look like they are really holding the tree tightly, but it really is. You can see it digging into the tree and almost puncturing the trunk.  The force at which you are pushing your foot down to tighten the metal wire for the posts to clamp down onto the free is quite strong and you will feel assured that your tree will stand securely without toppling over onto the floor.


When you put your tree in the stand, you'll notice it has a spike with a pointy tip. That is where you want the center of your trunk to go. When we were putting the very very heavy tree on it, we didn't feel it go all the way down and couldn't really tell how far it pierced the trunk, but it did pierce it a little. I think that is so the trunk is not making contact with the bottom of the stand in order to have exposed surface area to drink lots of water.


Ok, so I thought this water level indicator was one of the best parts of the tree stand. I thought it would make my life so much better not having to always stick my hand in the tree stand to check water levels. This worked great when I was filling up. It would rise as I added more water. However, I noticed immediately the next day, it wasn't functioning well. When the water level dropped this didn't drop. I don't know if I just got a defective stand or not, but this got kind of stuck and I had to hit it with my finger for it to go down (which it did quite a bit because the tree was fresh and thirsty). After hitting it, then it would give me the actual water level read. I suppose it's still better than sticking my finger in, but I would have liked to have it actually work!