20 foot mega tree reviews?

[roach.dan@gmail.com]

With a 18 month old I don't have 3 days to build my own and found this the other night. I only have this weekend left to set up for the lights on after thanksgiving dinner and in order to have it here on time without crazy shipping I ordered it yesterday and it shipped today.

http://www.christmaslightshow.com/20-mega-tree-complete-kit.html


Few questions
1. I'm assuming cement base can I do this before the kit comes and what are the specs to do it.

2. Ball park how many lights (static this year animated next)

3. For a static display all one color or ...

4. I didn't get one of his stars and now it's too late anyone have specs that will work?

Thanks again guys an I haven't been this addicted since season 2 of Sons of Anarchy!!!

[harrison0550]

Whoa that's expensive and still has a masive parts list your gonna have to buy separately to put it together. I'm sure there are a lot of people that have used that kit but you do understand you still have to build the whole thing right? That kit is basically just some of the hardware and a guid video on how to assemble everything. I remember seeing that same kit before I started building mine and just went to tractor supply and home depot and got all the same stuff for my 15' tree for a little over $100 for everything.

I probably wouldn't put down a cement base. That base is what 6' or 7' so do you really want a permanent 6x6 ft slab in the yard. From the kits directions it just says insert poles in the bases cross to expand it's footprint for stability so just do that and get a 10' price of rebarb while your at home depot buying all that pipe and conduit. Cut it in 2 ft sections and stake the 4 base legs into the ground.

I ran 32 strands of solid white on my 15 footer twisting 2 100 light strands together to give me 16 channels so I would say that's plenty. So quick answer 3200 lights.

Static I would use one color then add different colors next year when you animate but to each his own in that respect.

There is a bunch of star DIY videos on YouTube. One guy comes to mind right off hand, he used wooden rods from wal mart to crisscross cross and make the stars frame and zip tied rope light to the frame. So cheap and simple but looks amazing lit up.

All I can say is good luck! My daughter will be 15 months old next week so I feel your pain on the time restraints.

[jeffl]

The price seams high but you have to remember you're paying for time savings, not materials in this case. A cement base is not necessary for this setup as it has a cross base with guy wires. I like a cement base for mine.

On my 20' tree I have 108 strings of minis. The seller can give you string counts as well. I think Planet Christmas also has some Mega tree guides with string count guides.

As for a star, it's probably best to buy one unless you have a welder and are handy with it.

I built all my trees and they were cheaper in cost, heavy duty, but I spent plenty of time.

[jeffl]

If you don't have a star I think it would look just fine without. Building mega trees is a lot of work.

[roach.dan@gmail.com]

I hope I'm not taking in too much I only have one day to set it up!!

Now for the final question warm white or cool white. My house will be warm mix of C9 and icicles with C5 on the tree. Probably 5000 on the house and 3-5000 on the tree will it look weird breaking those colors up?

[GS]

Warm white.

[Paul Roberson]

It my still take the better part of 3 days to get it completed.:cool: The first time. You may be able to set it up in one day IF you have EVERYTHING you are going to need at your house already.

Here are the plans I used for the base on mine. I have a dolly I use to move it around.

http://magicchristmasnews.org/building%20a%20portable%20hole.pdf

They also have a 'lighter' version.

http://magicchristmasnews.org/portable%20hole%20ii.pdf



EDIT: Like Jeff has already mentioned it does come with a cross piece you can buy and cut pipe for the base. The ground where my mega tree is, is not level so I did not care to put some kind of shims under the pieces of pipe to make it stand up straight. I still use guy wires with the concrete base.

[jknecht]

I didn't buy the kit as I didn't need the base. But I did buy all of the kit pieces individually and I can tell you the quality is great. As stated above you will need to purchase additional items for the kit. I easily spent over $100 on remaining parts.

[LORisAwesome]

I bought the kit from Christmas Light show in July 2009. It works well, but, there are a lot of parts to buy most notable two 10-foot sections of 1 1/4" metral pipe, and two ten-foot sections of 1 1/2" steel pipe. Also a bunch of PVC that has to be cut into proper lengths. This would be extremely costly to ship.

I used it as instructed in 2009, but after seeing CMOORE60's mega tree, made some changes.

The problem I had was that my front yard is not level and since this tree sits on a base, it caused the tree to lean.

I now have two-foot deep hole in my front yard that has a PVC sleeve in it. This is for the center pole, I don't use the base any more. There is a cover that goes over the hole in the off-season so no one gets injured. Also got some permanent anchor points for the guy wires that screw into the ground. These are set low enough so the lawn mower doesn't hit them. I have a turnbuckle on all the guy wires that I can adjust to get the tree straight. This setup works well with CDI 70 ct LED strings.

I was able to put it up by myself as designed, but, after I made the changes above, it takes two people to get the center pole up.

Good Luck

Jerry

[roach.dan@gmail.com]

LORisAwesome wrote:

I bought the kit from Christmas Light show in July 2009. It works well, but, there are a lot of parts to buy most notable two 10-foot sections of 1 1/4" metral pipe, and two ten-foot sections of 1 1/2" steel pipe. Also a bunch of PVC that has to be cut into proper lengths. This would be extremely costly to ship.

I used it as instructed in 2009, but after seeing CMOORE60's mega tree, made some changes.

The problem I had was that my front yard is not level and since this tree sits on a base, it caused the tree to lean.

I now have two-foot deep hole in my front yard that has a PVC sleeve in it. This is for the center pole, I don't use the base any more. There is a cover that goes over the hole in the off-season so no one gets injured. Also got some permanent anchor points for the guy wires that screw into the ground. These are set low enough so the lawn mower doesn't hit them. I have a turnbuckle on all the guy wires that I can adjust to get the tree straight. This setup works well with CDI 70 ct LED strings.

I was able to put it up by myself as designed, but, after I made the changes above, it takes two people to get the center pole up.

Good Luck

Jerry

Thanks for all the info guys check out a pic of my house. I want the tree on the right side (looking at the house) the second picture is my shrubs and you can see the concrete from the back yard I'm thinking in one of those two places. As you can see its uneven and I know I might need to do some shrub removal to make it work.



Any ideas greatly appreciated


Attached files

[roach.dan@gmail.com]

Heres the side pic

Attached files

[LORisAwesome]

I think you might want to think about making the portable hole. The base of this tree is 10 ft across. It doesn't look like you have an area large enough to use the base that comes with the kit.

I don't want to discourage you, but, I think you will find it difficult to get all this together in the time frame you mentioned. You might want to hold off until 2012. You really need to get started a few months in advance -- I've been working on mine since July. Others probably start even earlier than that...

CDI (http://www.creativedisplays.com/) has a pre-sale in late december/early January where you can get better pricing on light strings. You pay 1/2 up front and 1/2 when your order ships in July. They have quality merchandise and they stand behind their products. Also great customer service.

If you are really determined to get this up this year, then head to the hardware store ASAP and get the supplies that the list shows (You should have been able to download the list once you made your order). And start cuttting the pipes and PVC to the proper lengths so that everything is ready once the kit arrives.

The 1 1/2" pipe is for the base, so if you decide to go with the portable hole, you won't need that. For the portable hole, you will need 1 1/4" pipe fittings for the portable hole though, looks like a flange, a short nipple, and a coupling, and the other items listed there.

Good Luck!

Jerry

[John Raymen]

a 20 foot mega tree is a big tree in a small yard. I like my tree out in front of the house in the grass. you see it from down the block .

[PaulXmas]

I think that tree is going to take your all of the grass area!
If you are serious about this I would go with idea of cementing a sleeve.
Just my 2 cents

[imawlkr2]

My tree is based of of this 20ft tree kit, but I made everything myself. My father in law built the cross base and I designed and created the base from some pics. My tree is only 10ft tall because of my small yard which appears to be bigger than yours. 20ft might be too overwhelming in the small yard.

My Base:


Attached files

[imawlkr2]

the cross:

Attached files

[John Raymen]

guy wires?? how far a part do they have to be on a 20 foot tree. we do have high winds

[LORisAwesome]

Mine are set approximately 10 ft from the center pole. So it would be 20 ft across.

[roach.dan@gmail.com]

John Raymen wrote:

guy wires?? how far a part do they have to be on a 20 foot tree. we do have high winds

John, I didnt know if anyone else out here in the AV was on this site good to see a familar location. Let me know if you want to come help put this bad boy up tomorrow


Update: Received the kit today and watched the video I think it is possible. I know going 20 foot was a stretch but I have always been go big or go home

I have 2000 GE LED C9's in warm white I wanted 64 but my guy only had 40 so it will have to work this year (he was also out of the C5's o well if I dont like the look I can always use the C9's somewhere else next year)



I measured some areas and think I MIGHT have a good fit for it going to lay the cross bar in the morning to see if it works. Keep your fingers crossed.



Start time is 7 a.m with 4 guys 3 ladders a 30 pack of beer and hot dogs for lunch. The plan is two guys build the base two guys hang the 2000 icicles and 2000 minis and get together for 2000 C9s for the mega. I know its a long shot to make it all work but I am a determined newbie and 'when theres a will there is a way'



My question is the tree is 20' with the base and the skirt if I decide to do that how many feet will that be approximately? My algebra is a lil off

My C9's are 33 feet of lighted wire would I be better off going down and back up meeting in the middle or is that too many wires going in too many directions? Am I going to get tangled?


Thanks again for all the support

[wallleyes]

roach.dan@gmail.com wrote:

John Raymen wrote:

guy wires?? how far a part do they have to be on a 20 foot tree. we do have high winds

John, I didnt know if anyone else out here in the AV was on this site good to see a familar location. Let me know if you want to come help put this bad boy up tomorrow


Update: Received the kit today and watched the video I think it is possible. I know going 20 foot was a stretch but I have always been go big or go home

I have 2000 GE LED C9's in warm white I wanted 64 but my guy only had 40 so it will have to work this year (he was also out of the C5's o well if I dont like the look I can always use the C9's somewhere else next year)



I measured some areas and think I MIGHT have a good fit for it going to lay the cross bar in the morning to see if it works. Keep your fingers crossed.



Start time is 7 a.m with 4 guys 3 ladders a 30 pack of beer and hot dogs for lunch. The plan is two guys build the base two guys hang the 2000 icicles and 2000 minis and get together for 2000 C9s for the mega. I know its a long shot to make it all work but I am a determined newbie and 'when theres a will there is a way'



My question is the tree is 20' with the base and the skirt if I decide to do that how many feet will that be approximately? My algebra is a lil off

My C9's are 33 feet of lighted wire would I be better off going down and back up meeting in the middle or is that too many wires going in too many directions? Am I going to get tangled?


Thanks again for all the support

On my 2 mega tree`s i used 70 count c6 led lights.They are 23 foot long and worked perfect with a 6 foot diameter ring.There are a few pictures on my website.