Krinner Genie XXL Tree Stand

This stand is kind of "spendy" compared to traditional tree stands - but having decided to purchase it, I'm VERY glad that I did. The Krinner replaced an aging "traditional" style tree stand - the kind where there is a collar with 4 thumb screws that need to be tightened to secure the tree. Using that stand requires 2 people - one to hold the tree in place while another addresses the screws. The Krinner can easily be managed with a single person. I purchased the version with the bell - it's very useful to have that. Once you're holding the tree in the stand, and you begin to press on the foot lever to secure the trunk - it's likely that you won't be able to see the trunk and the gripping arms to tell when to stop pushing the lever. The bell will "ding" to indicate that the tree is secured. Once the tree is in the stand, it's very stable. It has a lower center of gravity (and much more mass) than the traditional stand that it replaced. One added benefit with the Krinner is that it's very easy to remove the tree from the stand. This year, we ended up needing to move the tree, so being able to remove the tree from the stand and then replace it was much easier than it would have with the traditional 4 thumb screw stand. I really liked the large water capacity and the fill gauge on the Krinner too. During this season I only needed to add water once, and it was clear when that was needed because of the gauge. If you decide to purchase the Krinner - there is one piece of advice that I'd offer: when you are purchasing your tree, do the best that you can to select one with the straightest trunk possible. The gripping arms of the Krinner will come up in unison when you are pushing on the foot lever. If the trunk is curved, you can't really "cheat" one side for the other to balance the tree as you might with a traditional stand with the 4 individual screws. Having said that - the tree that we had this year did have a slight curve to is - and the Krinner handled it fine. Going forward though, I'm planning on taking more care to check the trunk just to be sure I'm getting one as straight as possible. Bottom line - it's a great product that works very well and I'm very glad I got it.