Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree Review: Deck the Halls with Tech

Christmas is coming, and you’re thinking about your holiday decorations. Lights? Check. Stockings? Check. But what about a Smart Christmas Tree? Intrigued? You should be! We put the popular Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree to the test to see if it lives up to the buzz and the price tag. Our expert product testing team at Family Handyman ordered, assembled, and thoroughly reviewed this 7.5-foot tree.

Before you choose your Christmas tree this year, discover everything you need to know. Especially if you’re looking to add some extra holiday magic with an app-controlled, smart Christmas tree.

What is the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree?

The Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree is a pre-lit artificial Christmas tree—specifically, an Aspen Pine—featuring multi-color RGB LED lights. The magic happens via the Twinkly app, which gives you complete control over the lights. You can easily select and design a variety of lighting effects directly from your phone. Preset options include dazzling patterns such as rainbow, snow, and fireworks.

“There are so many customization choices – different color combinations, patterns, and animations,” says Product Testing Manager Annamarie Higley. “It can be a little overwhelming when you first open the app, but it’s also a lot of fun to explore all the options.”

You can choose a pre-set pattern and then fine-tune its speed and brightness. Or, you can combine patterns and animations. Want to get creative? Layer different colors and patterns for a unique display. The possibilities for creating a truly magical Christmas atmosphere are endless.

Here’s a breakdown of the specific features of the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree.

Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree: Feature Breakdown

Size and Dimensions

The 7.5-foot Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree stands at 90 inches tall and has a diameter of 51 inches. Our product testing team’s measurements showed a height of 90.5 inches. They also found that the tree weighed over 50 pounds, although the product description lists 33 pounds. There’s about 15.5 inches of space between the floor and the bottom of the lowest branch, which offers plenty of room for presents.

Easy Setup

According to our testers, setting up this tree is a breeze – it’s definitely a one-person job! Even moving the box before opening it is easy. The tree was fully fluffed in just 15 minutes! The lighting process is also simple: just plug it in, and you’re ready to go.

The Twinkly Christmas Tree features a quick-set power pole, making it effortless to assemble each pre-wired section without the hassle of extra wiring or tangled cords.

Dazzling Lights

The Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree comes pre-lit with 390 smart RGB LED lights. RGB lights combine red, green, and blue hues to create millions of color possibilities. This means any color you can imagine is possible for your holiday display. You can go for the classic warm white twinkle or choose bright, flashing rainbow colors, and everything in between. The lights can even sync with your music! Plus, the foot pedal makes turning the lights on and off effortless, putting Christmas magic at your fingertips.

Appearance and Realism

Our testers described the tree’s needles as a mix of “plasticky and papery.”

Product Tester Sheri Kaz noted, “It’s a darker green color, which is nice but solid and uniform, so the tree loses a few points for realism there.”

Sheri adds, “The tree is pretty full. The lights are nice and bright, but it feels like there could be some more spread throughout the middle and bottom sections.”

Our team observed minimal drooping and very little shedding with this tree, suggesting that the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree should last for many holiday seasons to come.

Smart Control Capabilities

The Twinkly app allows you to fully customize your lighting effects, sync your display with music, set timers for automatic lighting, and more. Unleash your Christmas creativity by designing custom light shows. Create your own animations from scratch, or utilize the pre-set templates available throughout the season. Using the playlist feature, you can also set up multiple scenes and easily switch between them.

Elevate your holiday parties by syncing your Twinkly lights with your favorite music. With the addition of the Twinkly Music USB dongle, the Twinkly app can make your tree lights dance to your favorite holiday tunes.

The Twinkly app allows you to set timers, so your smart lights turn on and off automatically. You can schedule your Christmas tree lights to turn on at dusk along with your house lights, or program them to only light up on specific days. No more manual light switches—just set it and forget it.

How We Tested the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree

Our product testing team started by unboxing, assembling, and measuring the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree in the studio, where they meticulously fluffed the branches until the tree looked full and presentable. The entire process was timed. Our testers confirmed that the product was easy to set up and also noted any discrepancies between the product listing and the real-life measurements.

Our testers then turned on the tree. This included downloading, registering, and pairing the tree with the Twinkly mobile app. From there, they tested all the settings and functions to evaluate the app’s user-friendliness, compatibility, and capabilities. Although the sheer number of lighting options was initially a little overwhelming, our product testers found the Twinkly app user-friendly and intuitive. You may need to spend some time setting up the app if you plan to set up multiple Twinkly tree models within the app. Our team did. However, once they had completed the initial troubleshooting, the app could easily manage multiple units.

Our team adorned the tree with a collar and ornaments to ensure that the branches could withstand standard-size ornaments. They also swept up and collected any needles that fell during the assembly and disassembly process. The Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree shed virtually no needles and was easy to assemble and take down.

Why You Should Trust Our Review

Our Product Testing Lab put the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree through rigorous testing, collecting approximately 275 data points while testing Christmas trees before the holiday season this year. In total, they spent an estimated 60 collective hours testing Christmas trees, including researching, sourcing, intaking, and testing. They also spent time photographing the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree, so you can see how it looks under natural lighting conditions without any photo editing tricks.

FAQ: Your Twinkly Christmas Tree Questions Answered

How does the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree work?

The tree is controlled through the Twinkly app, which gives you control of the lights. You can map the location of each LED light on the tree for custom lighting effects, select pre-programmed modes, and create your own light shows. You can also set timers for your lights, group multiple Twinkly products together to act as a single display, and use voice control through Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

How much does the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree cost?

The Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree retails for $840 on Amazon.

What Other Reviewers Are Saying

With more than 600 reviews on Amazon, the Twinkly Pre-Lit Aspen Pine Smart Christmas Tree boasts a 4.5-star rating.

“This is my first ever artificial tree and I have to admit it was a tough choice. Like most, I’ve enjoyed the ritual of going and getting a tree, the smell of fresh pine, and having the feels over a good pick at the tree lot,” says verified purchaser Ty Carriere. “This year was different. I’m an empty nester now and it didn’t feel the same getting a tree by myself, plus though I love the smell of pine throughout the house, I hate the clean up after. So this year I decided to get an artificial tree and I’m really pleased with this purchase!”

“[The] light patterns are controlled through presets on the connected box or a phone app and are extremely customizable (no literally, I can draw what patterns I want on the tree and how they are animated on my phone, it’s brilliant),” Ty adds. “Scheduling when you want the lights to come on and off through the app and even which patterns at what time. Looks great!”

“I was skeptical getting this tree online at first because of some of the reviews on the lights not working properly when connected,” says five-star reviewer Elicia, “The app was a bit frustrating to work with at first but once we found the directions everything was a breeze. I’m so happy with how you can change the lighting colors and effects from glow to twinkle…”

Final Verdict: Is the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree Worth It?

While the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree is a significant investment, our testing proves that it’s worth the splurge if you’re looking to elevate your Christmas decor with a smart Christmas tree. Our team made positive remarks about the Twinkly app, too. In fact, many other smart Christmas tree brands—like the popular Balsam Hill Blue Spruce—use Twinkly for their pre-lit, smart options.

Where to Buy the Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree

The Twinkly Smart Christmas Tree retails for approximately $840 on Amazon.