I have an artificial and we've had it probably 10 years maybe. It's 3 sections that pop together and since it's old we do have to plug the lights together inside instead of a quick connect. I love the look and feel of real but it's too much work to string the lights every year and keep the tree watered.
There are also ScentSicles that you can hang on the tree for the fresh tree scent.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sce...
I would love a new fake tree here but I won't buy one without feeling the needles. The companies are cutting back and trying to save money so they feel like cheap plastic now and plus they are using needle designs of more than one type of tree on the same tree.
