diff --git a/doc/source/installation.rst b/doc/source/installation.rst
index a64d6c71..c36891c9 100644
--- a/doc/source/installation.rst
+++ b/doc/source/installation.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ For assistance installing pacakges from ``pypi`` on your OS check out
 For installation from source simply add ``git-review`` to your $PATH
 after installing the dependencies listed in requirements.txt
 
+.. note:: ``git-review`` requires git version 1.8 or greater.
+
 Setup
 =====
 
diff --git a/git_review/cmd.py b/git_review/cmd.py
index 71364e0d..7695dbe8 100755
--- a/git_review/cmd.py
+++ b/git_review/cmd.py
@@ -1232,11 +1232,11 @@ def checkout_review(branch_name, remote, remote_branch):
         run_command_exc(CheckoutNewBranchFailed,
                         "git", "checkout", "-b",
                         branch_name, "FETCH_HEAD")
-        # --set-upstream-to is not supported in git 1.7
+        # --set-upstream-to is supported starting in git 1.8
         run_command_exc(SetUpstreamBranchFailed,
-                        "git", "branch", "--set-upstream",
-                        branch_name,
-                        '%s/%s' % (remote, remote_branch))
+                        "git", "branch", "--set-upstream-to",
+                        '%s/%s' % (remote, remote_branch),
+                        branch_name)
 
     except CheckoutNewBranchFailed as e:
         if re.search("already exists\.?", e.output):
diff --git a/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py b/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
index 443caad1..de004868 100644
--- a/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
+++ b/git_review/tests/test_git_review.py
@@ -310,9 +310,9 @@ class GitReviewTestCase(tests.BaseGitReviewTestCase):
         # track different branch than expected in changeset
         branch = self._run_git('rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', 'HEAD')
         self._run_git('branch',
-                      '--set-upstream',
-                      branch,
-                      'remotes/origin/other')
+                      '--set-upstream-to',
+                      'remotes/origin/other',
+                      branch)
         self.assertRaises(
             Exception,  # cmd.BranchTrackingMismatch inside
             self._run_git_review, '-d', change_id)