This is a fantastic plane for this price. Anyone buying this plane should read G. Conner's review and following his instructions for fettling this plane. I would also recommend watching Paul Sellers videos on restoring hand planes and sharpening plane irons. No plane, even high end ones, will work optimally without proper setup and sharpening. My plane came with a reasonably flat sole, that less five minutes on my flat granite surface with some 400 grit paper made perfect. The frog needed a little more work, but another five minutes with a file and sandpaper also fixed. I've noticed that some people think the tote is plastic, and I can understand thinking that. The finish is a heavy paint makes it look plastic, but I took the tote off and scraped some of the finish off the bottom, and found that it is indeed wood. What kind of wood? Heaven knows, but it seems adequate to the task. I have a number of older high quality planes, but I find I reach for this one quite often in my luthiery work.

This is not really a plane. It's a plane-shaped collection of raw materials which can be worked into a usable plane with a little bit of effort.

The handle is not wooden (as mentioned in the description). You will need to use a file, sandpaper, and a set of sharpening stones to really get all of the pieces trued up to a point where it actually cuts. If you have those, and want to get into hand planing wood, this plane can get you there cheaply.

Just don't expect $250 worth of plane for $25

This is my first hand plane, and I am in love. After truing up the bottom with some sandpaper on a granite block, and sharpening the blade on my stones, I was able to true up some 2x4s and get a finish on them I have never been able to get. The plane seems to put more life into the wood than sandpaper. That being said, the reason for the 1 star deduction is that the plane I received is not the one pictured here on amazon. The handles are not wood, but some kind of rubberized plastic, and the frog release is a screw instead of the lever pictured. I'm not sure if this is an Amazon error or what but I feel slightly misled. That does not take away from how I feel about this plane however.

I was just looking for a cheap plane to use as a scrub plane. After a few minutes of trying to set it up I put it back into the box to return it. It's evident there is virtually no quality control on this product. But good thing I gave it another try. I had to grind down the edges of the lateral adjustment knob so it would fit through the blade and allow the blade to seat correctly. The frog was so far back and misaligned it was also obstructing the blade from seating. I think the depth adjustment prong is either partially broken off on mine or the design just sucks because I can't adjust the blade significantly forward with ease.. Well, that's it for the negatives. I was able to get the blade razor sharp, and after finding the right blade depth, this thing ended up being incredibly useful. For $30 bucks with shipping, its the best value hand plane I've tried by far. The blade retained its edge after a heavy amount of use, and for what I'm using it for, it's not imperative that the sole be perfectly flat. I won't try to use it as a smoothing plane, but as a sacrificial all-around scrubbing work-horse it's a great deal.

wow.... a $30 plane... did not know what to expect but have had good experiences with other GreatNeck stuff. So I risked some of my time, and ordered it. Out of the box; good cover of cosmoline or like substance to prevent rust, and it did its job.
1st impression; didn't like the thumb screw vs the cam lock that I'm use to using (may change that out). later on I found that I really don't like it, so I will change it out, but it is not a deal breaker for me.
OK on to the important stuff; the sole of the plane was FLAT! : The blade is sharp but requires honing, good deal; the tote and handle are plastic and I knew that when I bought it, but I like the shape so I will make new ones out of some walnut scrap I have in the shop.
The frog needs some minor fettling.
What a deal!!!