Well packaged, fully assembled. There was one small problem when I received it, the strain relief on the power cord was broken. I called the mfg, Boss Industrial, and got a typical push 1 for this 2 for that. I left a message thinking here we go again. Six (6) minutes later my call was returned. Rather than return the splitter they agreed to send me the part so I could fix it without effecting the warrenty. After using it for a couple of hours to split Almond, a very hard wood, the ram wouldn't retract fully. It was stopping approx. 6 inched short. After a couple of calls it was agreed that I could dissassemble the hydraulic selector valve for troubleshooting. I found a very small metal shaving that was blocking the return port. Throughout this whole process the company rep always returned my calls within a few minutes and although they wanted me to return the unit agreed to let me do the troubleshooting and would have sent me any parts if needed. The splitter work better than expected, is well built and rugged.

The splitter I received had wheels that were pretty well damaged, and the wheel frame that supports them was severely bent. A recent reviewer had a similar problem, so the fact that this item is labeled as "new" seems a little suspicious to me. It was likely a return because the large copper staples that secure these corrugated boxes were undone when I took of the heavy duty plastic straps. Aside from this damage issue, something else I picked up on is that I compared this Boss model to a 5-ton splitter from Harbor Freight, and they are virtually identical. I recommend checking it out for yourself.

Does as nearly as well as a big gasoline engine driven splitter except for some of the toughest wood, such as old dry pecan/

Wheels are cheap came delivered bent.... Twice

Received package had some small wheel damage, but was able to straighten the wheel so it was moveable. I started to use it and said to myself this is way too easy, so l will send back, just joking I really enjoy this machine, just turn on and hold lever and watch log split. Ah, the good life, why did I wait so long. Oh look another log split.