The Phillips screws "chewed up", so I had to replace them with a better quality square-drive decking screw. The clamps that fastened around the upright rods were held together with tiny, insufficient screws... so I wrapped the clamps thoroughly in black electrical tape to keep them secure. I had to move one of the panels, in order to have the gate in the best position for my use, then I saw that the upright rod would not fit in the clamps (it was larger). I had to remedy this by very carefully making the clamp openings larger, using a small Dremel tool. It worked, and I was able to complete the installation, but it made this side weaker... so I wrapped it in even MORE black electrical tape. After all the extra time and work, at least it looks nice and functions well; the swing gate has also performed well, but it would be nice if it had a bit wider opening. After searching through MANY such gate set-ups, this was the ONLY one that would serve my purpose... so I had to buy it! I needed one this wide as a room divider, to keep our house dog out of the living room. We can't allow the grand-kids to play on or try to operate it, however, because we don't want to have to replace it. We gave it a 4, because it serves our purposes and looks nice!

Worked for what I needed but the plastic joints are very easily broken! An option to buy new ones would have been a good option.

I was excited about this gate because it was one of the only ones I could find that would actually span the distance we required. I also liked the fact that it wasn't white because the darker color goes much better with our house. Upon receiving the gate, I was a little disappointed to find that several of the pieces were scratched so silver was showing through the black finish.

Upon looking at the directions, I found they were not descriptive in the least, really giving no adequate instructions about how to take apart the various pieces of how to attach it to the wall. In addition to not being descriptive, the descriptions that were included were clearly not written by a native English speaking person making them even more unclear and difficult to decipher. That said, it is fairly intuitive if you use some common sense and have even a modicum of skill when it comes to hands on projects.

I was not surprised by the drywall anchors that were included as these cheap plastic ones are often what comes with pre-packaged pieces. However, for the one side where I had to use anchors, I used my own metal screw in anchors that are much stronger and have a high weight rating as I know my son is a bit of a tank and tries to bulldoze his way through things. On the other side I was able to go directly into a stud, but this was frustrating too as the included screws really aren't long enough to get through drywall and then properly anchor into a stud. This was not an issue for me as I have a large selection of screws at home so I just took some 2.5" ones and drilled them in instead of those that were included. As of yet, doing things this way has been acceptable. The one thing that I really do like about the way the pieces attach to the wall is that they are adjustable on the pole so I was able to move the bottom one up high enough to put it just above my baseboards rather than having to put screws through the baseboards as some other gates require.

Finally, I like the idea that you can lock off the different sections so you can keep them in a certain position, but there are two issues. First, the poles that have the wall attachment pieces have no way to lock off so those two spots are always moving back and forth, which makes the whole thing less secure. Second, the lock-offs are not as tight as they should be. My son just turned one and is only 20 lbs, but was able to push on the gate hard enough to push through the lock-off on one of the sections, causing it to move. This is not a huge deal, but is somewhat concerning. Due to the mobility of the gate caused by the above two issues, I also had to place felt sliders on the bottom of all the legs to keep the gate from scratching my floor when our son does push on it.

One thing that is really nice is the gate that opens in both directions. We have another, smaller gate at the top of our stairs where the gate only opens in one direction. This was a little frustrating when we first got it (we had that one first), but since I have been using this double-sided gate, the other one is even more aggravating. The dual swing really is a nice attribute. Overall, this gate definitely has some deficiencies, but for an extra-large gate, this does work fairly well.

We have purchased 4 of these gates and love them. You can shape the gate anyway you like. Easy to set up. We use them indoor and outdoors. Easy to move from one place to another. I highly recommend buying this gate! I will be purchasing more in the future for more Grand babies

Bought to keep my dog contained in an area for safety. Pretty sturdy but the location of the walk thru door being on the side instead of the middle is awkward.