KidCo Safeway Gate - White
by Kidco
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List Price: Our Price: $55.78 You Save: $37.22 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of KidCo Safeway Gate - White
Customer Review: Sturdy and simple
Summary: 5 Stars
UPDATE 1/11/11 We still love these gates. They're holding up very well. We are thinking of adding a Pool Gate Alarm to alert us if the gate is accidentally left open.
These KidCo gates are sturdy and simple. We have 2, one at the top of the stairs and the other at the bottom.
My complaints with other gates is that they have fancier locking mechanisms that tend to break. There's very little that could break on these gates. It's really just 2 metal gates that you bolt together to be the appropriate size, and then slide into PLASTIC hinges that are screwed into the wall.
Yes, the hinges that attach this metal gate to that wall are plastic. That's my only complaint. The hinges appear very sturdy; however, the plastic makes me a little uncomfortable. I know other people have complained that they cracked while they were screwed into the wall. This sounds like an installation error. You never want to crank a screw into plastic as hard as you can turn it or as hard as a power screwdriver will turn the screws. Plastic is just too brittle to take the pressure created by that much torque. The screws should be tight and secure, but not tightened to an extreme level.
I love the fact that the entire gate swings open, that makes it easy to get through the opening. We have other gates that have built in doors, and they're much harder to walk though while you are holding things (or babies). The latching mechanism on these gates is easy to use, but it does not close automatically. If automatic closing is important to you, pick another gate.
Installation was easy for me, but I do major home renovations myself. It seems like anyone could do it without problems as long as they took care in using the included templates. Note that the gate can be installed without extra hardware in locations that are not quite straight openings. This results because one side is on hinges that fully swivel, so the gate can rest at an angle that is not perpendicular to the wall. The latch side must be perpendicular to the wall.
As a final aside, I'm not sure why people are afraid to drill holes into drywall or a wood banister. Using the included screws and drilling into wood, you'd be left with a hole that's about 1/8" or less. When you take the gate down, invest $3 in wood putty that matches your banister and you can fix the hole in a matter of seconds. Drywall takes marginally longer to fix with some spackle and paint, but it's still quick and easy. Filling in holes is much easier than fixing dents created by pressure mounted gates.
Customer Review: Faulty craftsmanship, had to file a report with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Summary: 1 Stars
We requested and received this as a gift since our 12-month-old was just starting to be mobile. When we got the gate, we weren't impressed by the plastic(!) fixtures on the wall, but it seemed sturdy enough so we didn't worry about it. We really tested it and it was secure.
The problem didn't happen until about 3 months in when my daughter was able to break one of the welded bars out of the gate. She's not super strong, she's just toddling around and using stuff for support. I have no other children. Fortunately we never let her be alone near the gate so we saw the problem before anything disastrous happened. Still, what kind of company would sell gates with workmanship shoddy enough for this?
Stay away, they clearly use cheap labor and/or cheap materials.
******** [updated,
I uploaded pictures of the weld break into this product's image gallery. You may need to see all images for them to come up since there were other images already posted before mine.
I just got the letter KidCo wrote responding to the Product Safety Commission, into which I was copied. They formally determined that the gate had been "worn out from use beyond normal installations for which it was intended." We just opened the new box and installed it, there was no other use of the gate. Nobody mistreated it or was too rough with it, it was only really opened a few times daily.
KidCo suggested that some children jump on their gates, breaking them, and that might be what happened here. I have no other children, and my young daughter could barely stand, let alone climb on a gate and jump. My husband and I have no reason to want to do that (plus it will break out of the wall since the screws aren't that big) and we have no cousins or other visiting children. So that explanation is impossible.
I have no personal vendetta against this company, but I'm really concerned that they appear to be sweeping this under the rug. My child could have fallen down the stairs due to their faulty materials and/or craftsmanship. This is important and they don't seem interested in fixing the problem.
Those of you who had problems with it, you may want to file a report with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as well to encourage KidCo to look deeper into the design of this product.
Customer Review: Does not come with the proper hardware for most locations
Summary: 4 Stars
A lot of the reviews of this product here are very good and have good ideas about mounting the gate. I am really surprised that one key piece of information is missing from all of them. This gate does not come with screws to mount this on a wall with dry wall - even WITH a stud behind it. A one reviewer mentioned the directions themselves say that the screws included are meant for mounting this gate directly into wood. However, they go on to talk about mounting this into a stud behind dry wall. The screws included are 3/4" long at most. Dry wall is 1/2" thick on most interior walls. Add the bracket to that and the screws that come with the product will not even hit the stud even if you do mount it over one. The fix is easy: Go get #6 screws that are 1" to 1.25" long. But can I just point out how friggin annoying that is? COME ON KIDCO!!! That is just ridiculous. 90% of customers are going to be mounting this into "normal" walls with drywall on it. That said, the gate is very sturdy and of high quality. I was in a situation where I did not have studs that directly oppose one another on the walls I was mounting it to. If that is the case, put the hinge side on the stud. Contrary to the other reviewer, Toggle bolts should be sufficient to hold the latch brackets in place and be quite safe - as long as the hinge side is in a stud. Ironically, most of the reviewers here probably used the boxed hardware and are not mounted into a stud at all but find the gate to be quite secure anyway. one final thing to keep in mind is that the bottom brackets are all the way at the bottom of the gate. If you have a rather tall floor molding that does not have at least a 2" flat surface for you to mount the lower brackets on, this gate may not work for you because it will be mounted too high. My molding is 4.25" off the ground and is not as safe as I would like it to be. As my daughter gets older it will be less of a problem but this is definitely something to consider before purchasing.
4/5 for not including the standard hardware needed to mount this gate. Really dumb Kidco. You can do better.
Customer Review: INSTALLATION IS 2 Stars
You have been warned. The installation for this thing is absolutely horrible.I have to admit that there are not many options out there for this kind of stairway gate, so you may just have to deal with it like me. But if you are in the business of making gates or thinking about going into it, please compete against this company. They have created one of the most annoying and unnecessarily difficult installations of any product I have owned.
That being said, the product works and helps protect my child, which, at the end of the day is the only thing that matters.
Details on my gripes with them:
The instructions are in wordy paragraph form with no visuals to help. It includes hardware of various sizes and shapes that often needs visuals to help explain how they are installed. If it is not perfectly level in all directions or the screws set too deep, it will not latch properly. It seems like developing other hardware that allows for fine tuning and compensation could prevent the need for such accurately level surfaces.
The screws are WAY to long and can damage banisters even if using their stairwell kit which says "no drilling required." Such as slap in the face as you have to drill over 10 times per their instructions. Shame on you KidCo!
The springs provided are weak and of poor quality. One of ours is already flattened and we just installed it last week. The base "cap" that solely prevents the gate from being lifted too high comes off with ease so essentially, a strong kid pushing straight up could pop the entire gate off of its hinges.
Without a hefty amount of WD40, this gate once properly installed, will squeak loadly. Annoying since the child's room will inevitably be near by.
They could also provide rubber pads to prevent the gate from damaging the rest of the house once opened.
I hope somebody in the gate-making business reads this and can improve on this poor product.
Customer Review: Excellent Gate, Easy To Use
Summary: 5 Stars
This gate works very well. My 5 year old can open and close it easily, but my 2 year old cannot. It can be opened/closed easily with one hand while holding a baby with the other. We mounted 2 of them, one at the top and one at the bottom of the stairs. We've used this gate for 2 years without any problems.
When installing, don't use the screws that came with the gate. Use 1-1/2" galvanized screws instead. Pre-drill slightly narrower holes about 1" into the studs before screwing. If you run into a metal plate just underneath the drywall while drilling (common in newer homes at the corners of walls), stop drilling and take a sharp and somewhat thick nail and hammer it gently through the metal plate, just far enough to puncture a hole that the drill bit can fit through, then continue drilling. When tightening the screws, you can use a cordless screwdriver, but stop just before it is tight, then tighten by hand with a Philips screwdriver so as to not break the plastic. From start to finish, it took me 2 hours to install and that was with my 5 year old "helping" :-)
After installation, if the gate is difficult to open/close and doesn't seem to drop into place or lift easily, retighten the bottom hinge bolt: if it is misaligned it will catch on the plastic rod and stop sliding. Use crescent wrench or pliers to hold the bolt firmly (not too tightly or it will crush the threads), then use the wrench included with the gate to tighten the nut. Also, rub candle wax on the locking bolts and edge of the locking trays, so that the bolts slide easily into the trays. A little WD40 on the hinge sliding mechanisms helps, too.