The First Years Hands Free Gate
by The First Years
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List Price: Our Price: $0.01 You Save: $59.98 (100%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of The First Years Hands Free Gate
Customer Review: Good for kids and pets
Summary: 3 Stars
Contrary to other reviews, these gates work great for pets as well as kids. We have 3 large dogs, and have 4 gates at different locations throughout the house. Even though the dogs are between 65-90 pounds each, they cannot open the gate using the footpedal and the gate locks securely enough that even when they push on it or use it to stand on with their front paws, it stays closed. HOWEVER, we did have the same problem that some others have mentioned regarding the foot pedal mechanism breaking and there is no way to fix it. But that particular gate incurs the most use and has lasted at least 2 years. Not bad for $50. But that's the only reason I would not rate it 5 stars. Otherwise, it's great for keeping the dogs out of the kitchen and computer room. As for other reviews mentioning the gates coming loose - after normal wear and tear, they do loosen a bit. We keep the little plastic tool they give you in the package near each gate and tighten them as needed (just as a precaution). So save the tool!!! Lastly, we have original wood flooring in our house and we recently had it refinished. Even when the gates don't seem loose, they get a little dust and dirt under them and shift back and forth just enough to really wreck the floor. So if you have high-maintenance floors like we have, be careful to keep the gates tight but also undo them once in a while to mop underneath.Customer Review: Best gate, PERIOD
Summary: 5 Stars
I have tried numerous gates with my first child and I went through frustration after frustration with other gates. This is a WONDERFUL gate. I have had it for 8 months now and I couldn't be happier. My 5 year old son opens this with ease and the 4 year old I babysit can open it too with a little more bounce bounce bounce in his step (he's the size of a 3 year old). Hands free operation with the knee push pad on the gate, I don't think it will ever break with as much opening and closing we've done in the high traffic area we installed it in. We have 2, one is without the extension and one is with. I love that it is pressure mounted because there are NO HOLES in my walls...woohoo. It's not going anywhere either. My one year old stands up on the bottom and hangs on it and it doesn't budge. Easy installation too, I did it myself in less than 5 minutes. I also love that it opens by foot instead of hand because what busy mom doesn't need that, and it's much much easier than any hand gate I've tried. Everyone who's come over (even those without kids) have commented on this gate, how nice it is, they've never seen anything like it, and how easy and convenient it is, plus it blends in well (we have white doors and trim). I am only 25 and I will be storing this away for my grandkid years. Worth every penny, the only gate you'll need to buy. Review: Good Gate, Poor Hinge Design
Summary: 3 Stars We used this gate to help our son learn to sleep in his toddler bed without wandering through the house at night. We installed it in his doorway so that he would stay in his room and then kept the door open. During the day we would leave the gate open so that he could enter and exit his room as he pleased.
For most purposes, this is a wonderful gate. It stays in the doorway securely, was easy to install, and very easy to use while corralling a toddler and holding an infant as well. We even lost one of the pressure feet during a move and it still stayed in the doorway and withstood and toddler jerking it. I give it a big thumbs up for these things.
Because our use was probably different from the intended design, this gate did not hold up for us. When the gate was open our son would overextend it, opening it very wide. He also liked to stand on it and ride it open when we weren't looking. Unfortunately, the plastic hinge couldn't take this abuse and broke.
I would still recommend this gate to folks who will not let their toddlers abuse it. It really is our fault that it broke. But this is the weak point in the design and I thought I would mention it in case your needs in a gate are similar to ours. Our new gate has a metal pin hinge, which will hopefully take the abuse better.
Customer Review: The best gate so far...
Summary: 5 Stars
Before this, my wife and I were manually opening and closing popular wooden gates and super gates. My wife hated doing this and most of the time, the old gates remained propped up against walls instead of 'locked'. I can't ever go back to the old gates, now. This thing is perfectly easy to install, open and close. It's like having a real door. Perfect for blocking off access to a computer/home office room from the 15 month old, the 3 year old and even the 7 year old! The gate itself is heavy iron and feels extremely solid. My 15 month old powerhouse of a boy can't budge it and can't climb it. I can't say the same for the wooden and super gates. He discovered how to climb those things thus scaring the crap out of me.
Buy it. You will love it. I found mine cheaper at a local babies are us in case I had to return it.
As for gate opening, I'm a male, 6'1", 240lbs and I can get through perfectly without sidestepping. Even walked through with a load of laundry. I don't know how fat these other people are that are complaining about the opening. They must be chunkalunks or extremely picky human beings. As always with Amazon, watch out for the perfectionists and super critical fools. If you're normal and are simply sick of opening and closing those wooden and plastic gates, get this.
Customer Review: Very Cheap Materials
Summary: 1 Stars
Assembling the gate tonight, I mistakenly pulled off the top plastic pieces that the pressure mounts go into. As I was trying to get it back in, I noticed the metal begin to crack a little. The bars themselves are rather durable, but where the plastic meets the metal, they are both soft and fragile. The plastic cover that fits over the adjustment nut kept separating from the metal nut, so to try to get them to stay together I used a plyer to sandwich them. Well the plastic cover cracked as well.
Thirdly, the distance from the wall to our banister is approximately 39 inches. So we used one extension, however, even with one extension unit we had to extend the mounting units so far out (more than 3 quarters of the length of the mounting unit itself,) that it rattles the gate if you shake it and just does not look secure. And when we placed a second extension unit on, the entry way wasn't wide enough for two extension units. Flimsy, is how I would discribe the areas around the top pressure mounts, along with the soft metal and plastic units. And yes, the foot pedal does not lock securely in place. I should have conducted more thorough research.
I must be the dumbest assembler in the world when it comes to the baby gates, but this was my experiece.