Big Stuff Swing Set Gives Big Smiles
Big Stuff Swing Set. Big imagination, big fun, and big quality come together for big playtime. This playset delivered so much more than we were expecting! This playset was provided to us by Lifetime for review. It is like having a community park playset in the comfort of our own backyard! The quality and robustness of the materials were very satisfying to see. Thick gage steel covered in a great protective coating, sturdy, thick plastic, rubber, and rope were all reassuring signs of a high-quality playset. All of the parts were so well packaged in the 6 boxes that we were so surprised at the amount of pieces that we were pulling out. Each box was well labeled, and we especially appreciated that one of the boxes indicated that the instructions were inside. The instruction manual was so thorough in establishing symbols, build procedures, safety requirements and site requirements. Each section of the build was so well laid out that we had little to no difficulty assembling the different sections of the playset. The amount of effort and resources put into the instructions is phenomenal. Not only is the instruction manual well planned out, put together and organized, but huge efforts were put into the 3D animation software BILT. We were so impressed that the BILT app doubled as an assembly tutorial and interactive interface which allowed us to zoom in or out, rotate around any part of the build and identify the parts. This is a serious amount of effort that has gone into helping the end user successfully build this playset. Bravo and well done! If the manual, and 3D animation app wasn’t good enough, if there were any more questions, the professionally produced YouTube building tutorial really helped us when we got in a pinch. The little hints, and concise way the assembler demonstrated putting together the build really helped us out in a few tough spots. One more top-notch touch by the planners and developers at Lifetime threw in was a QR in each section of the build specific to that section. If we turned off our phone, closed the YouTube app, or whatever else happened, a quick scan of the code at the section beginning got us right where we needed to go! The fully indexed video just added to the awesome building experience. The provided tools were great. The hardware blister packs were great and detailed. During the build, the manual alone was great in helping identify the part needed. The build itself was challenging at times but the heft and stability of the playset was evident throughout the whole build. The suggested assembly time from the BILT app was 6 hours. It took us 10 hours to put together the playset from start to finish. We must say, the spare hardware really saved the day when we had trouble with one of the bolts and one of the barrel nuts. Once finally assembled, the playset looks amazing! The playset we got is the Earthtone model. It is attractive yet the kids took to it immediately! The swings were comfortable for the kids to swing in, especially with the rubber coating around the chains. The clubhouse really took this playset to the next level! We already knew of the binoculars, ships wheel, cargo rope ladder, climbing wall, and swing which were already really great features. We had the happy surprise to see that there was an unexpected three-point swing below the club house, a chalkboard inside the club house, a fun star pattern on the inside of the roof, AND the whole floor of the club house which doubles as a little town with relief molding of roads, shops, homes, and tunnels. These added features really added to the big fun mentioned in the beginning. Already our little boys have been stuffing their pockets with all the toy cars that they can hold and have been scurrying out to imagine and play. Our five kids have already spent hours outside playing on this exceptional playset. Our kids were on the playset the moment that we finished it! Along the build we did find some things that we would suggest to potentially improve. By far the most difficult part of the build was attaching the A-Frame Roof Tube as part of the base of the roof in the clubhouse. We really had to loosen some bolted parts elsewhere to be able to get it in. The video tipped us off that this was going to happen which we appreciated. Our older and more heavy kids noticed that the A frame that is not connected to the club house tended to be a bit wobbly once they really get swinging. We really appreciated that the whole playset doesn’t require the additional difficulty of digging and pouring concrete footings, but some additional rigidity would be good. Also, we noticed that the upper climbing wall tube GQW was not fully secure to the climbing wall panels CBX on the side that was closest to GQV lower climbing wall tube. Maybe a simple CUZ self-tapping fastener could be added to that lose end. However, because of the remarkable engineering and thought put into this, the climbing wall assembly felt solid and secure when it was attached to the club house section of the build. Though we tried to read all the instructions, cautions, warnings, and safety information, we found that there was a lot of information including two other languages, which is a great addition for Spanish and French speaking users. The yellow removable parts identifier located in the middle of the book was not found until we got to the middle of the book. We believe the amount of information of the front page may have caused us to not see the note. Possibly this could be given a bit more space so as to get a bit more attention. We also feel that having all the hardware blister packs in one box would have been better, that way we could locate them quickly and easily would have been better. We realize that the same note on the front page that mentions the parts identifier also mentions to inspect all parts and hardware would mean that we should have opened all of the boxes, but we wanted to keep clutter down, and we wanted to make sure we had all of the parts together and that we could find them when the instructions referenced which box that they were in. Another potential improvement would be to have labels on each bag to identify the part. That is not to say that the manual didn’t do a phenomenal job at pictorially identifying each part and its associated part number, but an additional help of part stickers on the bags would be great. The quick release Philips head bit was appreciated. Another help would be a 3/16 hex quick release bit to go with it. As said above, the spare parts bag was a huge lifesaver, but additional DXY bolts and BTS barrel nuts would have been appreciated as the DXY was by far the more common bolt and almost every fastener used the BTS barrel nut. The binocular might have been put in a different location in the club house to allow close to 180° of swing, however, the placement and the stops that the binoculars had in place was also well thought out so as not to put the kids in danger of falling anywhere. For all of the suggestions made, we hope that it is expressed and conveyed that even though these are suggestions for improvement, we understand that thoughtful planning for safety, convenience, and economy was put into every decision. From the placement of the parts identifier in the middle of the manual so it could be easily removed, to placing the binoculars in a place so the kids are safe, even though the arc of motion is restricted, all was done with care and thought. This is truly a phenomenal playset, and we will be looking at other Lifetime products in the future.
Review Source: Manufacturer
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Reviewed by: John06 from US on 7/11/2024
5
