We have had this composter for a little over a year now. It was very hard to put together. The directions were somewhat easy to follow but the physical effort involved was difficult. It took the 2 of us to do it and had to use WD-40 and a rubber mallet to slide pieces together. Took a few hours to set up (with a couple breaks, we are seniors). Easy to fill and the tumbling action is still working fine. I have had no problems with the barrel rotation locking mechanism breaking but I have been careful with it after reading other reviews. we lost the red tab in the first season. It faded and fell off. One or two of the plastic corner pieces have fallen off and we didn't want to take it apart to fix it. Probably our fault but the difficulty in putting this together contributed. So far there has been no rusting of internal metal parts. Some oxidation on the aerator bar but nothing to compromise action. We decided to put the entire composter on cement blocks because it was too difficult to empty compost. Now we can scrape compost into wheelbarrow. Wobbly and not the best idea because it has slipped off the blocks. There were times I added too much water to the barrel and the water will drain out. I put bucket under it to catch the compost tea. After all is said and done, This has been working fine for us so far. If it will last 4 more seasons i will be happy. I really like the tumbling action. Still working on getting the correct mixture of greens and browns to speed compost time. I have been adding old potting soil from outdoor planters and houseplants and I am very pleased with the results. This composter may be worth the time and effort for some people.

I have owned a dual tumbler for a number of years. This has out preformed all the other composter's I have ever tried. Material breaks down nicely and quickly. Most importantly to me the company stands behind the product like old American manufacturing companies used to. I have had a couple of parts breakdown and I had to replace. Lifetime has shipped the parts no questions asked, timely and at no cost! I highly recommend this company who truly stands behind its products!!

We bought this a few years ago and it worked great until a few days ago when it collapsed and the tube the barrels rotate on collapsed. All of the metal parts have significant rust on them and I have been using wd 40 on them since the beginning. The plastic parts are in fair condition and if the metal parts are available I think I could fix it

Had the tumblers for a couple years and work great for composting but the closure mechanism is not made for real life. Mine seized on the left one after a little over a year and the right one a year or so after that. Completely rusted through and unusable. 3 stars for the function, 0 stars for the construction.

I really LOVED this composter...UNTIL the hinge mechanism holding the lid on to one of the containers rusted through and the lid fell off. Without a lid, the Dual Compost Tumbler does not tumble! We purchased the composter during the summer of 2013, so it was only two years old. The hinge mechanism appears to have rusted through. The composter was not exposed to water often, as Texas is drought-stricken. Nor was the lid stressed excessively, as it rested on a fence when it was opened. Now, the lid on the remaining container is almost impossible to open, I'm guessing due to rust. This is a product that has great features and that should be getting uniform five star reviews, but I cannot give it anything but a one-star because cheap parts were used in the most critical places.

I have only had the Lifetime dual composter 50 Gallon for about 2 years now and it has done a pretty good job of making compost for the garden. However the latching mechanism on the left side which is the most used side has rusted so bad that we do not use it because we cannot open it. Also one of the corner pieces popped out at some point and was not noticed immediately to be replaced so there is about a 2" hole on the corner where the compost falls out when we tumble the compost. Also be careful if you need to move the unit for any reason, the plastic feet will pop off and get lost if you do not see it happen, we have lost 3 of them so far, thinking that we may just take the last one off so they match. We have one of the 80gal units also and have no issues with it so far.

We have had our tumbler for 2+ years. We have had issues with the pins breaking, the lock getting stuck - so now we can't open the lid without prying the sides away; and the tumbler corners falling out. With a better locking mechanism, this may have been a better review.

Bought from Costco even after reading about various problems on assembly. It was delivered when promised but the boxes looked like they went through the war. The wife made the driver stay until she inspected everything. I reviewed the instructions and made myself familiar with all the parts. I assembled it in 2hrs 45min by myself. The directions were very good and I had no problem.Can't wait for the first batch of compost.

I bought this product ~2012/2013. Was very happy to assemble it - other than some difficulty to attach a few corner caps, the assembly was straightforward and smooth. And the composter did look very nice in my backyard! However, pretty soon, issues started to appear here and there. Basically, majority of the metal parts started rusting. Well, the composter needs these metal parts to hold them together and operate. Such parts, by default, should be able to withstand the outdoor weather with no major issues for certain amount of years. But no, within months (instead of years), metal parts race to fail one by one. Particularly, the lock mechanism is hard to operate within a year and it became a struggle every time we needed to lock/unlock the lid. In about three year or so, due to broken corner brackets, one drum has been deformed and basically nonoperational; soon after that, the hinge of the other drum was broken and basically made turning the drum impossible. So other than occasional throwing something in the half broken drum (but not able to turn), basically the composter has been sitting there for nothing for several years. Unfortunately (for us), we wasn't diligent enough to check its warranty in time and a few months ago, while cleaning and sorting stuffs in the house, we got a hold on the its user manual and realized that it has a warranty period of five years. By this time, our product has been past that five year period, and we contacted Lifetime's customer service anyway to see if we can get any parts. Were gladly offered replacement parts free as a courtesy of good service. A set of hinges and some others parts were delivered within a few days. Unfortunately (again, for us), when trying to repair the drum, I found that the locking mechanism has been totally rusted and won't move at all no matter how I tried! I even bought a WD-40 rust remover specifically to no avail. So I called Lifetime customer service again. But, no, I was immediately told I need to pay for any parts this time around - basically they were telling me it was a mistake last time. Of course, It's something like $45 just for the metal locking mechanism! In summary, 1. The product was a total failure as all metal parts are prone to (and eventually majority will) rust. It can't withstand the outdoor environment of its designed use. 2. We were initially very happy with the free replacement of a few parts, probably due to **staff mistake**. The customer service rejected any claim of warranty when we needed more parts to complete the repair; instead, the customer service is charging exorbitant amount of money. A basic fact: the parts had been broken well within the five year limit. 3. We paid *several hundred* bucks for this product, with a total yield of about two wheelbarrows of compost. With mainly plastics and cheap, low quality metal parts, Lifetime sells it with quite a fat profit margin. How about cut your paying customers some slack and just provide the parts even its past the 5 year limit? You know, not everyone is able to memorize and check often the month and year when this particular product was bought and when the warranty is about to expire and still remember to request a warranty. Hello, there! In five years, majority households probably buy 50 products in average that likely have the potential to request a warranty service. 4. Don't buy it. Lifetime might have new, not-so-easy-rust metal parts for current product, or not. For several hundred bucks, you will come out way better, economically, just buy the most expensive, "organic" garden soils.

I’ve had this since 2012 and it works as well as advertised. I had a rusting issue with the latches and Bruce at lifetime ordered out the parts I needed. When tumbling the bin always keep the lids on the top after turning to keep the compost off of the latch mechanism to extend the life of latch assembly.