If you've ever installed a wooded playset, had to maintain and re-stain it every couple of years, and then had to uninstall it because it's deteriorated and you fear the city will arrive with CAUTION tape and CPS to keep your kids safe, you would realize what a perfectly genius idea it was for Lifetime to make these playsets. It is bigger than it seems in pictures, which is fantastic because even my 14-year old likes to sit in the top and do homework. We purchased the deluxe set with monkey bars which I highly recommend, even though my 5-year broke her arm on it 15 minutes after we set it up. (It wouldn't have broken, however, if her sister hadn't been "helping" her by holding her legs up, which prevented her from dropping nicely.) Which leads me to my next point of following their safety recommendations and setting it up in a safety zone with something other than hard ground to land on. The monkey bars are solid, tall enough for older kids to enjoy, and the main reason we purchased this set. The slide is quite zippy. Maybe hold the hand of a toddler until they get used to it, although my 20-month-old landed on her feet the first time down. I'm not saying she hasn't landed on her bum plenty of times since. She also manages the ladder by herself quite well but I do get a little worried when my other kids are impatiently following right behind her. Mostly because I...ahem... did not follow the recommended safety instructions and installed it on grass. No falls yet though. If you follow the directions it is an easy installation, all things considered. It's not a 2-3 day job you might get with an equivalent wooden set. They package the hardware in individual packs labeled for each section. There were a couple of packets where the labels were different than in the instructions but the pictures of the hardware were spot on so common sense pulls through. As a general rule, I recommend having common sense if you put anything together. Make sure you don't over-tighten the bolts that go through any of the posts; with enough force you will slightly squish the metal. Also, make sure One change we did was not to install the fireman's pole on when the instructions tell you to. The swings/monkey bar section isn't attached to the main play structure yet so it doesn't make sense to ground it when you don't have it in its final destination. It took 2 adults and 1 good intentioned 11-year old about 6-7 hours to put it together. Because we happened to have an extra slide from a previous playset that is now resting in a landfill, my husband removed one of the solid panels, drilled a couple of extra holes, and added an extra slide to our playset. Our kids love it. So if you happen to have an extra slide sitting around not pulling its weight I recommend putting it to work on this playset. Lifetime of course cannot recommend this but it works great for us.

We have had this swingset for 2 years now (purchased in May 2014) and the kids love it. A 2 year old needs a little supervision going up the ladder because of the space between the rungs but this year he is almost 3 and gets up with no problem! When you compare the durability of this swingset to a wooden one I think this is a no brainer. My boys will love it for years to come. We also purchased the matching dome climber and would highly recommend that as well.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] After a few weeks of debating this season on whether to go with the standard wood playset, or to lay down a bit more money and go for this one, we decided on this one. We're glad we did, as this piece is solid and obviously high-quality. The low-maintenance aspect of the metal and plastic is great too, as whenever it gets dusty or dirty or some big bird poops on the slide, all it takes is a quick hose-down and it's clean. The assembly was fairly straightforward, but time-consuming. It's still not as bad as the instruction manual made it seem though - it stated it would take 3 people 13 hours to assemble, but it took me 14 hours alone total with a little help here and there from my wife. It also took another 2 hours to properly level the playset and the ground around it (you may or may not have to do this depending on your lawn), and another half hour or so to anchor it with the included kit. You should also factor in the time to make this a safe place to play; because it's so huge a kid could take quite a tumble if they slip off the monkey bars or fall from the deck. Follow the advice in the manual and set up a safety area around it. On our part we bought a wood/pvc mix playground border kit that was almost 6 inches high, set it up around the set, then filled it to the brim with playground wood chips. This beat digging a huge 6-inch deep gouge in our yard, that one day we'd need to fill when our daughter outgrows this and it needs to go.

Just finished installing this play-set over the weekend. I was able to complete the build without assistance, but it can be a little challenging at times (i.e., installing the roof by yourself). It took about 13 hours to install (not counting leveling the ground). The instructions did not have any major issues (I believe they have been updated recently). Just make sure to note that the main pole with the sticker is pole that will attach to the swings/monkey bars. I had to find this by confirm it later in the manual based upon hole locations. The coating on the set is amazing, numerous times I thought that I would have scratched the finish; however it held up great to the install. The bolts come in separated packages that are labeled, allowing to locate the correct bolt easily and making sure you have used all of the correct bolts. They also include a spare parts bag, which was great after I stripped two bolts by not aligning them properly. I would suggest to pre-connect the bolt/nuts a few turns by hand before installing them. This allowed me to turn them by hand to confirm they would not be stripped and they had the proper alignment. The only thing I wish that was included, was the exact dimensions from the tower to the monkey bars.

Bought this for my grandson.. It is a very sturdy set and can handle a lot of kids all over it.. I'd say the only issue we could come up with is the wavy slide. It's a fast slide. When the smaller kids hit the bump, it would launch them in the air sometimes coming down past or on the end of the slide.. weee

Bought this about 2 years ago. Still holding up well. Assembly is fairly simple as it comes with step by step easy to read instructions (plus you could find some helpful YouTube videos). I will say though, it's probably not worth the current price ($1,499). I bought at a much more reasonable $599 at the time.

Quality is very high. I was able to build it myself in a few days. I had no one to help. Instructions are super clear. If you are not mechanically inclined, you will need to hire someone for assembly. Skill level “Moderate”. It is much bigger than it looks on line. I weigh 250lbs. The swings hold me just fine. This is a lot of set for your money. Be advised, there is a lot of assembly required!!! Follow the instructions!!!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] So strong upstood 120 mile hour winds of hurricane Mattrew

This swing was a great find at first because my 16 yr old son with autism could swim on this playground without it moving. However, after just 1 yr the playground started rusting underneath the platform and is now unusable.

My kids are enjoying it!