Customer Reviews

Evenflo Summit Pressure Mounted Metal Gate

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

This gate was purchased at a local baby store - it installs in just a few minutes, but broke the first time we tried to open it. All forces applied against the gate when closed are focused on a tiny plastic peg about 1/3 inch in diameter. This snapped off instantly. Upon examination the piece is actually hollow! We called evenflo who sent us another gate. This gate arrived broken - in the exact same place! If I could give negative or at least 0 stars, I would. It is a horrible design and of very poor quality.

I needed something for the bottom of the stairs- but because of railings and trim, I needed something that could differ a little bit in width(top and bottom). Because you can adjust all 4 mounts, it fit perfectly! My dogs can't get thru it, its taller than the wooden gates so they can't jump it, and you can leave the gate in an open position when its not needed. It takes a little getting used to as far as opening with one hand, but overall it's great. i plan on ordering more!

I am the owner of a 15 lb miniature pinscher with a major napoleon complex and a surprisingly high vertical leap. I adopted him 2 years ago with the intention of leaving him out in the house when I went to work, as I have been able to do with my dogs throughout my life. Unfortunately, he had severe separation anxiety and had to be crated when alone.

Initially unwilling to accept this, I decided to baby-gate him into the kitchen (for easy "accident" clean-up on the tile floor) and thus invested in 2 standard baby gates (the wooden frame, crisscrossing plastic mesh type) and much to my surprise he hopped it with no problem. I decided to try TWO baby gates in the doorway, one atop another. Although impractical, it seemed there was no way he'd be able to leap over the fortress wall. You can imagine my surprise when I came home one afternoon to find him scaling the mesh like spiderman, near the top of the second gate, calculating HOW he could get over the top and have pure freedom. Clearly this wasn't working.

On visits back and forth to my parent's house, we had to separate the dogs as their great dane thought my dog was "snacktime" ... and my dad invested in a gate very similar to the evenflo, for about twice the price. The benefits of that gate were as follows:

1) vertical "jail bars" meant my dog couldn't climb his way over to freedom
2) it was exceptionally tall which prevented our dane from being able to peek over (we covered it with blankets so it didn't drive him crazy to see the little dog running around on the other side)

...a few months ago I relocated to a new house on a busy road, and after three near-escapes, I decided it was time to create a separation between the back and front part of the house so the dog didn't end up getting killed if he finally managed to run past someone.

I found the evenflo gate at Meijers, and was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to offer all the benefits of the more expensive gate, but at half the price. Other features I enjoy about this gate include:

1) NO automatically closing door. While auto-close may be helpful for people with kids, my gate is left open 99% of the time. The gate is positioned in a walk-through area and it would be a HUGE pain to have to open it every time I wanted to walk from one side of the house to another. The only time I close the date is if I need to leave the door open (taking out trash, etc.) and then I make sure the dog is on the other side of the gate, close it, and go about my business.
2) vertical jail bars mean no impromptu climbing expeditions
3) pressure-mount --- I will admit the first time we installed a pressure mount gate it was a pain and a headache, but once you get it, its a snap.

I will give a word of warning, however. My doorway is the minimum size for this gate (29 inches I believe) and it BARELY BARELY fits. If your doorway is undersized or even slightly smaller than the minimum, don't waste your money. There is really no way to rig these gates if you can't squeeze it into your doorway level.

Right off the bat: I'm not reviewing this for my dog. (How's that for credibility?)

My hopefully helpful notes to you regarding this gate:

(1) They say not to put it at the top of the stairs. Pretty sure they're just covering their collective legal butts there. I could see why. If you put one at the top of the stairs and give it a gentle nudge, you may notice it give a little -- especially if you've put in the extender. A toddler is unlikely to make it topple but be forewarned. That's on you.

(2) RE: the extender -- I feel like there's a little wobble and give when you have the extender attached. Doesn't feel as sturdy.

(3) It's nice having the four corners as independently adjustable. Let's you put this just about anywhere. That said, there seems to be some "exact" width that won't work. Where I installed ours, the baseboard moulding was too wide to install this without the extender -- but with the extender it wouldn't fit and we had to "raise up" the gate to install it over the baseboard moulding. And so it goes.

(4) The handle/latch mechanism is... well, it takes some getting used to. It takes some force and finesse. Give yourself a day or two to get used to it. Give yourself a week before you really get used to it.

Am I pleased? Pleased enough. It gets the job done and I don't have to fret with stepping over a "traditional" baby gate (nor put it up and take it down twice a day...)

Difficult for children and adults to use, but that's what makes it impossible for toddlers to open it. I need it when 16m grandson is here to keep him and our cat separate. The bars widest width opening is 2-1/8 inches. First time set up without original packaging strap was 3-5 minutes. I like the red and green indicator to show the gate is set up and locked securely.
OPTIONAL: Use a zip-tie strap, etc. to secure the gate before removing to temporary storage. Can ease reinstall, but not necessary.
NOTE: I lay a small rug over the lower bar once set up as a visual reminder to step over the lower bar. Necessary if I go barefoot and want to spare my toes.
February 2, 2010
18 mos. old is tall and strong. He was standing and hanging on it today, yet it remained secure.

This is a great gate. You cannot beat the price for what you get. I had read a few negative reviews abou thtis gate and was leary to purchase. Reluctantly I did and I love it. It did take a minute to get used to it but it is very simple to install and to use. I have had the gate over 3 months and never had a problem. Keeps my son and pets out of areas they dont need to be. I HIGHLY recommend, so much that I just purchased my second one! Good luck all

Very nice gate. We use it for 2 dogs as we don't have children the safety lock is a pain to use if you have painful hands.I solved the problem by taking the catch apart and removing the safety catch.

This gate is nearly impossible to open and almost as difficult to close securely. The gate is hard to install and the pressure mount system is not very secure. The pads that should keep it from sliding out of place are too slippery to hold well even when you tighten the gate to the extreme. If you enjoy being frustrated every time you walk through it, then this is the gate for you. If you want a gate that is easily opened while carrying a baby or toddler, and that will keep your child secure, look elsewhere.

They must have shipped to us the gate that was described as broken by the previous reviewer. The little pin that is supposed to hold the gate closed was broken off when we received it. We called customer service, and they said they'd send us a new one. Weeks later, they haven't. Called again, weeks later, they haven't. Meanwhile, we were able to find a screw to extend the broken stub and make the gate work, sort of. Even with a new pin, we'd expect it to break soon. The pressure screw did make a dent in our wallboard, a problem that we were able to solve by attaching an ugly piece of wood to the wall for it to press against. Otherwise, the gate is great.

I recently purchased this gate for the BOTTOM of my steps, since every time i turned around my little crawler was making her way up the steps but she refuses to learn the proper way to go down. The main reason i chose this gate was because i needed one that had the ability to adjust the upper and lower tension bars differently for each of the four corners, and i didn't want to screw anything into my wall since this is a temporary arrangement. along my wall there is a moulding that sticks out about 3/4" further than the rest of the wall, and on the banister side, my square banister post has a wide base that gets thinner as it goes up. *a side note* while i knew there was a difference in the upper and lower widths, i only measured the upper width, and i knew the gate with the extension piece was perfect. however, i neglected to measure the bottom width, and that width was the exact size that was too narrow for using the extension, but the top was too wide to use it without. i ended up placing the gate one step up so that it's attached to a spindle, which is fortunately also square, which gave me the extra couple of inches for the extension to fit comfortably top and bottom. so be sure to measure top and bottom if you're purchasing this for varying widths!! since it's attached to the spindle, which is pretty narrow, i check to make sure that the tension rod hasn't moved several times a day, just to be sure, but it's generally fine.
we needed it to swing toward us, which it does, because this is a staircase, not a doorway, and it seemed as though some of the other tension gates only swung away from you, even if it had the ability to swing in both directions. depending where you stood that's where it swung away, but this could be a misunderstanding on my part. As for the opening and closing mechanism, for my husband and myself, it's no sweat, and i can do it while holding the baby in one arm and other items in my other arm since she's old enough that i can balance her for a second on my hip with my arm and use my hand to open it. however, my boys who are 3 5 and 7 have more difficulty with it. the 7-year-old can do it if he uses all his strength, and then generally only if he's standing behind it on the steps, trying to go down because he leans down onto it. the others can't do it at all, because it is a little hard and the buttons on either side that need to be pressed are too far away from one another for small fingers to reach. this is a minus for me, but since they are generally "afraid" to go upstairs without an adult, it's not usually an issue for us. In a perfect world, i'd prefer that they'd be able to open it, but because of my other needs in a gate, i guess that's the sacrifice i had to make.
We've been using it for about 2 1/2 months now, and i did not find it difficult at all to put up. did it all by myself without my husband's help and it took all of ten minutes the first time, less when i took it off to try moving it to make sure that i could. Because this was purchased for a crawling baby, not an animal as with other reviewers, we anticipate putting it away as soon as she learns to navigate going down the steps, so we didn't want to spend too much, especially since we needed to buy a gate for the top of the steps too! for that obviously we had to drill into the wall, but that's a whole other review.
in closing, the price was right and included the extension, the tensions worked for us, don't forget to measure all widths and compare with product information to be sure with or without the extension works, the assembly was effortless as is opening and closing it for adults, but it is certainly difficult for young children to open and close it. hope this was helpful!!