Customer Reviews

Urban Compost Tumbler - Make Compost for Your Lawn and Garden

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my first composter, but compared to what you find in local Home D./OSH, the product seems of much higher quality. The material seems first rate and should latest a long time. However, due to its lock and friction system for putting it all together without screws and bolts, it was relatively difficult to assemble it's very few parts. By following its instructions carefully, I manage to put it together only after damaging a few minor parts and putting in a lot of muscle. Took about 30 minutes.

Turning the unit can also be hard for a small person when it is fully loaded. If you are not careful where you put your hand during turning, the cover comes off and out comes the half-done compost. Overall, it is still worth it due to its simple design and operation. Haven't had the unit for a long time, so don't know if the aeration channel works well. But so far the compost smells good - a sign it has enough air?

I've had the tumbler about 4 months. It makes compost fine when it's hot out but there are several problems I've had with it. When first loaded it's easy to turn, as everything is loose in it with lots of air. After a week it's mostly settled to the bottom and no little old lady is going to be able to turn it. As it gets turned over the days I've had balls of compost form as big as a softball. They don't seem to come apart by themselves. Once the compost is ready there is not easy way to get it out. If you turn the barrel upside down it all falls underneath it. I've tried proping the back of the barrel so it's horizontal and shoveling it out. All the cross pieces inside make that difficult and bumping into them with the shovel usually knocks my prop out, and the barrel flips back up. Probably the most frustrating aspect is the lid. If you take the lid off to inspect the compost once it's settled to the bottom, the weight at the bottom makes the top opening bow in on the sides so I've had to try to squeeze the top opening back into a circle to get the lid back on. It has at times taken me 10 minutes just to put the lid on so that it is latched at all four points at the top. If it's not latched all around and the tumbler is turned the lid will come loose and spill the compost directly underneath the barrel, which is not easy to get to because of the legs and braces that hold the barrel up. The Urban compost tumbler does make compost, but it really has some awkward and difficult features.

I've had my Urban composter a few weeks and absolutely love it!

It took a little over an hour to put mine together---pay attention to the instuctions as putting the barrels together is the toughest part and takes patience, but can be done. The rest goes together very quickly and requires no tools as everything snaps together easily. The instructions are easy to follow as there are only a few steps necessary.

The components are well made of heavy duty industrial grade plastic and should last for years and years. There are no metal parts to rust, which was a big selling point for me. I also was swayed by the price and the design of the product with the internal cross bar and ventilation to speed the composting process.

I could feel the heat from my compost material after the first day and turning the Urban Composter is relatively easy (in fact I enjoy it). I've had no problem with the lid coming off as another review mentioned. It locks on tightly and stays that way---even with several vigorous spins (which my 11 year old likes to do).

I highly recommend this composter to anyone!

Really lousy investment on my part. When we first set it up, the lid locked (with some difficulty) but as someone else mentioned, the black plastic warps and then you can forget about ever getting the lid to lock again. Even prior to the lid refusing to lock, it was very difficult to rotate the barrel - once it was full, it takes a lot of force to flip it. Now I have a huge black plastic indestructible barrel that is doing me little good for making compost - could have bought a trash can and drilled a few holes in it - could have saved a lot of $$.

Don't buy this.