This is the kind of product that may necessitate an updated review, due to its heavy-use nature, and whether it continues to earn a 5 star rating will depend on how it holds up. Initially, however, it has been a great solution for our needs.We have dogs and cats in our home. Unfortunately, the dogs like to harass our cats, so we need to keep them separate. For years we have used a wooden scissor-type gate to block the hallway that leads upstairs. It was about 3 feet tall. Not long ago, we babysat our friend's dog who proceeded to show our dogs just how easy it was to jump the gate. Just like that, one little example and my dogs became gate jumpers as well. Fabulous.So we bought this, much taller gate, to put an end to the jumping.The gate seems to be well made, and installed securely between the walls. As the dad, I am usually the unlucky sap that gets to install these things. The day that this was delivered, however, I was in a particularly grumpy mood. As I was sulking on the couch I heard the clanging of parts being assembled. My wife and daughter decided not to poke the bear and assemble it themselves. They are very smart women, yes, but the fact that they did not have to ask me once for assistance tells me that this was not overly complicated to assemble. Nor did I hear any raised voices or loud sighs. Assembly must have been fairly straight forward, so 5 stars for that.The assembled product feels quite solid, with little wiggle. The gate is easy to open, although what will really determine the long term rating of this gate will be how the opening mechanisms on top and bottom hold up to repeated use. Particularly the bottom latch. The bottom latch operates automatically, and is spring loaded. You can swing the gate closed and open and a spring loaded plastic piece will click into place. HOWEVER, the PREFERRED method of opening and closing is to LIFT UP on the gate before opening or closing it. This way, the piece of plastic rises out of the groove and does not necessitate the spring loading to "spring". It is a relatively small piece of plastic, and a moving part, so it is likely the first thing that will fail. If it does fail, the bottom of the gate will not secure but rather remain "floppy".My house now only has adults, so I think the spring latch discussed above has a chance to live a fairly long life, if everyone remembers and cares enough to lift and open/close instead of just yanking it open and slamming it closed. HOWEVER, if my house had small and/or rambunctious kids, I would not expect that latch (nor, likely, the top one) to last longer than a year. I would NEVER buy this unit if I had small kids, especially boys. (Call me sexist, but my experiences are my experiences). Perhaps I am being unfair with this assessment, I'm not deducting any stars due to my speculation, just giving my two cents for anyone with wild kids.For my application, this gate is very nice and deserves 5 stars - initially. I will update this review if anything goes wrong or breaks. By their nature, these kind of things seems to have high failure rates. Until then no news is good news.