Stairway Special White Model SS30

Fairly easy to install. Easy to operate with one hand. You need to use the hand farthest from the latch for one-handed operation. I used the optional wooden mounting blocks to mount it to my wooden banisters at the top of the staircase. You need two per side. (If you opt for the wooden blocks,Recommend placing thin cardboard or duct tape between the wooden blocks and wood finish to protect the finish.) The installation instructions are pretty good, but they omit a couple of things that are good to know. Assemble the two halves of the gate panels prior to hanging the gate. The square corners of the gate are "Up", the rounded corners "Down". Hang the gate and attach the locking hardware, including the locking mechanism mounting bracket to the opposite side of the gate. Now swing the gate over to where the locking mechanism mounting bracket will be attached. Don't raise the gate off its natural droop, and Extend the gate until the locking mechanism mounting bracket contacts the location where it will be attached. Using a pencil, make a mark in the two mounting bracket holes where the mounting screws will go. Now you can take the mounting bracket off the gate, the larger of the two holes is "Down". Pilot drill the holes about 1/2" into your wall, banister or wooden mounting blocks. Screw on the locking hardware bracket, and do not forget to install the one-way stop to the lower side of the locking hardware bracket at this time if one-way action is desired. Most people do not want the gate to swing out over the staircase to provide an extra measure of safety. To lock the gate,raise the gate off of its hinges about an 1/2" and drop it into the locking bracket. It locks automatically. Now is when you Secure the two halfs of the gate with the two Allen Screws using the included Allen wrench. To open the gate, squeeze both sides of the locking hasp together and raise the gate out of the locking holes. Overall, this is a sturdy and well made gate which is simple to install and use. I returned the KIDCO Gate and purchased this one instead. The instructions in the KIDCO gate are impossible to understand, and it is made of metal and lots of plastic. The Cardinal gate is ALL METAL, and is decidedly sturdier and very kid-proof. It is easy for an Adult to operate, but small hands will never defeat this gate's locking mechanism.

I spent about 4 hours researching gates for my now 11 month old and I wish I found this gate first. Shoppers should be mindful that not all gates are appropriate for your given situation. We needed something for the top of the stairs so pressure gates could not be used. When you think about it, all gates are used for security and are usually all metal for that reason. I did not like that other brands were made out of materials that could easily break with any given force (i.e., plastic notches and cheap wood). This gate met ALL of our needs. I called our handyman to install it because we absolutely hate putting things together. He didn't call back so I got to work as my baby was dashing toward the stairs every chance he got. I was very impressed with how easy this was to install. My advice would be to check for studs so that you will know if you need to drill or not. I used long anchor screws instead of the included screws for our drywall just to ensure that the system was secure in the wall. I liked that it could swing both ways but that you could stop it from swinging one way- this is what we did for safety so that our baby could not swing it over the stairs. It's light but very sturdy, has a clean design, there are no parts to trip on, it swings fully out of your way, it's easy to install, all metal and despite what others have reported, I find it easy to open and close, even with one hand. It can be a little tricky sometimes because you have to hold two notches down at the same time and then pull up to open the gate. However, my baby is fascinated and I watched him try to play with the notches for 5 minutes trying to figure it out! This is at 11 months! So I'm thankful that the gate opening is not so simplified that my baby can figure it out. I understand why others would be annoyed with the latch though, but it's still easy to use. I chose this one over the auto lock model because the auto lock feature seemed like it was super loud when the gate closed! That noise would annoy us and this manual gate works just perfectly.

I first installed the gate and was going to give it 3 stars because it was difficult to open - the latch on the gate kept getting caught on release hinge/hole. Turns out, the side that the gate hooks on to was installed upside down. At first glance, it looks like both sides are identical, but if you look carefully, one side is thinner around the slot/hole which makes it release easily. Having said that, it installs easily. Here are some suggestions: 1. Recommended tools: Electric screwdriver, stud finder ($10 or less on Amazon), and laser level 2. Make sure you pay attention to the parts and not make the same mistake I did by installing one part upside-down. 3. You HAVE to screw the gate on to a stud. Even with the drywall plastic anchors, it will pull right out. The entire weight of the gate will be resting only on one side. The nice thing about this gate: - Perfect for crown moldings along the base-board, especially thick ones. - Opens and closes easily and smoothly, with one had operation. - Can be installed at an angle to accommodate where the stud is located. - Paint and finish is great and feels extremely strong and sturdy. In conclusion, I highly recommend this gate. It's pricey but for us, we really had no choice because of crown molding along the floor. We returned some much cheaper ones but these are great and they actually look pretty decent.

So the TLDR review is this: extremely sturdy construction, one of the few gates I could find that you could completely remove while leaving brackets on wall for say contractors/moving something/etc, also one of the few that allow you to install up to a 30* angle which is a tremendous feature even if you *think* you don't need it. Longer review: I have a toddler and a house with a second level and a basement and there are no doors which necessitated gates that were well made and tough to open to prevent kiddo from doing it. This gate achieves all of these things and once you understand how to unlock it, it's easy (see my video how to) Pros: all metal construction, good hardware provided, no plastics anywhere, gate can be easily removed while brackets stay on the wall. Relatively easy install with only 4 holes needed in your walls. Gate installs up to a 30* angle which is a huge advantage for walls that are not perfectly level or if you have various molding on the bottom of your walls that can create an issue. Cons: I don't think you are getting value, I think this should be closer to $50 but I guess you're paying for the better engineered product with a few features others can't match (at least what I found). Directions are lacking for tips on how to install/adjust the level of the gate to get a super easy latch/unlatch. I've seen some videos/photos of other reviews and sorry to say but it's a user error in installation. See below for tips on how to install *Install the bracket on the wall first, make sure you level it so rod goes through as straight as possible (other bracket doesn't need to be level see below as to why) *attach the gate, rod, key ring to lock it in place (this is important otherwise you may be picking up the gate further than what the key ring allows and you'll be screwed after install), the other gate side bracket and lock it. Essentially install the whole thing as if it was locked THEN it's time to figure out how/where to mount the other side otherwise you will have a very frustrating day. *here's the thing, you may need to adjust the metal eye hooks to allow for uneven walls. This is a pain because you won't know until you line it up. Then you have to take it off, adjust the eye hook(s) to make it fit your opening and keep installing/removing the key hook). If you look at my photos you can see that one eye hook is unscrewed further than the other to account for a doorway opening that isn't perfectly spaced all the way down (walls rarely are). I also showed in a photo the bracket not being flush to wall which is why I had to adjust. *once you have the eye hooks at proper spacing to level it for your opening, you're going to want to hold the bracket against the wall and make sure the latch has enough room to lift up/away AND drops right in with ZERO effort (always remember with keyring installed). If your gate doesn't simply drop right in and latch you have something off. You can also tweak the sliding gate (before you secure with the allen key screws) ever so slightly uo/down to really fine tune it. *after you do all the above and you think it's perfect THEN mark the wall for where you want to screw it in. Keep in mind IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THIS BRACKET IS LEVEL, it just needs to be secure and installed at whatever angle required for the latch to easily open and drop and latch instantly. Look at my photos and my short video of how to open and how easy it latches. Again if yours isn't doing this the gate isn't at a proper enough angle to allow it. You may have to adjust eye hooks, the sliding part of the gage with the allen screws and lastly maybe the angle of bracket on the opposite wall. I know this was long but I'm trying to help everyone else make this as easy as possible because it is truly a phenomenal gate.

We got this to install at the top of our steps to prevent children from falling down steep steps. It was not difficult to install. I used a drill because I used longer screws to make sure it was very sturdy. But it could be done by hand. One thing to note is that the directions say to install part of it so that it is a certain number of inches above the floor. I started doing that without realizing that it would be too high - the latch would have run into the railing on our steps. So think a few steps ahead as you follow directions and install. You may need to modify a little bit based on your situation. I had to unscrew part of it from he wall and lower it. As you can see it worked out well in the end and installed great. Well made, secure, and looks nice too (for a gate). Would highly recommend. Also nice that latch is too complicated for three year old but our older kids can do it so they are not trapped upstairs. Good product. Worth cost. p.s. Note that this is not easy to open and close with one hand. It works on the steps, but I would not select this to put downstairs to close rooms off from kids because it is not easy to open and close if you have a baby in your hand or just want to walk between rooms easily and quickly. For that, I would get one of the ones you open by stepping on it.

I'm writing this review with an infant in the home who crawls but hasn't turned into a human battering ram yet, so this review will focus more on assembly and practicality than durability. (it did handle a hardy shaking though) Pros: If your home has baseboards throughout, then many other baby gate products that anchor into studs are simply too complex/difficult to install. Cutting 1x4's to fit around our baseboards and under a railing was not my idea of fun when putting in the gate. So, we found this product and it really could not be easier to install. There is even a QR code on the instruction sheet with a installation video in case you get confused. It easily mounts above our baseboards and since the studs at the top of our staircase are not perfectly even, the flexibility of 30 degrees allowed us to install this into our studs without any difficulty. (I used a 3/32" bit to make the pilot holes.) One person can install this in under 15 minutes and you only have to make one precise measurement at the beginning. I'm looking forward to seeing how it holds up. Cons: If you are drilling into studs behind drywall they only give you two screws of adequate length when you need four. Not a hard fix, but something I wish the manufacturer would include in the box. Also, the latch mechanism is light and both clamps don't always close with vigor (or a reassuring 'click') so I will always make sure it is fully closed behind me. UPDATE: Kid is now a toddler, and the gate is still great. Zero issues. Can also confirm it's difficult for a toddler to climb!

We have many friends with small children who have child gates. We have seen them all, and we would not trust our child’s safety with with any of them — they are all basically junk, at best, and dangerous at worst, except this one. This is the best child gate out there. It is strong, all steel construction. Your toddler will not make a successful prison break facing this. Simple design that works and extremely straight-forward to install. Although I hate instructions with crude sketches instead of photos, these instructions are pretty easy to understand. Any doubts, just look at the photo of the gate on the box with the baby posing next to it. This gate can even be installed on the diagonal. It is specifically designed for top of stairs placement, but is just as good for bottom of stairs installation. Everything has been thought out. Ignore the 1-2 star reviews by those who found the installation instructions baffling and difficult. Setting this up is the essence of simplicity for all but those who have to hire a handyman to hang a picture on the wall. My wife told me this is the best thing I have ever ordered from Amazon, and I can’t put up much of an argument. If you’re looking for a gate for a 1-4 year old, forget the others, especially the friction mounted ones that never hold and have a bar running across the bottom over which you can trip and kill yourself. Get this one. You’ll be happy you did.

Once the gates are up and the latch is tweaked the gates seem really good - very sturdy, and, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are getting the latch positioned, pretty easy to open. Getting the latch right is the hard part. The instructions are very thin here ... non existent actually. The problem is, there is very little tolerance on the position of the piece that attaches to the wall, that the gate connects to in order to latch closed. If you have this piece a bit too high, the gate won't rise high enough to get the pegs into the holes. If you have it a bit too low, the latching mechanism won't close. If it isn't vertically aligned with the other side, one of the two pegs won't match up and it won't close. We are talking maybe 1/4 of an inch of margin here, which is very easy to miss when you are doing this all by hand, with pieces that are moving as you are trying to get them aligned. I purchased two gates and had to re-align the latching side multiple times on both gates to get it right ... and in both cases the fit still isn't perfect. On one gate it's too low so you really have to push down on the gate to get it to latch; on the other one it's high so you have to put some upward force on the gate to get it onto the latch. I am pretty handy and do a lot of stuff around the house so if I had trouble I can imagine most folks would, and some might not be able to figure it out. At a minimum, the instructions should warn you that there is very little forgiveness in the alignment, and ideally provide a better way to ensure you have first pass success.