TYPHOON STORAGE TOWER

I purchased 1 just to see how this product was as there were many negative reviews and was pleased to find that the product had no chips, dings, or defects, while the directions are not perfect I was able to complete the build alone in under an hour when I'd had only four hours of sleep the morning it arrived and then assembled it at around 12:30AM the following morning after getting home from work. Since the trial order worked out I ordered two more which also arrived in good condition with no defects or damage. Those two I managed to build progressively faster in around 35-45 minutes.TIPS:-Analyze what you're doing as you go, read the directions, read the following step or two so you understand what you are leading to from where you are. Pay attention to the facings of your panel to make sure you don't put one on backwards. Your screws will insert into and not against the wood panels in most cases which is why you will notice that some holes on the panels are beveled on one side.-If you have a good selection of screwdrivers make sure you pick the best fit, I have a Stanley screw driver with swap-able magnetic heads and easily found a snug fit for both the philips and flat-head screws. This is important if you want to avoid stripping the screw head which could make your assembly a very bad experience.-While I did not try it I would not recommend using an electric drill to put the screws in so as to avoid over-insertion or over-tightening which could break the material.-USE GRAVITY!!!! Assemble the product on its side for the whole process either on the floor or a table that's large enough for the entire tower's length and only put it upright when you put the screw in for the lazy susan on the bottom.-USE GRAVITY!!!!! On STEP 2 only put the wooden dowels into one panel E instead of two, then read STEP 3 and place the assembly from STEP 1 and the 2nd panel F onto your doweled up panel E. Now put the other 8 dowels into the appropriate holes on panel D and 2x panels F and place your 2nd panel E onto the dowels.-Just be patient and go at your own pace.PROS:-Cheap-I found it easy to assemble.-Holds almost 2x as many dvds & blurays as my old towers did and takes up only a little more space.-Visually appealing.-They don't feel too tippy once loaded up.-Enough space on top to put lightweight things on such as a large box-set or figures/models, maybe a picture.-Works on short/standard carpet, I imagine it would have difficulty on deeper carpets that are on the shaggy side.-While the directions are not perfect and could be better the pictures are clear enough to get a firm grasp and understanding of what is happening. More so than some instructions I've seen in the past.CONS:-Cheap cost means cheap materials, just be careful and provided there are no defects you should be just fine.-There is a concern of over-tightening the screw for the lazy susan on the bottom, I feel like they really should have made a machine screw insert for this rather than make the customer use a wood screw.-The lazy susan is made of plastic with metal bearings and while the product will not be holding an outstanding amount of weight I'd gladly have paid 10 dollars more for a good solid metal part instead of plastic. On a good note the plastic is not very flimsy, but plastic is still plastic and I worry about long term durability.

I've presently got about 450 DVDs/BluRays. That takes up a LOT of space. I was looking for something with a smaller footprint that would still give me a little room to grow. These seemed like a perfect solution. I bought four and I'll probably get a fifth soon to stash away for when the collection gets too big--but for now they all fit with about 2.5 shelves leftover.Putting them together went pretty smoothly and I did it by myself. If you've put together particleboard stuff in the past, it'll feel familiar. And yes. It's particleboard. That's cheap. That's why it's priced so affordably. Some reviews complain about the build-quality, but seem to be oblivious to how much more it would cost to use a more solid wood. You're getting what you pay for--or actually a little bit more, IMO. If you don't want particleboard, buy something else and pay a lot more. That's your only option. But if you don't plan on putting these things through the ringer and are working on a budget, they're perfect.The first one took me an hour to build. But by the time I was up to the fourth one, I was done in 20 minutes with no need for the instructions--once you've done one the process for the second one is obvious. In reading other comments I went ahead and used some wood glue in with the dowels--but honestly, I'm not sure it made much of a difference. The dowels are just there to solidify it a little--it's the screws that actually hold it together. If I have a criticism, it's that I wish there'd been a couple screws in place of some of the dowels to make putting it together a little less clunky...I had to reassemble more than one shelf that fell apart when I set it into place--but that's on me working too fast. Still I did rank "sturdiness" at 4 stars instead of 5 because they're not going to last for decades if you move them around a lot.But in general, these are GREAT. They hold a ton of stuff in a small area and are sturdy enough for my cats to walk on top of them. I like them a lot and would highly recommend them. Know what you're buying, for sure...it's particleboard...it's a cheap material and it might not survive a move across town. But now that you know that, if you're going to be staying put a while, BUY IT. It's a good value and saves a TON of space for the higher-volume collector.