Lifetime 60309 Double Bin Rotating Composter, 100 Gallon

As other reviews have said, it's not the easiest thing to put together by yourself, but there's only a limited number of steps that could really benefit from having another set of hands around. Otherwise, it's about on par with any IKEA assembly to put things together. I found the instructions very well laid out and easy to follow. Just pay attention.The composter itself seems very sturdy, and everything went together well. We'll see how it fares over the long term, but I'm impressed with the engineering and the space for stinky kitchen scraps thus far.The only major ding is that the package was barely contained by the time UPS delivered it to our door. The cardboard was either wet at some point, or it was the flimsiest cardboard I've ever seen. Luckily, all the pieces were present.EDIT: 5/12/22 The latches have a bit of rust, but otherwise this beast has been unscathed by several years of sun, rain, snow, and nature. Still works great, spins well, and has produced a ton of compost for me in the interim. Highly recommended.

We had been looking for a large capacity composter with a wide enough lid to be able to fit a shovel. We have an older 80 gallon Lifetime composter (model 60058) that serves us well but we needed additional capacity. Would have liked to purchase another of the same composter but it doesn’t appear to be available in the US.Searched for a while with limited success to find another composter that met all of our requirements. At the end, considering all the factors, we decided on this model as the best option for us. It is well-built, appears to be sturdy, and actually looks aesthetically pleasing for a composter. Assembly was not easy: take time to familiarize yourself with all the parts, check the pictures in the assembly manual frequently, and watch assembly videos if any are available. Part designations in the instructions are quite similar to each other, usually differing by a single letter or number, so they can be confusing. You will need two people for the assembly, especially when lifting it with both barrels attached. When fully assembled, it is heavy, bulky, and awkward to lift. The metal fasteners appear to be of good quality, however the plastic nuts tend to split when the screws are driven into them - I had three of them fail as such. The fasteners come in a kit and they are clearly labeled. The number of fasteners included is exactly the number you need for assembly so if you strip one of the screws or break one of the plastic nuts you cannot complete the assembly until replacements arrive from Lifetime. I am surprised that extra fasteners are not included in the kit, at least for the ones that are likely to fail during assembly (e.g. screws and nuts). The total time we spent on assembly was about three hours and we asked a third person to help us (for safety considerations) as we were turning it up.Customer service was excellent, they were easy to reach on the phone, and the replacement parts came in about four days.As for durability, I will wait to comment until we start using it close to its capacity. A bit worried about a single load-bearing shaft being able to support both barrels under full load. Hopefully that will be a non-issue. Based on the reviews that complained about the latch assembly rusting, I applied rust inhibitor to all parts prior to assembly.Overall, we still think this was the best composter available to meet most of our needs. The four star rating I gave it is based upon assuming that it is going to perform as claimed. If not, I will amend my rating accordingly.

This is a great addition to our garden. It is well made. Assembly takes some work but just follow the instructions and it all comes together. Capacity is excellent and it operates without a hitch.

Just assembled it. Composter looks like it will be great. Very sturdy, easy to use, easy to rotate. I especially like that you can open/remove the door, rotate it, & dump compost into a cart. I'd give the bin itself a rating of 5. Assembly directions were horrible! I'd give directions for assembly a one!I have a doctorate degree & build custom homes for a living. It took 1 1/2 days to assemble, including taking barrels apart to reassemble because the directions were so poorly written, & parts were not labeled well. Part I direction video online could not be found. Someone needs to rewrite the assembly direction book!

We wanted to get a high capacity, heavy duty composter. On the surface, this product looks just what we wanted but we now have significant doubts as to how long with will last. Most of the issues where also highlighted in other reviews:• The package arrived looking as if it had been air dropped in from altitude, although no parts were missing.• The instructions were poor/misleading and putting it together was far more challenging that it needed to be.• The sides of the barrel did not lock easily into the ends of the barrel and leave significant gaps in the barrel. Will likely go around and silicon caulk the joints to ensure nothing leaks out. Only by the grace of the metal bands does the barrel stay together.• Approximately 30-40% of the plastic caps that are supposed to go on the ends of the screws in the plastic split down the middle. Expecting most to fail at some point and preparing to use heavy gloves due to the exposed screws (not like having exposed screws in compost is asking for tetanus or anything).• The holes needed to attach the legs to the metal center shaft were around 1 inch too far away to actually work as intended and new holes in the correct position had to be drilled into the center shaft.• While moving the composter during construction, one of the legs bent (so much for heavy duty) and had to be bent back into position, which prevents the rotating locking mechanism for one barrel from working (on top of the cotter pin snaping in two). Have no idea if the legs will be able to hold a full load, but the ease with which the leg bent was worrisome. Have ordered ¼ inch stainless steel bar to turn into pins (won’t be spring loaded but will work), as the number 2 pencil that currently prevents the barrel from rotating will likely not last but better than nothing.Hopefully the modifications needed to actually construct the composter will be sufficient, but knowing what we know now, we would likely have gone with a different manufacture / design.