Swingset Comparison

[beansprout13]

DH and and I are finally going to breakdown and get DS1 a swing set (that he has been asking for). We have narrowed it down to a Rainbow or a Backyard Adventures set. They both seem like good quality, but the Backyard Adventures would be about $600 less for comparable swing sets. I don't know what makes one swing set better than another. Has anyone researched these two products or have one?

We need to get a swing set that will be delivered and installed by the manufacturer - DH is hopeless in this area!

TIA!

[BillK]

Back when we were looking at swing sets - we also considered Rainbow & Backyard Adventures and ended up with a Cedar Works "Playaround" Trading Post.

It seems CW ditched the entire Playaround line - however I see Sam's Club still sells it: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=361802&itemid=15375

Anyway - the big selling point for me on the CW vs. the other two was that it was made of Cedar and there's no staining/restaining required. It's been about 2 years now that we've had it and we are still very happy with the purchase. My dad, a buddy of mine and I put it together in about 8 total hours (spread over 2 days).

[cvanbrunt]

I'm not familiar with Backyard Adventures. We bought a Rainbow late last summer and are very happy with it. They were running a sale with free installation. Watching the two guys work in the heat all day, I'd say that cost is worth every penny.

[Happy 2B mommy]

Our house came with a very basic wood swingset, so no personal experience with researching/purchasing/installing. However, we were at a friend's house who just had a Rainbow one put up. The brackets/anchors that are drilled into the beams and to which the swings attach are a very different design than any of the others I've seen. I think the overall hardware on the Rainbow just looks like a better, more durable design.