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.

Five stars except for just a couple of notable problems with assembly instructions. We bought this last fall, assembled the barrels, then left it until just recently. A handy old man and his fairly handy old lady were only modestly challenged. The very large object is engineered to fit into a very compact box, so there are lots of sometimes awkward components. We had no trouble with damaging hardware during construction, as others have. The only real mistake I made was in the assembly of the center axle which cost me an hour or so of frustration. There IS a right and left, so if you can get one leg on but not the other, reverse one side of the axle, the leg will slide on like butter. I've made compost the hard way before, so I have a working knowledge of the process and the construction of a proper compost pile. This unit is not a compost "maker", it is a compost "bin". It won't turn random wet garbage into garden gold without the correct assembly of materials. I've watched countless videos of people chucking their kitchen waste and a few hunks of cardboard in a tumbler (not this one!) and end up with a small pile of maggot infested sewage. In order to ensure successful use of this unit (I haven't really seen any reviews that describe the actual use of the unit, so much as the aggravation of assembly), I read a lot about carbon:nitrogen ratios of ingredients, level of moisture, etc., and ended up finding some free online C:N ratio calculators, that list ratios of various compostables, and let you enter your materials, then showing you the C:N ratio of your mix. According to a calculator, and owning a horse, I started with 20 pounds of fresh, shredded horse manure, 20 pounds of shredded dry fall leaves, barely moistened, and 10 pounds of soybean meal. This filled one barrel. Gave it several, effortless spins. Within 12 hours, the mass has heated up to a respectable 125 degrees. It is well on its way to rapid, aerobic decomposition. We will soon fill the other barrel with the same mix, substituting shredded hay for the leaves. I believe the process will be pretty speedy. The advantages I see are eliminating rodents, excessive moisture (rain) or drying out. It eliminates the backbreaking work of turning a pile by hand. Odors are contained. Spinning a full barrel (50 lbs) takes no strength at all. It looks nice. I acknowledge reports that the hardware rusts but am encouraged by reports of excellent customer service, and am certainly not afraid to replace hardware with stainless steel. And of course, capacity is limited, in the case of someone who has limitless access to compostable materials. Each drum has the capacity to hold 50 pounds of the mix of materials that I am using. From what I understand, one barrel should yield about 15 pounds of finished compost. I think I will enjoy using this unit as I expect it to meet my hopes for an efficient and nicely contained compost factory.

This premium priced composter is well worth the price. It will last for decades. It's large enough for twigs, yard prunings, lots of weeds (which haven't gone to seed), and kitchen green waste. The color blends well with most yards unlike competitor's offerings. It's very well designed with insulated bins, easy tumbling without a questionable crank system and a very sturdy base even with a heavy load of wet compost. A couple of caveats: though one person can assemble it, it is much better with a helper. YouTube videos will help if you are unclear about some steps. A ratchet wrench and a socket wrench are very helpful. The two hinges are likely to rust shut, you should put (lawn mower lithium etc.) grease on the mechanism and consider repainting the hinge flanges with any exterior house paint before installation. (The MFR will replace the hinges free; just email a photo of the rusted part and a copy of the Amazon online invoice.)

Just assembled it. Composter looks like it wi ll 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!

As mentioned in other reviews, the construction can be difficult. I started out by myself and my son eventually showed up to help. The issue is getting the barrels together. Two people working together really helps and cuts the time down. I also used a rubber mallet to tap the plastic pieces together and make sure they locked. After the barrels, the rest was easy. About an hour for two of us total assembly time. As far as operation, we have been running it for a month in cold winter temps. I suspect the composting process will work much faster in the heat of the summer. Rotation and function are easier than the massive compost tumbler brand we previously had though the drum size is smaller. I do like having two drums working to stagger output, it is much better than one large drum. I will revisit this later next year after a period of warm weather and better composting temps. One thing I did was get a small bag of stainless steel screws to replace the factory ones. The factory ones are powder coated but I wager will still rust over time. The little plastic caps on the nyloc nuts all cracked and broke off. It seems like a good idea but ultimately failed. I doubt that will create any serious issues but if it does I will replace them with stainless as well. I am happy with the purchase.

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.

ENORMOUS! I probably don't need that much volume. They look nice, though...unobtrusive brown and tan is great for a garden utility item. Design, materials, and manufacturing quality appear very good, with well thought out details. Assembly took a couple hours over two days. Instructions are amazingly good. They are step-by-step, with illustrations for each step, every part is clearly identified. It's in English, French, and Spanish. I didn't read carefully enough and had to backtrack twice. Not a big deal, easily corrected both times. Tools needed are 11mm and 13mm combination wrenches (7/16 and 1/2 will work), Phillips driver (cordless drill/driver is very helpful), a second wrench of both sizes (socket wrenches help, or a Crescent will do fine), and a knife to open all the packaging. It suggests two people, and that would have helped to hold things for a couple steps, but I did it all myself with no problems. Access to add and remove contents is easy with lots of room to dump in buckets or full rakes loads. Doors open easily with two big, easy-to-grab latches. The hinges allow the doors to be removed completely, but have stoppers so they shouldn't fall off easily. Latches look like they should defeat a wide range of pesky critters that keep me from doing a simpler compost pile. Drums have a stopper pin that can hold it from rotating in several positions (door up, down, or on the sides). The dimensions in the product description are about right (65 x 31 x 43.3 inches, 86 pounds). Each drum is about 26 x 30 inches. UPDATE, 5 Jan 2020: All my compost worms died when temps dropped into the mid-20s in for a few days in late October. None in either the hot or resting drum survived, and both drums were about half full. Very disappointing. UPDATE, 11 Apr 2020: There are still worms! They showed up in the "active" drum in early March and are multiplying quickly. I moved some worms into the "resting" drum which still is still digesting some lumpy stuff, and added weeds, leaves, and grass for food, so hopefully they'll grow in there, too. Two lessons: they need new food (vegetation), and the drums need to be as full as possible during the cold months...more thermal mass, more heat-producing decay, more food, more burrowing spaces. (review for Lifetime 60309 Double Bin Rotating Composter)

When you finally get this together, its seems to be fine, but its a very complicated process and the instructions are OK but not great - it is quite difficult to put together - and you must follow very carefully the instructions - there are times when it is not at all clear what to do. Finally, this is very heavy - when you do finally get it together, it will take 2 people to move it to where you want to use it. We will see how this goes after a few months.

bought this in 2021, 4 years later, the hinges have rusted up a treat over the past winter. Note to self, grease hinges before winter... I contacted manufacturer in the US, to see if they could supply some replacements - they then sent out replacement hinges free of charge via Fedex, with no cost for shipping. After 4 years, I call that great customer service.

The long and involved instructions say this is a two man job. My advice don't do it with your better half unless you wish to become single once more. Seems to be doing the job it was designed for but time will tell. Once it is made ok but those damn instructions.

Expensive,but they do work really well.makes great compost really quickly. Yhey look good & work better.

Of average build quality. They work but the worst part is the height is not well thought through. You end up having to remove the compost vs the barrels being higher and pushing a wheel barrow under it.

Had the bin for appr of x 4 years and one if the hinges has broken which is a shame for the price.