We purchased the The First Years Hands-Free Gate for our home originally to keep our dogs contained to one area. I liked the idea of this gate because it was the only one that I found that was Hands Free with a walk thru feature. I'm short so stepping over gates is a not my idea of fun (and it can be painful too).
The First Years Hands-Free Gate has a foot pedal that when stepped on opens the gate and allows you to walk through. How cool and convenient is that??? Very! I would love to have a gate like this with a baby in the house. Too bad mine broke before the baby came around!
The gate itself will fit in standard doorways between 29 and 24 inches wide. If you purchase an extension kit you can place it in larger doorways of up to 44 inches wide. Its about 2 and a 1/2 foot high and attractive. The bars on the gate are vertical though they do have a bit of a cage-like appearance.
To mount/install the gate you don't need to use any additional hardware or drill any holes. The First Years Hands-Free Gate uses a pressure mounted system which is basically spring loaded that holds it securely. I found that the gate was pretty secure and didn't budge easily. Unlike the Kidco Gateway, which tipped over frequently this one did not.
This is not a gate that you would mount on a stairway for safety reasons. Because it has a pressure mount system it could be very hazardous. Also the doorway on the gate swings in both directions on hinges. If you want to guard off a stairway be sure to use a gate that was intended for such a purpose.
The The First Years Hands-Free Gate is mostly metal (aluminum painted white) and plastic (grey). The gate part itself is metal but the latches and the foot pedal, etc are the plastic pieces. A metal gate is much more sturdy than a plastic or a wooden gate. I liked the metal gate idea because we were using it to contain an over 80 pound dog.
The pedal is designed so that it takes a significant amount of pressure to open the gate. The intention is that it would be simple for an adult to step down on the pedal and walk through. But, babies or small children would not be able to do this. The First Years recommends this product be used in your home if you have children between the ages of 6 and 24mths. Unfortunatly, the pedal is not as sturdy as the gate itself. Because it requires a significant amount of pressure to open the gate you have to step down pretty hard on the pedal. But the pedal you are stepping on is made of plastic. Our pedal cracked and then broke after several months of use. Once it broke the gate was no longer usable. Not only was the cracked plastic a danger the gate had no mechanism for opening and closing it -- and I wasn't going to even attempt stepping over it.
Overall
Well, since it broke after not much use, I'm less than pleased with The First Years Hands-Free Gate . At first I thought that it was just us, but I visited another home and also my in-laws who had this gate (for their dogs as well) and both of these homes it had broken as well. The First Years needs to redesign this product as its definitely got some sturdiness issues.
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