Outsunny Aluminum Patio Pergola with Retractable Pergola Canopy, Backyard Shade Shelter for Porch, Outdoor Party, Garden, Grill Gazebo

(Purchased and assembled early April in WI)I want to preface my review by stating I assembled this completely solo, and not the 3 person minimum as stated on the product, so take what you will out of this review. I consider myself to be "relatively handy" at DIY, but I am not a professional.1. The product arrived in a giant, heavy box but all the pieces were accounted for and nothing was broken, damaged, etc. One of my "S" bars (the top beam pieces of the pergola) was a bit scuffed. That was it.2. The instructions straight up suck. The whole assembly is only about 8 steps when it should have been about 20 or more. They try and jam 3-4 steps into 1 step and only provide photos. There are no written instructions, and the photos are not always obvious on what it's trying to show. This resulted in a lot of disassembly and re-assembly on my part to correct my errors. You need to look at every little detail in those photos to make sure your screw holes are facing the correct way, which is represented with a very tiny dot on the images.3. I assembled as much as I could indoors on carpet/linoleum flooring as it was raining outside at the time. All beams, legs, etc were done indoors until the weather cleared up.4. Once the weather cleared up, I assembled what I would consider the worst part (considering I was alone) which was attaching the legs together with the beams to get it standing. The process itself isn't terrible, but it was extremely difficult alone.5. Once the legs are standing on their own, the rest of the assembly is pretty simple and self explanatory.6. Attaching the canopy rail isn't terrible, but again, a pain solo. The canopy material is that of umbrella type material. Mine did not tear during assembly and appeared strong.The hands down most frustrating part of this assembly was trying to do everything alone, and that's no fault of the product. The unclear photo instructions is their fault, though.In the end, the pergola is very stable and looks very nice. My backyard neighbors commented immediately after I finished to say it looked really good. I'm sure they enjoyed watching me struggle.I absolutely recommend using a quality screwdriver and not the junk provided with this. Seeing the photos of the "bending" legs tells me that they did not tighten the screws properly. I used a ratchet screwdriver, and fully tightening the screws corrects this easily.I also did not have any issues of the beams or pieces "bending like tin cans" as another reviewer described. All pieces felt tough and sturdy, good metal material, and I dropped pieces several times onto a cement patio with no scuffing or bending.None of my screws stripped during assembly. I had no issues with holes not aligning. I again point this to user/assembler error. If they don't line up, you did something wrong.In the end, this pergola really makes my backyard look more appealing and inviting, and I look forward to being able to enjoy the summer under it.

Nice looking & fairly easy to assemble.Wish the canopy had markings where you have to put the hoops thru and where you have to make a cut to put the "N"hoop thru but not too bad: Fold the canopy into half, unscrew the hoops from the "D" beam, put them thru canopy, & screw the hoops back on the "D" beam.I have completed the assembly with base facing the sky, if you do this way, make sure you have 3 or 4 people at the end to flip it to standing position, the poles are hollow and thin, it can easily bend!!!The poles are hollow and very very light, i was worried for stability so i filled them with small pebbles i gathered from my yard : ). Now they feel sturdy!

Easy to install

I was really excited about this pergola, but unfortunately it is really shaky after assembling, and all of my top cross-pieces were wrongly manufactured, with the screw holes not lining up with the screw positions. that results in the center piece having to pull in the long bar that connects the corner pillars, making it super arched and sure to break/crumble down soon. Additionally, it makes it impossible to screw the pieces to the main structure (see how far from the bar the screws are in the picture. Last, but not least, it makes me have to use zipties to keep the cannopy up. It is just completely unusable, and returning is expensive and cumbersome, as it is a 90 lbs package. Really disappointed and a waste of a really big amount of money.

I think 3 stars is fair. It is well engineered. Everything fits as it is supposed to...and it looks great. However, it is very lightweight. You can't lean on a post without shaking the entire thing. Also the anchoring system works but is very minimal. I will have to come up with a better solution by the time we get the Santana winds or watch it sail away...even with the top cloth folded back. But right now...with the high heat and very little wind, it is very nice. The only damage I saw were tiny pinholes on the top folds. I suspect someone was smoking while sewing the fabric and some sparks melted the material. Fortunately they are tiny and not visible from underneath. If it lasts more than one summer I will have gotten my $350 out of it and will look for one much stronger to replace it. For me the size is perfect, so I will know what to replace it with later.UPDATE: I went back and a took a look at some of the alternative brands I considered. There is one that is almost identical to this one but a bit more expensive. Now that I am more familiar with this one I can see the differences and would probably purchase the other one. This is too big a project to bother tearing this one down and sending it back, but I pass this along to prospective buyers. Not sure I can say the brand name here, but it includes the color purple. Here are some of the differences: The other one provides an extra top cover to shield the top when folded back. The end loops for each sliding top rods are made of the top material instead of being just elactic loops that will probably lose elasticity later. The top has a magnet to hold it in place when opened. The ends of the top rails extend all the way to the slanted ends instead of having plastic inserts. And the big one is the way the posts are anchored to the ground. Mine fits over a raised square and attaches with only one small bolt thru the post, and two small screws into the ground. Even if I drill 2 more holes to the ground it will still only have the one bolt connecting them. The purple uses a flat ground plate with 4 holes and uses 4 bolts to connect the posts to the plate...much sturdier design.Hope this is useful info. Both pergolas are available thru amazon.