Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[07/12/2013] Received this chair yesterday. No shears or broken issues caused by shipping or shipping provider (FedEx) as others have stated. However, it should be noted that instructions were not included in the box. A call to Highwood's customer service number (found on bottom of their web site) yielded an e-mail with instructions. After an hour, chair was together. As previous reviewers have noted, having a flat head screwdriver to ease the plastic pieces into the holes does make things a little easier. The chair itself is not too heavy, which is a concern I noted from reading other reviews. I agonized a lot over whether to buy this chair as there seem to be 3 different players when it comes to non-wood material Adirondack chairs: Highwood, Trex, and Polywood. The factors that were important to me were: - Size - Reclinability - Foldability - Durability - Warranty The weight of the chair was not important to me. Now it should be noted that I already have some Trex furniture, namely their rocking chairs and their porch swing. I have had it on my deck for over a year now and it has held up nicely. It's not the most comfortable, but it is super durable and was easy to put together. On the size factor, if you look at the sizes between the chairs, you'll find the dimensions are fairly similar: Highwood King Sized: 36"W x 33.2"H x 40" D -- 45 lbs Highwood Adult: 37"D x 29"W x 36" H -- 33 lbs Polywood: 37-1/4-inch D by 37-1/4-inch W by 28-1/2-inch -- Super light 13 lbs Trex: 33D x 29W x 35.2H inches -- 37 lbs The Highwood is the only chair that offers the "King Sized" variation (as well as a Child one). Many of the reviews of the Highwood Adult (normal) size mentioned it was a little small for some of their over six foot tall guests. As most of my family is over 6 feet, this went to the top of the list. While all of these chairs seem to fold, not all of them recline. In fact, the ability to recline under the shade on a hot Summer day with a cold lemonade was top of my list (not that I ever have time to take a nap, but that's another matter). After putting together the Highwood, I have noticed that the reclining isn't that much of a bonus feature. There are really 3 settings of the 4 that are of value. The middle notch is pretty standard, the 3rd one is a little more relaxing, and then there's just opening it up flat out and making it more like a bed. In terms of durability, the Highwood material definitely feels different than the Trex. I know this because I assembled both in my garage. The Trex material, when you move it along the floor of the garage, doesn't make that plastic-like noise. In fact, the Trex just has a *thud* noise. I was pretty surprised to see that the Trex is actually lighter material than the Highwood because my rocking chairs are beasts to move. The warranty on the Highwood is a little longer (12 years vs 5 years for the Trex), which was also important to me as I love my family, but I've witnessed two of them break previous Adirondack chairs before. I felt bad for a second when I wasn't laughing. The prices on these chairs all seem to be about the same. The Polywood is of course much less and comes in different colors. I have not purchased one, but at 1/3 to nearly 1/4th of the weight of the Highwood, I can't imagine that the material is that strong. Will update later with my findings on comfort and durability over time...