Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read many reviews of the various Zinus bed frames and like most people I was impressed with the wide acclaim but at the same time I was still cautious, wondering what I'd get. Well after receiving it today and putting it together I can say it is indeed an impressive value. It's solid and well made, better made than what you might consider a similar Ikea frame. All of the holes line up, and it is designed in a way to minimize any rubbing of metal that could occur and produce squeak. There is even a strip of rubber material on the center support beam so that if you have a wood slat that is slightly bowed it will not make noise when contacting the beam from your movement. The wood slats are held at perfect spacing as the fabric strap that connects the slats has a strip a velcro on the underside which attaches to velcro on the frame. A smart solution. All of the points of attachment seem to be engineered to be as strong and minimal as possible. The side supports are one long piece- I believe on the upholstered wood frames the sides are split into two. The footer/end piece (the legs and horizontal bar) is one welded piece. The the headboard attaches to the vertical support/legs on each side. Given that the sides are on piece, the box was the length of a queen bed, and about 7 inches thick, and about 18 inches wide. I specifically chose a Zinus with a metal frame and FLAT wood supports. Why? Well compared to the upholstered wood frames these metal framed versions are much lighter weight for the same strength (it takes much more wood to get the equivalent strength of steel). Look for yourself- this frame is 70 lbs, whereas the upholstered wood frames are anywhere from 30-50 lbs heavier. It was a breeze handing the parts of this one while assembling. Now, on to the slats- there are versions of the metal frame that have metal supports instead of wood slats. This will be solid of course and seems good, but with all those metal-on-metal connections there is a higher likelihood you'll eventually get some squeak noises, and indeed this was mentioned by a reviewer of one of the metal+metal frames. There are also some other versions of the metal frame that have CURVED wood slats. Those should also be avoided in my opinion. I guess the purpose is to provide a bit a of spring to your bed, not sure, but having similar curved slats in an Ikea bed before they are terrible, all you get is the sound of the slats hitting the center metal support beam every time you roll over and/or the squeak of the slats rubbing against the frame sides. This is especially true if you have a lighter weight mattress that doesn't help to pre-compress the curved wood much. A heavier mattress mitigates that issue somewhat, but still better to avoid the possibility altogether. The best shot at a noise free, solid (yet not needlessly heavy) frame are these metal + flat wood slat frames, I suggest sticking to one of these variants. There are a few new ones in the Zinus line like this one, but with wood plank headboard and another with upholstered leather or fabric. I like this one a lot. The fabric looks nice, and there's a good squishy 1.5 inches thick foam behind it. Makes it seem higher quality than if the fabric was just stapled to a board. If you are on the fence, I say go for it. It is highly unlikely you'll find anything else like this for the price. Again, my vote is for metal frame versions with flat woods slats.