Side by Side Comparison of: Step2 vs TOYMONSTER LIMITED

My two year old daughter loves this slide. We have it on the grass in our backyard now, but originally purchased it to use with an inflatable pool ball pit. It was perfect and loved by all the kids at her second birthday party.

Item came quickly and as described. I was hesitant in getting this but many reviewers did note that it's not as flemsy as it looks. My one deicding factor was that someone had mentioned they could put sand in the footers to keep it stabled if they just didn't feel it was stable enough. Putting it together took me maybe 15 minutes (and only because I had put the black strap underneath the wrong way at first). I unfortunatly don't have much level ground so after I found a spot in the yard that wasn't as sloped I put it there... tested it by steping up on the steps and rocking it. Reviewers were right.... it does rock a little with me but that's with my strength.... when my 2 year old granddaughter walks up it... it doesn't rock at all and that's without sand put in the footers. It's sturdier then what it looks like.Another plus was the distance of the slide itself. It wasn't as tall as I thought it was going to be (which is fine for me... keeps me from panicking when she's climbing up) but long enough to actually feel like you are sliding. Love the idea of being able to easily fold it and store in garage. Both she and I love it!

We wanted to give my daughter something for her to be active with since she scales the house furniture. This is hands down perfect. My tot is a bit taller for her age and I didn't want to spend money on something that was going to be outgrown shortly. This will last her years. My 12yo and 10 yo (albeit big) were still able to get some slide action - so I know it will last us, which was one of my req's. It's a solid stable slide. No tilting or rocking. I read reviews about kids tripping on the stability legs: my tot did that twice, but only because she was so excited and in a hurry to get back around. It wasn't a hard enough fall to hurt her though. All i did was show her how to go around those and she does. They really aren't that bad. If you're worried about a clumsy kid tripping, just make sure it's soft ground around the legs (like grass or foam padding, free of rock or debris). The bump in slide is in the right spot for toddler stability - toward the top of the slide (instead of middle or end). We use a bean bag at the end of slide when on a hard surface and will place up against our kiddie pool this summer. I'm extremely satisfied with this slide.

I purchased this for my 22 month old son, and he consistently plays with it for an hour or so each day. It's high enough to keep him entertained day after day, and he's always finding new ways to play with it.Facts:The seat at the top of the slide is 33.5" above the ground.The sides around the seat are 8.5" high.The footprint of the slide is 38.5" wide by 63" long.Installation requires that you install the black support (2 nuts and 2 bolts), and the feet (2 screws).Installation:Installation was pretty straightforward. It's slightly challenging to get the bolt through the plastic holes since it doesn't line up exactly right, and the holes have some left over plastic in them. My suggestion is to flip the bolt over to the other side if you're having trouble, and it should go right in. The feet just slide on and are then secured with a long screw. It's easier if you have a drill to handle this part, but not necessary.Experience:My son loves it. We use it indoors and we bought it in order to help all us of survive being indoors for the majority of the winter. With the slide he can be active while indoors, and he's always finding new ways to play with it. We currently have it set up where the steps are set up against the couch, and there is a big dog bed at the bottom of the slide. The sides feel sufficiently high enough where I'm not concerned that he'll ever fall off one side or the other, my only concern is that he will fall backwards (which is where the couch comes into play). The exit of the slide is elevated so he can put his feet down and stand up when he reaches the bottom.He plays other games with it such as rolling balls/toys down it while I sit at the bottom rolling them back up to him.It stores easily, and I feel comfortable leaving it out on the balcony in the elements.The only downside is that it has some sharp edges where it looks like the plastic is molded together. I used a dremel to smooth them down.

Just got this slide on 2/25/2012 from Amazon. Was a bit disappointed because it wasn't shipped Prime 2-day, so I/we had to wait a few more days...Although, it was worth the wait, since my 2 year old loves it and it's the perfect size (About 4 feet in the air). Not too big but not too small. It could be a bit dangerous if the child stands up on top, so parental supervision is required 100% on this item but it is great in the winter for a little exercise of running around and climbing of the steps. Not sure why but STEP 2 decided to make it the parents responsibility to assemble the little latch on the slide seen in the photo. This is kind of a 10-minute pain but not overly troublesome. This is perfect becuase instead of spending $900 on the entire playground I have individual playground equipment sections that can be carried indoors in the winter at a much cheaper price.-Ed

My brother has had this Little Tikes EasyStore Large Slide for quite a few years now, with his 3 daughters using it all summer long. It has held up very well and all his girls still love it. (Ages are 7, 4, and 2.) In the summer months, they will put the end of the slide in a little pool for some water fun. The slide is very stable and large enough for even their very tall 7 year old.While I really liked this slide, I had been comparing it to the Step2 Naturally Playful Folding Slide and trying to see which was better based on reviews. Very difficult as they are very much the same.I ended up ordering the Step2 version and I'm very happy with it. There are a few differences that I have noticed.Little Tikes stability wings at the bottom of the stairs is somewhat flat, but enough for little ones to trip when not paying attention racing to the stairs. The Step2 version has angled wings that have to be put together with the staircase with a couple of screws - it says to screw them in with a screwdriver, but I was unable to do this. The wings slide on and stay there unless you lift up the slide to move it, but I'll leave putting the screws in to my mechanically inclined husband so I don't wreck it.Little Tikes steps seemed to give a little more than my Step2 slide. This may be due to the fact that my brother's Little Tikes version is a few years old and my Step2 is brand new, I'm not sure.Little Tikes top of the stairs handle is a little shorter than the Step2 version, but not a big deal.Little Tikes slide has a slight curve/bump in the slide halfway down, while the Step2 version has the curve/bump right at the beginning.Little Tikes end of the slide has a slight lift, but my nieces and daughter would still fall forward on a fast slide down. The Step2 version has a lot more lift and my 2.5 year old daughter really appreciates it and doesn't fall forward nearly as much.The Little Tikes dark brown and burgundy is nice as is the Step2's medium brown and grass green. I think I like the brown and green better, but that's just my opinion.The Little Tikes version seems to be a little lighter in weight than the Step2 Naturally Playful one. I had a harder time lugging the Step2 around than I did the Little Tikes.They both fold easily and can store on the wall in the garage when not in use which is awesome. Being able to store it somewhere out of the way will definitely keep the slide in great condition for years!Overall, both great slides and lots of fun. The slide length for both is about 58 inches long. They both stand about 40 inches high (top of handrail to the ground).**** 2014 update ****We still love this slide! I've been TERRIBLE about putting it away, despite the fact that it can be folded and stored easily, so it's been outside 24/7, all year long since we got it. It's still in excellent condition. It hasn't faded, even with our southern facing, hotter than heck in the summertime yard it sits in. It hasn't cracked, even with the pretty cold winters with snow and ice. Very pleased with such a high quality product. My now 6.5 year old still likes it every now and then, but she does prefer taller, twistier, longer slides at parks/playgrounds over this one now and it isn't getting used much at the moment. Our 1 year old enjoys it a lot with our help, though it is still much too big for her to be playing on solo.

Very easy to put together! For being plastic, this jungle gym is sturdy! We have it in the living room and the kids love it. I put a sheet over it and it became an instant fort!!!! I am very glad we have this.

i got this for my 4yr olf grdgirls bday and she freaked : ) she's a climber so exactly what she needed..its much bigger than i thought it would be so pleasantly surprised.

When I found this on Amazon I was so excited! This would go in the playroom and would guarantee naps for my two toddlers now 2 and 3. However, when I set it up, it was a totall fail. The eldest would only climb on it if we prompted him to. My husband called it a "dud" along with the ball pit I also purchased.So then I decided to try a bouncy house. To make room for the bouncy house I slid the ball pit underneath the monkey bars. OMG it was like Christmas!!! Instantly both kids were all over it!!! They absolutely love the combination.If you are serious about investing in a nap toy go for this and put a ball pit underneath. Use the jumbo balls for good cushioning as the kids do their acrobatics.I will edit this with the link to the ball pit supplies I also purchase in Amazon.

Fun product. Assembled alone in under an hour. Easy to assemble as long as you follow the directions. Comes with a tool to help you depress the the little nobs that secure the tubes... Though I didn't realize that til I was done ,so I just used a toy shovel. But my toddler was on there a second after it was built. He loves it. I do wish it came with some anchors though. That's the only down side.

Definitely took about an hour to put together. But with patience can be accomplished. I certainly would not want to take this apart and put together over and over. I use it indoors for my child and he loves it. He is a little young so right now uses it mainly as a fort but will climb up to the first bar. He does this best with shoes on as the surface is slick like pvc pipe. But I know as he grows he will love this more and more.

My kids are actually a bit too young to really climb up this thing yet, but they still love it. I bought a super spinner swing and attached it to the top bars of this thing and let it hang down into the middle area. Wow, was that a winner! I also stuck a board across the top so we could let the kids stand up and inside the square area on top and feel very high (supervised, of course) - also a winner (and the extra length of rope from the super swing wrapped nicely around the board to stabilize it and hold it down).The set up was very easy to understand, but to snap the pieces in place was painful (literally). It takes a lot of force with your finger on a small button thing to push it in and snap a long bar into place, and after only 2 or 3 my hands were killing me. Plus if you push a little too hard or sometimes even if you don't the button thing gets stuck entirely inside the casing and it doesn't work - you have to undo what you've just done and fish the thing out with a screwdriver or something. Hard to explain - but I'll just say that I ended up with 2 other people helping me and we were all using screwdrivers or scissors or other hard things to try to push in the buttons instead of our fingers and a little blood was drawn at one point when a piece of skin got caught. In the end, though, this thing is very stable and won't be falling apart anytime soon. In fact, when we move I think we'll sell it and buy another one instead of attempting to ever take this thing apart again!

We set this up in our basement and it's the perfect size for kids aged 18 months-7. That is a large range of ages but it's true! We have all kinds of kids in our basement have a blast on this thing. We set up a huge bean bag at the bottom and they love landing on it. The reason I rated it 4 stars is that I think it's a little over priced. I think it should be about $75. I know they would still make a boatload of money off of it at that price.

This slide was very easy to put together and it is light enough for me to move around on my own (I am a grandmother). The only issue I have is that my 3 year old grandson is really almost too old for it as it is not very high. It is perfect for my 1 year old grandaughter (with assistance from an adult) and I think it will be awesome for the 3 year old in the kiddy pool this summer when the 1 year old is not there.

This is a great slide for the price the only thing was when I went to put it together the bolts that they give you don't match up to the holes that are drilled into the hard plastic. I had to go to the hardware store and get a longer bolt just so that I could put this together for my granddaughter's 2nd Birthday Party. Other than that it seems great.

Two years later, and we still have (& play with) this slide! We use it both indoor & out. It was a good buy for us. My 4 yr old is now mostly just interested in letting small cars roll down it, but my 2 yr old still loves going down the slide. I would say this is mostly for the 2-4 year range. Any younger and they can easily fall backwards if no one is there to help with every climb, and older than 4 they might quickly lose interest. Great slide though!

This slid is great! I have a 2.5 year old that loves to slide on this from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. It is a great height and is very easy to fold up if needed. It is the perfect slide for a growing toddler, it gives them enough height and speed and there is a good sized lip on the end so they can land on their feet unlike some of the other slides available. I would highly recommend this slide to anyone and it was very worth the cost.The shipping of this product was extremely frustrating, it go lost in transit and then once a replacement came the original showed up in shambles. This box is not small by any means and having to lug it back to UPS was frustrating. I really wish Amazon would give you a choice of which carrier you want to ship with.

My 18 month old son loves this slide! It was very easy to put together, and doesn't have any sharp points or places where he can get hurt. I read several reviews on different slides, and most have a very steep slide which was a common complaint. This one is at a great angle for him and it is close enough to the ground for him to learn to land without getting hurt. The only things I do NOT like is the angle of the stairs, it is hard for him to climb because it is steep and difficult to hang on. The second thing is at the top there isn't much room for him to put his feet through to sit on his bottom...a transition from stairs to slide. But with that said, I would still recommend this slide to friends.

The top portion is SUPER flimsy and scary so I removed it. Some of the black metal pieces inside the tubes to snap them together were not bent correctly so they slid out and were loose. I was able to use 2 from the stack that I removed to replace the bars with loosened pieces. Over all its pretty cool for little kids. I have 3 little ones who play on it and the oldest out of them is 7 and she is probably maxing it out with the 5 and 3 year old on it together.

I am giving this product a 4 star review only because the assembly was horrible. I made a mistake and had to remove a bunch of tubes. Other than that my 2.5 and 4.5 yr olds LOVE this toy. They have not gotten off of it since I put it together.

My husband and I were able to put this climber together in just over an hour. There are a lot of pieces and some pieces are VERY similar to others making it easy to get confused if you don't thoroughly read the instructions. If you take the time to read through and notice the clearly marked pieces, you will not have much trouble. The climber seems sturdy and will be so much fun once our grandkids get to actually use it (they haven't been over to see the surprise yet).Our only complaint (reason behind 4 stars instead of 5) is the tool sent along with the kit for unconnecting tubes that were put together improperly. The tool works, when it wants to and is very tough to understand. Instructions on how to use the tool would have been helpful because even those of us who were very thorough about reading through the instructions and making sure all of the pieces were included make mistakes and getting the bars apart once they are joined together is NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.Thank you Toymonster for a great product, it will provide many years of fun for us!

This is a nice, sturdy, solid climber for little ones. Assembly was very clearly laid out in the instructions, and if you separate and lay out all the pieces beforehand, you should have no trouble. My only concern was with the spring connectors. Since the integrity of the structure depends on the strength of the connections, I was a bit concerned when I had issues with several - at least a dozen - popping down into the tubes when I was snapping them together. A needle-nosed pliers was needed to pop them back into place. Overall, I am very happy with the quality of this climber and recommend it.

We got this for my son's 4th birthday and used it at his party. It was absolutely the star of the party. We had six kids on it at once, but it is very sturdy and the kids couldn't get enough of it. It is high enough so that the kids enjoy climbing it, but low enough so that they won't hurt themselves if they fall. My only complaint is that it is a bit hard to assemble - really hurts your fingers and requires some muscle. We ended up renting a van so that we wouldn't have to disassemble it when we take it home. But once you put it together it is great!

Pretty easy to put together...some of the pins were a little harder to push in than others so I had my husband put those ones together but other than that I put this together myself pretty quickly.We got it at the end of the summer so it hasn't been used too much...I don't think my son really knows what to do with it yet. He was expecting traditional monkey bars that he could climb across and this is too short for that. He hasn't realized yet that he can climb on the outside, jump off, etc. It's only a matter of time though. So far, I'm happy with it, just hope it gets more use next summer. My only slight disappointment was the height, I thought it would be taller but that's not really a fault of the product.

We bought this for my two year old about a year ago. It is a great sized free standing slide and it has been easy for my son to climb up since he was 18 months old. We do have it outside and while it still looks decent and is easy to clean, it holds water on the interior. In the summer, it smells faintly of mold and mildew, which is a little gross. It rains a lot where we live, but it was under the canopy of a lot of trees so I was surprised to notice it was holding on to water. As my son has been older, this slide isn't big enough to hold his attention, so I would not recommend it for a child older than two, unless you have limited park and playground access!

The platform on the top of this slide is very narrow, and I'm always scared our 2 year old (almost 3 now) is going to fall. We got this for his 2nd birthday, and he rarely uses it, because he is scared he will fall too. He has fallen off of it twice, but just got a bump on his head-- nothing too bad. I gave it 3 stars, because he is a cautious child so others may not have the same problem. I would just make sure to put it in an open, carpeted area or outside in an open, grassy area or area with lots of mulch.

Pros:- very study and durable,- easy to install,- very high for the price and compared to other slidesCons:- The surface isn't smooth enough, it slows the movement.- It is very narrow on the top: my 19-month old son hardly fits in and he doesn't have enough place to comfortably sit down.- Rails are so thick that small kids can't grab them.

The slide itself works just fine. There is literally only one step (repeated on each side) to set up the slide. This step entails screwing the triangular fixtures on the base of the ladder. Neither of my triangles had predrilled holes which was somewhat of a nuisance to fix. I don't want to pay almost [...] for an imperfect unit.EDIT (5/15/10): After waiting on the phone for about 20 minutes, I spoke with a customer service representative that told me that as of 2/10, they stopped pre-drilling holes due to the liability created when/if a child eats the shavings produced by the drill. I ended up taking a nail with a diameter less than the provided screws and tapped it through the thin layer of plastic to create holes. The screws then went on without a problem. Neither I nor the customer service representative could figure out why this wouldn't be pointed out in the manual. Hopefully they will change it soon.

Great size for little ones, but only two to three could really hang on it at the same time without banging into each other.

We would have given 5 stars, but one of the joiners is defective and it's therefore unsafe. We are hoping that we can get the replacement part JC3 because it seems like our son will enjoy it!

Not EASY to put together! Plan for it to take at least a few hours and you better have some tools to push in the metal pieces to clock the tubes together. The plastic tube a are thin, I doubt it will hold up for a year outdoors.

Assembly was a pain, literally. I recommend using a stubby flathead screwdriver's blade to push down the little nubbins so as to avoid tearing up one's finger pads. The springs underlying those nubbins also had an annoying tendency to slip, such that only one of two nubbins was protruding through its proper hole. One other assembly note is that the 5-arm hub pieces have separate left- and right-oriented versions, and keeping track of this is important. All of the other hub pieces are symmetric.Once assembled after an hour or so my 3 year old loves climbing on it. The star deduction was just because assembly was more of a pain than I thought was warranted.

SUPER HARD to set up. The snaps stick and my husband literally had to get tools out to make it work. It's sturdy and fun for sure but be prepared for a two+ hour set up.

Top part is very wobbly and not as secure as it should be. Easy to put together but only good for smaller kids. It looks cool at least.

The box is broken when we get it. And the slide has some scratch on it. They did not wrap it with plastic bag or something else to protect it.

Just now my daughter fell on her back from the top of the slide. Thank God she's fine but it was a terrifying incident for us. She's just turned two and a champ at climbing but this slide has two major issues :1- At the ladder portion, the sides are too wide for her hands to grab hold onto when climbing up. Even when she reaches the top, there's no good niches to grab hold of.2 - The top portion is narrow and it's hard for her to swing her other leg over once she sits down. She's about 45% percentile in weight and height.Other than that, it is built solidly and it's easy to fold away once we don't use it. But I would suggest to put foam all around the slide or place this indoors on a carpeted area.

I had ordered this as a gift to give my kids but did not open until a later date. Once we did it was broken - pieces would only allow us to build the smaller portion and cannot build the top part. Due to shopping early - my return window expired and I am stuck with a broken item. Not too happy with that. The rest seems okay but disappointed that something arrived broken.

Love the end result but it was not "eazy pezzy" to put together!! It took me 3 1/2 hours to put it together the knobs that just "click" together don't just snap u really have to put force into it on each and every tube! And don't connect the wrong one because to take apart is unbelievably hard !! You told me to give you does not work !

The biggest pain in the butt to assemble!!! Your fingers will be killing you by the time you get finished. Cheap plastic crap. Don't waste your time or money.

An extra J-5 Joiner came instead of a J-6, now the climber is incomplete. Is a good product but needs better packaging quality reviews.

This is a difficult structure to set up! Unless you are ready to pinch your skin, and bruise your hands, I don't recommend it! I cant say if it is a good Jungle gym, because I am not even done setting it up yet...I can only do a bit every day.

Kinda loose. Wish it was a little more sturdy. If they could fix that part it would be a 5 star. My daughter had a hard time with that part and she is a gymnast.

Our 22 month old daughter was so excited when she saw the UPS delivery man leaving her package by the door. We had to open it right away and put it together, which only took a couple of minutes. She has been sliding on since I stood it up... that was about 20 minutes ago. The sound in our home right now is... WEEEEE, WEEEEE, WEEEE!!! It is THE BEST item we have ever purchased!! Highly recommended product!After dinner, our daughter ran over to the slide and climbed up it without her helmet on. It all happened so fast, right as I was about to tell my husband to get her, she fell backwards, onto her head. Our daughter was temporarily paralyzed, THANK GOD it was only temporary. It took 10 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and another 10 to 15 to get her into the truck. She finally began saying words and lifting her arms about 30 - 45 minutes after the fall. We spent 8 terrifying hours from the moment of the accident until the 3 doctors cleared her.The is a love hate item. Our daughter absolutely loves it, and was ready to play on it again the next day. I absolutely hate it after our incident. There isn't a handle for little hands to grab onto when climbing up and sitting at the top! POOR DESIGN FLAW and I will make sure that Step2 is HIGHLY AWARE OF THIS!

Only buy this if you plan on NEVER taking it apart. I'm having the worst time trying to get it apart.

This product was extremely hard to put together. It seems easy enough but if you make a mistake, there is no way to fix the mistake properly.

I ordered this after seeing all the positive reviews and I really regret it. I am an engineer and very technical and I have to say the instructions are very clear and to the point.I am giving it 1 star because you cannot dissemble it once the product is assembled. They provide a tool which allegedly can only be used twice to disassemble it, let alone trying to dissamble the whole thing, I could'nt even remove a single pipe with this flimsy tool. . My fingers are all swollen trying to remove just a single pipe.

I never knew this didn't come with anchors so the apparatus doesn't tip over!!! Worst purchase ever to assemble too!

Don't buy, people. It boldly claims 'easy peezy' set-up and it is NOT. It is painful and downright impossible, hence unsafe for child. There are black springs in each joiner that pop out and impossible to re-install. Sometimes those springs get jammed and don't poke through the holes on the poles which make connection UNSAFE AND UNSTABLE. I can't go through the hassle of returning and my only recourse is just write a bad review. And I NEVER write reviews! So this should tell you I really hated this thing. Cursed all the way through. Buy something else!!

The bars are OK. The assembly was just horrendous as the buttons that needed to be pushed were very hard to depress and insert into tube holes. The buttons also don't insert into the tube holes. A couple buttons fell out. Our fingers were swollen and hurting. It should come with a floor/ground securing assembly -- which it did not.