At this price point for a bookcase, I really expected more. It is large and heavy. It uses a cam lock system to hold all of the pieces together once assembled, but frankly, the lock pins are very flimsy and easy to bend. Since it assembles as two pieces [top and bottom], it is easy to make the mistake of sitting the top down on a pin as you try to get it together. I had two of the pins bend beyond repair immediately...learning a lesson to not follow the instructions exactly.
The second issue I have with this cam lock system is that the tolerances were too large in the design. Several of the locks don't fit well with the pins. The end result is that the pieces do not hold together tightly. You will see in the picture that the top piece is big, bulky, and heavy. It takes two people to lift it into place. The real problem is that it is so flimsy and loose [even though the cams are locked] that it darn near falls apart every time you try to lift it. In order to fix this issue, I drilled a pilot hole strategically in the corner and installed a long thin wood screw. This works in fixing the problem and would have been a really nice design idea from the manufacturer.
The last design flaw in my opinion is that there is only an opening to the back in the top section. That means you cannot have anything powered/wired in the bottom section without drilling out additional holes once you get it in your home. There should have been an opening in both the top and the bottom sections to provide flexibility.
I like that there is plenty of wood in this, and it was well packaged with no damage in shipping. With a little better design, it could have been a five-star item...and at this price point, it really should be a five-star item.
Pics are of 1) the broken pin, 2) the bottom and top, and 3) the top showing the passthrough opening.
