Summer Infant Sure and Secure Extra Tall Walk-Thru Gate Review

Well, first of all, I would like to say that I am using this to contain a puppy, not a child. I do not have any children, but the features I describe will probably help parents out (hopefully).

We wanted a baby gate to contain our puppy in the bathroom. My husband hates normal baby gates that would need to be removed and set aside to go in and out of the door. He always trips over them and they make a huge noise when they crash to the ground. I saw this Summer Infant Extra-Tall Walk Thru Gate and thought it would be perfect. 

It is made out of metal, with the tighteners plastic disks. It comes with three extenders to fit any size door. Well, my apartment has been recently constructed, so we have standard sized doors. It takes all three extenders to fit a standard door. So, if you are in an older house with narrower door frames, this will probably fit in. It uses pressure to wedge it in the door frame. You can secure it with the included hardware if you wish to make it permanent though.

So, the gate is always up and has a door to walk through. To open the door, slide the locking mechanism on the top, then lift up the gate slightly to open. You can't just slide the switch over and push it open. The gate opens both ways and automatically closes behind you. It doesn't slam shut. It has closed on the puppy as he tried to escape. It closes really softly. If you want to keep it open, just wedge a stuffed animal underneath the door. It works swimmingly.

Well, there are two downsides I can think of. First of all, keep an eye on it when it closes. If you didn't open it very far to go through, it may not close all the way and lock in. If you opened it really wide and let it go, it might swing right through and come to rest on the other side, still not locked in. It's just the momentum that carries it through. If something (or someone) was in the way, it would still be soft.

Also, the bar that goes across the bottom of it is about two inches high. If you don't watch, you can trip over it (ouch), and you have to re-situate the gate back in the door. It doesn't make the gate come out all the way or fall out in any way, it goes off kilter. Children just learning how to walk would have an issue with that bar.

This gate is tall. About five to six inches higher than a normal sized baby gate. The bars are pretty close together. An 8 lb. puppy couldn't escape. I think it's a pretty good baby gate. I give it an above average rating for the walk-thru feature. No tripping over gates that are set aside.