When baby proofing your home, there are many important steps and details to consider before you start your job. One key factor is product selection. Each product you choose must be the right one to fit your home’s application. With stairway gates, there are so many variables that can make installation quite a task. Even with twenty years of experience, I still encounter stairways that require me to install a gate in a way that I’ve never done before. Home’s are not designed to be baby proofed so installations can be very tricky.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with most or all of the products on the market. Each product we install gets tested for safety, ease of use and durability. Cost may be a factor, but most of these items are within $10 to $30 apart, so the better quality safety product is always the best choice. Budgeting is great, but when it comes to safety, safety comes first.

This head to head review is on two gates that look almost identical to the eye, but are two very different gates.

Kidco Safeway Gate vs. Summer Sure & Secure Gate

Kidco Safeway Gate Model #G20

The Kidco Safeway gate was the first gate of it’s kind. When this gate was invented, it solved a lot of problems. It made quality installations possible on difficult stairways. It also was the first durable, white metal gate (also comes in black) with a decent height of 31″ tall. This gate was a breath of fresh air, because it allowed us to offer a gate to our clients that we could actually trust. The gates available prior to this gate were substandard, hard to use, unattractive and would often add a safety hazard because of this.

Pros:

• One hand operation
• Latch mechanism is dependable
• Attractive
• Removable
• Very safe
• Versitale

Cons:

• Medium degree of difficulty to install
• Price
• Finish can have rust from overseas shipping, the really need to fix this!

Summer Sure & Secure Gate model#07210

Summer has a full line of child safety products. This gate has been on the market for 6 years and is designed to look like the Kidco gate.

The Kidco gate has evolved to a level that surpasses all of the copies that are out there. This gate wins hands down because it installs in more places, is easier to use and the hardware quality is superior to the other gate. I’ve installed both gates many times. I’ve encountered installation and hardware problems with the Summer gate. So for the consumer I recommend to spend a couple of extra bucks on the better Kidco gate, you’ll be glad you did.