I bought this because I have a large yard that the cheaper brands were not handling well, based on all the high ratings, and largely to see if it was really as hard to put together as a lot of reviews said. I have to say I had it put together in under an hour, and my seven year old son was helping me. I will agree the instructions aren't the greatest, but just thinking about what a spreader should look like and looking at their diagrams, I felt it wasn't anything to detract from a high rating.  I'll admit I didn't read any of it. I just looked at the drawings to get the bolt length and to see what holes to use. Maybe the written instructions are tripping people up.