Have been wanting a rain barrel for a while now and liked the fact that this one has an overflow mechanism, so if the barrel is full, the water will be diverted and go down the rain spout instead. Also liked the fact that I can "beautify" it by planting some plants on top. It is plastic (some recycled material), so I hope it will withstand our cold winters - we shall see. Will have to be "winterized", of course . Only gave it four stars because of that and because my husband would have liked a longer connection hose. But overall, happy with the purchase and it was easy to install.