I have gotten nothing but compliments on these rain barrels! I bought 3 of them for a new construction building in Los Angeles where by LA code I had to have 225 gallon total water storage so at 80 gallon each they did the job.They are the only quality, great looking, large capacity barrels that are super affordable I could find .As far as the trough on top that does not have drainage ,I custom built small plant cages out of leftover stucco lath to house my succulent bouquets, so when it rains (rarely) I can simply pull them out to keep them from getting water logged. They are durable,easy to put together as well as connect to one another. I highly recommend!