A few problems, but otherwise good.

Two problems right away with the item that was delivered. 1. The packaging during shipment leaves a LOT to be desired. Although shipped inside an Amazon box, since there was no padding a piece of plastic meant to hold one of the clips for the top of the filter was busted through the filter box and broken off. 2. The item I received was clearly a returned item and was missing pieces. If it wasn't a time-sensitive need to get this setup I would have returned it for a replacement. Aside from those initial snags... The setup of this filter is really straight-forward. The included media is wholly contained, so there's no extra time needed to unpackage each media item, rinse and install like other canister filters. Just rinse and set into the can. The attachment of the lid is really simple. Even with the broken plastic piece when the item arrived, the way the clips are designed means I am still able to secure the lid confidently. I was initially concerned by the amount of hose included since other reviews had complained about that as well, but it proved to be more than enough and I even have left-over. That being said, my setup is a little unique as the tank is only 9" tall, and the canister filter is stored just two feet below that. I also have an inline heater which adds significant length to the return. What I really like about this filter is how easy it is to customize it. My tank is 36" x 9" x 8", so the spray bar that comes with is way too long to mount on the side of the tank. Since the pipe isn't brittle, it's really easy to shorten using a Dremel. I also drilled additional holes in the spray bar to make sure shortening the bar didn't unnecessarily increase the force of the spray. Secondarily, the intake pipe is too long too for the height of my tank, so I shortened that as needed with the Dremel. Coming from being spoiled by self-priming canister filters I did have a brief WTF moment when turning this on. But it's a super-simple process to create a vacuum through the intake tube by sucking on the end until it fills with water, close the end, reattach to the filter, then open back up and turn the filter on. Good to go. As far as noise... I *think* it's whisper quiet... I can't hear it over the noise of my Whisper brand air pumps. lol So far I'm pretty satisfied. The shipping issue definitely needs to be addressed, and quality control on screening return items before reshipping them will go a long way to prevent more people from unnecessarily re-returning those items or leaving bad reviews.

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