Badger Basket Covered Convertible Cedar Sandbox With Two Bench Seats
Whoa, what a long name! I got the Badger Basket (<–Brand) Covered Convertible Cedar Sandbox With Two Bench Seats (<–Description) as a Christmas gift from Uncle Faldo. He figured that since our little badger Worm liked to dig in the sand, a box would be suitable to both encourage and contain his excavating activity. The package came partially assembled with a bag of 50 screws, yes 50. Though, you should be able to put it together in about 20 minutes using a Phillips screwdriver and a couple extra biceps. I’m telling you now so you’re not surprised, the sandbox doesn’t come with sand. So you either have to grind down some local rocks and coral or steal a couple buckets worth from the closest beach.
The Badger Basket Cedar sandbox is made from, well, cedar! Cedar wood is great for use outdoors because of its bacterial and fungal resistance. (And you thought your grandmother’s cedar toilet seat was just tacky…little did you know it served a higher purpose!) Cedar is also unpalatable to many insects. Therefore, it should last a quite a while outdoors. Worm hasn’t started to use his sandbox yet, since it has been a bit chilly here. I will break it out in the next few months and let time tell us how long it survives in the California sun.
The enclosed instructions are fairly straightforward, but the writing isn’t as clear as it could be for the normal person (for example, instead of writing “20 – 50mm screws”, you get a bunch of symbols and strange technical notation). I also think it would have been nice to have the screws sorted into separately labeled bags, but maybe the profit margin would have been destroyed with two extra plastic bags on the bill of materials. Although this is our first sandbox, I feel that the build quality of this cedar sandbox is pretty poor. For the price, I would expect that durable screws and hinges would be used. This sandbox provides neither. The screws are such low quality that I had one break while slowly screwing it into the pre-drilled hole. The hinges that flap open the box are extremely low quality and will bend upon installation. I would expect these issues on a sandbox 1/3 the price, not on something in this price range. The idea of Worm delicately opening and closing anything in our house is probably about 17 years away…and hopefully by that time, he won’t be still living off of us and not paying rent playing in our sandbox anymore!
Right out of the shipping package, the Badger Basket sandbox comes partially assembled. The six hinges are installed on one side of the unit. Some of the wood slats are already screwed into place. On my unit, 4 of the pre-assembled wood plank screws were stripped and 8 of the pre-assembled hinge screws were stripped. Obviously, someone was using a power drill in the warehouse and was either nursing a hangover during my poor sandbox’s assembly or he was letting the shop dog hold the drill. (I’m all for putting animals to work, but sometime the lack of opposable thumbs make for manufacturing quality control issues.)
Overall, this is a very nice looking sandbox. The parts could definitely be higher durability, especially at this price range. I like the fact that it is made of wood and my backyard won’t completely look like an extension of Worm’s toy closet. It’s big enough (46.5 inches L x 46.5 inches W x 9.5 inches H) for both him and Smush to sit and play for hours (should she be forced to wish to spend quality time with her big brother). The lid will be useful in keeping the neighborhood cats from using it as their community litter box. I’m looking forward to Worm getting a lot of use out of this sandbox and I only hope it’s up to the challenge of being beaten, dragged, kicked and stomped on.
This will be an ongoing review. Updates will be added later.
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Overall Rating: 5 Worms
Ease of Use: 7 Worms (Easy to open and close.)
Performance: _ Worms (I attribute this to quality and I haven’t gotten enough use out of it to rate.)
Features: 5 Worms (At this price, I would expect either more features or better parts. I got neither.)
Durability: 3 Worms (Hardware was cheap and flimsy.)
Manliness: 8 Worms (I felt pretty manly putting it together!)
Retail Price: $159.99
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Pros:
Very nice looking. The benches support 200 lbs. I’ve checked it with my 160 lb body and it really seems sturdy.
Cons:
Cheap hardware included. Poor pre-assembly at the manufacturer. (Update April 2013: 2 months after being outside, the hardware is starting to rust. I live in San Diego, so we don’t get much rain. The hardware is also beginning to bend with the repeated opening and closing of the top.)
Things I would modify:
Better screws. Better hinges.
Where to find:
Me vs. Gavin 