First of all, this table is well worth the price charged. With tax it came to about $160 shipped. For something this big and heavy to have free shipping is incredible. I got the blue glass version because it was listed about $20 cheaper than the other versions, and I happened to like it best as well. I do some tracing, so I wanted to avoid the black glass models. My biggest fear was that it would arrive damaged. The box they ship these in is barely big enough to hold all the parts, with only a few sheets of thin Styrofoam protecting the inside parts. When my box arrived, it looked fairly beat up. I opened and inspected all the parts, and found that the important parts were intact. One of the drawers was cracked, and a piece of the frame on the rear part of the desk was bent a little. Neither of these things were dealbreakers. The company's website has an order form for free replacement parts in the event of damage or missing parts. Apparently, it is fairly common with this unit. Heed that warning if you are buying this for someone else with a deadline to give it to them. If you get a good one, you are lucky. The other problem I came across was that one of the pieces was missing (a metal bar used in mounting the side drawers. Fortunately, I had no intention of even using the side drawers, since I use a swivel chair and move a bit while sitting, and my knees would have constantly been hitting them. Assembly is not too easy and not too hard. It took me about 1.5 hours, and I was taking my time. The parts are fairly high quality for the price charged, except the cheap plastic drawers. Trust me, this table looks so much better without the side drawers. The center tray drawer has enough space for me, along with the side pen trays. Once assembled, the table looks quite nice, and appears more expensive than it is. It is sturdy and comfortable to draw on. I noticed another flaw once it was assembled: the center tray drawer was about 1/8 inch off, due to where the holes were drilled in the frame. This is also not a deal breaker for me, but if you are legitimately OCD you might want to avoid this table, as the quality control is about what you'd expect for a $150 shipped product. Could you spent $1000 plus on a table? Sure. But would you be able to do better work on it? If monks in the middle ages could complete masterpieces on uneven wooden tables in drafty candlelit chambers, then this table should be good enough for anyone. If you are a professional who is going to be sitting at the drafting table for 8 or 10 hours a day, you might want to spring for something even nicer. But for students and hobbyists, this is more than enough. We are getting outside the realm of needs and into the realm of wants when we ask for more than this. If it wasn't for the missing part and cracked drawer, I would have given this five stars. I understand that for them to have better quality control, higher quality plastic on the drawers, and more protective cushioning inside the box, studiodesigns might need to charge a lot more. I for one am thankful that a $150 option this nice exists.
