The stool seems sturdy enough once assembled, and the looks pretty much match what you would expect for the price.
Assembly is not easy at all. The supplied allen wrench is completely inadequate by itself for this task. As others have noted, it has a short handle, it's slightly smaller than the the screw head hole (perhaps a mismatch between metric and some other size), and you really need two of them to screw in the screws on the rungs, using one on each side so the rungs don't simply spin as you attempt to drive the screws in. This problem is compounded by the size of the screw threads (very large) and the size of the pilot holes (relatively small) -- i.e., it requires very significant force to turn the screws in. I saved myself some trouble by using a power drill (despite the warning not to use power tools) to drive the screws 95% of the way in, at which point my drill ran out of torque. (Possibly due to a low battery.) I finished it off by hand with two of my own allen wrenches, one on each side. Attaching the legs to the seat was not nearly as challenging. Hopefully, the difficulty of assembly indicates that once finished it will stay together firmly over time.
I haven't attempted yet to install the wood plugs that cover the screws. I plan to wait a couple of weeks or so to see if anything loosens up before I do. From other reviews, it appears that presents some challenges of its own.
Assembly can be challenging
The stool seems sturdy enough once assembled, and the looks pretty much match what you would expect for the price. Assembly is not easy at all. The supplied allen wrench is completely inadequate by itself for this task. As others have noted, it has a short handle, it's slightly smaller than the the screw head hole (perhaps a mismatch between metric and some other size), and you really need two of them to screw in the screws on the rungs, using one on each side so the rungs don't simply spin as you attempt to drive the screws in. This problem is compounded by the size of the screw threads (very large) and the size of the pilot holes (relatively small) -- i.e., it requires very significant force to turn the screws in. I saved myself some trouble by using a power drill (despite the warning not to use power tools) to drive the screws 95% of the way in, at which point my drill ran out of torque. (Possibly due to a low battery.) I finished it off by hand with two of my own allen wrenches, one on each side. Attaching the legs to the seat was not nearly as challenging. Hopefully, the difficulty of assembly indicates that once finished it will stay together firmly over time. I haven't attempted yet to install the wood plugs that cover the screws. I plan to wait a couple of weeks or so to see if anything loosens up before I do. From other reviews, it appears that presents some challenges of its own.