Alpine Corporation TEC106 Outdoor 3 Tiered Pedestal Water Fountain and Birdbath for Garden, Patio, Yard, and Deck, 35" Tall, Green

I couldn't be happier with this fountain. I was frankly surprised to see the low rating and read all the negative reviews. I thought it assembled easily and intuitively. Our birds here absolutely love it, both big and small. We have hummingbirds all the way up to roadrunners and everything in between who enjoy it all day for drinking and bathing. It's been 115°+ for the past week here in the Southwest and I run it all day and then fill it in the evening so it runs all night for our little friends.Disassembling the top fountain assembly for cleaning is quick and easy. The surfaces get black algae after a couple days because of the heat here, so I simply disassemble the fountain parts, scrub them down with an OXO dish brush and Dawn liquid, rinse and reassemble. Takes maybe 10 minutes every few days.

For my money this was a wonderful purchase. It has continued to delight me on my small balcony. The sound of water flowing can be heard inside my apartment. The birds love the availability of water. It sits in the sun about an hour a day and I make sure it is full of water but I'm sure it could go 2 or 3 days without harming the pump. It's light weight and the easy assembly and the ability to take it apart to clean makes it a keeper. I love it. Now if I could just lure songbirds to my thistle seed feeder with the sound of the water then I'd be ecstatic.

The birds tried & tried to love it. But I never saw them attempt to bathe once, with the water on OR off. Maybe the bowl is too deep; maybe the movement of the water is too violent -- either way, they flittered uneasily around it for 3 weeks, or simply avoided it entirely. Worst of all, I had to purchase my own nuts/bolts from Lowe's because none came with the packaging -- AND I had to prevail upon the kindness of a professional in the construction business, who luckily was a friend & didn't charge me, because the manufacturer had GLUED one of the nuts to a crew IN THE WRONG PLACE, necessitating a table vise and a special solvent even to screw the pump into place at the base of the main bowl. AND they glued the power cord at an inconvenient angle, requiring you to use awkward force to hold the pump in place. As a consequence, I would not rely on the longevity of the fountain EVEN IF it had been designed more thoughtfully for the birds' pleasure. AND -- the power cord --which is too short in the first place -- sticks out of the base in such a way as to leave the fountain permanently at an uneven angle. Which affects the way water cascades down the sides of the 3 bowls. All around, this item has serious design flaws, besides the egregious sin of not putting all the necessary parts for assembly into the box in the first place. It's a shame, because it's pretty and had great potential. Also: it would do a lot of good for them to place SOMEthing in the base-- some kind of heavy polymer perhaps -- to keep the fountain from being top-heavy. Greater weight at the base would make it secure in a stiff wind, which it definitely is not now. The manufacturer has a lot of re-design work to do, to make this a worthwhile purchase in future.

So 4-stars, because it was $60. Much more than that and it would have dropped down to 3-Stars. That said, it looks really nice. Neighbors commented on it looking tranquil in the garden. The tiers with water trickling over each is very soothing. Can't comment on whether birds are actually drawn to it, as i have two other baths. Tough competition! =)Couple of design issues.1st - getting the pump to proper seat in the pump mount was a chore. Ignore the instructions and attached the mount to the bottom tray first. This keeps mount in place and stable while you struggle to get the pump to sit correctly. Then getting the copper tubing with a 1/2 rubber grommet to fit inside the pump was additional challenge.2nd issue was that the treading on the pieces will take a few attempt to get it to take without being tilted one way or the other. This was mainly on the base and the main post. Minor, but if you dont get it right... the fountain will not flow evenly.3rd - the pieces that make up the tiers ( think 5 all together) are all just sitting on the copper rod. They move freely. Only the top piece is treaded to hold the other sections in place, sort of. Need to pay attention and try your best to get each piece sitting perfectly level.... if not fountain will flow unevenly. They just needed something to make sure the pieces were sitting correctly. A simple groove for them to lock into. I thought my pavement was the issue and after playing around, i noticed some of the free moving pieces were slight off to one side or the other. Little annoying but playing around with each piece you can now attach the cap which is treaded and will pushdown on the other sections to hold it in place. If you have a tilt someplace, start again. Let me qualify I am a tad OCD. I couldnt have the water trickling over one half while the other side didnt flow at all. So theres that!4th - When it comes time to clean the pumps strainer, you have to pull the pieces apart to get to the pump. With Flaw #3, this will add to your fun and you have to tinker a little to get your flow out of each basin evenly. Now there are little inflow cutouts on the 1st part of the tier setup. Might be worth placing something to catch debris before goes inside the base and into the pump. Like mesh screening or that sponge-like filter you see on most pumps. This will save you from undoing the tier pieces to get to the pump.It is a very lovely fountain. Just know that there may be some added work to keep it running and level. Knowing now you can be a little more prepared than I was.

I loved this. The birds loved it and I put it on my porch so that my mini Lupid rabbit could hear the sound of the fountain and watch the birds when he was in his condo. But I had to have this cleaned every month and finally it just stopped . I only had the fountain for maybe 3-4 months . So sad that it did not last very long . I also had to have my boyfriend put this together and take it apart each time to blow out the line to keep it flowing. I have pain in my hands and he basically said i probably could not have done this myself . So have some good hand strength to put this together.