i think the rack is working perfectly, never had any problems with it. the hihat stand is rather basic, it works, but there are stands that work better, you can easily upgrade if you want to. the only problem i ever had with the snare stand was, that i wanted to have the snare at a position i couldn't reach with the provided system, but other than that it was stable and reliable...it's strange how some people have so many problems with the rack while others seem quite happy...maybe a question of taste, expectations, experience or whatever...