I have a friend who is wheel chair bound, and he has three transfer poles to help him transfer from the wheel chair to the bed, bathroom or lounge chair. He is able to grab the pole, pull himself up, turn and sit down without losing his balance or falling. He does the same for reversing the situation.The trick is to make sure the pole is tightened to the max, so it is good and sturdy.This is about the Stander Security Pole only (without the curve grab bar). The pole did the job just fine for me. Yes, it does require assembly and those whose skill sets don't include mechanical skills might want to get help with the installation. But realistically, placement and installation is straightforward.I did find that the pole loosened up a bit after initial use, which is understandable - most things require a bit of time to "settle in". So it is good to keep the included wrench handy. On initial install I found that the slight wiggle to the center of the pole was maybe 1/8 of an inch. The top (on a "popcorn" plaster ceiling) and the bottom (on a thick pile rug) were and stayed solid. The give was in the center of the pole where the tightening nut is located. The wiggle increased to about 1/4" after use but tightening up the joint with the wrench solved that readily and it has not loosened again. I did call the manufacturer about this and they indicated that the wiggle was normal for the device. In truth, I did not find it a problem, just an initial concern.More on assembly: The biggest issue, for me, was that the H shaped assembly that is used to secure the top of the pole to the ceiling was 22 inches wide rather than the 18 inches or so that I had expected. 18 inches would have it match up to the 16 inch on center placement of ceiling joists in a typical American wood frame house, at least in older construction. Each end of the assembly could be placed on the center of a joist with a 1 inch overlap on each side (16+1+1). (The joists can be located with a stud finder). In my case, a 22 inch dimension required one end of the assembly rest on plasterboard alone, which actually seemed to work out fine. Once I thought about it a bit, I realized that by simply angling the top assembly, you can get the two ends to each rest on a joist, so there is a workaround. The top assembly has holes drilled on 16 inch centers which can be used to actually bolt the top assembly to joists in the ceiling. The holes also would make it convenient to know when you have the assembly placed correctly relative to the joists (once you have marked the joist locations with masking tape or whatever.)I neglected to take a picture of the interior packing before removing and assembling the pole. This was a mistake, since I only needed the pole for a short time while I recovered from surgery. Now I have to figure out how to get it back in the box to store until it's needed again for me or someone else.Gave it a 4 rather than a 5 because of the wiggle and joist factors, but I would gladly buy another if the need were to arise.I bought this for a relative who had a stroke. He says it works great giving him the help and stability he needs.This security pole is the best purchase my wife and I have made since we have taken in her mother to care for. She is 91 and now it is so easy for her to do more things that she couldn't do in the past. It is so fast to set it up, simply use the wrench provided and tighten the large nut that is then hidden with a sliding sleve that is on the post. I move it from the side of her recliner that is a powered lift chair that we purchased here on amazon, but she needed something to hang onto after she had stood up. I move it into the shower room just outside of the door (like seen in the photo) and no more falls like the one she had prior to getting this pole. The only thing I will suggest is that if you place it on a carpet, the base on the floor is a smaller round circle and you do need to put quite a bit of pressure on the pole to make sure it doesn't move. The large ceiling mount is not a problem and will not break through any drywall due to the way it is designed.. With the pressure to hold it in place I had it in one location for about a week on carpet and it left a circle in the carpet that was very hard to remove even using a vacuum over and over. I then cut a 12" by 12" piece of 1/2 plywood and painted it white to place under the bottom base of the pole (and you can put small screws into the plywood with the holes provided on the base). Leaving the pole for a week after using the plywood just a couple of times over the carpet with a vacuum and the carpet lays normal again. We have a brocade ceiling so there is no damage to the ceiling even after moving the pole several times. If you have the "pop corn sprayed on ceiling" it may compress the Styrofoam and you may be able to see the two long non skid bars in your ceiling .. (just a word of caution). The pole is worth every penny we paid for it!Update 4 years later: At age 89 mom mom is still very happy with this. We have been through several returns from hospital says and this pole has been great.I bought this when my 80+ mom came out of the hospital. I didn't know exactly where we would use it. She decided she didn't need it and it sat in a back bedroom for a while.Then we had another incident. I then installed it in the bathroom. She has bars there but the way the room is set up she doesn't have a good surface to push off of when moving from the toilet to the sink. It takes up almost no floor space so a walker an still get into the small bathroom if needed.When she first rejected it, this felt like an expensive mistake. But having it in the house when we needed it was great and it turned out to be a wonderful resource.We tried it out on several areas of the house and never felt a need to anchor it to the ceiling.Although it is a bar in a prominent part of a small bathroom, it does not get in the way.Providing to support from sitting to standing and creating a situation where a senior can get to the bathroom safely be themselves 24 hours a day are critical for independent home living. This pole turned out to be just the ticket.This pole helps my husband lift himself up from the wheelchair to help him get in bed and out of bed.Bought a second one to help with getting into lift chair recliner from wheelchair and back into wheelchair.I have a small, single story house which I share with my 86-year-old sister, who is not steady on her feet. In addition to handrails in the hall way, I have strategically placed 6 poles, spaced about 30" apart, so she can walk without help between her bed and the bathroom and her living-room chair without using a walker.My 89 year old mother was looking for one of these, found here for decent price. Arrived and installed two days later, easy to do. You can screw base and top into place. I did not pole seems ok tight against ceiling.this is a really skookum pole, very sturdy, and tightens up nicely to a 9 ft ceiling.. you have to read the instructions to make sure the extender bit is set in the right position then just crank it up and put in screws if you want to be extra secure. My 100 yr old Mum uses it to hoist herself out of her big chair and says it works really well. It took 2 of us to set it up, as somebody has to check the level vertically as you put it in position.Well made & sturdy. Easy to set up. A good safety additionvery good, but the top portion needed to be hammered into the bottom tube, because the fit was too tight. finally ok and very helpful in order to get out of bed.Pole ok. Instructions were not well written. Quality of diagrams were poor.