Swing Set Quality

I have TRU swing set and it's great. Now is a fantastic time to buy a swing set. Also try Costco, BJs and Sams Club as they are desperately trying to get rid of their supply to bring in snow blowers and stuff like that!

Another option for you is the sets at the local home improvement store.
We got one at Home Depot 199 for the hardware, then you buy the wood. That way you know the wood is good.
The set we got is great , my kids love it. you don't have to get the biggest set out there , ours is little slide, swings then we added a trapeez bar and a rope swing to the ends. No fort thing on it

We have a wooden playset and my husband bought the parts (one main/large kit and then some of the extras that you could add to it as optional) from Home Depot. I don't think there would be much difference in material and parts but the MAIN issue would be who puts it together. Go with a good carpenter who knows how to build. My husband has been a licensed home building for a long time and said it was a pain to put together because some parts were missing (no surprise these days!). Our children and their friends have played on it for about 10 years now and it's still very solid. Just make sure you get a good installer!
I really do like the fact of getting it from a home building store since the wood you use would be that used by a contractor and who knows? maybe better quality than Walmart wood!?!?!

EVERY wood set, even the expensive Rainbow ones, needs resealed and the bolts tightened as they age. I paid 2500 for the Little Tikes Arcadia wooden playset. It faded unevenly because they used two types of wood. it has some splintering. it was made with the "best" wood, but looks really used after 3 years.

My LT Endless Adventures STILL looks new after 8 years. The glider is too small for anyone over 7, but the swings, clubhouse, and sandbox are great. It is on clearance sometimes at ToysRus for 599, but they only have one or two when that happens.

I had a swingset from WalMart, not the wooden kind though. I think it cost around $200. That's about what it was worth too since before the year was out the plastic coating on the swing chains was crackled and broken...more dangerous in my opinion than having your child get his finger pinched in a chain. At each place where there was a bolt it was rusting. I can't imagine that the wooden swingsets would be any better quality. But they may be. There are independent swingset builders who guarantee their quality...of course, they are not cheap.