Good Directions Blue Heron Weathervane in Pure Copper - Elegant Outdoor Garden Decor for Roof, Yard, or Patio

I couldn't wait to order this weathervane. So beautiful. I was looking forward to seeing it turn gracefully in the wind. The single point of contact was especially welcome as I absolutely wanted a silent weathervane and not one that screeched, squeaked or made unwelcome noise all day and night. I even made 3 calls into the headquarters of Good Directions and their CT office to verify that their weathervanes were SILENT. When I opened the box, my first reaction was," OMG-- It's beautiful!" But when I went to lift it out of the box, to my horror, the debris left inside the heron was ghastly. Not sure if they left screws or metal parts in there, or both! But the debris slid back and forth making quite the racket. NOT the serene, elegant and silent weathervane I was hoping for above our bedroom windows. The heron itself was lovely. The packaging was very good. But as these are not being produced in the States, you get what you get. No quality control at all in their India plant. How did this ever pass inspection? Why isn't the owner of Good Directions addressing this? Or did I get the one bad apple in the bushel? There was no way of removing the collection of debris inside short of drilling a large enough hole in the heron to remove what they left inside. However, I wasn't going to destroy a $263.00 purchase. So I'm returning it and trying another order of the same weathervane. You have to love Amazon. I was able to schedule an Amazon pick up of the item, as the box was so large I couldn't get it into our cars. I would have had to rent a truck to bring it to a UPS site. With luck, the new weathervane will not have a collection of hard metal debris left inside when they seal it. Fingers crossed!P,S. The owners of the company need to be having a discussion with their people in India regarding their quality control, or lack thereof. The heron is beautiful, but the garbage left inside it is, frankly, unacceptable.Wanted to update my review. I ordered a second weathervane. That also came with debris left inside to rattle around. So that too is going back. But here is why I increased the review to 5 stars. The company itself is 5 star on most everything. Their only issue is that they outsourced their manufacturing where I believe there is no quality control. However, they are top notch in customer service and will be doing whatever they need to do to send me a weathervane without rattling debris. Once they find one with no debris, they will ship to my home at the Amazon price I paid ( as to order from their Good Directions site is normally more expensive. ) So, if all goes as promised, they will deserve the 5 star review. However, I STILL suggest they talk to their manager overseeing the plant in India to "shake out" the debris before sealing the weathervanes. It would keep them 5 stars all the way.This is beautiful, it looks great on our dock.Made of high quality copper..it's a work of art and eye-catching! BEAUTIFULUpdate: I received and installed a replacement weathervane (see original review) five weeks ago and it works well and looks great. The replacement's central rod seemed to be attached differently than the first one. Even with the hassle associated with installing, then removing and returning the initial herron, I'm glad I gave this item a second chance. It's starting to develop a nice patina and I expect it to last many years.Original Review: I liked the look of this weathervane, and after considering its reviews, ordered it. I installed it carefully and correctly less than one week ago. It looked great, pointed its beak smoothly into the breeze as expected, and I assumed I would enjoy it for many years to come. But yesterday I noticed that the bird’s legs appeared to be hanging a bit low. At first, I thought I was seeing things but eventually I setup the ladder and went on the roof to have a look. When I touched the heron it nearly came off in my hands. Upon closer inspection, I found missing solder and a badly rusted connection inside the bird. Please note that it had been on my roof for less than a week. I plan to give Good Directions one more shot. I’ll revise my review once I confirm that the first weathervane was a fluke.I love this blue heron! Well crafted, heavy and stately! I called the company where this heron came from and they were very helpful picking out the correct size cupola for our boat dock. They also super imposed a cupola on a picture of our dock to help with visuals. I would highly recommend this particular company. The blue heron does move and points in the direction of the wind. I also wiped pickle juice on copper and it looks as if it will very quickly turn patina, some places were turning before we even got it up there. The company who constructed our boat dock put cupola & weather vane on roof for us, he said it went up with no problem and was relatively easy. I did buy the additional piece needed for installation.Awesome Quality For Price! I put it together in no time. Easy Assembly. And put a spray varnish on it to help protect it from weather. It spins in the direction of the wind with no issue and it looks great on my shed roof from the house and street. Many positiive comments. Its a good large size weathervane. YOu will like it. I think.Considering the relatively inexpensive price for what appears as a worthy piece of craftsmanship a 5-Star rating is deserved. Well-polished copper, if only copper-itself wouldn't stay that way forever. Debated clear-coat spray paint, or car-waxing plus a clear-coat rub on sealer product: Opted for a car wax cleaner/polish, then overcoated twice with a rub-on acrylic car-finish with hopes of sustaining polish for maybe a year.As much thought appears to have gone into the large shipping container, as the product itself - a noteworthy sign of a company with quality-control at the forefront of sales. Responsive customer support to a submitted question about an attempt to preserve the polished copper.Size choice of any weather vane: always pick the largest; once mounted high up on a barn, garage or any building - the big, somewhat bulky object to handle... becomes relatively small in scale when it's located "up in the sky."I've been admiring this weathervane on Amazon for some time. When I saw one discounted $100, stating that the arrow was bent, I took a chance. I am so glad I did. The bend wasn't terrible and I was able to straighten it to about 95% straight before the copper tube of the arrow started to crack. I put some metal epoxy putty on the crack to protect it. It's a beautiful weathervane and really noticeable. I was glad I got the large size. You can see it all the way across the entire moorage.Good quality construction. Instructions straight forward. Took a little bit to arrive but I believe it was on time.