InvisaFlow, Black Amerimax Home Products 4400 Downspout Filter

Installation went smoothly. I made sure to leave several "ribs" un-extended, in case my 4-in pipe settles any. I also made sure that I did extend a few of the "ribs", which should make it easier to compress and remove later if needed.Over time, I saw leaves and helicopter seeds get stuck on the grate, allowing some water to splash out. During a heavy downpour, a lot of water would splash out. So I ended up removing the grate (it's a separate piece of plastic). So I'm just using it to transition from my downspout to my 4 inch PVC pipe, which works well even in a heavy downpour. (I'm sure junk is accumulating at the termination of the drain, but I have this set up as a T which trains down and also up to ground level for the heavier rains, so it should be fine. Once or twice a year I reach in there and take out some junk, like when there's been a lot of fallen leaves or maple seeds.)I have read a review on another site recommending you cut a strip of plastic off the bottom of the square opening to help the leaves fall out. I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST THIS. I tried it, and it actually lets more water spill out during heavy flow. It also causes the grate to shift in position and worsen the accumulation of leaves.

Works reasonably well. Easy to install. I ran the 2x3 downspout into the top, (it will accept 3x4,) and easily flexed the piece here into a 4" PVC schedule 40 pipe that I had buried to run rainwater 20 feet out into the garden. Quick arrival from Amazon, inexpensive solution, easy to install. Like others, I wish it came in white, but I will likely spray paint it later. It doesn't catch absolutely every piece of nature's particulate, but leaves and twigs that would clog the underground pipe over time are easily fished out of the grate. Very little water splashes out. Good product, performs as advertised. If it lasts 5 or six years I'll be happy...it would be cheap and easy to replace. Invisaflow is an odd name...you can watch the water flow through this product!

This product does exactly what it is supposed to do. It prevents leaves, acorns, twigs, etc from passing through your gutter system into drain tile or where-ever the water goes from your gutters. The only weak point that I noticed is that the "screen" is a lightweight molded plastic part that under extremely high water flows can dislodge and let debris through. So far this has only happened to me once, so I don't consider it to be a big problem. If I was really concerned about it I could wire it into place, but so far it hasn't been much of a problem so I haven't bothered to.Bottom line, I'd buy this product again.

This is a tricky review to assign stars to, because my problem is with the description and how it came up in search results, not the product itself.I was searching for "downspout guards" and it came up near the top of the list. But that's not what this is--it is a filter that has to be attached to the =bottom= of a downspout. That's useful if you're, say, filtering water going in to a rain barrel. When it says it "prevents drain pipes from being clogged" I guess it means drain pipes that are attached to the bottom of a downspout.I didn't return it, because at some point I may find some use for it, and it seems reasonably well designed for its purpose. But it's not the purpose I was searching for.

The design of this product is quite unique though it makes such good sense that I'm not sure why more downspouts are not the same. This downspout has an easily accessed grate close to ground level that filters out leaves and other debris before they get into outflow pipe (which usually in this kind of application, is buried under soil and/or mulch). While overwhelming amounts of debris might still get stuck up in the gutter (requiring periodic cleaning), this grate has already caught leaves which I easily removed. The caveat of course is that the grate has to be cleaned after major rainstorms which, here in Colorado, are usually periodic and not frequent. I will have to use this grate through the upcoming year to know for sure if its effectiveness continues. For now, I am strongly recommending it.

When I installed this I connected the rain gutter to just the very top of the downspout filter. I wanted plenty of room for leaves, twigs, etc... to clean. About 95% of the water goes down into the pipe and about 5% splashes out from hitting the filter cross members.This seems a much better solution then trapping the leaves on the roof in the gutters and after this winter I plan to put this style on the rest of my downspouts.

I didn't give it 5 stars because when it came I noticed that it is open to let the water out before it gets to the pipe. this is to wash the leaves away. Anyhow they didn't picture that feature when I bought it and I can't use it. We have gutter guards and I wanted all the water from the downspout to go into the pipe leading to the street. It wouldn't pay to send it back, so it went to the thrift store. If you want it to wash your leaves away, then I imagine it would be 5 stars.

Easy to install. The filter works, I have pulled leaves and helicopter seeds out of it that would have previously clogged the drain tube. It does tend to spit water out of the front, so know that gravity will not pull 100% of the water into the drain tube, although this is a small price to pay for the functionality.