I should remember my own advice, hehe.
Words to shop on:
I like my Fluidity barre A LOT (Great gift, Mom! Thanks again!) That said, it's kind of bulky. If you find a need to move it from room-to-room (which you don't anticipate), you'l find it doesn't corner well. And, due to it's one-side construction, you can't simply move to the other side of the barre for things (but you can pretty simply overcome this by facing it front and turning yourself to the side to workout). Since I'm rather short, and it adjusts even lower than I need it, it's great for shorties (I cannot confirm it's great for tallies, though). And, unfortunately, the mat portion is segmented just exactly where you want to position your feet sometimes, which feels weird (I sometimes solve this by not unfolding the matt at all). As you know, it has those extendable supports, you'll probably need to push those in for a few ballet exercises, and just as a warning, the barre holds less weight in that position. BUT, you aren't supposed to have your weight on it for those anyway! It's just kind of fun to pull up and sit on the thing just to say, "O wow, it can!" Ha! You WILL need to put your whole bdy weight against if for a few of the exercises in the actual FLUIDITY dvds (they have you sit beneath it and pull up).
It's the only barre I've ever owned, so I can't compare it. But, it's likable and well made, though not perfect. And (for enabling purposes...) may I say that I think that if you own and enjoy a lot of barre stuff, you deserve a barre.
If you are handy, you CAN google how to assemble one from pipes from your local lowe's (I've seen instructions for PVC or metal ones).
I've seen people selling the above on auction sites.
"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." ~Hans Christian Anderson