We have some incredibly crafty squirrels near our home and have been looking for a feeder that keeps the squirrels away but still attracts the birds. This feeder is it! While it looks like several other feeders available for a lower cost, this feeder has certain details that make it worth the extra money you will spend.1) The "shroud" system (which several other feeders also have) does indeed work to close the ports off every time a squirrel jumps onto the feeder. BUT squirrels are very clever and find other ways to access seed.2) The cap on the Squirrel Solution 200 feeder has a button lock/release. Similar feeders that we had tried without this feature were easily accessed by squirrels. They simply keep at that cap until they manage to push it off....and there goes all of your bird seed. Squirrels will also begin to chew through the plastic at this point, and your feeder will be worthless in a short time. Eventually, we made a lock/release of our own drilling a hole and using a screw, but...3) The ports on most feeders are not protected all around by metal. Even when we solved the problem of squirrels getting in by removing the cap, they were able to hang onto the the feeder and chew around the plastic of the ports until gaining access to the seeds. They would make the hole bigger and bigger until the feeder was just pouring seed out for them. The Squirrel Solution 200 feeder has metal protection all around the ports that squirrels cannot chew through.THIS FEEDER IS TRULY SQUIRREL PROOF....as long as you hang it so it as shown in directions. This is the important part!! It MUST be at least 18 inches away from any surface the squirrels can use to reach it. We have it hung as in the picture below (sorry, haven't planted spring flowers in the planter yet.) We did have to move the planter away from the feeder so as to maintain that 18 inch distance. The squirrels CAN get onto the feeder, jump or crawl up the Shepard's hook, but then if they jump onto it, the shroud closes. Once the shroud closes, they cannot access the seed. Oh they try--again and again--but eventually give up.What is important is that--by hanging it at least 18 inches from their access-- they cannot reach the feeder by staying on the rail or plantar, stretching to the feeder. They would then access WITHOUT closing the shroud and possibly eat through the small area underneath that is made of plastic, or shake seed out of the feeder.Up until now, there was one other feeder we tried that satisfied most of these conditions -- the Roamwild Squirrel Proof Wild Bird Feeder. The problem with the Roamwild is that, even though it kept the squirrels away, it did not attract the birds. The perches on the Roamwild feeder were just too small and birds did not come. We waited weeks --- and nothing. Birds just didn't come to this feeder.4) The birds DO come to the Squirrel Solution 200 feeder. (If I had ONE improvement to make on it, I would like to see perches that were slightly larger. Cardinals seem to find feeding from the perch inconvenient. They will sit nearby the feeder and wait until other birds come, dropping seed--and then go to the ground to eat that seed. We have just added an attachment to extend one of the perches and the cardinals seem to be able to feed more comfortably with that extra little bit of perch.)5) In fact, birds that usually would visit other feeder we have hung (goldfinches that would go to the nigel thistle feeder, woodpeckers that would go to the suet feeder, etc) come to this feeder frequently. We believe it is because of the yellow center stem allows for air flow, keeping the seed dryer/fresher than in other feeders. Just more yummy!6) The funnel that comes with it is very helpful when filling with seed, as it fits the feeder tube exactly and has openings to accommodate the wires that hold the top. Much less seed spilling out when filling the feeder.In summary...even though this feeder is more costly than the others, it gets the job done!