This thing is very sturdy! I use it to pull myself out of bed sometimes.1) Length (Regular): It is pretty long so I think that an even shorter one would still be fine. I cannot think of why you would want the longer one. The height is not that high so it really is to prevent accidental falling out of bed not so much determined effort.2) Height: I put a picture in. Our mattress is not a super tall mattress like some of the pillow toppers are. I think if you had such a mattress this would be too short. But for us, it works perfectly.3) Securing it to your bed: It's pretty easy to do but a bit tricky to do well. We used the straps. We slid the straps under the mattress with lifting it slightly. It took 2 tries because we got them crossed at one point. And I thought I had it tight but was later able to get almost another foot of strap pulled out. MAKE SURE YOU TIGHTEN THAT THING LIKE HE-MAN! See warning below. The straps and plastic holders are very sturdy and I was impressed. I was really pulling on them and they held up.4) Swing down feature: I haven't really been using the swing down feature- it is hard to get to from in bed. I think that is another point to #1 with not getting anything any longer. However- it is helpful to get it out of the way for making the bed. The thingies you have to pull up are quite strong and by the time you've sat up enough to pull them both simultaneously (you can maybe do one at a time but they snap back pretty fast) you might as well just scoot out of bed.WARNING!!: There's a gap between the mesh and the mattress (pictures are before I really tightened it- you can see a 2-3" gap). Even tightened as much as possibly there is still about a ~1" gap between the bed and the mesh. It could get looser with use (as the cloth stretches) because the issue is that the poles, despite having decent tension on the mesh, simply cannot make it fully flush with the mattress. I think this would be true of any of these types of rails and is definitely not a design flaw of this particular one. Something like a pool noodle under the sheet is better for really small babies.DO NOT USE THIS WITH YOUNG INFANTS! There is a disclaimer on the item itself but definitely take it seriously! I can easily see a tragedy happen if used with too small a child and/or not tight enough to the bed. Probably 25 pounds and able to climb/crawl is the minimum, but obviously I haven't tested that out. Maybe a bit smaller would be ok if more physically advanced and/or if you have a thicker mattress, but please be careful and make sure it is secured as tightly as humanly possible!My kiddo (~30 pounds) rolled into the gap before I really tightened the straps and got stuck but was old enough to squirm around to breathe and call for help and almost get out without help (maybe could have done it if I hadn't rescued so quickly?). How they slide into the gap if they are lying on their belly (or crawling) presses their face against the mattress. If not supervised that could easily suffocate even an advanced infant if they were stuck for a long time at a tragic angle. I've now tightened it almost to breaking the straps/plastic and I rolled the kiddo to the divider to test and no sliding into the gap. Tighten! Tighten! Tighten! And test it out.So I think used conscientiously it is ok for older infants- you have to weigh size/weight to maybe get stuck versus rolling off the bed as to which is more dangerous. Or get them to sleep in their crib I guess (hah hah... easier said than done). For toddlers they are probably too big for this to be an issue and also could self-rescue.