The balls are tiny and go super fast. I like that they are small and we fire this up inside the house to practice batting, but they go so fast she can't see them at all. I was hoping I could slow them down somehow or I need to find a bigger room so she can track it for a second. This is not a machine you can use outdoors, you will lose the balls. Otherwise, it works great. Good for the price.

To many conditions have to be present for this device to operate effectively. For example, when using this device it is necessary to have the correct amount of power for the device to dispense the balls. If you use batteries, you will not get the same amount of power as with an electrical outlet. Being that there is no electrical outlets on most baseball fields at parks, you really don't have any options. Tried it in the back yard, works great, when plugged into an electrical outlet, only problem is that the balls end up in your neighbors yard, too much of a hassle. Tried it in the garage, not enough distance for proper batting practice. I would only recommend this in conditions where you have access to an electrical outlet and open space.

Bought this for my almost 7-year-old son and he loves it! The balls are about the size of golf balls and are of a hard foam. Yes they are small, but hitting the smaller balls is great training for baseball. My 5-year-old also uses it for tennis practice with her racket. It works great too. I love that it can be plugged in so we don't have to worry about the batteries dying. I just bought an outdoor extension cord and plug it into the outlet on our deck. My son and his friends play with it all the time and it hasn't fallen over once, even without having the batteries to weigh it down. Sometimes the kids bump it when loading the balls, but they just line it back up and start batting. It also adjusts to different heights. Sometimes the ball doesn't pitch in the exact same spot, but that teaches him what to swing at and what not to. For the most part they pitch in the same area each time once you have the setting where you like it. We live in a neighborhood with a ton of kids, and have five or six kids playing with it at any given time. So far we haven't had any issues at all and the kids love it. I also bought an extra package of balls. I haven't tried it with batteries yet. I mainly use it in our backyard, so plugging it in seems to work best for us. The first ball is sometimes a little slow, but it starts great and all of the rest of the balls pitch perfectly. Pitching it every five seconds seems to work great with the kids. We haven't had any issues of someone not being ready for the next ball. Even if they were, the worst that would happen is that they wait for the next ball. This is set-up to be able to hold a ton of balls which is another great feature.

I played around with this with my son and daughter for hours today. It works exactly as expected. No pitching machine throws the ball in the same location every time. Just as no pitcher can throw the ball in the same place every time. I wish they had things like this when I was a kid. My dad and I searched the papers and the area batting cages for a used machine and they were still a couple thousand dollars. Something like this would have helped me out tremendously. Instead of playing through college, the extra practice from a device like this when younger may possibly been enough to get me to the big leagues. At least I can give my son a better chance.

I had reasonable expectations from this machine but was severely let down. When I could get this machine to stop moving from the vibration it still wouldn't pitch the ball consistently. The balls were all over the place and would do two at a time a lot.

Bought this as a Christmas gift for my grand daughter who plays softball. She wanted to practice her batting. Because it has snowed so much, she hasn't been able to try the machine outside yet. They set it up in their kitchen (a long rectangular shaped room) and they are very pleased with how it works. She is very anxious to try it outdoors soon.

I love this pitching machine and i love the price! The bolt balls are great for practice, and shoot out well. I'v tried using plastic golf balls since they were the same size, but they didn't pitch very well. I read the other reviews before i bought it and was a little worried it wouldn't work, but it's great. I have not tried it with batteries yet, i have just plugged it in, some reviews say it is too light without batteries but i didn't have a problem with it. I would definitely recommend it!

Pros and Cons: This could have been a fantastic training device. I got mine and bought 12 extra balls. The size of ball is good for teaching accuracy. I brought it home and plugged it into an outlet, and the machine pitched well, but takes a moment for the wheels to get to full speed. So, the first ball is worthless coming out. After it gets going, the balls do come out every 5 seconds and are kinda accurate, but the base is so light without batteries in it the machine tends to throw a little wild. I decided to put batteries in it and take it to the park since the balls were being hit everywhere in my yard and neighbors yard. After putting the batteries in, the wheels did not spin, only the ball release, so this made it useless on batteries. Going to take it back to Wal-Mart and exchange it. Corrections Needed: This machine would be perfect if it had a heavier base, lithium recharchable battery pack, pitch light indicator, and a single pitch option that would allow someone to manually load the balls once the batter is in position. Disposition I would recommend this machine for coaches who are teaching bunting practice for now. This is because 5 seconds is not enough time for a batter to get set back up in the batter's box. If SKLZ would go in and fine tune this machine with these changes, I would assume this would be a top selling product and proficient training aid for coaches and parents. Buy this product if one already has the fundementals down, but need help working on accuracy or bunt practice.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] the best practice baseball

Batteries just don’t cut it with this. Not enough power