SKLZ Hit-A-Way Youth Baseball Swing Trainer, Portable Solo Batting Practice with Stand, Tethered Ball for Hitting Drills, Ages 13 and Under

This is a really cool item to have if you have little one (5 and up) that need to practice hitting a ball. I works great for developing hand and eye coordination, instant feed back when you miss hit the ball. My five year old need more work but as with any five year old, the attention span is not very high. The 10 year old, is having much better results. The results and time spent at home is better than the short hitting lessons they get during field practice. I'm able to teach her weight transfers, keeping her hands back and eye on the ball all the way through contact. She is hitting the ball more solidly and with more power without falling backwards or uplifting when she follows through on the swing. The was all achieved within the first week. It comes with a baseball, I ordered the softball for my daughter. on con wit this product - the wrap around cord is a hard plastic (for durability) and will not wrap around the pole tight enough on week hits to generate a fast return. After a short while the kid losses interest. I find it best to stand on the other side of the pole to help wind it up when this happens. Option two is have a friend on the other side or a pole to hit it back (alternate swings). Definitely a useful training tool that is portable and durable to use at home or bring to the practice field for all to use.

Comes fully assembled and ready to go right out of the box. Lots of powder coated steel and high quality fittings so it looks like it will last. There aren’t any mechanical moving parts needed to operate so not much to break. You’ll be shocked at the weight and quality of this item. The design is simple enough and it works great. My 11 year old, 16 year old and I banged away for quite after we set it up. Great for working on mechanics with great feedback on every swing. Ball height is quickly and easily adjusted. I owned a SKLZ Hurricane, and would recommend the Hit Away strongly over that. The Hurricane ceased to work due to wear and tear in under two years and its double the price.

Purchased this after trying the Louisville Slugger Swing Rep hitting station first. Our choice was narrowed down to that or this SKLZ Hit-A Way. I should have bought this one first. We used the Louisville Slugger Swing Rep hitting station for 3 days and had issues with the "rebound" of the ball after hitting. It worked great the first evening but seemed as though the elastic was worn out and ball wouldn't reset properly. Decided to send it back and basically exchange it for the SKLZ Hit-A Way. This works way better. Forces batter to concentrate on hitting a moving ball. Pitch height adjustments stay set and don't fluctuate unless you change them. Much more sturdier as well. Of course its heavy because of the extra sturdy factor, but that's to be expected. Still easy to move around however. Super simple set-up right out of the box as well. Didn't take 45 minutes to build, total bonus! Give it a shot, you wont be disappointed! FOLLOW-UP: Quick follow-up. Utilized SKLZ customer service with a question regarding the ball. Explained we had this unit for just over 2 weeks. The baseball became out of round somewhat but I mentioned this thing was basically being hammered by half the little league team. I was just trying to order a new ball and cable but they not only covered it as a warranty claim being only 2 weeks into use, the sent 2 replacements!! How can you not love that??? 2 thumbs up all the way!

Update: After having and using this product for a while, I’ll say it’s still a great product with one caveat... you have to be able to hit the ball pretty solid and be able to hit, reset, and hit again fairly quickly. My daughter is now 8 and has used this fairly successfully, but at times she just gets frustrated and quits because if she’s a bit off and doesn’t the ball level, or has a bit of a mishit, you have to stop, unwind the ball from the pole and start over. So some days it can be the wrong tool for a small/younger player, but for older kids or adults it should be fine. Overall I think a tee/soft toss and net probably is a better tool, but the swingaway is certainly convenient and you can get a lot of reps in a short amount of time if you can hit it consistently with the right timing. ************** This product is heavy duty, and should last for a long time, assuming you get one that’s not defective. Like several other reviewers here, I had to return the first one I ordered due to the top tube being bent into an oval shape either in manufacturing or shipping, thus making it impossible to attach the top tube to the bottom section. For some silly reason they send this in the box off the shelf that was obviously never meant to be sturdy enough as a shipping container for a 40lb item. Both of the boxes I received were beat up and partially open, as the glue just simply is not strong enough to survive being shipped express by a carrier... good thing it’s all one-piece and nothing can really be lost out the hole in the box. The return was fast and easy and I actually had the replacement in two days! Big thumbs up to Amazon for that! As I’ve said before, this is a heavy item (roughly 40 lbs) so it’s not something super easy for a kid to set up/take down without a parent. My daughter is 7 and it weights almost as much as she does, but I don’t mind helping her set it up since I like the fact its a sturdy piece of equipment that I don’t have to worry about falling over. Even though it comes fully assembled you’ll need some tools, as BOTH of mine had all of the bolts left extremely loose. The loose bolts make it very unwieldy at all times and a bit wiggly when set up, not to mention that it rattles quite a bit. 5 minutes, a couple of 17mm wrenches, and a ratchet was all it took tightening them up and now it’s solid and quiet. I have no idea why these aren’t tightened properly from the factory. The nuts are all nylock type with split lock washers, so they’ll stay on firm even if not completely tightened down (you need them to be able to pivot and allow the stand to fold). To those who reviewers who broke the cable, two things: (1) make sure they aren’t twisted prior to hitting as that’ll put unnecessary stress on the cables and wear them prematurely, (2) you can buy replacements if you end up wearing them out for around $25-30... so no need to buy (or trash as one reviewer said) the whole stand. I’m sure the mfr would replace them free if they break on a new unit, or just return it. I’ve had the non-stand version of this for years and used it with my older daughter when she played softball. It held up really well, even with an adult hitting on it regularly (me), so the cables shouldn’t be an issue unless they’re twisted or defective.

This trainer is very well built, and feels lighter than it's weight would suggest. I've had people from 6 years old to 65 years old try this trainer and all were able to get the hang of hitting the ball within 3 swings. After that, they're addicted. The path of the ball doesn't seem natural at first, but you quickly realize that it's not always consistent, similar to real pitching. Also you get instant feedback on your swing...if you hit too high or low, the ball and cables won't wind around the pole and therefore won't uncoil with much speed. One you're able to adjust your swing to hit the ball square each time, the ball will windup and unwind so you can swing until you're tired without resetting the ball. Both of my kids are now the top hitters on their teams since getting this machine. They were able to minimize the bad habits we all tend to acquire with hitting a ball. This trainer is built to withstand a whole ball club using it, but with the simplicity to use in your backyard. The setup is very easy (no tools required), but collapsing the tripod takes some practice. The tripod collapses upward and the pole separates in the middle and stores on a peg on the base. An integrated strap wraps around the all of the pieces and can be pulled, thanks to the on-board caster wheels. This product is very well thought out and is worth the price.

This was great help for my son but it the wire started to break at the bottom 2 months after purchasing it. Finally broke within 6 months. Such a shame when it’s expensive. It would be great if they have a replacement wire with ball. The tool is great for kids. It helped my son so much, but the quality of the wire, isn’t worth it.

In case you're needing a bag, I found an old Pac-n-Play and used the bag from it. It's as if it were made for it! The product itself works as described. Super sturdy. Very easy to assembly within seconds from its folding position and put back in its folding position. Ready to go right out of the box. It took longer to get it out of its shipping box then it did to get it up and hitting the ball. Have fun!

My is almost 9 years old and he is having a blast on the Hit-A-Way. He can hit the ball 50 times in a row without stopping and is getting many high quality swings in a day. It is easy for him to get a 100 hits in a day. His best friend came over last night and they had a great game of knock out going where they tried to top each others hits in a row. My sons friend is a very solid hitter and I was shocked that he missed the first 5 balls. My daughter who is 7 finds it a bit more frustrating and has a record 5 in a row hits. We are currently in the off season so I don't know if this will materially help my sons game but I will report back after we going with the season. My gut feeling is that this is helping hand eye coordination, building muscle memory in regards to a level swing, and increasing power. My only worry is that as they get tired the quality of the swing goes down.

Un excelente producto funciona muy bien lo recomiendo

This thing got mashed by my nine year old after three weeks of use. This arrived May 31, and it's June 17 today. Complete garbage. A youth player should never be able to break steel tubing. The leg broke and is no longer usable.

セットすれば、いやな素振りも200回はこなします。 タイミングの取り方など、いろいろ素晴らしいです。

This product is very sturdy and heavy, and I'm quite impressed with the quality. It assembles easily, only a couple of pieces to put together, and you're off, swinging for the fences. And don't go easy with this...it works best when you're swinging full out as hard as you can. Looking forward to the Spring when I can see how much this helps with my swing in a game situation.

This is a piece of junk, DO NOT BUY! All the welds around the base have started coming apart after a couple of days of minimal use under a much lower stress than you should expect this to withstand. I’ve sent it back to Amazon for a refund.