Zooka ZS740 Baseball Pitching Machine - Throws Balls 10-70 MPH- Cordless Battery Powered Pitching Machine for Kids, Youth, Adults - Adjustable Pitching Machine Baseballs - Tall Telescoping Tripod

I got this for my son(13) and daughter(9). We've used it 4 times now and I love it. It's great for fly balls (both hardballs and tennis balls). The pitching accuracy is really good. It's easy to use and setup. I can carry both the Zooka and its tripod together and they fit in my trunk. I looked at some more expensive, higher velocity, systems but they were all 120V and I didn't want to have to lug a generator or rig up a battery with inverter to run the thing. We went out with this yesterday and ran the thing pretty much nonstop for 2 hours. Battery was still half full and we didn't see any drop in performance. My son loves setting it to 100% and trying to hit 93mph tennis balls.

The item arrived defective. Everything fired up, but then instead of launching a ball the air compressor appears to simply release all of the air. I called customer service and they immediately sent me a new machine that arrived a few days later. The customer service was excellent to work with. The new machine works great, and I love the unit. Unlike most pitching machines, it's extremely portable so it will be easy to transport to and from practice. Also, my backyard batting cage is only 25 feet or so from pitch to plate, and the Zooka is able to pitch balls slow enough for my 10-year old to hit while still being consistent in accuracy. And I cranked it all the way up to test the velo and it seriously popped. Great amateur machine.

I bought this for my two grandsons. The oldest 12 years old used to practice left hand batting (he’s right handed) and the 8 year old was playing first season with pitchers and rest of teammates had previously played so he had to play catch-up. He ended season as one of the sluggers and his team won season championship. Unfortunately it started to malfunction BUT Ron was very helpful first trying to reset the machine and diagnose the problem by phone then telling us to return to Zooka for further diagnosis under warranty. This morning Ron called to say the problem had been fixed and also to repair the feeder that had been bent all at no charge. This machine is easy easy easy to set up and work all without cords or an outlet. We never ran out of battery during practices.

I’ve only been using this machine for a week. The machine seems to work well. Since I don’t have a speed gun to verify the pitching speed, I can’t vouch for the correctness of the speed. The pitching accuracy is very good using regular baseballs, such as the R-100 balls from Rawlings which are rated to high school use. It appears to be solidly built with a hard plastic shell. A couple of times balls have been hit with baseballs but the machine was not even scratched. It is easy to operate and the instruction manual is clear. I’m only giving it 3 stars because the maufactureer’s communications have been awful. I send both an email and a voice message two weeks ago and have not received a response.

NOTE: John at Zooka called me back and said they are sending a replacement unit ... hopefully we just got a defective one ... I’ll update when we receive and try it ...ORIGINAL REVIEW: My son and I were very excited when we read about the Zooka ZS740. We ordered one with an autofeeder and an extra battery.The rechargeable battery allowing use without plugging it in and providing true portability was very appealing.Unfortunately our Zooka was very erratic. It threw few strikes despite repeated adjustments and we spent hours trying to get it to work correctly. One pitch would sail over the batter’s head and the next would bounce 10 feet in front of the plate (this is running with the ball feeder). It would throw way outside and way inside. Then you’d get a strike. I understand it’s not supposed to hit the same spot again and again, but this is useless.I called Zooka to ask for advice and got voicemail. I left a message explaining and asked for a call back. My call was not returned— and the next day, on the second pitch, a plastic ring inside the Zooka broke and flew down the barrel (see photo).I called again and again got voicemail . I asked for a call back and haven’t gotten it hours later.This is unacceptable. We hope it was just a faulty unit, but even if that’s true, the customer service has been ridiculously bad.My son is very disappointed and I’m very unhappy.I’ll update this to let you know what happens.

This is the second one I've purchased. The first one, though worked great for a while, would stop throwing balls and contacting customer service for assistance became fruitless. My kids are 11 and 10, so I didn't really need a jugs or similar machine to throw 80 or 90 obviously, so this was portable and a good cheaper option. So I bought a new one. That one now isn't throwing after several months, and I can't get it to reset. I've called customer service several times, and left messages on their voicemail (which is obviously a small mom and pop operation). I received one call back without any suggestions even though I left a detailed message. I'm resigned now to getting a Jugs or similar, better product. If you're going to spend this much, might as well go all the way and get a more reliable, quality machine.

This pitching machine works great. I use it for a 35ft backyard pitching cage. The lights and audible beeps alert the batter to when the pitch is coming. Every once in a while, it throws an off speed pitch, but that is not a bad thing for kids learning to hit. The speed settings are easy to set, and it is nice to see the mph speed after each pitch. I use dimpled balls and the machine is very consistent.I also used this at a field to practice pop ups with my kids. This machine can shoot baseballs as high as you want.Also, the manufacturer has great customer service. The second day we used it my son hit a shot right back to the machine and cracked the piece that holds the optical sensor. I called up the manufacturer and they sent me a replacement piece with instructions to fix it. I got the replacement within two days and the machine works great.