The Mendini Pocket Trumpet arrived yesterday, and what a sweet little horn it is! Unlike some of the reviews I've read, my horn had excellent valve action and compression - I could detect no air leaks blowing against a closed bell. Intonation is fine but not perfect, then again, neither am I after not playing much for the past several decades.
I've been playing a E M Winston silver-plated flugelhorn for the past few months, as well as carrying a mouthpiece around to work on my embouchure in idle moments, especially while driving. The Winston flugelhorn , like the Mendini, is not a professional premium instrument but certainly sounds very good for the price.
The Mendini feels solid and well made. I oiled the valves with the provided oil, but will replace it with Blue Juice as I think it's a better lubricant. The slides work smoothly but stiffly, and will get some lubrication also in the next few days. At this price point, I have to call it an amazing deal for a quality instrument. Not professional quality, but perfectly adequate for practice and travel. And I need to practice ALOT before a more expensive instrument makes any sense.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS HORN!!! My hands are small. This trumpet fits perfectly in my hands. The valves are really fast! The slides work wonderfully. I can hardly believe the big sound I got with little effort. I have not experienced back pressure. The sound is to die for!! I will play this trumpet all day and all night long! I'm hooked and addicted to this cute little trumpet! Woo Hoo!

Had this for a week and all I can say is that it's a fairly nice horn even though tuning and inotation is off a bit. The sound however is actually quite nice and makes a big sound though it isn't near my Conn V1 but still quite decent. As for the valves, they did stick at first but after changing the springs and using Yamaha synthetic valve oil, they work like magic giving smooth action. In my opinion this would make a great horn to practice on if you're on the go and don't really care what happens to it but you should switch your own mouthpiece to play on as the stock one isn't really a 7C.

UPDATE:
So the 'trick' to getting the most out of this was to stretch out the valve springs ALMOST DOUBLE. Now I get a really snappy return, however any oil other than Blue Juice produces a noisy valve return. I've added a fourth star to my rating because despite this quirk, this resonant little beauty has become my go-to horn.

First, I have to say I LOVE the sound this little thing produces, but the valves suck! After a couple years of love/hate and switching to Blue Juice oil, and having it cleaned a couple of times, and changing to Yamaha springs I got it to pause sticking for a few numbers at a time. Next, I'm going to get some custom springs made at an industrial shop (there are 'fast return' springs out there, but they cost 8-10X what normal springs cost, so I'm going the extra and having a variety of slightly stronger to much stronger springs made.
So, why am I going through the trouble? Like I said, I LOVE the sound, and am determined to make this reliably playable. But if you're not as stubborn as I am, then I'd have to say, give this little gem a pass.
I'll update when I've found the right springs.

Like the horn for the price. If you are going to play gigs on it know the valves on mine are a little sluggish. I had them worked on but it didn't help much. Can't really do Clarke studies on them or Dippermouth Blues for example. For a horn to tote and practice on its fine. It is tons of fun if I wasn't so thrifty I would purchase a Carol Brass or something similar. Tuning on mine is surprisingly good that's what made me want to play it out in public but the valves put the brakes on that. I hope this helps.