5 year old grandson loves it! Outside for hours at a time. Recommend you buy a dozen extra balls.

This is a great unit. I dont know what these other reviewers are talking about. The net is easy to put together. I would say it is correct for under 12 years old. Although I stand in it and hit fine I am 5'11". The machine is not their most powerful ... but it is good for my kids to take some cuts and I dont have to chase balls. 11, 8, 7, 5 years old all have fun. I move the machine up in the net for the older kid it comes in relatively quick, and then back and up for the softball player ... and younger baseball sons. The yellow balls make a nice sound and you can feel them when you hit ... and poly balls should be nice when I use them maybe going faster. I would also suggest buying some jugs balls - or baden big leaguer wiffles with seams to make it more realistic although this comes with poly balls which should be good. Net is good quality. Easy to put together in my estimation. 1st time little longer, 2nd time a breeze. Easier to stick poles in ground after a rain. Machine good too for grounders, practicing as a catcher and some simple pop ups. Fun stuff! Also - when you hit these balls at machine they a light enough where no damage. This is like the franklin mlb pitching machine, but way more accurate, throws harder, better adjustability - and consistent power because it uses plug. And net cage is awesome. Spend way more time hitting. I am a little league coach.

Throws about 25-30 feet depending on how you angle the machine, 20 feet fairly straight and reasonably consistent. My guess is 30-35 mph, so for beginning little leaguers a good place to start. The balls are junk though: they all broke within the first 2 days of use. We bought the Heater plastic dimpled balls, and the machine actually works MUCH better with those: more accuracy, speed, and distance: about 35-40 mph reasonably straight over 35 feet. Every once in a while the machine plops out a dud, but as long as you keep loading it (the feeder holds about 14 Heater balls) it will throw 85% no problem. Of course, using wet balls or in the rain is pointless. We don't use the net because we have a decent sized yard. For the price, a good deal. Does NOT work with real baseballs. But we use those plastic/rubber Heater balls with an actual little league bat.