[blindkid] never stands still

[Richard Holloway]

Sure,

The best we've found so far (our fifth small trampoline) has been our  
Bazoongi 55" Junior Combo Trampoline with Teclon Pad. (That's the  
official name on the web site.) I mention this with some reservation  
because we have had some problems with it, but it  has been better  
than our first four... All of these small units seem to be within a  
foot or less from the floor.

It has steel springs which I thought would solve everything over our  
previous elastic and bungee "springs". Well, the springs mount into  
little slots in the frame. Jump enough and the edge of the punched  
slot and the hook of the spring rub one another. The holes get longer  
while the springs get thinner. After about six months, springs began  
to break. (The hook ends simply snap off.) They sent replacements but  
then I realized the frame was getting damaged (slots tearing to the  
center of the frame, my oversight-- could not see that before I took  
it apart to add the springs though). They sent a new frame but then I  
realized they sent the wrong frame (too small, their mistake). They  
sent another frame but then I realized we were short on springs from  
the first batch (also their mistake). Finally they sent 40 more  
springs and I replaced every one again. All this took several weeks  
and I expect to have springs failing again this fall sometime and  
suspect the frame could be getting unsafe a few months after that.  
People at Bazoongi were very nice and polite and all parts and  
shipping to date have been free but the hassle factor is still pretty  
high.

Bottom line is that any of these $100-range products simply seem not  
to be designed to last for a terribly long time.

The Intex Jump-O-Lene (I assume that's the one?) looks fun, but my  
first reaction is the sides look low enough that a jumper could vault  
over the side. Also, ultimately most of these blow-up units spring  
leaks and deflate. This becomes a huge pain, re-inflating over and  
again until the leaks are so fast that you can't use them anymore.  
Adult weight may also pop them if you have to crawl in to rescue a  
child with a "boo-boo", for example. Usually patch kits are included  
but these often fail to stop the leaks properly. The trampoline above  
has about 6 feet of surround netting so there's no chance of that,  
though you can fall out the door if the netting tears up or the "door"  
is not closed.

For something smaller than the Bazoongi we have, I'd probably look on  
their same page at the 48"  Bazoongi® Bouncer. (Comes in pink or  
orange camo.) This one is $100. (The next one up is only $7 more.) The  
key difference is that the 55" unit has no actual handle but tall  
sides with netting while the 48" has no surround netting but does have  
a padded, "inverted-U" handle. Smaller kids could probably do better  
with the handle, but if they do let go, there is no safety net so  
think of that when you set it up. All of these small units (like the  
48" and the 55") seem to be within a foot or less from the floor.  
Carpet with a pad is better than a hard floor. Pillows around it might  
help, but put them out far enough to catch a rebounding child.

Here is the Bazoongi page:
http://www.bazoongi.com/trampoline.htm

You could also go in the inflatable bounce house direction of you have  
enough space and can tolerate the noise of the blower. Honestly, I'd  
want a basement room to use these inside but they are great to softly  
stop a fall and the surround nets are strong. However they'd  
completely fill most of our living rooms, especially when you factor  
in the blower that has to run all the time it is up. Better for most  
of us to find outdoor space but then you have winter snow and summer  
mosquitos to factor in or whatever local frustrations mother nature  
will throw your way.

I hope that helps a bit.

If anyone else has some better recommendations, please jump in with  
them. I know of more durable solutions but they are in the larger  
trampoline and bounce house realm. They require a chunk of outdoor  
space and are from several hundred dollars to up in the $1000-plus  
range for even the lower end offerings in that arena.

Richard



On Jun 10, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Heather wrote:

> Richard, this might be off topic, but since you brought it up, could  
> you please recommend a good quality small toddler trampoline and  
> then maybe one for slightly larger kids?  We baught Jeremy one when  
> he out grew his baby jumper at around 12 months old, but the one we  
> got was a pain to set up, has very little bounce, is very small  
> considering the amount of space it takes up and is already showing  
> signs of ware and tare and Jeremy only jumps about thirty to forty  
> minutes a day.  It's funny that you mention all that your daughter  
> does on hers.  Jeremy loves to watch TV, listen to the radeo, sing,  
> talk to himself, or his checkered towel, his version of a security  
> blanket, even look at books or pet the cat who has learned that for  
> pats he needs to stand on the table where Jeremy's bouncing hand  
> will pat, but not hit him while meowing up a storm to go with the  
> toddler babble.  I am always having to stop him from bringing his  
> sippy cup or finger food snack up there with him.  In a pinch for  
> time with Jeremy in a pissy mood I have even managed diaper changes  
> and clothing changes while he jumped lightly.  lol  He never jumps  
> for more than five minutes at a time, but he will do it through out  
> the day, and if thwarted by time constraints, it is clear that his  
> mood and receptiveness to learning suffers if he can't jump.  His  
> other thing, that I will post about and ask some thing about later  
> is going up and down and up and down our stairs for up to an hour  
> and forty minutes with various games and make-believe employed while  
> doing it.  So, second the trampoline recommendation, add the  
> recommendation for something called a jumpaline, a mini bounce house  
> for the living room that Jeremy also recommends, as he has one of  
> those at Jim's house and the trampoline at mine, , and request  
> recommendations for spacific trampolines that pass the Kendra ceal  
> of approval.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org 
> >
> To: <empwrn at bellsouth.net>; "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for  
> parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 2:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still