Pros: Versatile, well designed and built all around baseball training aide. Great company to work with.
Cons: Only throws one type of pitch, but can be adjusted to mimic different ball movement.
The Bottom Line: Great company, great product. Anyone who seriously want to help their child develop baseball skills can't find a better training aide.
MPW77's Full Review: Zooka Sports ZS740 Portable Pitching Machine
The Zooka ZS740 is their top of line product. The ZS720 is a slightly smaller unit with slightly less power. While I don't have first hand experience with the 720, I would recommend anyone considering it to pay the extra amount for the 740 as it will be usable longer. They are almost the same machine, but the 740 reaches speeds of 70 mph, which will take kids through HS, it also generates longer fly balls.
The greatest value of the Zooka is that it is portable. It has a heavy duty, industrial strength battery that will be more than enough for most team practices, much less personal use. Unless you are fortunate enough to have room for a batting cage in your backyard, you will need to go to the field for batting practice. If you are a coach you will be going there any way.
The Zooka is easily transportable. Because it can be directed from horizontal to straight-up vertical, it is excellent for fielding practice -- ground balls, line drives and pop ups. There isn't a player position that can't be worked-out with all possible situations.
The Zooka doesn't throw sliders, curves, etc., but it has a change up mode and by using different power/speed settings and different distance locations curves and sinkers can be approximated.
The Zooka is very reproduceable in its pitches, this can be good and bad. With hardballs the variability is pretty much in the strike zone, with dimpled balls it is supposed to be tighter, but I haven't checked this out yet. Inexpensive machines like the Rawlings are much too wild to be safe, the Zooka moves the ball around enough, but doesn't expose your child to getting beaned.
It also can be used with all types of balls (baseball size or smaller). This means it can be used for tennis, roller hockey, LAX, etc. practices. While it doesn't work with softballs, anyone who can hit a baseball can hit a softball.
Lastly the company is a pleasure to deal with. They have developed a state of the art product that is well thought out, designed and manufactured. They offer a 12 month warranty, but the unit is designed to last well past this period. They even offer a 30 trial period with no questions asked to return it.
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