Diggin JumpSmart Trampoline

The director of our son's preschool suggested the Diggin JumpStart trampoline as a Christmas gift for our 3 year-old son when we talked to her about a certain activity he's started to enjoy. He holds the back of our couch and jumps up and down on the cushion with great zeal and vigor, a huge grin plastered from ear-to-ear, while laughing and laughing. While most parents wouldn't like jumping on the furniture, we had additional concerns. The other side of the couch is a railing that looks down on the stairwell and downstairs. With such a prodigious loft, my wife is terrified he'll bounce himself clear down to the nether bowels of our home.The preschool director couldn't remember the name of the item, but said it was on Amazon. I gave her my cell phone and she got on Amazon and found it in an instant. I put it in my shopping cart and purchased it that evening.Christmas morning he saw it with great excitement. It took a bit of labor to get it assembled, especially the contraption that sits below the trampoline and counts his jumps. Once it was set up, we turned it on and had him try it.OMG! I have never seen him so invigorated and excited over any toy. He jumped himself to exhaustion. He'd eventually drop to his knees, heaving and huffing and puffing with his hair matted in sweat. A few minutes later, he stood back up and continued jumping and jumping and jumping. The adults were standing at the entry of the room laughing. It was so cute to watch him and his seemingly endless quantity of energy and excitement. This lasted close to 45 minutes before he was too tired to continue.The engineering of this unit is well thought out. The arm span and height is ideal for kids of a wide-enough age range so it can be used for a number of years. Our son, as I said, is 3 years old and about 30 lbs. He can comfortably hold the green part of the handle in front of the red ball ends. This part is high enough that he can grow another foot or so and it will still be comfortable. His weight is not even an issue for this trampoline. He can pack on quite a bit of weight and size before he'll grow out of it.The electronics are also well integrated. He has a number of different buttons to press to change the songs, sounds, and counting, which keeps him interested, and it changes things up depending on what he wants to hear during his play time. Our only complaint is the audio quality, which is common for practically any child toy. The woman's digitized voice that counts and talks to him, we have to strain to understand her at times. But it does what it's intended to do, and the music plays fine.His interest isn't quite as intense as on Christmas, but he still uses it with more moderation than when he first received it. It's excellent exercise and has completely solved the problem of him bouncing on the furniture.We heartily recommend the Diggin JumpStart trampoline. It's safe, well built, and in our opinion, reasonably priced. It provides great value to the dollar! Best of all, it's a healthy addition to any child's physical activities.

After reading all the reviews about how hard this was to assemble, I was a little apprehensive to order it while my husband was deployed overseas. It does say in the instructions that you need 2 people, but I found a little trick that allowed me to assemble it all by myself (without tearing my hair out) and I think that this trick would also help ease the frustrations of ANY couple attempting to put this trampoline together! The secret weapon. . . ZIP TIES!!! If you have enough zip ties, this project is no big deal. Just zip tie the mat in place so it is evenly spaced within the frame. I just put the zip ties on loosely first, and then tightened them one by one to make sure the mat was centered. Once the mat is secure and tight, you are able to weave the bungee through without any problem.I used 13 long zip ties and it did the trick. I used 3 for each corner, zip tying each of the two corner holes to the side closest to them, and then zip tying their zip ties to the center leg pole just below the screw (which kept the zip tie from sliding up). This kept the corners flat and easy to work with. I used 3 more zip tying the center on each side and the last one I used to zip tie the beginning of the bungee to the "start" leg (below the screw so it doesn't go anywhere) so I could get tension on it. Then I started weaving the bungee. The key to the bungee is to get it really tight to begin with. Otherwise you have to keep going back and making it tighter, which is harder to do once it is weaved. (It would have been nice if someone had been there to hold the frame. . . I had to use my foot to keep the frame from moving while I was pulling on the bungee) Clasping the two ends of bungee together was the hardest thing about the process, but with a little elbow grease, it can be done! Then just cut all the zip ties and you are ready to rock and roll!I am just posting this to let you know that there is hope out there! This trampoline was well worth it for my 2 year old daughter. Even though she is not heavy enough to trick the sensor for the interactive stuff, she still enjoys jumping and pushing the buttons to listen to the sounds they make! I am glad I tackled this project now and didn't have to wait until my husband got home!I also suggest putting on a good movie or show while you are putting it together!Hope this helps!!!