Furlihong 692BH Baseball Pitching Machine, Use Ping Pong Size Training Balls for Visual Acuity and Hitting Accuracy Improvement, Powered by Batteries or AC Power, Includes 60 pcs Balls

I ordered this on a whim for my 14u select team. I didn't really expect to get my money's worth, especially considering the mixed reviews and low price point. It honestly looked like a cheap piece of crap for little kids but I thought it might be fun to mess with. For context we hardly ever do hitting practice. I think at this age team hitting practice is a waste of time. Individual work is nice but throwing 10 balls and saying next doesn't do much. We focus on defense and pitching and have had great results during our 40 game seasons. That being said, we still have days where are bats are cold and we can't adjust against a particular pitcher. I used this machine today at practice. I'm the only coach with no assistant. I set this up in the outfield with a bucket lid and set pairs of 2 over to hit 30 each, while I worked with the rest of the boys on fielding related stuff. We just rotated the 2 over there all practice. I paired the machin with a Stix heavy skinny bat. 30oz and thin as a broom stick. The machine was about 15 feet away and spitting out balls roughly 30mph. I saw the boys really struggle their first few swings and then make small adjustments and start driving it. I also saw one of our best hitters really REALLY struggle for about 50 swings 😹 I took the team over and had them watch him struggle. Stopped him and explained what was wrong, he adjusted and started smoking em. His biggest issue is his lack of Adaptability. He really got the hang of it tho. The balls fly surprisingly far for their light weight. Further than those white ones with holes. The boys really loved it and it was a great workout. The cons is that you can't buy extra balls that I can find. It comes with 60 tho which is nice. Another con is that there's no indicator when the ball is coming so very difficult to time up. As a coach tho I found it to be a pro as well cause the boys really had to get their front foot down early. It was almost like a very defensive 2 strike approach. Overall a fantastic product for the price. It is lightweight and made of plastic so not sure of its longevity, but we will be using it every practice and before games from now on so will find out soon.

It's a nice little machine that does the job nicely. It's not terribly consistent with it's pitches (up and down) and will alternate between high and low seemingly at random, but it's manageable. Like other people have noted, there's no indicator that the ball is about to be pitched other then a split second when you see the ball roll into the opening of the feed tube. FYI: For people looking for additional balls, I did a test with both golfball-sized wiffle balls and actual ping pong balls as replacements. For reference, the yellow balls that come with the machine are about 40mm in diameter and are solid plastic, with no holes. Wiffle Balls: The golfball-sized wiffle balls that I own are ~41mm in diameter and fit in the machine just fine, but there is a jamming issue with the machine where the ball retaining post below the hopper will stick through the holes in the wiffle ball and cause a jam. This happened in about 1 of every 3 pitches on the machine. I haven't tried these balls in the field, but I would imagine the aggravation wouldn't be worth trying to unjam every few balls. Ping Pong Balls: The ping pong balls that I own measured at ~39mm, also fitting in the machine just fine. I did not encounter any jamming issues, but the balls did not fly as straight/far/consistently as the balls that came with the machine. My assumption is because there's not as much tightness/friction coming from the fly wheels to give as much consistency and the ping pong balls are relatively lighter in comparison. If I'm ever in need of more balls, and can't find replacements from the manufacturer, I'll most likely buy ping pong balls in bulk for the machine which are currently around $23 per 100 balls on Amazon.

Great training aid. If you can hit these you can barrel up a baseball. Also if you need to buy more balls the foam golf balls will work fine in this machine.

Got this for my son to hit balls in the garage. I did end up purchasing foam golf balls (the balls it came with sting if they hit you) and they work fine. The balls do launch pretty fast for my 11 year old but I think it is great for his tracking. Good training aid. I was nervous based on some of the comments and can see where it may not last a super long time, but happy overall.

Use sponge golf balls. Pretty cool for the price

Just got it so update will be at a later time. If you need to work on your timing then one way or another get something now. This will work helping your swing, hand/eye coordination, and maybe timing. Is a short machine so it spits out short blooper pitches but still not horrible Plastic balls go about 50 yards when you hit them. Machine should be about $50 . All plastic. Looks like a toddlers toy.

Bought this for my daughter for Christmas who plays 12u softball. Not bad for in the basement just to get some swings on a rainy day. Pitches kind of slow and only came with 25 balls not the 60 it says it comes with. A little bit disappointed.

My son love this so much. He is 13. It’s the perfect size , not too big or heavy. I keep it in the trunk so we can stop at any park to practice. It helps tremendously with practice and I don’t have to throw balls anymore.