Review on 🎾 Mini BALLPORT Tennis Ball Pick Up Hopper by Tourna by Black Croom

I bought one of these little hopper balls two summers ago so my then 52 inch daughter could use it as our big all metal hopper , the Wilsons 72 was too heavy for you. The design is great but the quality was so bad it stopped working. However, I have found that with minimal DIY skills and effort I can fix it and get my Mini Ballport working properly again. DESCRIPTION: The Tourna Mini Ballport Funnel is easy to assemble and takes about 5 minutes to twist the sides and one end together, insert the legs/handles and insert the top and bottom bars into the slots. at the bottom and grooves at the top, then screw on the other end to secure the entire container. A fully assembled hopper weighs about 3-4 pounds and is 30.5 inches tall. I intentionally didn't count, but I think it holds about 36 balls. The legs pivot up slightly to form handles for carrying or picking up balls, and pivot back down and lock slightly to serve as legs. The balls are lifted by lifting the handle upwards, placing the bottom of the hopper over the ball, and then pushing the bottom of the hopper, which is hollow with two rods running through it, slightly narrower than the width of the ball, over it the ball which, when squeezed, is placed between the bars as it is squeezed and then falls to the bottom of the bunker. Under normal circumstances, an uncompressed tennis ball is slightly wider than the distance between the bars and will not fall off the ground. BENEFITS: - Lightweight and easy for kids to carry and handle - Holds about the right amount of balls for a quick warm up to serving practice - Easy to use - Excellent service from Tourna - I called them to request an extra bottom bar (see below) ) and instead they sent me a brand new Mini Ballport a few days later. - When it works properly, it works very well. CONS: - Poor overall quality of the plastic sides of the hopper. Whether due to a defect in materials or workmanship, most of the flat black plastic panels that bolt together to form the funnel box are warped and bowed out (and they unfortunately can't be swapped 180 degrees - they're one-sided). . This creates more space between the pages than there should be. The two sets of rods (the lower ones are fixed, the upper ones are in a groove and can be opened and closed for use on the court to prevent balls from rolling out) must be held in place by friction and pressure. firmly to the side of the box. The deformed plastic causes the space between the sides to become too wide to hold the sticks securely. For my first mini ball port, as I walked to the court, I noticed that the ball hit my foot as it fell out of the bottom of the hopper and when I looked I saw that one of the bars had fallen out due to the deformed sides. were too far apart to keep him safe. I never found this rod and had to contact the manufacturer. The sides of the second replacement bunker were also deformed, but not as badly as the first. I didn't think the bottom bars would stay in place so I glued them on and after two years of use they were fine. However, I couldn't glue the top support rods that were supposed to slide in the groove from open to closed, and the distance between the rods was too big, so sometimes one of the rods came loose. I found this issue to be common this spring and upon closer inspection noticed that the plastic on one side was chipped at the corners where the pages curl. I have to glue it again. - Doesn't hold enough balls for a typical workout - I've found I pick up balls twice as often when using this hopper instead of my larger Wilson. However, this is a function of matching the intended use to the stated properties of the item. So to be honest this is more a question of user preference than a flaw in the product itself. CONCLUSION: I cannot recommend this product for the use intended by the manufacturer as the quality of the tank's sidewall components was very poor and inadequate. However, I can give a qualified recommendation if you are willing to forego disassembling the reservoir and glue everything together forever. When the bars are securely attached, they are very useful for collecting and storing balls. APPENDIX - HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT AND FIX MANUFACTURING DEFECTS - First assemble the funnel using only the screws provided to see how it fits. Maybe you have a better made unit than the two I received and everything is secure. If so I would use something like Gorilla Glue to glue the bottom two bars in place to keep them from falling out. If your bin's side and end panels are warped, I would also tape the edges of the bin panel together just before you bolt the box. This strengthens the overall structure and makes it less likely that you'll break the corner piece where the screw hole is, as happened to me. If you lose a rod from the hopper, remove one of the other rods, take that rod to your local hardware store and buy a piece of brass tubing the same diameter as the rod to make a replacement rod (the wooden dowel may not be strong enough for this diameter). I think I paid about $2-3 for a tube. I measured the length of the tube to be slightly longer than the standard pole for extra security, cut it with a hacksaw, and then glued it to the bottom of my first mini ballport so I now have two fully functional mini ballport funnels . If you've lost the top bar or the bars aren't long enough and keep falling out because your side panels are warped, add maybe 4mm or more to the length of the new bar you're cutting. , and the longer replacement rod must not fall out of the groove.