Trampolines - advice please!

uganda

I have been checking sites for trampolines for our little one to play with her cousins on.

I have no experience in this field. Basically, I am looking for one that is safe for toddlers up to bigger children (I was thinking an 8-footer, if that's not too big).

I want to keep my costs down of course - I have seen ones for £60-odd - but I don't want to compromise quality and especially safety.

I don't want to buy one for less than £100 then find it falls to bits after a year. I would be reluctant to pay £200 say, but if that means having a trampoline that lasts until their kids are using it years from now, then that would be a good reason to spend more.

So any ideas? Best value models taking all the above into account. Any help much appreciated!

PS I put this in this forum because it seemed the best one - I couldn't find one for toys and games. If I should post elsewhere, please point me in that direction. Thanks!

jackomdj

I have been thinking about getting a trampoline & although I don't know much about prices yet (won't be buying till we move)

I do know that the shaped ones (think they are hexagonal) are supposed to be better than round as the little ones don't all end up bouncing into the middle for some reason.

Also when we get one we will be digging into the ground, if they come off (even with a net there is always that chance) then they will be safer (a couple of years ago on holiday we saw a young girl come flying out of the velcro safety net, hit herself on the outside & end up head first onto the hard ground!). Also our youngest is just about to turn 2 & it will save us having to help her on/off every 2 minutes!

HTH
Nicky

Fruity1

I have found that my 10ft one with a net has been fine. I have had it from my youngest being 4yrs, my eldest is now 10 and still bouncing around quite happily on it. Due to moving I've had two the first from Toys R Us £99 the second from Focus £99 both with nets. The first one is still going strong.

MrsTinks

I'll move it over to the families board think you might get more reples over there

jimexbox

I bought a 10ft one for my kids last year. It cost about £150 ish all in. I was quite surprised in that it was better quality than I thought, although the instructions were totally abysmal. I literally had to used the picture as a guide. Its just been through our bad winter and it still looks brand new. I cant keep my two off it.

It came with the safty net and ladders, but also a net that goes around the bottom of the trampoline that stops the little one going under it when others are bouncing away. Something very handy with my kids, who are positively attracted to danger.

It great exercise for adults too, 20 minutes on that and Im shattered.

lynnexxxo

I bought a 7ft on in asda last year for £70. It turnd out to be made by the company called trampled underfoot which is one of the better makes.

The ones from toys rus etc are fine if you take them down in the winter. In fact you should take the more expensiveones down in the winter too. If not they will not last that long, certainly not until your kids have kids!

Having said that its a major hassle to take it down, so mine is left out

Jackmdj, have you thought about the amount of earth you will have to move to sink the trampoline in? Also you would needsome some sort of support to stop the sides collapsing. Also drainage, you could end up with a two in one trampoline paddling pool!

We got ours when my youngest was just under two. He uses the ladder bit of a little tykes slide to get up and down

jimexbox

You should never buy a trampoline where the access panel in the safety net is secured with Velcro. The net I have has a heavy duty zip, which zips shut in a 'L' shape.

sooty&sweep

Hi

I'd been planning to buy a trampoline for my children age 3 & 8. However I read a piece on the ROSPA website (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and to be honest it put me right off the idea. Here's a link.
http://search.rospa.com/search?btnG=Search&q=trampoline&site=rospa&client=rospa&proxystylesheet=rospa&output=xml_no_dtd

Their recommendation is not for under the age of 6 and the stats they had on children injured through playing on a trampoline was high even if the child is supervised.

I'm possibly being a bit of a worrier but my 3 year old daughter knows no fear so it worried me. So I'm going to wait a couple of years.

Jen

ailuro2

I work with a man whose son is a very skilled trampolinist, he told me he loathes the rise of big trampolines in gardens, says they can cause severe injury in a split second.

His teenaged son broke a bone landing at the wrong timing, even though he's been training for years.

I've decided to keep away from them for our garden.

Sounds very ''elf and safety'' I know, but I'm usually of the opinion that safe is better than sorry.

ema_o

jackomdj wrote: »

Also when we get one we will be digging into the ground, if they come off (even with a net there is always that chance) then they will be safer (a couple of years ago on holiday we saw a young girl come flying out of the velcro safety net, hit herself on the outside & end up head first onto the hard ground!). Also our youngest is just about to turn 2 & it will save us having to help her on/off every 2 minutes!

HTH
Nicky

What a great idea, I have never heard of doing that!

I remember at school when we learnt trampolining everyone had to stand around the trampoline ready to stop someone falling off by pushing them back on... doubt they'd get away with that nowadays!!

laura_24601

ema_o wrote: »

What a great idea, I have never heard of doing that!

I remember at school when we learnt trampolining everyone had to stand around the trampoline ready to stop someone falling off by pushing them back on... doubt they'd get away with that nowadays!!

we had to do that at my school too. i finished school in 2004 though !