Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

Bought this for my 9 yo Little Leaguer for backyard BP. Set up was not very easy, but not very difficult either. Support posts were well marked and easy to fit together. I made sure all support ropes between posts were measured precisely before putting support posts up, as would be difficult to adjust them later at 10-12 feet high. Knot tying skills are helpful, although mine are middle of the road at best. Putting net over support structure was the tricky part, but I was doing this alone. Until you advance the net over the apex of the support posts it tends to slide right back off in the early going. I ended up using a large push broom to lift up the net and advance it over the structure while still standing on the ground. Much easier than climbing up and down a ladder. While the ground stakes work well, we ended up placing support lines from the end support posts to nearby tress to avoid having these lines running to the ground where people, or our two dogs, might trip over them and/or dislodge them. Cage has only been up about 2 weeks but has already weathered two wind and thunderstorms without loosening up.

We have ordered a pitching machine to use with the cage which has not yet arrived, so thus far we have only used this 24 foot cage for fast toss BP, which works just fine. At this close range a solid protective screen is a must. I wanted the 30 foot Xtender cage but it would not fit in the space we had, so we knew this would be a bit tight. With a Heater pitching machine that stands outside the netting and even back a few feet, we will still be able to have a pitching distance of 20+ feet. We also put some twine through the netting at the batter's end of the cage to pull that wall back a bit and give more space to swing.

Again, a little small but big enough, relatively sturdy once up. Will be interesting to see how netting holds up over time.

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

Very difficult to setup with getting the net taut and properly position. Have had the product for 6 months, needs constant adjustment so that the net does not droop inside and impact swing, and stays on the ground to prevent the balls from leaving the netted area.
Terrible design.

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

We use this cage for our two sons who are avid little league baseball players. So far is has held up well. The neighbors all come to hit in the cage as well. We can even use it for golf practice as well because the netting has a tight enough weave. I would recommend that you make sure the cross/support ropes that go between the 3 main poles are tied with no slack between them as it gives more support to the net and reduces the sagging. We bought and use the heater hitting machine with this net. Once it's set up, it's easy to temporarily collapse in the event of a major storm (it can stay up in small/regular storms). You just lay the main poles down and then replace them without re-doing the entire setup. We live in a cold winter climnate so it will need to be dismantled during the winter, but set up is relatively easy.

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

Great batting cage. Not difficult to set up BUT do not pound the ground stakes in all the way until you are close to the final steps. Reason being, that you will have to remove them once the actual netting goes on the batting cage. We had originally pounded them all the way into the ground and it was a headache, not to mention all the time it took when we noticed the instructions told us to remove them so that they went through the netting. So just pound them in a bit and then you can pound them all the way in AFTER the netting is on. Other than that, installing it was very easy and so far it works very well!!

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

Great Product

Comments about Trend Sports Xtender 24 Home Batting Cage:

I've had this batting cage set up for about two weeks now. My daughter plays fast pitch tournament softball. I can see a remarkable improvement already in her hitting the ball. We have actually had her entire team over for batting practice and the whole team is improving. What a great investment.