Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

******UPDATE******* So, I've taken a star AWAY from the iFetch. I'm a little over 2 months in now, and I just CAN'T RECOMMEND this product at its price point. Its complicated. My dog LOVES this thing. LOVES it. She gets so excited when I pull it out for playtime, and she paws at it and nudges it when I put if away. She would play for HOURS if she could. The problem is, SHE CAN'T. As I mentioned in my initial review, the iFetch balls are TERRIBLE. After about 3 or 4 different iterations, the best balls (note: not GOOD, but best of the terrible options) are the Kong XS balls. But no matter what balls you use, you get about 10 firings before this stupid thing stops working. What I'VE seen to be the problem is; the "chute" that the ball travels through on the way to the wheels that shoot the ball, is PRECISELY measured to fit their balls. ANY AND ALL deviations from the EXACT MEASUREMENTS of the 15mm ball cause it to get stuck in the chute. Now, the ball is being chomped on and slobbered on by an excited dog, so its not going to retain its perfectly spherical shape for very long. The second the ball gets a little wet, or even slightly misshapen, it jams in the chute and doesn't fire. That takes about 10 fetches in my dogs case. After that, the iFetch COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY defeats its own purpose. If I have to force the ball through the machine, or fish it out and then throw it myself, why did I just drop $115 dollars?! And its like clockwork; you WILL NOT get more than 5 minutes of play out of this thing before it becomes an actual chore to operate, which is the opposite of its intended function. It sucks because I don't think there is a toy that my dog likes more. She really does love the iFetch, and WHEN IT WORKS, its absolutely awesome, but it is reliably bad and I totally regret the purchase. I really want to return it, but I don't know if they'd even take it back at this point. I've given it every chance to work, but its just either DESIGNED poorly or quality control is non existent. As great of an idea as it is, or as much as you think, "maybe it'll work for me," etc, etc, SAVE. YOUR. MONEY. This review is from someone who wanted NOTHING MORE than this thing to be awesome, and it just isn't. And its not just not awesome, IT DOESN'T WORK. Unless your dog will gently fetch the ball, and gently place it in the iFetch, without getting it wet or out of shape, avoid this. ****ORIGINAL REVIEW**** Ok, so I'm about 2 weeks into using this thing, and its got some good things, and then quite a few more bad things. I would rate it a 2 1/2 if it were possible. The Good: - Its quiet. It only runs when a ball is dropped in it, and stops after it shoots the ball. My dog isn't bothered at ALL by the noise, and gets excited hearing it wrrrrrr up, in anticipation of a toss - for MY house size, it throws the ball a perfect distance. Not too hard (my little dummy likes to stand DIRECTLY in front of the darn thing, catching a few balls off of her adorable snout), but far enough that she gets a good run chasing it down. Distance is adjustable too, with a simple button press. - Battery or AC charger powered. I keep mine plugged into the wall, but its nice to know that I can take it on the road if need be. The Bad: - Listen closely; the balls are USELESS. All three balls didn't make it a week. They fray, split in half, fall apart. They are the worst. And they have the nerve to be expensive to boot. They are also insanely small. I'm pretty sure this is purposeful to make sure you keep having to buy replacements from iFetch. I can't say enough bad things about the balls. - Mainly because of the point above, the unit is extremely "some timey." Once the balls frayed slightly, or got marginally misshapen or wet, the unit stopped shooting them. I had quite a few training sessions ruined because the dog did everything right, heard the motor go, got excited and anticipated a throw, then just looked at me as the unit failed to fire. As it stands now, I haven't been able to use it for about a week because it will not shoot the balls anymore because they have basically disintegrated and substitute replacement balls are hard to find because of their size. - The top bowl where the dogs need to drop the ball is inexplicably slanted backwards, away from the output hole. Having it pitched FORWARD would make more sense; even having it level would've been better. Basically, my dog has to go BEHIND the unit to drop the ball. Its an endless source of frustration for her, as she is just ready to get the throwing on the road. Its a weird design choice. - Did I mention how horrible the balls are yet? - The unit is very light. The slightest nudge or over zealous Jack Russell Terrier trying to drop a ball in the weird angled top causes the unit to tip over or go off line, shooting a ball into my wall, instead of down my hallway. - Not sure if I brought this up yet or not, but the balls are REALLY bad. My JRT has in inexhaustable amount of energy, and I got this so that she could wear her little hyper self out while I cook dinner or handle some business, but I was barely able to get her trained to properly use it before ALL THREE balls were rendered useless. She gets SO excited when I pull the iFetch out, but its been on the bench for a week because theres no ball that the unit will consistently shoot. I still like the thing, I just think I WAY overpaid for it, at $115.