Customer Reviews

Wilson Ball Pickup 75

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I use this basket several times a week. It drives me crazy every time.
1) Washers/Screws falls off and basket falls apart. Fixed it with zip ties but I didn't buy this to have to do that.
2) Handles constantly popping off. No fix for this.
Please save your money and buy something else!

If you play a lot of tennis and practice a lot, seriously consider getting a ball hopper like this. Why do you need one? Basically because it's a more efficient way to pick balls up off the ground and will save your back. How does it do this?

Well, with the handles in the "up" position, the hopper is pretty close to the ground when you carry it, so all you have to do is set the thing down over a tennis ball. Since its got this neat little one-way trapdoor on its base, that lets balls in the cage but not out- whallah- you just picked up a ball without ever bending over!

As you can tell, hoppers are great inventions, as I can't imagine trying to bend over and pick up 20 or 30 (or more) balls off the ground without one. Also, when the hopper is full of balls, you can fold the handles down into legs and use it as a stand to hold your balls while you practive serves and such. Sturdy and easy to put together (4 screws), its definitely a must if you're into tennis. Other items I can recommend for tennis players include Treat Your Own Tennis Elbow.

I bought this item because of the Wilson name and what looked like convenient, sturdy construction. Putting it together was easy enough, but it turned out the legs did not lock in place because the span of the hooks was smaller than that of the legs. My husband was able to force the legs into the hooks but then even he couldn't unhook them easily. I envisioned 70 tennis balls spilling out across the court during such a struggle. I exchanged the item, thinking it may have been a fluke, but its replacement was exactly the same. Not only that, one of the bolt caps broke off when my ten year old daughter was hand tightening it. This is not the quality I expected from Wilson.

Hard to review a product like this... it's like reviewing a pencil, if it writes, it worked.

In all seriousness this is a nice hopper, I like it better than the Gamma hoppers you see everyone walking around with if for no other reason than the clasping nub at the top of the handles that will "lock" the hopper closed, that's a nice touch.

The metal used is on the thick side and the hopper has a perfectly sturdy feeling. You also assemble it by fastening 4 bolts that you can do up pretty tightly to give the thing a "never going to come apart" feel.

The ONE thing I didn't like, is that the lid doesn't *latch* closed, it just lays closed. I think it's suppose to latch, but as you tighten said bolts during assembly, the metal flexes a bit and bows inward on the side just a hair, making the top stop snapping closed and only lay closed.

I thought this would be a problem for me since I lay this thing down in the back of my car when I'm not using it, but because the top handles latch closed, they sort of keep the top flap from coming open, so I haven't really had any issues of the top popping open and balls emptying out into my trunk.

The only modification I would have made to this hopper (and I've had a few hoppers) is to put a little metal knob on the top lid *just like* the metal one on the handles, so the top would snap closed... other than that I'm very happy with it, would definitely get it again as opposed to the Gamma one.

One last note, the handles do come with rubber handle guards on them which is basically just some rubber hose (I noticed a lot of hoppers do this), I'd suggest taking this off... even though it makes the handles more comfortable to carry, when you flip the handles around and stand the hopper up on the handles, the little rubber guards can cause the legs to slowly spread out from under the hopper until it eventually falls over (sort of like someone on skates for the first time where their legs will slowly slide out from under them into the splits).

If you never prop your hopper up like in the picture of this product, don't worry about it. Just wanted to give that heads up incase you do so you don't have to chase 75 balls around the court like I did during serve practice.

So after waiting to purchase for over a year the darn thing went on a bit of a sale. We bit and it was worth it. Probably should have purchased at the few dollars more last year or when we first saw it. I'd say it's worth $25. Super easy to assemble with just a wrench or pliers. Sturdy and quite efficient. We emptied out at least 10 cans of "practice" balls and it barely looks one-third full. Anyway, it is easy to assemble and once that's done you're good to go. There may be a bit of a storage placement issue as you have to keep the handles in the up or down position to be efficient. We have an Escape and it's fine on the backseat floor when transporting to a court. I don't know how well you can transport in a little car. There is a cover intertwined as part of the unit and it's fine. If you had to transport on a back seat you'd have to have the handles at 90 degrees and there would be no room for a passenger there. Worth the purchase.

1. way too heavy.
2. not easy to convert between picker and basket.
3. screws are always loose.

Bought tennis hopper, one week after use the welds on the arms broke on one side, now it is useless. Weak link is the welds.

I think ball hoppers are essential for learning tennis, teaching someone else tennis, and for intermediate players working on their serve.

this one works just fine. Possible complaints (minor):

legs just fit into a slot - could be secured in some fashion
four screws keep the basket together - they can be come loose. Can be annoying - have to watch out for it.

My son started tennis few weeks ago and I play with him for his practice. Soon I learned that just few balls in tennis practice is not enough. So, I bought 75 ball pack and this 75 ball picker. Ever since my sons game has improved significantly because we don't waste time in picking balls and playing again. We finish 75 balls practicing service or forehand or backhand and then we pick these 75 balls in just few minutes and we are back to practice again. Now we spend more time playing then picking.

One of the best investments towards my kids learning tennis. Now collecting balls is even more fun for the kids.