iFetch Automatic Dog Ball Launcher for Small to Medium Dogs, Indoor/Outdoor Dog Toy Thrower, Includes 3 Mini Tennis Balls

I gave the iFetch five stars because it is exactly what I expected. I bought it for my 10 year old toy poodle, Archie, and he learned how it works in about three minutes, and loves playing with it. There are two minor issues I have with it that aren’t big enough to take any stars away and overall it’s a lot of fun and we LOVE it. Sometimes I have to put it up at bedtime so that we know it's time to be done playing, and the next evening when I get home from work we immediately ask for it to be gotten out again. :)Shipping was fast and it comes nicely packed. I ordered batteries that arrived with it. I already had a few packages of the Kong extra-small squeak balls that also work in the machine, also available on Amazon Prime for $2.99 a pack.The iFetch runs on either 6 C batteries, or it comes with an adapter that can be plugged into the wall. The batteries lasted a couple weeks that included a solid 1-2 hours of play each day. The electric cord works great and fits the plug well. This is where one of my two complaints come in, and that is the cord is four or five feet long which would seem generous, but I have found it difficult to find a place to plug it in and have it sit in the middle of the floor as is necessary in both my house and two friends homes. We had to use an extension cord, but it’s not a major issue.Since we have only played with this in a small apartment we only use the lowest setting which shoots it about ten feet. The machine is a little more powerful when running on electricity, so keep that in mind when choosing a setting. Sometimes Archie likes to stand in front of it and try and catch it (bless his heart, he never does) and it has hit him in the chest, nose, head, and has never caused more than a shake of the head and a sneeze when it hit him directly on the nose. Each next higher setting shoots it about another ten feet, which increases the force the ball comes out with.My only other issue, which really isn't a product problem, is Archie usually drops the ball into the toy from a few inches above it. Because of the bowl design, the ball will frequently swirl around the edge and pop out. A deeper design wouldn't allow that to happen.I highly recommend this toy for those little dawgies that love to fetch. It’s easy to train, but you have to know your dog and what it will like as well as how it needs to be trained to use it. To see video of Archie learning how to play with the iFetchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFAc4vuseRgTo answer some of the critics whose poor ratings made me hesitate to purchase the product.:Too noisy: My dog wasn’t in the least bit phased by the noise, and now the increasing pitch and click of the ball release indicates to him that the ball is about to be launched. I don’t think it’s noisy at all. I’ve posted a video, so you can check it out yourself.Ball shoots out too hard: I’d say it depends on the setting. I would recommend that you make sure your dog isn’t struck by the ball until he/she has been fully trained and understands getting hit with the ball isn’t part of the game. Then, if she does happen to be struck by a ball and it hurts, she will quickly learn to stay out of the way.Balls get stuck in the machine: The tennis ball type covering can get a bit frayed after a lot of play. I just grab a scissors and trim off around the balls and we’re good to go for a few more hours of play. Archie doesn’t drool a lot so the balls don’t get that wet.Balls are too small: This product was designed for small dogs and even so, a large dog is not going to choke on the balls. Dogs are not like toddlers and although they might eat a ball, they won’t choke on it. My toy poodle likes to play with marbles and grapes…..has never choked. However, it looks like there is now a toy for large dogs called the iFetch Too.

Well where to start? First things first, in theory, this could be a great item but in reality, it simply fails. Before I go into the several design flaws, let me get to the final point that after about 2 months, ours has completely died and will not throw a ball at all. Basically a $216 paperweight. The good news is that our dog loved ours before it died, it was just more trouble than it was worth and now it's worthless to boot.As to the specifics. There are several minor issues that really aren't that big of a deal if the big issues were not present. The included tennis type balls are basically junk and my 1 yr old beagle destroys them in just a couple of hours. If you have a bigger dog or a real chewer, I wouldn't even risk giving them to the dog for fear of choking. The other issue is that any tennis type ball seems to get slobbery (if that's a word..LOL) to the point that the thrower will not throw them. Again, not that big of a deal because we replaced the tennis balls with the medium sized Chuck-It balls (2.5") which throws very well. The outside plastic trim ring on the opening where the ball ejects also was rather flimsy and our beagle scratched it off trying to get the ball out of the launcher when it failed to launch. Didn't really affect the machine so not that big of a deal. The one issue we had that really isn't the fault of the machine was our dog would often put the ball in the opening where the ball comes out causing us to then get the stuck ball out. Some sort of guard would be great to prevent that, but my option was to build a box that the whole machine fit into with two boards on the outside that kept her from putting it in the wrong hole.The biggest design flaw in my opinion is that the machine works off of a battery that quickly loses charge even when plugged in at all times. I doubt many buyers will ever use theirs outdoors, so why not just make the motor run directly off of 110v AC so the motor throws consistently? With the way these work, the first dozen throws on a fresh charge will throw very strong and far but very quickly the battery weakens and before long, the thrower is throwing the ball 6-8 ft max even on the highest setting. Our dog loved ours so much she would play non stop for hours if we didn't take it away from her, but most times we didn't have to because it would stop throwing very far at all anyway, so we turned it off to let it recharge.The 2nd serious issue is with the launcher rollers that have these elevated ribs. Those seemed to wear down to nothing in no time and that was before we switched to the chuck it type ball. With those worn down, it further reduced how far it could throw and caused a lo of very short throws.Finally, the BIG issue. Despite the shortcomings we figured it was still an OK purchase until it totally and completely stopped working less than 2 months after purchasing it. We're past the Amazon return time frame so now we are going to be at the mercy of iFetch directly. Hopefully they will treat us fairly, I will update this review with what happens. In short, had I known then what I know now about the machine, I would not purchase it again.

This is the larger iFetch, as we own the smaller one too. It's kind of pricey, but teaching my dog to play fetch by herself is worth the price to me! I like this bigger one better because it's more difficult for my dogs to chew up a regular size tennis ball so it doesn't get as slobbery and it doesn't stick in the machine. Plus, I can use any regular size tennis ball instead of specialty ones.This one is great that you can charge it and then take it outside to use without worrying about batteries or power cords. Just charge it up and go! We have only used it a few times so far, so I will update my review if I find any flaws with more regular use. I don't leave it down for her to use without my supervision because you just never know what kind of trouble a dog can get into when you're not looking!I have a 12 pound miniature dachshund who LOVES to play fetch. She is just tall enough to reach her head over and drop the ball into the machine. And there are 3 different distances to choose from, so I can start long and reduce the distance as she starts to tire out. It does technically turn off after a certain amount of time, but seems to turn itself back on as soon as she drops another ball into it.