Finding out about trampolines the hard way
The review of the Acon Air 4.3M that Acon don’t want you to see
So here’s the deal. I just bought one of these:
Or rather one of these:
It’s essentially the same thing, apart from the colour of padding above the springs.
After I’d had it for a few days I submitted a 2 or 3 star review to Acon’s website (I don’t remember exactly whether I gave it 2 or 3 stars in the end). On the website you’ll notice that there are no reviews for either of these products with star ratings below 4, and perhaps you might wonder why. Is it because these products are so good that no one ever rates them below 4 stars?
The answer is no. The answer is that if you submit a review below 4 stars, Acon simply ignores it, or deletes it… or I dunno, but it never appears on the Acon web site. Which I think is a shame.
Because why allow people to submit 3 or 2 or 1 star reviews, if you don’t ever plan on publishing them?
Why not be honest and only give people the choice of 4 or 5 stars when they submit their review. Then at least we would know where we stand.
Here is the review of the Acon Air 4.3m that Acon don’t want you to see
I got this mostly for my little ones, but was thinking I would use it too, but it’s not really big enough for an adult to use comfortably, unless perhaps if you are an expert bouncer, and know exactly what you are doing. I guess I should have gotten the 15ft (“4.6”) one. So now I know, but it’s too late, because I got this one, and here it is assembled (minus the enclosure — this picture was taken before my team had put that up) and there’s no sending it back now!
Also it’s not as bouncy as I expected it to be. Because of the way the springs work with the mat, you basically can only bounce well if you hit the sweet spot exactly in the middle every time. And once you’ve taken off the spring area round the edge, you only have a metre and a half in front of you when you’re jumping. Think of it like this: if you just stood still in the middle and fall over, your head is going to hit the edge.
Part of the reason being bouncy is so important in a trampoline (I discover) is not so much the going up as the coming down. It’s not just a matter of how high the trampoline throws you up in the air. It’s also a matter of how slowly it slows you down when you go down into it. If the trampoline is bouncy then as you come down the mat falls away under you and you slow down more slowly, in other words more softly. If you slow down too quickly you essentially bump instead of bounce. In other words, bouncier trampolines are actually safer and more forgiving of people who are not expert bouncers than less bouncy (ie. harder) trampolines.
Bouncier trampolines are actually safer and more forgiving of people who are not expert bouncers than less bouncy (ie. harder) trampolines.
Delivery took almost 2 weeks, and the DHL tracking link information provided was almost useless. Better keep checking your phone or you’ll find that completely out of the blue they tried to deliver it when you were out. At least that’s what happened to me.
And don’t get me started about the assembly. I had to struggle with the base parts to get them to go together … nothing like the easy slot together shown on the video.
Although I was able to assemble the base by myself, and it hasn’t fallen down or blown away yet, so I suppose it’s not too hard really.
But assembling the base is nothing compared to what comes next.
You really should plan of having two adults around to raise the netting on it’s poles. My partner pointed out that it’s better to put it on tops of the poles and then put pole tops on their bottoms rather than try to put the top of the netting on the tops of the poles after they are in place —which requires a lot more reaching up and which is what they do in the assembly video. (You’ll see what I mean if you get one.)
Attaching the safety enclosure to the mat is also very annoying — threading all of a 12 meter long piece of thread through every single one of about 400 holes round the bottom of the netting. The design of this has not been thought much about.
The really disappointing thing is that, if I had known it wasn’t going to be adequate for my family’s needs I would have been fine about paying more and getting something from Acon that we actually want.
If only Acon had let some previous customer like me post the honest review I have of their product, and then I could have read it and bought the 15foot one or something else instead. That way Acon would probably have made more money out of me, because I would have bought a more expensive item — one that actually fits my family’s needs. And Acon would also have had a satisfied customer who got something they wanted instead of one whose review they are now having to hide from the rest of their potential customers.
