Zooka 740 Pitching Machine with Tall Tripod

I got this for my son(13) and daughter(9). We've used it 4 times now and I love it. It's great for fly balls (both hardballs and tennis balls). The pitching accuracy is really good. It's easy to use and setup. I can carry both the Zooka and its tripod together and they fit in my trunk. I looked at some more expensive, higher velocity, systems but they were all 120V and I didn't want to have to lug a generator or rig up a battery with inverter to run the thing. We went out with this yesterday and ran the thing pretty much nonstop for 2 hours. Battery was still half full and we didn't see any drop in performance. My son loves setting it to 100% and trying to hit 93mph tennis balls.

The item arrived defective. Everything fired up, but then instead of launching a ball the air compressor appears to simply release all of the air. I called customer service and they immediately sent me a new machine that arrived a few days later. The customer service was excellent to work with. The new machine works great, and I love the unit. Unlike most pitching machines, it's extremely portable so it will be easy to transport to and from practice. Also, my backyard batting cage is only 25 feet or so from pitch to plate, and the Zooka is able to pitch balls slow enough for my 10-year old to hit while still being consistent in accuracy. And I cranked it all the way up to test the velo and it seriously popped. Great amateur machine.

I bought this for my two grandsons. The oldest 12 years old used to practice left hand batting (he’s right handed) and the 8 year old was playing first season with pitchers and rest of teammates had previously played so he had to play catch-up. He ended season as one of the sluggers and his team won season championship. Unfortunately it started to malfunction BUT Ron was very helpful first trying to reset the machine and diagnose the problem by phone then telling us to return to Zooka for further diagnosis under warranty. This morning Ron called to say the problem had been fixed and also to repair the feeder that had been bent all at no charge. This machine is easy easy easy to set up and work all without cords or an outlet. We never ran out of battery during practices.

NOTE: John at Zooka called me back and said they are sending a replacement unit ... hopefully we just got a defective one ... I’ll update when we receive and try it ... ORIGINAL REVIEW: My son and I were very excited when we read about the Zooka ZS740. We ordered one with an autofeeder and an extra battery. The rechargeable battery allowing use without plugging it in and providing true portability was very appealing. Unfortunately our Zooka was very erratic. It threw few strikes despite repeated adjustments and we spent hours trying to get it to work correctly. One pitch would sail over the batter’s head and the next would bounce 10 feet in front of the plate (this is running with the ball feeder). It would throw way outside and way inside. Then you’d get a strike. I understand it’s not supposed to hit the same spot again and again, but this is useless. I called Zooka to ask for advice and got voicemail. I left a message explaining and asked for a call back. My call was not returned— and the next day, on the second pitch, a plastic ring inside the Zooka broke and flew down the barrel (see photo). I called again and again got voicemail . I asked for a call back and haven’t gotten it hours later. This is unacceptable. We hope it was just a faulty unit, but even if that’s true, the customer service has been ridiculously bad. My son is very disappointed and I’m very unhappy. I’ll update this to let you know what happens.

Had it now approximately 2.5 years. It is very accurate with dimple balls. Pitching generally accurate. When balls are old the machine will loose accuracy, but that is also because of the weight difference between new and old balls. Dirt / clay / moisture can add .5-1 ounces to the balls which effect performance. Not the machines fault. Make sure everything is tight when doing BP, and it will find its target. We use it a lot for outfield practice and BP in the cage. Battery is good for an entire practice. This is an awesome tool in your Baseball toolbox. Because it is air powered, it does not generate spin on the ball. For BP who cares, your working on technique. For fielding or drills, again who cares. It goes anywhere. Loosed the rotation handles and you can spin the Zooka from side to side when doing outfield / fielding practice. Would take this over a pitching machine any day of the week for the younger age groups (6-13). As they get older, sure a wheeled pitching machine has its benefits. This max speed on the 740 is 70MPG I believe. But this is still great for outfield/infield work for any age.

We love this pitching machine! We had this one for 13 years and used it for our 3 oldest kids and then it finally stopped working so we just bought the exact same one for our youngest child. We used our first one SO much over the 13 years that I would say it’s really durable & well made to last that long. Very happy with it.

I’ve only been using this machine for a week. The machine seems to work well. Since I don’t have a speed gun to verify the pitching speed, I can’t vouch for the correctness of the speed. The pitching accuracy is very good using regular baseballs, such as the R-100 balls from Rawlings which are rated to high school use. It appears to be solidly built with a hard plastic shell. A couple of times balls have been hit with baseballs but the machine was not even scratched. It is easy to operate and the instruction manual is clear. I’m only giving it 3 stars because the maufactureer’s communications have been awful. I send both an email and a voice message two weeks ago and have not received a response.

This zooka is awesome! It throws pitches all over the zone. Some inside, some high, some low, some on the outside. I’d say pretty realistic in terms of pitches coming over the plate and being all over the zone. Would love if it went up to 80mph-90mph. Some balls have rotation others don’t. I think it just depends on how the ball falls into the machine. I use this machine almost every other weekend and it’s so much fun. Probably better than playing softball. I don’t play at any level, but beats paying for batting cages. Spend lots of hours on the weekend with friends just hitting and fielding any hits. Totally got my moneys worth out this