SKLZ Impact Limited-Flight Practice Baseball,

I stumbled upon these balls on Amazon when looking for regular plastic Whiffle balls to play with my kids. I was running through dozens of traditional plastic balls over several months as they would crack in a short period of time, especially if any adults started taking turns hitting the ball. I read about these SKLS Impact Baseballs, initially balked (pun intended) at the price, but decided to give it a shot once I read about the composition of the balls allowing them to "squish", the one-year warranty, and some other helpful reviews. After literally thousands of swings now by dozens of children and adults using both plastic and metal bats, I am thrilled to report that the balls look and behave as if they were brand new! -- In summary, these balls are the best practice balls I've ever owned, and the fact that you can use them with both plastic and metal bats means I can use them for back-yard fun with the whole family or for on-the-field one-on-one batting practice with my older sons who can swing away without someone needing to chase balls down 300 feet away. Here are a few things to consider as you think about buying these balls: - Most importantly, they do what they claim to do. I have purchased two dozen balls now, and each of them is in perfect condition. (We lost one ball down a storm drain, but I suspect that it's still in perfect shape wherever it wound up!) - The balls are shaped the same as traditional Whiffle balls, and they will generally behave the same in terms of movement. - These balls include four small triangle-shaped holes in addition to the oval-shaped holes. I've found that putting my two throwing fingers in two of the triangles allows me to throw a straight "four-seam" fastball with no side-to-side movement. I love this feature because it allows me to throw these balls with more velocity than most other whiffle balls without inducing side-to-side movement that I don't want. If you're looking to throw straight batting practice (or trying to throw someone out when playing a game of Whiffle ball), the triangles are very helpful for throwing straight and hard. - The yellow and black ball design is excellent for visual stimulation and "tracking" the ball. The ball designers were also smart to alternate the yellow and black sides (some balls have holes on the yellow side, other balls have holes on the black) to prevent batters from being able to tell what kind of pitch is coming based on he color. That said, the batter can somewhat track whether he's seeing a straight (four-seam) fastball versus a cutting pitch depending on how the colors rotate coming out of the pitchers hand. This is a subtle design choice that roughly mimics being able to pick up the seams on a baseball and is something that hitters can't do with an all-white or all-yellow plastic ball. Nice design touch that helps encourage batters to really keep an eye on the ball! - The balls appear - in my estimation - to fly just as far or slightly farther than a normal Whiffle ball. The description talks about not flying as far so you can gather them more easily, which is true when compared to baseballs (which obviously fly much farther off a metal bat). Because these balls feel slightly heavier and more dense than a normal Whiffle ball (when coupled with the collapsing technology), they fly as far or - perhaps - slightly farther than other plastic baseballs I've used. - The initial cost of the balls is significant, though I feel it's a fantastic value when you consider that you're getting a dozen balls that will last you easily ten times as long as other Whiffle-ball-type practice baseballs. - As with any hollow plastic practice ball, these are not well-suited for pitching practice. The balls are light and hollow, so you don't want to over-exert yourself by throwing hard. These should - in my opinion - only be used for recreational Whiffle ball games (perfect use) or for batting practice. In short, this has been one of my favorite "discoveries" on Amazon this year. I had never heard of or seen these balls before, and I stumbled onto them on Amazon and decided to take a gamble on them. I couldn't be happier with the product and would definitely buy a third dozen if the first two dozen weren't all still going strong. If you're looking for a long-lasting practice baseball for batting practice, you'll be happy you tried these.

When coaching small children, the last thing a coach wants to do is give a kid any reason to be afraid of the ball. This year, after the league where I coach banned any type of hitting implement on the sidelines or in the field, I wondered how I would get my hitters warmed up for a game. I purchased a three dozen of these right before I went on a trip with my son to a wood bat tournament for 16 year olds. It was obvious from the moment I took them out of the package that this was a different kind of practice ball. They feel different in your hand, they respond absolutely truthfully when coming off the bat, and there is ZERO danger of harming another human being or anything in the immediate area like a window, aluminum siding, or precious yard plants or pets. I have lots of experience throwing standard wiffle balls, so there was no adjustment to be made in throwing a straight ahead fastball, a cut fastball, a wicked curveball, or a rising fastball. In that respect, these are great for work with more experienced players when you don't have access to a bat cage or a batting screen to prevent injury to the pitcher. The batter has instant feedback on whether he hit the ball solidly, because the slightest miss will result in a pop up or a chop into the dirt. Hitting this ball square results in a line drive that will travel up to 75 or 80 feet when struck by a strong older player. When working with my 9 and 10 year old boys, these are wonderful because you can hit them off at T into a net, you can soft toss them from the side, or you can pitch straight ahead in order to work on batting form without worrying about hurting the child or hurting one of your fielders (or an unlucky coach). Another big advantage is the specialized material, which remains flexible even in weather that would cause an ordinary plastic ball to shatter into a million pieces. My three dozen balls have probably been hit 100 times each this summer, and all of them look like the day I took them out of the package. No rips, no tears, they instantly spring back into shape and beg for more abuse. And when they get filthy, I drop them into the washing machine for a quick rinse and they come out in beautiful shape. For get expensive foam balls that you have to chase a long distance, forget plastic balls that chip or shatter in cold weather, forget tossing safety balls that can still break a window. Buy yourself a couple dozen of these, and watch how quickly young players develop a good sense of contact in their hitting zone, and how much older players appreciate having the ability to practice hitting in a small space at a field, a tournament, or even in your own garage into a net.

Do yourself a favor and buy these instead of standard wiffle balls. Yes, they are more expensive, but they perform better and last way longer. Most wiffle balls last one season and become brittle, I have SKLZ balls that are 4 yrs old and still going strong. My favorite thing about them, though, is the weight... I have difficulty throwing standard wiffle balls accurately at a distance because of how light they are, but these balls weigh almost 3x a wiffle and are easier to throw with control and velocity. Also, they aren't affected by the wind nearly as much as a traditional wiffle ball. Some other brands use green or red, but the yellow color of the SKLZ ball is easier to see during evening practice. The travel distance is a further than a standard wiffle ball, but it's difficult to get it out of the infield. Fantastic product!

My son’s coach was using these before a game and I had never seen them before so I immediately looked into them. They are perfect for practicing in a limited area. But what really surprised me was that they actually helped my son dial in his swing. It wasn’t a gimmick. The ball does sound different based on where/how the bat connects with it so you can make adjustments based on that feedback. I ended up purchasing a second set so we didn’t have to go looking for them as often. The balls have been very durable and I like that they’re yellow so they’re easier to find. While I wish they were a little cheaper, these balls have been worth the investment for us. You get what you pay for.

This product is excellent for all ages, in all leagues. I have T-ballers all the way to AAAs, and they love these balls. Here are the pros and cons from all ages: Durability: I have yet to see any practice ball that survive the amount of abuses that these balls went through. We have light hitters, all the way to ball destroyers. Compared to the common plastic training baseballs/wiffle balls, these balls have yet to have a visible dent anywhere. We still have dozens of plastic ball halves, used all sort of glues to bind them for extended usages. However, those went into the recycling bin after a week of usages, freshly brought. For $20 a dozen, these outlast the $8/dozen hands down. We've already spent over $100 of the cheap plastic, including the heavy duty plastic versions. Should have invested in these first. Impact feedback: Incredible impact feedback. Unlike the light impact like the cheaper plastic, these collapsed, creating a longer period of kinetic transfer from bat to ball, leaving a much great impact feedback of where the bat came into contact with the ball, and how much energy was transferred. Everyone was quite impressed, and shocked the first 50 times they hit the balls. The loudness of the stronger impacts continually put huge smiles on those who know the importance of instant feedback of impacts. Travel distance: The harder you hit, the less the distance the balls traveled. It was quite amusing to see T-ballers and minor league 8-years old slammed the balls, and launched them over 80ft, while the AAs and AAAs greatest impacts, creating thunderous sounds, only manage to launch the balls 30ft out. So, the stronger you hit, the less you will need to run and collect the balls. Impact pain: I can't say the amount of pain of getting hit by these balls are less than the stiffer plastic balls. However, these impact balls don't bounce far away once they hit you, leaving a very little red mark. Stiff plastic balls leave nice dark circle marks, and bounce quite far away from you. No need to travel far to grab these balls if you get hit by them. Colors: Why black? Why dark yellow? I can understand if we're practicing during super sunny day, but, I rather have a nice dark red on bright yellow/orange so we can retrieve them more efficiently. It's so hard to find them in the bushes, tall grasses, and the shadowy areas if the balls' yellow surface is on the bottom. Took us a good long while to retrieve them all because of the color scheme issue. Weight: We, the coaches and pitchers, love the weight of these balls. They're not so light that it became difficult to throw in light wind (8mph), unlike the cheap stiff plastic balls. They're perfect enough to throw in the wind, with the right amount of weight to know the throw will be accurate enough to place them in the strike zone the way you want. I throw both left and right hand, and these make my pitches much, much easier, especially for small 5-years old T-ballers. An ounce heavier should be perfect, even if I have to pay $5 more for the plastic used. Size: Can't complain. Perfect for all pitcher sizes. However, if SKLZ can make these balls into the size of the golf balls, I'll gladly purchase 10 dozens. I want these balls positive attributes at a smaller sizes to train on batting accuracy and honing players' focus. Overall impression: Never again will I buy the cheaper stiff plastics, even when they're on sale at $3/dozen. Wish SKLZ can provide better color scheme, heavier balls, and smaller sizes.

These are our favorite wiffle balls. There is enough weight to them that they are easy to throw and hit. They also travel, so my kids like that too. In my opinion, they are a little expensive but I guess you’re paying for quality.

These balls are perfect. Heavy enough that they are easy to throw and soft enough to hit balls in the house. I absolutely smash these balls and they don't go over 40-50 yards. I think I enjoy these more than my 5 year old. Very good training for my kids. They like the idea of being able to hit balls in the house

They throw well straight, we use for batting practice, does not do damage if we happen to hit something.