The SwingAway v. The Jugs Small Ball Pitching Machine
by Harry
(new york)
First things first your site is awesome. Great information tool for parents. Wanted to know your opinion on two hitting aids. The SwingAway elite traveler and Jugs small ball pitching machine. Thanks
Swing Smarter Response: Thanks for the comment on the site Harry, we truly appreciate it, and we do what we can to educate our fellow baseball students-of-the-game :)
We love the Swing Away Elite Traveler, pretty similar to the SoloHitter Traveler we've reviewed before. You can view that here, it's going to review the same. The big difference is in price...the Solohitter will run about $240 and the SwingAway is a little over $100 more expensive at $350, big price gap for almost the same product.
Both products are always great because you don't have to chase balls and they lend for easy clean-up/take down, making the both batting aid tools an ideal candidate for hitting in cramped indoor spaces.
The Jugs Small Ball Pitching Machine looks like a great machine, almost similar to our favorite whiffle ball pitching machine The Personal Pitcher by Sports Products Consultants, which will be featured in The Starting Lineup, our online storefront, where you can find "The Best Baseball Hitting Aids on the Planet."
However, there are a couple issues with the Jugs machine we need to address...
The Jugs machine does use polyurethane foam balls instead of whiffles (Personal Pitcher). There are two concerns: 1) The price which is around $290, where the Personal Pitcher is about $200, and 2) The Jugs pitching machine can either spit balls out with a manual feed or on a 5 second timer...it doesn't look like there's a visual indicator on auto feed as to when the ball will pop out. i.e. The Personal Pitcher flashes a light when it's about to spit a ball out.
This light flashing is so important because it signals to the hitter he/she needs to load in his swing.
For the auto feed reason, Swing Smarter likes the Personal Pitcher better, because then this machine is just like any other "wheel" pitching machine out there. And we hate those with a passion because pitchers DON'T: 1) Throw with wheels, and 2) Throw on a 5 second timer.
Hitters queue on visual indicators for timing NOT a "feeling" of when the ball will pop out of his hand.
All in all, the SwingAway Elite Traveler is good, if it fits into your budget, but a better choice for less is the Solohitter Traveler. The Jugs machine on the other hand, you're better off going with The Personal Pitcher.
Both the Solohitter Traveler and The Personal Pitcher are part of our The Starting Lineup Great questions Harry :)
