Trampolines - Opinions

[mtnlaurel]

We are looking to purchase a trampoline off of CraigsList. My son is 8.

Do you any of you guys have any experiences, good or bad, with purchasing a previously owned trampoline?

What size?

What about the safety net things that some have - do they help in any way?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[San Onofre Guy]

I highly recommend against buying a trampoline. They are fun when first purchased but the novelty fades quickly. Most are stored outside and the supports rust and fabric weakens due to sun damage fairly quickly. Safety issues are also huge.

[Mighty Frugal]

I wouldn't buy one. They are a safety hazard. So easy for a child to be injured. And if you are the owner, other people's kids will be jump, jump jumping their way into a lawsuit

[ctg492]

My guys had one when they were young. We had a net around it and I would only let them on friends tramps that also had nets. Yes fun fun at first....then the novelty wore off and there it sat by the barn. I was a worry wort, so that did not help and I only let two kids on at a time.

[sweetana3]

I found this on the web:
The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants you and your family to be safe when using trampolines. The CPSC estimates that in 2001 there were 91,870 hospital emergency room-treated injuries associated with trampolines. About 93 percent of the victims were under 15 years of age, and 11 percent were under 5 years of age. Since 1990, CPSC has received reports of 6 deaths of children under age 15 involving trampolines. Injuries and deaths were caused by:

Colliding with another person on the trampoline.
Landing improperly while jumping or doing stunts on the trampoline.
Falling or jumping off the trampoline.
Falling on the trampoline springs or frame.
Most of the trampolines associated with injuries were at private homes

Do you want the liability and the stress of monitoring it 24/7 when it is up? Can you secure it when you are not around?

[Gina]

I personally would not have one anywhere on my property. Even if you don't officially invite someone to use it, but they do without permission, and are injured, you could be sued for having an 'attractive nuisance'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attractive_nuisance_doctrine

In the law of torts, the attractive nuisance doctrine states that landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by a hazardous object or condition on the land that is likely to attract children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object or condition. The doctrine has been applied to hold landowners liable for injuries caused by abandoned cars, piles of lumber or sand, trampolines, and swimming pools. However, it can be applied to virtually anything on the property of the landowner.

This property came with a swimming pool. It was here several years, but eventually cracked and had to be removed. I didn't realize how constantly worried I had been about injury, death, and lawsuits - even with a locked metal fence - until it was gone.

[Snufkin]

Friends of ours had one when I was young, and we thought it was terrific. Until one day, about four of us were playing on it and one little girl broke her arm. She landed on the springs. I've been afraid of them ever since. I know you can get a net that goes around them, but I think that's more to protect you from falling off; the springs can be really dangerous. You can also get pinched badly in the springs.

They are fun, but I agree with other posters, I think the novelty wears off quickly and the kids who own them get tired of them . . . They remain fascinating for kids who don't have one, though, which leads to the "attractive nuisance" issue mentioned above.

[Float On]

The sports camp I worked at had the largerectangle shaped ones (much safer overall) and they dug pits for them so they were basically level with the ground. I think that is what the underwriter required in insuring the camps.

[maribeth]

We saw a house for sale recently where the owners had dug a big hole and installed a large trampoline flush with the flagstone patio. DH thought it was cool. I thought it looked like a great way to crack your skull open.

That said, I was thinking of getting DD a kid-sized trampoline, the kind where you hold on to a bar and jump. She is really into jumping right now -- if she is not actually jumping, she is talking about jumping, and how fun it is, etc. Does anyone have experience with those?

[Mighty Frugal]

We saw a house for sale recently where the owners had dug a big hole and installed a large trampoline flush with the flagstone patio. DH thought it was cool. I thought it looked like a great way to crack your skull open.

That said, I was thinking of getting DD a kid-sized trampoline, the kind where you hold on to a bar and jump. She is really into jumping right now -- if she is not actually jumping, she is talking about jumping, and how fun it is, etc. Does anyone have experience with those?

I know that. It's small-big enough for one child. I bought it one year at Christmas time for my young sons (they were 2 and 3 or 3 and 4 at the time)

It was a bugger to put together, I gave up and returned it. The lady at the shop was surprised and told me nobody had ever returned one-they are hot. so, if you are 'building challenged' like me, best of luck. If you are handy-they are great-kids don't jump too high and always hang on to the bar

[Float On]

We saw a house for sale recently where the owners had dug a big hole and installed a large trampoline flush with the flagstone patio. DH thought it was cool. I thought it looked like a great way to crack your skull open.



Flagstone? Um....yea. Camp didn't have rock of any sort near the tramps - in fact at the little kid camp they'd bring out gym mats to surround the tramps.

[Bastelmutti]

Well, I would never buy one. My friend's son broke his femur falling off of one of the small indoor ones, and my other friend's cousin was paralyzed falling off one of the large outdoor ones. That was enough for me.

[Kestrel]

Trampoline was part of gym class back in the late '50s and early '60s. The school had one of the large rectangular ones, inside on a concrete floor (!), and there had to be like ten+ kids around it at all times to catch someone jumping crooked or something. I don't think there were any accidents during those years, or at least not any serious ones. It was fun -- we learned different jumps, and how to land, etc. I wouldn't have one tho, for all the reasons mentioned above.

[Gardenarian]

Hi
I loved the trampoline when I was a gymnast in high school. I would get the largest trampoline you can afford! I prefer the rectangular ones to the round ones that are so popular now. If I felt like my kid needed a safety net then I wouldn't get a trampoline in the first place; trampolines are great for kids who are not going to get psycho on them.

I recommend having your son take a class in trampoline - he'll get more out of it (being introduced to the different drops and turns) and will understand better the safety issues.

As for buying a used one, I would just make sure all the springs are in good condition and there are no tears or rips around the edges. Try it out and make sure that it will hold an adult weight without sagging.

Good luck! I know many people have found trampolines a fun and healthy way to burn off all that excess energy!! I personally don't know anyone who has been injured on a tramp, but it seems like about half the kids in town have been to the hospital for scooter related injuries.

[Miss Cellane]

My cousin had a trampoline accident when he was 19. He was alone, and can't remember exactly how he fell/what he fell on, but he couldn't move after the fall and had to wait 6 hours until a neighbor came home and heard him calling for help.

After the spinal fusion and 12 months spending 23 hours a day in a body brace, he has regained most of his motor functions. He has some issues with his right leg, because he has lost all feeling in part of it, and does not have the full range of mobility in his right foot. He can no longer ski--well, physically he can ski, but has been warned that the damage that might be caused by a fall would leave him permanently paralyzed, so in reality, he had to give it up. Since he was a professional skier who made his living giving skiing lessons, this was a huge blow. (He was on the tramp practicing free-style skiing jumps.) He also had to give up similar sports that carry a similar risks of falls.

In other words, even though he recovered to about 98% of "normal," his life changed drastically.

My advice would be to find a trampoline in a gym, where the kids can get safe, proper instruction on how to use it. Get some other, safer, piece of sports equipment for home.

[TMC]

Well, I have two different thoughts.

[Zoebird]

not my deal, but if you are purchasing one, i think looking at rust damage, fabric damage, and so on is probably the way to go.