As a coach, I believe a portable backstop is CRUCIAL to my team's success. I went through quite a few backstops before I settled on the Easton 7-foot Pop-Up Catch net. The three qualities I looked for were portability, durability and easy setup, and this backstop provides all three. My Fast Pitch softball teams have hit literally thousands (over 20,000 so far, actually) of 12" softballs into the netting (and dozens clanking off the sides) with almost no wear. One person can easily set it up and take it down in a couple of minutes (though as with all Pop-Up merchandise, there is a trick to getting it to fold into the right shape).

Another feature that makes it #1 in my book is that at 7 feet tall, it is the largest portable backstop I have seen. This is an important safety factor, as we often have to set up our batting stations in a limited area waiting on the game before us to finish. The last thing you want to deal with before a game is an errant ball conking someone on the head because your backstop was too small to catch the pop fly that your player accidentally hit.

I have had the Easton 7-foot Pop-Up Catch Net for three-plus seasons of hard use, and the carrying bag is starting to tear at the handles. I would recommend that Easton make this carry bag out of the same material as their Pop-Up Playback Trainer's carry bag, which seems to be of higher quality.

The reason this product gets 4 stars instead of 5 from me is that the fold-down instructions that come with the Catch Net are, frankly, awful. I almost returned it because I couldn't get it to fold down by following the directions, until another coach showed me how to do it (Thanks, Kim!!). The real way to fold down the Catch Net bears no resemblance to the instructions provided. Improve the instructions for folding down the net, and I think Easton would have an excellent, as opposed to good, product.

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