customprintingservices
Don’t be a mug, look for the plug
During testing we found a common problem with some space hoppers we tested. The problem is the location of the stopper holding the air in, the stoppers on all are a hard plastic bung which sits into the flexible hole. Only the cheaper hoppers, that all appear to be made in China have the design flaw. They have the stopper positioned on the base of the hopper rather than on the top.
Having the stopper on the bottom means after a short period of time bouncing on the space hopper the stopper would get damaged either getting chipped or in some cases shattering completely. This causes an air leak and will result in the hopper deflating slowly.
We asked the question why it was placed on the bottom and the response was.
“The Chinese as a country do not have Space Hoppers so it was very hard for the manufacturer to identify with the product before they had actually produced the moulds. The machine that produces the hoppers produce around 10 at a time, this means that all the moulds are wrong which is very expensive to replace.”
The space hoppers affected by this inherent design flaw are:
Garden Games Hoppin Mad Space Hoppers (Daredevil, Psycho and Hotshot)
Guffhopper cow design spachopper
Mondo Kangaroo Ball
Oddballs Racing Hoppers (Orange, Pink, Blue and Black Eight Ball)
The Chinese are asked to manufacture products as it is a fact that they are cheaper than any European producer, in most cases where Chinese products are involved the cheapest specification is used as it is produced to the lowest price point rather than a quality product so the wall thickness is a lot thinner than the European models so is more likely to burst a lot easier.
