Does anyone have experience with Chakotay's Flyball box wedge-style box? How does it work, do the dogs like it, does it release the ball quickly, etc? How about experience with the Willoughby box?

Our team might be looking for a new box soon. We currently have a Glover box, but it is hard to speed up. We are not a rich team, so the Premier box is out of the question. However, we need a box that is capable of adjusting sensitivity and speed. We also need a box that the current team dogs can easily transition to.

Any other box suggestions?

I find the Willoughby to be really heavy. I'm not a big girl or very strong and it can get really hard to get the box into te ring at the end of a weekend. Our dogs (as a team) transition between boxes really easily so I've never noticed a problem.

I just don't like heavy boxes with a stiff trigger form a boxloading standpoint.

I like the boxes Eric Tindall is making - they are light but strong. I think that they can be adjusted for trigger speed and I've seen a wide variety of team used them and like them.

Laura,

We have the Eric Tindell boxes now. We just moved to them a couple weeks ago. Most of the dogs adjusted fine but a couple are bobbling more than usual. I really like how light weight they are compared to the Glover, Freda (Willoughby) and Premier boxes.

I have owned a glover box and sold it. I still own a Freda box and I purchased the Tindell box a couple weeks ago. FBI owns 2 premiere boxes but we have had problems with them so never use them.

Tindell is not taking orders right now.

I tried out the Jim Sova box while playing U-Fli in Memphis. Riot did fine on it without having issues. You could check that box out too.

http://showcase.netins.net/web/doublejj/Box.html

I don't know anything about the Chakotay boxes but they look similar to what NSL is using. You may want to contact them.

Next time we see you, feel free to test the Tindell box or if you are up my way, you can test our Freda box out.

Thanks for the notes, folks.

The reason we are considering another box is because a number of our dogs that were taught a good box turn have since lost the turn because the dogs are having to "hang" on the box too long to get the ball. Curtis, my GSD mix is having a horrible time between crashing the box and bobbling. He won't wait for a ball and if it is too slow, he'll go on without it or just crash the box to be sure he gets it. We have two other dogs who have reverted to crashing the box because they move too quickly with a correct turn to catch the ball. Along with all this, we have at least one dog that would be significantly faster if she didn't have to "hang" on the box waiting. We also have three dogs that need a slow ball.

So, in essence, we need the capabilites to modify the speeds/sensitivity of ball release seperately on each side of the box and the capability to adjust speeds easily. The penny method on the Glover box is not working well for us. Weight really isn't an issue since we have some incredibly creative people who can jimmy anything to make moving a box much easier. We just want ease of adjustment, relatively quiet operation, and well-built.

Where can I see pics of a Eric Tindell box? Does he have a website?

I don't think he has a website. The pics in this link have the Tindall boxes

The red one saying CIA and green one which is the FBI box...

http://picasaweb.google.com/drharwell/021409LeesburgVA#

I am currently making an aluminum box that is highly adjustable. The depth of the plunger and the tension on the plunger springs are both adjustable to get a faster or slower response on big and small balls independently. This box is extremely light weight at only 26lbs. Even though the box is light weight, due to the aluminum construction it is very strong. The box also features a spring in the back of the box to absorb the impact as the dogs hit the box. I have a youtube video showing the diference. You may want to watch it twice as the second viewing is more dramatic. The first box in the video is a wood box and the second box is what I am selling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y-C-5NH30Y

They box is available in 8 standard colors and custom colors are available at an extra charge. Standard price is $600 +S&H. It takes me about 2-3 week to get all the materials together and assembled.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at mike@millerflyball.com or visit my site www.millerflyball.com

-Mike

I like the 26 lbs, question though on the spring back - do the dogs feel that momentum returning off the box or is purely for shock absorbtion? The video's are hard to compare as the dog has a different turn style in each video.

The box turn difference was in a back to back heat scenario with less than 5 minutes to change to box and run on the new box. There were no additional warm ups or practice turns in between the runs. Their is some slight return, but the main is for shock absorbing. The tension on the spring has to be light enough small dogs can benefit, but strong enough that big dogs don't instantly bottom out and loose their benefit. The box does return the energy back to the dog, but due to the nature of the joints the return effect is minimal. Think of jumping on a trampoline with your knees bent versus locked. Dogs don't lock their knees on the box turn so they are always bent. The box just bottoms when a big dog hits the box so they are launching from a solid platform, but hitting a softer box. I have had a team report back to me that they went from 19.3sec previous best time to now running a 18.8sec best time. They have had my box now for only 2 months so I don't know how much was a pick up due to the box, but they did order a second box because they were happy with it.

-Mike