Banzai Falls Original Water Slide - Star Quality Fun
(Real Amazon.com customer image captioned "Makes your yard look like soooo much fun")
As a shopper, I am always looking for the customer feedback on items. I like the funny ones, love the silly ones, and appreciate all the honest ones. When I went looking for customer reviews on water slides, I found some really interesting feedback on the Banzai Falls Original Water Slide. What is great about Amazon, is that you get the good, the bad, and the ugly reviews all in one place. Le's take a look shall we?
The average customer review, out of 172 reviews is 4 out of 5 stars. Pretty darn good!
Review Stats:
172 Reviews Total
Average:4 stars
5 star: 104
3 star: 6
2 star: 18
1 star: 26
Here's some reviews I found helpful:
3 star review:
Lasted 2 years.., June 11, 2008
By Richard M. Gustafson
We purchased this slide in May of 2005. It held up through 2 full summers which included 4 birthday parties. Ours failed after my oldest sons (9 year olds) party this year. The seams on the slide started to come apart and it won't fully inflate now. Since we used it for birthday parties in addition to regular use, I would say we got our monies worth out of it, but since we went to great lengths to take care of it, drying it out before storage, etc, I would have hoped it would have lasted longer. We have all boys and they tend to congregate at the top, so that could be a reason for the seams splitting, but as it seems to be a common occurrence, maybe not.
4 star reviews:
Cheaper than a pool membership, June 24, 2006
By The Fun Mom
Our kids love this as well as most of the neighborhood kids. It does seem a bit pricey but when you weigh that against being able to use it anytime in the comfort of your own backyard, the price doesn't bother me quite as much. Even if it does only last one season it is still cheaper than a summer pool membership. My one complaint is that it needs to come with a bigger storage bag.
Kids LOVE it., July 24, 2008
By D. Connors
My kids adore this water slide. We have had it for the past two summers. When it gets blown up, the neighborhood kids flock to it. Our rules are:
1. One person on the slide at a time.
2. Wait until the person in front of you has slide to the bottom before climbing to the top to take your turn.
3. No pushing or shoving. No jumping from the top.
It has provided a tremendous amount of fun for the children for the past two summers, but is now showing a large amount of wear and tear. The bottom/slide is squishy. The seams are gapping. The place where you climb has gone soft. I think after this summer is over, it will be retired to the dumpster.
Even so, it is cheaper than a water park pass (with parking, food, etc) for the entire family for one day and the kids use it over and over. Knowing what I know now, we would still have purchased it.
It is almost the end of July 2008, and I am looking now for end of season sales on an upgraded, newer, bigger, better version for next year.
5 star reviews:
Our Slide is fine, July 31, 2007
By lupster
We're on our THIRD summer season using this slide and our kids love it. Of course we let it dry and put it away _after_each_use and do not ever leave it just sitting out in the direct sun to rot. Of course with my luck it'll collapse this weekend. The set up is easy and it isn't as heavy as our bouncer, so putting it away isn't too bad either.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this product to anyone. It's good fun and gets the whole family outside.
Two Summers and counting!, May 21, 2007
S. Swann
This was the best investment we have made in toys! My kids, the neighbor kids ( 4 of them) and all of my daughter's posse have played on this thing for two summers and I am getting ready to set it up again. We have really taken mediocre care of this slide, it pretty much stays up all summer. I washed it in the middle of both summers and got the mud off of it, but we leave it up in our yard, deflated all the time. We have had a few pinholes in the seams, but a little waterproofing for tents fixed that right up. The only problem we have had is my husband hitting it with the weed eater when he mows. I am looking for a replacement weight bladder, but if I can find it, this will be year #3 with the slide. It is so popular that our neighbor got another one so the kids don't have to always be in my yard.
So what do I get from these reviews, well, some people had a hard time with the slide, but others had no problem at all. Slides from earlier years seem to have more problems than slides in later years (they do update them every year), and with the proper care, they can last multiple summers with no patches or problems. What I love about these reviews, is that I am getting valuable information about how to care for my purchase that I am sure is listed in the directions, but I am also sure I would have ignored if it wasn't for the honest reviews. I like that people pointed out that even with only a couple of years of use, it is cheaper than a pool membership, or trip to the water park. It is a huge plus that the neighbors can all join in as well. If you live in a neighborhood with lots of kids, I can even see everyone pooling money to make it a fun block party activity. You can see all the reviews for this slide here. Also see tons more
water slides, water toys, pools and more outdoor fun here.
--Laura McMullan
rrsafety on June 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM
I have one. They are awful.
Sure the kids love them, but the adults are tortured each time it is used. Even with all the air out of it, its about the size of a small car. Do you have that room in your garage? If you leave in in the yard, it kills the grass under it within about a day. And, btw, make sure it is totally dry before you try to fold it up, or it gets ruined by mold. Where are you going to keep it while it dries? Not on the lawn (see above grass killer problem). I have to keep it stretched out on the driveway for hours. I guess you'll not be able to use the driveway for an afternoon either.
And guess what? The kids will want to use it again tomorrow. Repeat above. Repeat.