- Home
- Recreation
- How to Buy Jumping Stilts
How to Buy Jumping Stilts
- By Jason Macek
- Published 05/31/2009
- Recreation
- Unrated
Jason Macek
Jason lives in N Idaho and loves anything outdoors. You can check out his first time on jumping stilts I strong encourage anyone interested to buy jumping stilts from Gary!
View all articles by Jason Macek
I recently purchased a pair of jumping stilts online and it wasn't the easiest experience I've ever been through. So I wanted to give some tips for anyone who is now in the same boat I was in.
First there is brand confusion. Air-trekkers, poweriSers, poweriZers, powerstriders, powerskips, 7 league boots, and if you can believe it the list goes on. I guess we're all used to having different brands of the same basic products right. There's GM, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda etc...and they all sell cars. The difference here is I couldn't find information about each brand of jumping stilts and what made them different. Here's what I do know.
There are only 2 or 3 companies (I think) in the US authorized to import and distribute jumping stilts. Air-trekkers, poweriSers, and powerstriders. Next what I found out is there really isn't a lot of different between them when it comes to product except price and service. There are only two overseas companies manufacturing jumping stilts so no matter what brand you buy more likely than not they're coming from the same factory as the other brand you're considering.
What it boiled down to for me was price and service as mentioned above. I had questions and I wanted answers. I sent e-mails and made phone calls to different sellers of the jumping stilts and was underwhelmed by the lack of response with the exception of Alpine Innovations who is the authorized retailer and distributor of Air-trekkers.
Gary at Alpine Innovations had the answers to my questions and is about the friendliest guy you'll ever meet. Combine this with the fact his prices are in line if not lower than all of the competition and it was at that point an easy decision. Cheaper price for the same product? Cha-Ching. After all we decided that these stilts come from the same factory anyway right?
After the brand confusion came the question of what model and what spring size to buy which Gary was very helpful in answering. You want to purchase the spring that best fits your weight category. If you're almost at the top of that category and consider yourself athletic then you want to bump up one level.
The other thing you want to consider is getting the calf cuff. This attachment which comes with some models makes the fit much better. The cuff wraps tightly around your cuff which enables you to jump without feeling like the stilts are loose. Well worth the extra $90 or so that it cost. I understand there are modifications you can do to the models without the cuff to make them fit tighter though.
So now that I knew the difference between the brands, which model and weight category would fit me best I made my purchase. I chose the Pro Cuff Adult Air Trekker. You can google that to see pictures.
All in all I am thrilled with the choice I made. The stilts are great and Air-Trekkers has been more than accommodating every time I've had a question.
First there is brand confusion. Air-trekkers, poweriSers, poweriZers, powerstriders, powerskips, 7 league boots, and if you can believe it the list goes on. I guess we're all used to having different brands of the same basic products right. There's GM, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda etc...and they all sell cars. The difference here is I couldn't find information about each brand of jumping stilts and what made them different. Here's what I do know.
There are only 2 or 3 companies (I think) in the US authorized to import and distribute jumping stilts. Air-trekkers, poweriSers, and powerstriders. Next what I found out is there really isn't a lot of different between them when it comes to product except price and service. There are only two overseas companies manufacturing jumping stilts so no matter what brand you buy more likely than not they're coming from the same factory as the other brand you're considering.
What it boiled down to for me was price and service as mentioned above. I had questions and I wanted answers. I sent e-mails and made phone calls to different sellers of the jumping stilts and was underwhelmed by the lack of response with the exception of Alpine Innovations who is the authorized retailer and distributor of Air-trekkers.
Gary at Alpine Innovations had the answers to my questions and is about the friendliest guy you'll ever meet. Combine this with the fact his prices are in line if not lower than all of the competition and it was at that point an easy decision. Cheaper price for the same product? Cha-Ching. After all we decided that these stilts come from the same factory anyway right?
After the brand confusion came the question of what model and what spring size to buy which Gary was very helpful in answering. You want to purchase the spring that best fits your weight category. If you're almost at the top of that category and consider yourself athletic then you want to bump up one level.
The other thing you want to consider is getting the calf cuff. This attachment which comes with some models makes the fit much better. The cuff wraps tightly around your cuff which enables you to jump without feeling like the stilts are loose. Well worth the extra $90 or so that it cost. I understand there are modifications you can do to the models without the cuff to make them fit tighter though.
So now that I knew the difference between the brands, which model and weight category would fit me best I made my purchase. I chose the Pro Cuff Adult Air Trekker. You can google that to see pictures.
All in all I am thrilled with the choice I made. The stilts are great and Air-Trekkers has been more than accommodating every time I've had a question.
