Careful! Comparing and Choosing a Rebounder Mini-Trampoline, Full Review

Get the most bang for your buck when choosing a rebounder.

For the best exercise equipment, you want to get something that safe, easy to use, and a decent price.

Check out what we and many others have learned in our rebounder reviews of the most important rebounders below.

Why consider a rebounder in the first place?

You might want an exercise machine that is:

  • Easy on the joints, shoulders, knees, etc.
  • A good aerobic workout but is also low impact
  • A benefit to the heart and lymph system
  • Convenient to use
  • Easy to use
  • Easy to store
  • Quiet
  • Portable / Can be taken outside
  • Safe
  • A beneficial workout targeting multiple muscle groups
  • Fun to use

Do gym memberships provided everything you need?

We purchased a gym membership and wanted to try it out for the year to see how often we would really use and how beneficial the workout machines would be.

Instead of buying a workout machine straight out, we thought it would be a good idea to try what they have to offer at the gym and see what we liked.

Although the pool and the elliptical were our favorites there, the gym membership didn’t help all that much.

Gym memberships are great, but probably as many people experience, we were really good about going when we first signed up and gradually decreased the number of days a week that we went until we stopped.

If we’re going to pay for access to exercise, we want to use it, but in the hustle and bustle of every day life (and the holidays) we just didn’t make it to the gym.

That lead us to looking for something to exercise with at home.

An Elliptical Machine vs the Rebounder

This brought up the question for us if we should get an elliptical for the home or some other type of exercise equipment.

We like the elliptical, but in our situation, there are a few drawbacks. First, though, the benefits:

Benefits of the Elliptical Machine

  • Low impact
  • Fairly quiet
  • Adjustable speeds and resistance
  • Timed work out
  • You can have a book in front of you when exercising, but it’s not all that easy

Drawbacks of the Elliptical

  • An elliptical is huge!
    • Where are we going to put something that huge? It’s a great machine, but the space it takes up is just crazy.
  • Really doesn’t get my heart going
    • Unfortunately, it’s just not quite the workout I hoped it would be. It’s good, but I’ve found that jumping jacks get my heart going faster and higher than the elliptical.
  • Trouble on the joints
    • For my wife, if she uses the elliptical too much, it can really affect her shoulder and knee joints. That’s one of the main nails in the coffin for the elliptical. We want something that we both can use.
  • Works a lot of muscle groups, but could work more
    • Although the elliptical does work a lot of muscle groups, I never really found that it works the abs really well.
  • Not as much lymph system stimulation (see further down for more on that)
  • It’s not as safe with kids around
    • If you’re walking too close to an elliptical, you could get knocked in the face real easy (depending on the type of elliptical). I’ve had people in the gym walk by way to close and almost get clipped by the moving parts on the elliptical.

Benefits of a Rebounder

  • Stimulates the lymphatic system promoting better health
    • The lymphatic system is like the garbage collector for the cells in your body. It’s a system that is connected by nodes throughout the body, similar to your blood vessels, but instead of circulating by being pumped (as the circulatory system is pumped by the heart), the lymphatic system circulates based on your movement. Specifically up and down movement. There are valves in the system that once the fluids start moving up, prevent them from seeping back down. Jumping up and down therefore helps circulate the lymphatic fluid and helps clear out waste from your body’s cells!
  • Easy to store
    • You can get rebounders that have legs that fold up for easy storage under a bed, behind a couch (maybe), or in a large closet.
  • Good aerobic exercise
    • Some tests have shown that you can burn calories faster on a rebounder than if you went jogging, and I can definitely get my heart rate up when jogging, so a more efficient way at burning calories is also going to help the heart.
    • When I do jumping jacks, I can get my heart going faster than when I’m running. It doesn’t take as long to get a good workout. The problem with the jumping jacks, is that they have the potential to be hard on some of the joints.
    • A good rebounder will help absorb 70% or more of the landing when you’re coming down from a jump. Without a rebounder your joints and body are receiving all of that force and pressure.
  • Quiet to use
    • A rebounder is quiet compared to lots of other exercise equipment and doesn’t require electrical power. You’re the power! Not all rebounders are created equal and some are louder than others, as we’ll point out below.
  • Portable so you can get some fresh air
    • Because you can fold up the legs of the good rebounders, you can take it with you. Some people take theirs to the beach or a park. I’d rather just stick to inside the house, but I can take it in the backyard very easily and get some fresh air.
    • Another benefit of portability is that you can move the rebounder where you need to be. If you want to watch a TV show, you can move it to the entertainment room to exercise and then move it out when your done. You don’t have to create a special exercise room. You could keep the rebounder under you bed and pull it out when you need it.
    • The rebounders that fold in half or quarters make it even easier to store and take with you. Some of them like the Cellerciser are small enough when collapsed and in the case that you can take them in the over head bins on an airplane.
  • Easier on the joints (depending on how it’s used)
    • Many bounders suggest starting out very easy the first week when using a rebounder and not even letting your feet leave the mat. This is so you get used to it.
    • Compared to jumping jacks, the rebounder is very low impact; however, there can be some strain, that’s why it’s important to know your limits or use shoes if the joints in your feet are sensitive due to arthritis. A simple, gentle, up and down bounce keeping your feet on the mat will stimulate the lymph system and provide a low impact workout.

Drawbacks of a Rebounder

  • Pronation
    • Pronation refers to the balance (or imbalance) of weight being placed on your feet.
    • You don’t want your weight placed incorrectly upon your feet when you bounce, and if the rebounder you get isn’t high enough quality, you could magnify any pronation problems you have.
  • Chance of Falling off
    • It is very possible to fall off a rebounder if you go crazy trying to do cheer-leading jumps, so stay away from those.
    • One solution is to get the handle bar stabilizers that you can hold on to.

Choosing a Rebounder, Which is the Best?

With most questions, the answer is, it depends. It depends on your weight, how sensitive your joints are, what price point you’re looking for etc.

What to avoid? Avoid cheap rebounders.

The problems with the cheap ones are many but they can be especially hard on the knees, back, and joints because they aren’t made well.

These rebounders are found for $60-80, and unfortunately, they’re cheap and in many cases not safe.

If you’re going to be exercising on a device for a long time, you want something that will be good for you and last.

If you’re in your twenties or younger, the cheaper rebounders may be okay for you, but as you get older, you’ll want better support.

A bad bounce from low quality rebounders is something you’ll want to avoid.

The cheaper rebounders make it feel jarring when you land from a bounce.

If you’re getting a lot of hard resistance at the bottom of a bounce, you might as well be jumping up and down on cement with your shoes off! The whole point of the rebounders is to absorb a lot of the shock of the landing after a jump.

Good rebounders will absorb that shock, the bad ones will give you more of a hard hit when you come down.

Top Rebounder Brands – Rebounder Comparison

There are lots of companies that make rebounders. Some of the best tested and reviewed that we’ve found are the Bellicon, Cellerciser and the JumpSport. There are other pretty good brands out there, but these three are the best. How do bellicon vs jumpsport compare?

Prices of the Cellerciser and Jumpsport are easier to swallow. Check out the rebounder reviews below to see the key differences in construction and performance.

Comparing Rebounders

To help compare rebounders, there are some great videos where you can see the difference.

Video of the Bellicon vs JumpSport

The Bellicon is the Porsche of rebounders and one of the best rebounders without springs.

No springs means a much more quiet bounce.

But is the Bellicon the only option for a quiet and less harsh of a bounce? No, further below, you’ll be able to contrast the JumpSport vs the Bellicon in the JumpSport video.

The major difference?

The JumpSport is affordable.

A lot of people rave about the bellicon, however, and you can buy the bellicon on Amazon here for around $630.

bellicon rebounder mini exercise trampoline

Get the bellicon rebounder

But soft cord rebounders aren’t the only option. Lost of people enjoy using a Cellerciser even with the metal springs.

Video of the Bellicon vs Cellerciser

David Wolfe on the Bellicon and then the Cellerciser:

Video of the Cellerciser

David Hall’s Ultimate Cellercise Balance Challenge

Here David Hall uses the Cellerciser and demonstrates in front of an audience that rebounding helps strengthen and stabilize.

He shows that rebounding is better than just jumping (or shaking) in place.

Here’s another video of the Cellerciser.

Skip to the end where he shows the Cellerciser parts, how it folds up, and some of his exercises he uses. It’s pretty cool.

Video Review of the JumpSport

YouTube user roundlady shows us the JumpSport in her rebounder reviews.

She has many different rebounders and has picked the JumpSport as one of her favorites.

She has lymphatic cancer and enjoys rebounding as a great form of exercise, and we’ve learned that rebounding helps clean out waste through the lymphatic system.

All three of these rebounders are great rebounders!

What you don’t want are the cheap ones that can injure you.

You can injure yourself on any exercise equipment, so use caution, but your chances of hurting your joints on a cheap rebounder are high.

The better quality rebounders are made for longer, sustainable and comfortable use.

Where to Get the Best Rebounders

The Bellicon:

With the Bellicon, you can have legs that screw on or choose folding legs. The bouncing surface (diameter) options for the Bellicon are 39″, 44″, or 49″. You can choose the weight class from their website Bellicon-usa.com. The Bellicons can cost from the lo $600 to upper $1,878. Yep. That’s a lot.

The JumpSport

You can find the JumpSport 250 on Amazon as well with over 1562 reviews with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars!

The JumpSport uses the bungee connections rather than springs making it quiet.

It’s also the least expensive of the options listed here.

We decided to go with the JumpSport and have loved it.

— Update —

We’ve had our JumpSport 350 for a number of years, and we still use it and love it because it’s so easy to just step on and start exercising!

You can really feel the lymphatic system being stimulated. It’s a great sinus reliever in addition to a great exercise you can take at your own pace. It even helps us to feel better and recover more quickly from colds.

It has definitely passed the will-we-keep-using-test!

We decided on JumpSport this one because it is:

  • Softer on the joints
  • Very quiet
  • Adjustable (tension in the mat)
  • Sturdy
  • Less expensive than other rebounders
  • A lot of fun

Check out the Fantastic JumpSport 250

The JumpSport 250 (with included music workout DVD) is practically identical to the 350, but at reduced cost and its popularity has really taken off. It’s a great rebounder.

Total Weight Capacity

The JumpSport 250 has a maximum weight capacity of 250 pounds.

The higher model like the 350PRO, has a maximum weight capacity of 300 pounds.

Check out the JumpSport 350 PRO on Amazon.

JumpSport Rebounder on Amazon

Release your inner T-i-g-g-e-r and BOUNCE! 🙂

The best Rebounder for the price and comfort is the JumpSport. It’s the one we use and love it.

Check out the JumpSport

View Price on Amazon

Author: D Review

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