The installation is horrific – I am a veteran of countless IKEA installation nightmares, but this trampoline elevated my disgust for inappropriate DIY assembly adventures to a new level. Installing the mat was possibly the most gruelling physical experience of my life, a life which has included raising two kids, running a marathon and contracting pneumonia. My wife and I managed to get the first 37 rods into place on our own, but it took four adults and two weekends to finish off the last three.

The installation instructions provide blithely helpful hints about hand position and body posture, but fail to advise that this is really a job best suited to a machine not the human body. We followed the instructions to the letter, downloaded the app and played it front and back and front again, wore knee pads and builder’s gloves, but our backs are still on fire and hands are covered in blisters. Such weekend misery as we have never known.

After reading the other reviews here I feel incredibly stupid though, because it seems that most people have their trampolines installed rather than doing it themselves, which is exactly what we should have done. We did consider packing it in at rod #37 and calling in the professionals, but balked at the $400 callout fee and multi-week wait time (it’s usually a mere $270, the extra cost was because they were going to undo our hard work first before starting from scratch).

So we knuckled under, called in the extra help in the form of my brother and sister-in-law, and got the job done. It was painful and unpleasant, but I’m so happy to say, done. The trampoline looks good and the kids are stoked.

My lasting impression is this: Springfree make a good trampoline but desperately need to update their instruction booklet to include links to recommended installers. Or at the very least some more accurate wording about the true physical nature of installation.

Do not, whatever you do, install this trampoline on your own.