We purchased the 2009 version in November. After reading reviews we knew these were defective sometimes with leaky seams. We live in a tiny apartment in a snowy location so I really wanted this to work for my kids (ages 1 & 3) for some aerobic playtime when stuck indoors. With that in mind I was determined to keep sending back defective ones until I finally hit upon one with well sealed seams. I purchased my first one from Walmart because it would be easy to facilitate free returns as there is a store in my town. I bought an electric pump from Amazon for about twenty-five dollars that works well to inflate it.
The first bouncer I had did not have an obvious leak, but I did have to fill the wall chamber every day. There are 3 chambers and they need to be inflated in order (floor, outside bumper ring, walls). I wasn't happy having to fill it every day so I took it back to Walmart and ordered another. The second one has been awesome, not needing more air for a month at a time. I have been sure to press the valve covers flat over the plug hole (not necessarily pushing the plug into its recessed position, as you would with a beach ball, [with the exception of the floor chamber for safety reasons] as it is a bit of a challenge to pull the plug back out for inflating).
There was a strong smell of vinyl with each one that needed about 2 weeks to totally go away, obviously outgassing. If you have a way to set it outside for a few hours each day or leave a window open I think that would speed up the process. Now there is no smell at all.
I like the door. My one year old can climb in and out easily by himself. My three year old likes to launch himself in. There is a limit of two kids and I think a combined weight limit of 120 lbs. The clear sides make supervision easier.
I have some super squishy foam balls that we include inside, but we have not made it a true "ball pit" at this time. I do not allow any toys other than the foam balls in the bouncer. We also keep everything else out (snacks, drinks, shoes, slippers, etc.) so we reduce the risk of anything that can puncture it.
My boys also like to partially invert the bouncer on a big bean bag chair and pretend it's a den. They bring their animals to "hibernate" in there (much like we feel on snowy winter days!) They even have fun with it when we've leaned it up against a wall when not in use by crawling through the tunnel it makes when up on it's side.
Though my place is VERY tiny, we use this every day and leave it inflated. It takes at least 10 minutes to inflate or deflate it, not time I want to be spending daily so we just find ways to move it out of the way to access more play space when they're not bouncing.
This has been a good investment for thirty-eight dollars for some energy releasing playtime indoors. I do recommend this product if you have the patience to find one with good seams and let the smell dissipate.