PawHut Automatic Dog Ball Launcher, Green

The PawHut Automatic Dog Ball Launcher sits at number six in this guide at £47.49, in the middle of a price spread that runs from £34.99 to £59.99. The advert gives three selectable launch distances — 6 m, 10 m and 14 m — plus a random mode. That 14 m (46 ft) is the longest figure any launcher in this guide claims, and it is claimed by the two cheapest models as well: the £34.99 launchers say 14 m, while the £59.99 model says 12 m. On this page, reach does not follow the price tag.

Two numbers in the same advert do not line up. The listing reports 12 ratings, but the star breakdown it carries — 71 five-star, 18 four-star and 11 one-star — adds up to 100, so at least one of those figures is not a count of the other. The battery claim has a similar wrinkle: 3,000 launches inside the shortest quoted play time of 2.5 hours works out at one launch every three seconds, with no time for a dog to fetch and bring the ball back. Worth checking before you buy: the five supplied balls are 5.8 cm across, the larger of the two ball sizes used across this guide, and other listings here warn that different-brand balls can jam the machine. Everything below comes from the Amazon advert for this launcher, not from our own testing.