When I bought my first such launcher about three years ago (and a second one a year later) the handle was 20 inches. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it really is. Now the handle is a fairly useless 14 inches. The entire reason I bought this was so that I wouldn't have to bend all the way down 100 times a day. I miss the old version of this product - I wish they'd bring it back. It is also REALLY hard to throw well/far with the short handle. There is very little give in the short version.