Pressureless tennis balls

janky

janky

Rookie
I didn't want to pay the money for Tretorns and used SpinFire. I regretted it. I went back to Tretorns. I had one set of Tretorns from 8 years ago. Finally replaced that set a year or so ago with new Tretorns since the original set lost their bounce. IMO, well worth it. Zero issues with my lobster. I'm also at altitude (2750') so YMMV.
 
D

Djokovicfan

Professional
Whats the point of pressureless? Are they for altitude? Idk why it makes that much diff. Why not just buy normal balls that will play perfectly at altitude when they lose a little pressure?
 
mmk

mmk

Hall of Fame
Djokovicfan said:
Whats the point of pressureless? Are they for altitude? Idk why it makes that much diff. Why not just buy normal balls that will play perfectly at altitude when they lose a little pressure?
Click to expand...
They are mainly for use with ball machines. Regular balls get beaten up with repeated use by machines.
 
E

esantoro

Rookie
I was planning to discuss this very thing tonight. Tonight was the first night I "hit" with the Gamma pressureless balls, but I only hit around with my seven-year-old son with a basket of balls. I can already feel that the Gamma balls hit more like pressurized balls than the Penn balls do. The bounce is noticeably better than the bounce with the Penns. There is no reason not to think they will work well in the machine. Perhaps I will give that a try tomorrow. The next question is how well will they hold up being used in a machine. I expect them to perform better than the Penns in this regard as well. I paid about USD13.50 for a bag of 18 on Amazon and bought 11 bags. These seem to be the balls to stick with for the price.
 
E

esantoro

Rookie
The felt on the Gammas "looks" more durable (but I have read 2007 to 2009 posts that claim the contrary), and the bounce is a consistent 56"/57"(142.24cm/144.78cm). Average weight per ball is 55.2 grams to 55.6 grams. Diameter seems to be a consistent 65mm. The measurements seem more consistent with the Gammas than with the Penns.
 
nvr2old

nvr2old

Hall of Fame
I bought 240 Gamma yellow/blue pressureless balls 18 months ago. Used 120 of them for a year and a half with great performance average of 2 times a week or more. Just started using my second 120 batch. If I go 3 years total it’ll be money very well spent.
 
S

stahlee

New User
esantoro, I do have a few racquets I dedicate to practice with the pressureless balls. Those balls destroy strings so I wouldn't use your regular racquets. I use poly in all my racquets except using multi in my practice ones. If you feel the pressureless are harder, then a softer string will help. I use OGSM since it's cheap and string my own racquets.
 
E

esantoro

Rookie
I hit with the Gammas today in the ball machine. Not bad, but something felt off about them. I don't know what it is, but the Penns seem livelier, even though their static bounce is lower. It may be all in my head.
 
Last edited:
B

Big Ed

Rookie
let us know how the gamma pressure less balls compare to the penn pressure less please. I'm thinking about some gamma multicolor to help my newbie son track the different spin coming on the ball.
thanks,
Big Ed
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
MesQueUnClub said:
I was trying to get some tretorn balls and they seem to be out of stock everywhere with no ETA. I see gamma and Penn pressure-less balls available for sale. How do they compare to Tretorn?

Is there another brand that I should spend money on?
Click to expand...
Don't show this this to an older guy over 40, they hate pressureless balls and they will quit on you.
 
E

esantoro

Rookie
Big Ed said:
let us know how the gamma pressure less balls compare to the penn pressure less please. I'm thinking about some gamma multicolor to help my newbie son track the different spin coming on the ball.
thanks,
Big Ed
Click to expand...

I had a three hour machine session with the Gammas today (to date, they've been hit for about six to eight hours). It still may be all in my head. On touch, look, and feel out of the bag, the Gammas seem so promising, but actually hitting with them they seem deader than the Penns, even though the static bounce of the Gammas is higher than that of the Penns. Nothing really conclusive yet. Both the Penns and the Gammas have now been knocked around for about the same amount of time. It seems that some of the Gammas are already showing cracks. If this is true, they should fall apart within the next three hitting sessions. I didn't notice this about the Penns. I am still not interested in spending money on the Tretorns. Who knows if something will turn my mind.

I should hit with both the Penns and the Gammas in one session. That will settle this dilemma.
 
Last edited:
E

esantoro

Rookie
Big Ed said:
let us know how the gamma pressure less balls compare to the penn pressure less please. I'm thinking about some gamma multicolor to help my newbie son track the different spin coming on the ball.
thanks,
Big Ed
Click to expand...

I hit with the Penns and Gammas today back to back. While I seem to like the throw and bounce of the Penns just a smidgen better than the Gammas, the Gammas definitely feel more like a pressurized ball than the Penns do. The Penns noticeably felt harder off the racket. Conclusion: the all-yellow Gammas are better. Perhaps the dual-colored Gammas are better still.
 
B

Big Ed

Rookie
esantoro said:
I hit with the Penns and Gammas today back to back. While I seem to like the throw and bounce of the Penns just a smidgen better than the Gammas, the Gammas definitely feel more like a pressurized ball than the Penns do. The Penns noticeably felt harder off the racket. Conclusion: the all-yellow Gammas are better. Perhaps the dual-colored Gammas are better still.
Click to expand...
keep me posted on how the gammas are holding up compared to the penn's bud. I'm contemplating trying a few of the multi colored,yellow/blue, to help my son track the spin of the ball and how to adjust his footwork for topspin or slice. but, I won't buy em based on what you come up with in the next few months. just update this thread please if any changes.
thanks,
Big Ed
 
M

mctennis

Legend
esantoro said:
I hit with the Penns and Gammas today back to back. While I seem to like the throw and bounce of the Penns just a smidgen better than the Gammas, the Gammas definitely feel more like a pressurized ball than the Penns do. The Penns noticeably felt harder off the racket. Conclusion: the all-yellow Gammas are better. Perhaps the dual-colored Gammas are better still.
Click to expand...
Ditto with your comments and observation. I went through a lot of pressureless balls this summer and I like the Gamma's the best.
 
scf

scf

Semi-Pro
I've practiced some hours with tretorn micro x comfort and like them so far. Hope they won't lose the felt too fast. The bounce shouldn't be a problem at all it seems.
 
S

SpinControl

Rookie
I've used gamma balls exclusively. ~60 a season.
They last easily into season 2. Felt is good. However, always nice to use new balls. I mark mine 1, 2, etc. in case I find some lying around due to my kids wife.
 
scf

scf

Semi-Pro
Just got a bucket of Tretorn Micro X Trainer balls. Look similar to Micro X Comfort's I have bought earlier. I had a practice today and used a mix of older comforts and new trainers with no issues.
 
K

Kevo

Legend
I used to use the Micro X balls. At first they were quite good. After a while of use in the ball machine the felt wears thin, which is kind of fun cause they fly a bit faster and bounce a bit more, but when you nail one and it busts open you get the white fluff that fills them flying in the air, and sometimes you might get it in your face. I don't like that so I try to notice the balls about to crack and get rid of them early.

The last problem that made me quit using them was the price going up and finding a handful of dead balls in each new bag. I felt it wasn't worth it at that point. Maybe they've gotten better since I used them last.
 
M

mctennis

Legend
Kevo said:
The last problem that made me quit using them was the price going up and finding a handful of dead balls in each new bag. I felt it wasn't worth it at that point. Maybe they've gotten better since I used them last.
Click to expand...
Ditto for me as well. Price got to be really high. I bought a bucket of them and had over 20% duds in the bucket. I switched to Gamma.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
Which Pressureless tennis balls should I buy?
Replies
9
Views
2K
dmitat
D
Hewitt Aussie
Which Pressureless balls?
Replies
13
Views
2K
TheIslandGuy
T
R
Which pressureless ball for ball machine?
Replies
47
Views
16K
Patsfan12
P
M
cheaper pressureless tennis balls... how are they?
Replies
2
Views
824
chriswt
C
T
Best Pressureless Balls
Replies
14
Views
7K
delphi17
D
Top