Alpha Apex, Gamma 6004 or Prince Neos 1000: Which is Best?

[RD]

I've been searching for a machine to string a few racquets a month to meet my needs as a USPTA Pro. Since I'm tall, I would like one that adjusts up to about 48 inches high.

The Alpha Apex seemed like it might be the best, but then I found that it only adjusts up to about 45 inches high. Mark Gonzalez at Alpha is checking to see how much higher it would be with optional coaster wheels. The mounting system on the Apex appears to be a very good one.

The Gamma 6004 adjusts up to 48 inches. It has a six point suspension mounting system also, but it doesn't appear to be quite as convenient to adjust as the one on the Apex.

I've strung a few frames on a Prince Neos 1000. It seems like a very sturdy machine, but the clamps move on glide bars, which may make it difficult to string racquets with fan patterns. It has mounts at the top and bottom of the frame only, but they are considered to be quite secure, and they allow good access to the grommets/holes in most parts of the racquet frame.

Because I liked the mounting system on the Apex, but it adjusted to only 45 inches, I considered the Alpha Orbitor SE, which adjusts up to 48 inches. I like the constant pull, knot button, digital display, and other features on this machine. But I now feel that an electronic machine is really more costly and will require more service and expense to maintain than a manual machine. I received good reports on the Prince 3000 machine, also, but was cautioned that the Gamma 8500 Els might need more servicing. Later I learned that the 8500 adjusts up to 46 inches, but the Prince 3000 adjusts up quite high.

I'm about to decide on the Alpha Apex, if the optional coaster wheels will raise it up to about 48 inches. Considering all the features: mounting system, tensioning system, clamping system and anything else, Which machine do you feel is the best selection, and why?

 

[Audiodude]

I've owned a Gamma 5003 for about two years. The machine has performed perfectly since I've owned it. The mounting system is very secure. It takes me less than a minute to mount a frame. It takes even less time to mount a racquet on the 6004. You must either be very pressed for time, or perhaps, a little impatient.

 

[Gaines Hillix]

I really don't think you could go wrong with any of these machines. I own an APEX with a Wise tension head(any of these machines can accept this electronic add on, AFAIK). The frame mount is excellent; easy to mount, no frame distortion, very easy access to all fo the string holes, frames come off the machine easily, it's built to last). However, if you need 48 inches in height and the only way to do that is to add coaster wheels to the base, I'd have to think twice before I purchased the APEX. My experience with this kind of setup on other machines hasn't been great. There is too much movement.

 

[Smashlob]

I can say that my Gamma 6004 is a great machine. Everything is very convienent, the *only* servicing I've had to do besides a cleaning of the clamps every couple months, is slighty adjust the clamps.

Mounting is very simple and straightforward, clamping is excellent, and I love the tensioner, very smooth.

I would not get the neos simply for the reason that it is on glidebars; if you were working at a grand slam, that would be the superior machine, but if you see any fan patterns coming your way, save yourself a lot of agony and pick either the Apex or the 6004.

 

[RD]

Alpha Apex, Gamma 6004, or Prince Neos 1000

Gaines,

I really appreciate your great advice! While the Apex sounds like a great machine, its maximum height of 45 inches is too low for a tall guy like me. The castor idea suggested by Mark at Alpha would only raise it about one and a quarter inches, since you have to deduct the height of the regular foot from that of the castor. And a special thanks to you and to Greg Raven at the USRSA for advising against castors because they would allow the machine to move too much. I didn't realize that would be such a factor. Two of the castors would have locks, but the castors are made to rotate, and the machine would surely go the way the rotation did.

Looking at the Gamma 6004, it seems like a rather nice machine, but the design isn't as straightforward to me as either the Apex or the Neos. Also, I read the manual for the machine, which Gamma is very considerate to include on their website. It mentions that if the levers underneath the table for securring the mounting posts should fail to function, you can use the nuts of some type, which are included with the machine. This doesn't indicate the kind of reliability I would be hoping for in a machine. And it goes along with the post I noticed of a nut falling off a clamp on a Gamma machine with a plea to someone to let him know where it is that he should put it back. It is nice to hear that a number of people really like their 5003 and 6004 Gamma machines, but a couple of people who are experts in the business have advised me that the quality of their machines isn't up to that of the Alpha and Prince machines.

So it looks like the best choice in a crank/lockout machine is the Neos 1000. I guess there must be some reasons why there are more Ectalon H and Neos 1000 machines out there. Our new club in Valencia, The Paseo Club, chose the Neos. My tennis supplier and stringer uses an Ectalon H, which you know is an earlier version of the Neos. Two of my fellow pros in this area use the Ectalon H, they have been doing it for a while. One of my fellow pros out here has a Sensor, which he loves, which I'm going to string on soon. But all the advice that my limited amount of stringing should direct me toward a 1K machine will probably at least help me stay at about 3K.

Actually, while the glide rails may not be the latest technology, the Neos 1000 is a very impressive machine. And while it used to be very expensive, now at $1095, it costs less than the other machines I've been considering. Also, it weighs 125 pounds, while the Alpha weighs 90 pounds, including the shipping materials. The Gamma 6004 appears to weigh about the same as the Alpha Apex, at least before anything either falls off or stops working. It seems to me that the additional weight in the Neos 1000 is why it is so reliable and long lasting. I see reports of shops that have more than one Ectalon H or Neos 1000 that have been working without any problems for up to decades.

So my choice is the Neos 1000, among the crank/lockout machines. My difficulty now is that my study of the machines, and the good advice and information posted on these boards, has led me to a greater appreciation of features such as continuous pull, knot tensioning, frame mounting, reliability and convenience of the machine's functions, including calibration, and the overall quality of the machine that enables it to be used more easily. Since I'm still a very slow stringer, I need all the help the machine can give me to provide the best stringbed. Even though I may not string a high volume of frames, I want the ones I do to give me the best feel when I'm teaching, and to help my students see and feel what a good job is like.

So, I'm leaning toward getting the Prince 3000, which is similar in some ways to the Neos 1000, only much improved. But that's a matter I've been considering on a post I started after I got so involved in this selection process.

Best regards. (Incidentally I sometimes wish that people here in Southern California were as fanatic about tennis as they are in the larger Atlanta area. I was there a long time ago when I was a lieutenant in the Army on my way to Korea, after training and being stationed at Fort Gordon. Then later I enjoyed visits there when my younger daughter became a Georgia resident while she got her law degree at Georgia. Go Bulldogs! And what a tennis program they have there, not to mention the best sports training facility of any I've heard of anywhere, including Cal and UCLA, where I got my degrees and credentials in education, and played some tennis. Your business must be good!)

RD