Ball machine recommendation

[amptoyo]

Hi all,

I would like to purchase a tennis ball machine for my 2 boys (HS sophomore and middle schooler), obviously my older son will be using it only for next couple of years since he will be going to college, but younger son will use it for next 5+ years. I am ok with spending up to $3000 (including balls + accessories + shipping). I am in NYC metro area. I asked the coach at the club, and he is only familiar with Lobster. I did some digging this is what I thought I could get for my budget:

Lobster Elite Grand Four (maybe Five)
Hydrogen Sport Proton
Spinfire Pro 2 v2
Titan One

We will be taking the ball machine to the public courts and high school courts in the back of my SUV and with two boys, weight and form factor should not be a huge issue but if I can get all or most of features in lighter/smaller machine that would be the preference. It appears other than Spinfire the rest of the machines on my list have pre-loaded drills or customizable drills and that could be a big negative for Spinfire but I couldn't find sufficient info to confirm if Spinfire truly lacks drills.

 

[cks]

In 2022, I bought the Tennis Tutor Plus Player machine. I added the fm remote control, which is a great feature that allows you to make adjustments (spin/height/pace/timing) without having to walk over to the machine each time. Their customer service has been great as well.

I went with Tennis Tutor because I have a neighbor who raves about their customer service. He bought a machine from them over 10 years ago.

 

[amptoyo]

Tennis Tutor Plus Player looks good, a bit chunky - 20" cube, how is the reliability of the machine?

 

[amptoyo]

Another question:
Is internal oscillation (horizontal and/or vertical) big deal?
Looks like Spinfire Pro 2 and Titan One both have internal oscillation

 

[Soundbyte]

Spin fire is fantastic. Cannot recommend it enough. It doesn't have "programmable" features, but it is easy to transport, has a large ball capacity, and their customer service is great. I recommend you get one with an external lithium battery

Titan One interests me as well. But they're a new name, so their track record is yet to be established

 

[cks]

Tennis Tutor Plus Player looks good, a bit chunky - 20" cube, how is the reliability of the machine?

Good.
I had a problem with the control panel, and the company sent me a replacement for free. I've had an issue with battery life, and the company sent me a replacement battery that I purchased from them. I would buy again.

My favorite option for the Tennis Tutor Plus Player is the fm remote. I can be standing on one side of the court and change any options: spin/height/speed without having to walk over to the machine.

 

[cks]

Is internal oscillation (horizontal and/or vertical) big deal?

Depends on the player. I would prefer internal to external. With internal, you can't tell if the machine will throw the ball left or right. With external, you can.

 

[travis100]

Hi all,

I would like to purchase a tennis ball machine for my 2 boys (HS sophomore and middle schooler), obviously my older son will be using it only for next couple of years since he will be going to college, but younger son will use it for next 5+ years. I am ok with spending up to $3000 (including balls + accessories + shipping). I am in NYC metro area. I asked the coach at the club, and he is only familiar with Lobster. I did some digging this is what I thought I could get for my budget:

Lobster Elite Grand Four (maybe Five)
Hydrogen Sport Proton
Spinfire Pro 2 v2
Titan One

We will be taking the ball machine to the public courts and high school courts in the back of my SUV and with two boys, weight and form factor should not be a huge issue but if I can get all or most of features in lighter/smaller machine that would be the preference. It appears other than Spinfire the rest of the machines on my list have pre-loaded drills or customizable drills and that could be a big negative for Spinfire but I couldn't find sufficient info to confirm if Spinfire truly lacks drills.

I have spinshot plus 2 ,it's like titan,and they have collaboration titan and spinshot..it's ok machine with customise drills, I would like to have remote control like on spinfire pro which, I assume it's better and easier instantly to manage speed height et..of course you can do via phone but in reality its a bit boring.m

 

[USMC-615]

Spinfire Pro2 V2 all day long with that budget. My second choice would be the Proton...plenty of threads in here on both and the Proton is a well-liked machine with a smaller footprint.

 

[travis100]

Spinfire Pro2 V2 all day long with that budget. My second choice would be the Proton...plenty of threads in here on both and the Proton is a well-liked machine with a much smaller footprint.

Its not problem for you to not have drills customisable on spinfire? It's remote control practical on the court when you decide to change speed spin etc?

 

[Spinfire]

You can customize the provided drills as to width, random depth, spin, speed, interval and elevation up to 60 degrees. In addition you can cause the spin, speed and interval to vary up and down on their own without touching the remote.

 

[travis100]

You can customize the provided drills as to width, random depth, spin, speed, interval and elevation up to 60 degrees. In addition you can cause the spin, speed and interval to vary up and down on their own without touching the remote.

How do you mean at the end of your sentence that you can do it without touching the remote?
You can also improvise to those drills for example, on one fire shot,approach balls near to service line and second ball to go forward near to the net for hitting a volley shot, am I right?

 

[Spinfire]

How do you mean at the end of your sentence that you can do it without touching the remote?
You can also improvise to those drills for example, on one fire shot,approach balls near to service line and second ball to go forward near to the net for hitting a volley shot, am I right?

You push a button on the machine control panel to cause one, some or all of the parameters to up and down. You can cause the machine to shoot long and short balls (ie farther and closer to the net or baseline) by pressing a button on the remote. For more detail please refer to the second video on the spinfireusa.com home page as it shows all of the drills being played.

 

[jimmy8]

Proton, you will be happy after lugging a big machine around all the time.

 

[Spinfire]

One of the huge benefits of the Spinfire, aside from internal oscillation and up to 60 degree lobs, is you do not have to carry it as it is designed to be pulled like luggage.

 

[travis100]

You push a button on the machine control panel to cause one, some or all of the parameters to up and down. You can cause the machine to shoot long and short balls (ie farther and closer to the net or baseline) by pressing a button on the remote. For more detail please refer to the second video on the spinfireusa.com home page as it shows all of the drills being played.

Ok,it goes without saying that from the machine control you can manage ,as spinshot ball machine and other machine .but the edge of spinfire is a remote I think, if spinfire would have in addition some app phone it your be super

 

[Spinfire]

Actually there are many more advantages over Spinshot and other machines which are too numerous to go over here and some are nuanced and require a bit of explanation. Please give us a call if you are interested.

 

[travis100]

Actually there are many more advantages over Spinshot and other machines which are too numerous to go over here and some are nuanced and require a bit of explanation. Please give us a call if you are interested.

To be honest each machine have plus and minus,for example spinfire is older and there no has app nor customiable drills, but of course it's ok machine.from the other hand spin shot has 12 customiable drills and you can customise each shot wherever you want. Every drill has 6 shot . Titan and hydrogen has better battery than spinfire and spinshot.. for us customer we need app,smaller battery,and remote control to manage speed etc as spinfire has , because some of us ( and me)dont like to use Phone!

 

[Spinfire]

The Spinfire was more recently designed than either the Proton or the Spinshot so it is not older and the drills are customizable to an extent as mentioned previously. As for the Titan and Hydrogen having a 'better' battery, it is lighter and smaller which may be a benefit to some, but it is at the expense of a much lower capacity and a fraction of the maximum # of charge/discharge cycles of the Spinfire lithium battery so their batteries will have to be replaced much more often. As well the Titan battery warranty is a mere 3 months, while Hydrogen's is 1 year vs the 11 year standard warranty provided on the lithium battery we supply in the US & Canada right now.

For those interested it would be best to call us for accurate information and comparisons.

 

[travis100]

I am from Europe, but ok for lithium is very fantastic. And 11 years is impressive .and yes titan battery hold 2 hour only while spinfire more hours and has more benefits,but for the majority of us 2 hours is ok , unless someone use ball machine often and many hours.. for me personal I used spinshot and itd ok but 110 balls keeps ,balls falling.. App connection its not perfect,but now i am thinking to buy some new , machine as spinfire because of your remote control while others as I mentioned use only app or some not enough remote watch.. if you add on spinfire at least 3-4 customise drills with app and keep you remote control ,it woul be perfect for me!