I Heart Thomas Muster
Semi-Pro
Well now that I got a Neos and have sold my Combo 810 and had some time to compare the two I thought I'd write a Combo 810 review to help you guys on the fence about going the Eagnas route.
When I decided to get back into tennis and start stringing my racquets again I really wanted to go with a Neos but at the time there were no used ones local and I wasn't at liberty to kick down $1200.00 for a new one. So against my better judgement I went ahead and purchased the Eagnas Combo 810 directly from Eagnas here in the L.A. area (the less said about my 2 weeks with a Silent Partner e.stringer the better).
Having done some research I was deathly afraid of Victor and half expected to kidnapped and shipped off to be a sex slave but when I got to the warehouse I found a pleasant, unassuming man who welcomed me and my son in and brought out the machine. Now my son is Autistic and non-verbal and some people are annoyed by his behaviors (arm flapping, spinning and when he gets excited he jumps up and down and can be a bit noisy) but Victor was completely accomodating and seemed genuinely interested in my son and tried to speak with him a bit. While I do not care what anyone thinks about my son and his quirks it means a lot to me when people are kind to him. Once we loaded the box into my trunk Victor said we should check to make sure everything was there and we went through it and everything was as it should be. The box was not damaged and the machine appeared to be in mint condition. He told me about the clamp adjustments and said he didn't care for the allen wrenches included and brought out some longer ones he said would make adjusments easier and he gave me the set of Perfect Spin (which a lot of my buddies now swear by). He also brought out a plastic bag with additional plastic retainers and those black pads. The entire purchasing experience was pleasant from start (two phone calls) to finish.
Once I got the machine home I immediatley put her together and was impressed by how solid the the Combo 810 felt. All the parts fit nicely, the tension head was calibrated perfectly, the clamps slid smoothly and not one time during my 40-50 string jobs on the machine did they ever slip. There was some built up lubricant splotches on the tension rail but nothing a rag didn't take care of. When checking the calibration I checked to see if the 50 lbs was 50 lbs no matter where the crank was in relation to the frame and that was the case. I noticed that smooth pulls worked the best when stringing and provided the best consistency (which is probably the case with all lockout stringers). It's funny with four racquets the first two would always come out top notch, I'd get lazy on the third, then shape up again for the fourth WITHOUT FAIL. I'm nothing if not predictable.
As I got to know the machine better I came to trust the 6 point mounting system though I still prefer 2 point myself. My only complaints would be no matter how I mounted the frame I didn't like the 12 and 6 being so snug against the frame when stringing was completed. That could very well be something I was doing but again I tried differing degrees of tightness against the frame. Another point of contention is very rarely on the last mains was I able to clamp the string up against the frame because of the arms for the attached to the k-shaped supports. I think with some more trial and error it's possible I could have resolved these issues.
Stringing was fast and very straight forward. Again no issues with the clamps (drawback was easy to fix) or the string gripper on the tension head. While I checked the calibration every two weeks or so it never needed additional calibrating. The machine swiveled 360 degrees without problem and the additional outside supports only interfered on capped racquets.
Now for the bad. One of the towers did not appear to be bent but it was definitely angled where the other was perfectly in line which caused one of the arms holding the k-shaped supports to dip downward. Because there is some wiggle room in the arms I don't think that was a big deal but it was always there in the back of my mind. Other than that I have no legitimate complaints against the machine and I suspect if I drove the parts back to Eagnas I could have gotten them replaced.
I understand that some people have had bad experiences with Easnas and Victor and I don't discount them but this is what I experienced for myself. I think if you live in the L.A. area it is definitely a plus to pick up your items. It seems that those who can go to the warehouse have better experiences than those who have to deal with Eagnas via phone or internet.
So that's my Eagnas story. All in all it was a great experience and while there are definitely some machines I would avoid I feel like the Combo 810 and 910 are good machines and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a stringer on a budget.
When I decided to get back into tennis and start stringing my racquets again I really wanted to go with a Neos but at the time there were no used ones local and I wasn't at liberty to kick down $1200.00 for a new one. So against my better judgement I went ahead and purchased the Eagnas Combo 810 directly from Eagnas here in the L.A. area (the less said about my 2 weeks with a Silent Partner e.stringer the better).
Having done some research I was deathly afraid of Victor and half expected to kidnapped and shipped off to be a sex slave but when I got to the warehouse I found a pleasant, unassuming man who welcomed me and my son in and brought out the machine. Now my son is Autistic and non-verbal and some people are annoyed by his behaviors (arm flapping, spinning and when he gets excited he jumps up and down and can be a bit noisy) but Victor was completely accomodating and seemed genuinely interested in my son and tried to speak with him a bit. While I do not care what anyone thinks about my son and his quirks it means a lot to me when people are kind to him. Once we loaded the box into my trunk Victor said we should check to make sure everything was there and we went through it and everything was as it should be. The box was not damaged and the machine appeared to be in mint condition. He told me about the clamp adjustments and said he didn't care for the allen wrenches included and brought out some longer ones he said would make adjusments easier and he gave me the set of Perfect Spin (which a lot of my buddies now swear by). He also brought out a plastic bag with additional plastic retainers and those black pads. The entire purchasing experience was pleasant from start (two phone calls) to finish.
Once I got the machine home I immediatley put her together and was impressed by how solid the the Combo 810 felt. All the parts fit nicely, the tension head was calibrated perfectly, the clamps slid smoothly and not one time during my 40-50 string jobs on the machine did they ever slip. There was some built up lubricant splotches on the tension rail but nothing a rag didn't take care of. When checking the calibration I checked to see if the 50 lbs was 50 lbs no matter where the crank was in relation to the frame and that was the case. I noticed that smooth pulls worked the best when stringing and provided the best consistency (which is probably the case with all lockout stringers). It's funny with four racquets the first two would always come out top notch, I'd get lazy on the third, then shape up again for the fourth WITHOUT FAIL. I'm nothing if not predictable.
As I got to know the machine better I came to trust the 6 point mounting system though I still prefer 2 point myself. My only complaints would be no matter how I mounted the frame I didn't like the 12 and 6 being so snug against the frame when stringing was completed. That could very well be something I was doing but again I tried differing degrees of tightness against the frame. Another point of contention is very rarely on the last mains was I able to clamp the string up against the frame because of the arms for the attached to the k-shaped supports. I think with some more trial and error it's possible I could have resolved these issues.
Stringing was fast and very straight forward. Again no issues with the clamps (drawback was easy to fix) or the string gripper on the tension head. While I checked the calibration every two weeks or so it never needed additional calibrating. The machine swiveled 360 degrees without problem and the additional outside supports only interfered on capped racquets.
Now for the bad. One of the towers did not appear to be bent but it was definitely angled where the other was perfectly in line which caused one of the arms holding the k-shaped supports to dip downward. Because there is some wiggle room in the arms I don't think that was a big deal but it was always there in the back of my mind. Other than that I have no legitimate complaints against the machine and I suspect if I drove the parts back to Eagnas I could have gotten them replaced.
I understand that some people have had bad experiences with Easnas and Victor and I don't discount them but this is what I experienced for myself. I think if you live in the L.A. area it is definitely a plus to pick up your items. It seems that those who can go to the warehouse have better experiences than those who have to deal with Eagnas via phone or internet.
So that's my Eagnas story. All in all it was a great experience and while there are definitely some machines I would avoid I feel like the Combo 810 and 910 are good machines and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a stringer on a budget.
