Playmate Serve Lift Turns Ball Machines Into Serving Machines

This thing is crazy. Not only can it help you practice your return, it can also send over a realistic slice that comes from a naturally elevated position - making it much more realistic.

Some other things to note:

-Practice Defensive Lobs Against the Ball Machines Overhead
-Practice Poaching by Reading The Ball Machine's Wide or Inside Serve
-Stable Design
-Aircraft Aluminum Construction
-Three Year Limited Parts Warranty

Check out the Playmate Serve Lift or the Playmate Ace Ball Machine.

Lobster Tournament Electric Ball Machine

This machine is more akin to the ball machines I grew up with - the pneumatic tube that acts as a tennis ball cannon, and enough ball storage to make you beg for mercy if you try and finish them all yourself.

Without question, this is a little clunkier in design that some other models, especially the Lobster Elite Grand Slam, Lobster Economy, or the Playmate Ace, this is a workhorse of a ball machine, and would serve any player/coach quite well.

Check out the Lobster Tournament Ball Machine.

Lobster Elite Grand Slam IV Ball Machine

The Elite Grand Slam IV is a really nice, advanced battery operated portable tennis ball machine.

Features include:

• Fully Random Oscillation Revolutionary design allows the machine to throw balls throughout the entire spectrum of the court mixing up speed, spin, trajectory and oscillation.


• 2-Line Function Offers the most extensive 2-Line function found today with its three versatile positional settings; Narrow, Medium, and Wide.


• Pre-Programmed Court Drills Equipped with three pre-programmed six shot drills that simulates the most popular styles of play - grinder, all courter, and power baseliner, these incredible drills mix up speed, trajectory, and spin.


• Digital Control Panel & Wireless Remote Control Comes equipped with a digital control panel and optional 15-function wireless remote control. The control panel utilizes "touch-buttons" and has a digital LCD screen which allows you to view all menu selections and settings. The compact controller provides instantaneous changes in functionality like; play/pause, oscillation sweep, fully random, 2-line, speed, feed, spin, and much more.

• Oscillation: random horizontal, random vertical, fully random horizontal & vertical


• Two-line function: 3 settings: narrow • medium • wide


• Programmed drills: 3 drills: grinder • power baseliner • all-courter


• Ball speed: 30-80 mph


• Ball capacity: 150


• Feed rate: 2 to 12 seconds


• Battery Life on Court: 4-8 hrs


• Elevation: Electronic, 0-50 degrees


• Weight: 44 lbs


• Spin: topspin & backspin

Lobster Elite Grand Slam IV Ball Machine

Lobster Economy, Pneumatic Tennis Ball Machine

This machine gives you a ton of value. It is not that expensive and it is very light. There are not a lot of bells and whistles, but if you're looking for a workhorse of a ball machine for a reasonable price, this is one to think about.

It uses a pneumatic tube, which uses air pressure instead of the "pitching wheel" to send balls over the net. Using this approach means fewer moving parts which means less breakdowns. Plus, it is a much more consistent placement of the ball - wheels can be inconsistent in the ball pattern (something I've learned first hand using a wheel-based Playmate ball machine, btw).

Specifications:

• Oscillation: strikes one spot only


• Shot Height: ground strokes to true lobs


• Weight: 20 lbs


• Ball Capacity: 50


• Ball Speed: 55 mph-15 mph


• Shot Intervals: 3, 6, 12 seconds


• Power: 110 Volt

We looked around and this is about the best price we've found

Lobster Elite 3 Battery Ball Machine

It may not look a heck of a lot like the Lobster Elite 2...but the Lobster Elite 3 Battery ball machinepacks quite a bit more whallop. This ball machine really does a good job of simulating match play. It also has vertical and two-line oscillation, which is enough to make the fittest pupil beg for mercy.

This is a durable and pretty light (44 lb) model, with the same cool, sleek design you saw in on the Elite 2. The hopper can hold 150 balls, and the battery life ranges from 4-8 hours so you're good to go for most of your teaching and drills.

• Oscillation: Random / Horizontal / Vertical / Horizontal + Vertical
• 2-Line Feature: Narrow / Wide
• Speed : 80-10 mph
• Ball Capacity: 150
• Feed Rate: 2-10 sec.
• Power: Battery
• Court Time 4-8 hrs.
• Elevation: Electronic 0-50 deg.
• Weight: 44 lbs.
• Spin: Top, back

See more ball machines at the What's All The Racquet store.

Lobster Elite 1 Battery Ball Machine

Besides its ability to hit a variety of speeds, heavy spin and lobs, this ball machine also is one of the coolest, sleekest models we've seen. Some ball machines are big clunky boxes you struggle to wheel around. Not the Lobster Elite 1. Its ergonomic design allows for easy transportation with a full hopper. Its light, can hit corner-to-corner, and the battery holds 4-8 hours of court time. Couple that with 80 mph ground strokes, a ball capacity a 150 feed, and a weight of only 42 lbs, and this is a killer ball machine.

Check out the Lobster Elite 1

Review: Playmate Ace Basic Ball Machine

My tennis game is admittedly a little rusty these days, so I decided what better way to work it out than on a ball machine. So I tried out the Playmate Ace Ball Machine. I won't go into detail about my poor physical conditioning, but suffice its to say its not good. But you want to hear the skinny on the machine, so here you go.

The Playmate Ace is a pretty large machine, it holds 200+ balls depending on how many you want to stuff in there. If you're using this by yourself, which I was, this means about 10-15 minutes of hitting at a steady pace non-stop. I stopped before the hopper ran out.

You can set the spin from flat to topspin to backspin, control the elevation, and you can oscillate the shots. I found the oscillation to be a bit inconsistent, but I suppose if its truly random that's to be expected. I would have personally rather had a more balanced ratio of forehands to backhands, mine seemed to be very heavy on the backhand.

You can also adjust the ball frequency and speed. It took some getting used to to balance the spin, speed and elevation to get it just where I wanted it. Full disclosure: I used this at public courts and the remote control was missing. The remote would have made this much more easily managed. However, overall its quite easy to operate, and its relatively light (a little under 100 lbs).

This is a solid machine for teaching pros and tennis facilities, and it offers nearly all the intervals, directions, elevations, and trajectories you will need. And with a few minor complaints, it worked very well for me.

Playmate Ball Machines
Playmate Ace Ball Machine
Playmate Genie Ball Machine
Playmate Portable Ball Machine
Playmate Serve Lift
Playmate Smash Ball Machine

Lobster Elite 2 Ball Machine

The least expensive machine that has spinning wheel propulsion and adjustable depth and height within the random oscillation. With random oscillation, its as close to a real point as you're going to get. The machine isn't heavy, but weighs more than some, 44 pounds, but it is on wheels for portability. It holds 150 balls, and its hopper acts as a protective cover. It offers a wide range of ball speeds and times, electronic elevation control to feed lobs, topsin and underspin. What's this mean? It means that you can simulate match play, throwing balls throughout the entire court left, right, short and deep. And it has a wireless remote control. Keep in mind, it is battery-only.

Lobster Elite 2 Battery Ball Machine

The I-SAM Model 1

An inexpensive but quality machine. It adjusts the speed of the balls and the time between shots, but doesn't have topspin or underspin feeds, and elevation control is manual. Only 29 pounds, it can hold 250 balls, and its ball hopper acts as a protective cover. Battery powered with an option to plug it in.

I-Sam Portable 1 Ball Machine

The Tennis Tutor Ball Machine

An affordable, value machine. Unfortunately, don't look for it to send you topspin or underspin. You can, however, adjust speeds and elevations, which is a plus. You can also program it to hit 4 different shots. It can hold 150 balls - enough to wear you out, and has wheels for easy movement. It has a chargeable battery and also can be plugged in, and it has a wireless remote control.

Check out Tennis Tutor ball machines.

Swingshot Tennis Robot

Japan's been leading the way with robots for awhile now it seems. This is a very cool one, though, for us tennis players. It comes from Astro Research, this thing actually swings at the ball with a racquet instead of the cannon effect of normal ball machines.

Not knowing exactly how this thing operates, or what you're able to do with it (can't read Japanese), it seems to me that this would provide a much more realistic practice experience. With traditional ball machines, there is very little spin, the ball sort of comes at you in a flat and abnormal way (hard to articulate). If you're able to adjust the racquet for different spins, I can see this being a really useful machine. It would be more like a hitting partner and less like a ball machine.

CHECK OUT THE SWINGSHOT IN ACTION IN THIS VIDEO

From Astro Research and GearCrave