Elite Tennis Ball Machine - Auto Portable Tennis Ball Launcher, Preloaded & Custom Drills, Spin Control, Lob Elevation Switch, Ball Speed (up to 80MPH), with Multi-Function Remote

So here's the deal. I am a 40 year old 3.0/3.5 player with a goal of being a 4.0/4.5 player in two years (that's what my coach says is a reasonable goal). I wanted to buy a tennis ball machine so I could practice my forehand and backhand over and over and over again without having to go to a drill or lessons.I bought the machine after spending two hours at the club with a machine at $40 per hour, and doing the math. The resale of these things on craigslist also appears to be pretty high, so it seemed like a relatively low risk purchase, that would pay for itself if I used it 25 times or so, and which I could always unload if necessary with little financial loss.I bought the elite liberty on November 2, 2016. So far I really like it. The machine throws out relatively consistent shots in quick or slow intervals. You can add topspin or backspin or keep it neutral. The dial says 0-80 mph -- though the official product description says it tops out at 70mph (not sure if it really goes 80 or if it just says 80 (that is, if they didn't want to create a specific 70mph dial for this one machine or whatever)). It can do random horizontal back and forth shots as well, though the sweep is pretty wide and will keep you running like crazy. Battery works fine...my one objection is that you never really know how much juice is in the battery...it's either solid green (charged), blinking green (kinda charged) or red (needs charge) but there's obviously a lot of variance in each of those categories that you are effectively blind to. Effectively does pretty high lobs.Only a couple of downfalls I can see so far:1. When you add a lot of topspin to the delivery, the speed goes down pretty significantly. I wasn't expecting that to happen as much as it does. When you set max speed and zero topspin, the balls are coming out pretty darn fast, but when you put a lot of topspin on it, they slow WAY down, maybe even 15-20mph or so. I'm only a 3.0/3.5 player, and full speed at full topspin doesn't seem particularly fast to me (though neutral spin top speed is pretty fast). I usually practice at almost top speed and a little bit of topspin.2. There's no way (that I can see) to limit the degree to which it spits them out horizontally, or to make it alternate forehand-backhand-forehand etc...That is, the only setting is random delivery (not alternative), and the only width setting is the entire court (not more narrow). There's no way that I can see to narrow the tosses so you're not running from side to side in the entire court, or to make it alternate forehand to backhand. The playmate machine at my club does this, but i'm sure it's a far more expensive machine. So the liberty may deliver two identical forehands in a row, or a forehand on the extreme right line, then a backhand on the extreme left line. You never know. It's a good workout, but not best for alternative practice shots. It looks like you have to go up to the elite 3 to get the two line alternative narrow oscillation...not sure if that's worth the $700 upgrade. (And to be clear this is no fault of the machine; it's my fault for not researching it enough on the front end, though the illustrations on the Lobster website are not 100% clear on this point.)A couple of things I was worried about that are fine:Some folks complained about the wheels and I was worried that they were going to be some cheap, breakable plastic. They're not. They're big and tough rubber wheels. I haven't had, and doubt I'll have any problems.I was worried about not getting a remote, but it's not that big of a deal. When you turn it on, it gives you a good 10-15 seconds before it starts shooting balls, so you don't even have to run, you have plenty of time.Lots of folks say it just tore the fuzz off of the balls. It does a little bit, and I'm sure it will do it more over time, but it's not extreme or anything. (For reference, i bought a bucket of Penn pressureless balls and they work great.)So overall I'm really happy with it. I wish it were a little faster, and it would be nice to have it alternate left/right and have the sweep be a little more narrow. But I'm sure to get my money's worth with the lobster elite.

I bought this August 2024. It is now April 2025 and it finally needed a charge in the battery. That is fantastic. The full charge is 24 hours. I am pleased with this ball machine. Will keep you posted as I continue to use it.

I've had this machine for only a couple of weeks now so this review could use with more experience on part of the reviewer. I'll try to post updates as I go along later.On the whole, I like this machine and would recommend it someone who has the discipline to be able to hit hundreds of balls at a stretch.The ONLY way to learn is via repetition. Playing rallies/games with friends will more or less keep you at the same skill level. One needs to understand weaknesses in technique, practice the proper strokes over and over again till it becomes muscle memory. Only then can you take what you have into a game to play well.This is where a ball machine comes in handy. This one does a pretty good job of being a dumb ball feeder. It will not tell you what you're doing wrong. It cannot correct your technique. It cannot do advanced play in challenging you. What it truly excels is at repetitive motions, like all robots.I read the reviews and most of the criticism seems to be directed towards the bad battery but not too much towards the machine itself so I decided to get one.The good:1. The machine is inconsistent. I love this about this machine. I also have a table tennis ball machine by Newgy. That thing is so accurate that if you don't have oscillation, it'll put the balls on a dime every single time. This has the disadvantage that I can literally hold a paddle in place and do nothing else to get successful returns.The tennis machine, on the other hand, drops the balls within a certain radius of a central point. That might not be a 100% accurate description but you get the idea. This forces me to judge every single ball and adjust my footwork and body position before attempting a stroke. This is pure gold. Even with no oscillation switched on, I can't stand at a point and play. I love this about this machine. Also, I have a mix of new balls, old balls, pressureless balls, regular balls in the hopper. That increases the inconsistency.2. The feed rate is good. At the slowest, I can hit an entire hopper without getting much tired. At a fast clip, I gotta really work hard to get my strokes in and recover for the next ball. No complaints about the feed rate.3. Speed is pretty strong. 80 mp is pro level ball speed. I don't need this. I usually stick to a lower speed.4. Option of topspin, flat and underspin. Choose what you want. It works well.5. Elevation control is decent. It'll let you practice overheads all the way from the net to the baseline. Can set it to high bouncing balls too. Or just skimming the net.6. At a decent speed, you can step in to take a volley and step back to play baseline. Quite useful.7. I mixed up old/new, presureless/regular balls. Not a single misfeed or jam in hundreds of throws. I'm very careful not to play in the rain or use moist/wet balls as other reviewers have mentioned that it jams with wet balls. I have no intention of finding out if it does or not. Even if it does, I wouldn't count it against the machine.8. Reasonably quiet and smooth. But then you're out on a tennis court and sound shouldn't be an annoyance anyway.9. Not a machine feature but you can set it anywhere across the net to determine what kind of feed you want. The recommendation is to put it on the "T" demarcating the ad/deuce courts but I think you can put it at other spots to make for more interesting play patterns.Cons:1. $169 for an on/off remote???!!!! Seriously? Just because of this single issue I thought of giving 3 stars but the machine itself is pretty decent so I relented. This is a total rip off and guaranteed customer annoyance. I feel the customer is being taken advantage of. Bad, bad, bad move. Like that pharma exec who decided to pump up the price by 500% of key drugs. Or the EpiPen. Just plain immoral and wrong and unethical. Do you know what a remote costs nowadays for most standard electronics, Lobster? This is probably not mass produced enough to make it worth a third party to offer a remote.2. The way to lift the machine is to grab the finger holds at the very bottom of the machine. Perhaps they could've made handles on the side or something. Lift with your legs! It's reasonably heavy but not too much.3. The wheels are large but not large enough to let you climb a 4-5 inch curb. If you need to climb a curb or steps, you'll need to carry the machine. Minor annoyance for me as I only have one curb to climb between the parking lot and the courts where I usually practice.4. The elevation control is achieved with a knob on the side of the machine. Some sort of markings to indicate which way to turn for up/down and possible range of turn would have been helpful. Minor annoyance. After you use it a few times, you'll get it.5. A big issue for me: How about having a full control remote? If I want to stop the machine and switch over from topspin to underspin or increase/decrease the speed or elevation or oscillation, i'll need to walk over to the machine to do it. If they can come up with a remote that allows these features, I'll be happy to pay a higher price for that one.Currently, once you set it up and walk over to the other side, it's better to finish the whole hopper on whatever setting you have. Next round, you can vary it.6. The fast charger is $129. Another gripe about price gouging.7. Would you like to plug it in and play? Forgot to charge the battery? Battery is old and won't hold charge anymore? Since the battery isn't all that wonderful, this would be nice. Yes, $120 for that, thank you very much.8. This is a big thing: no range of oscillation. If you switch on the oscillation, it'll sweep a wide arc from deep backhand to deep forehand. You need to be in top shape to play a 100 balls with that kind of range. My TT robot has options to limit range to do only FH only BH, shallow FH, shallow BH, etc. It has a range limiter between 1-6 that determines a whole lot of range options. This, I think, is a must have feature. It's probably just a mechanical thing to implement. Can't need a clever idea or need expensive parts. Sorely missing feature, at least for me.Lobster is SERIOUSLY taking advantage of their customers with price gouging. Like an auto dealer will charge $500 for a lost key. They need to do something about their pricing and be more customer friendly. They'll have happy customers, better reputation and larger sale volume.That's it for now.