Any Power Pong robot users?

[FrenchFrog33]

Anyone have a Power Pong robot? If so, which model? What are your thoughts?

 

[DukeGaGa]

I have the Power Pong Omega with the Tablet, so far it is the easiest one to use, and I’ve tried quite a few different robots, the most recent ones are TenniRobo (my second favorite) and Joola Inifinty (my least favorite).

Both TenniRobo and Power Pong Omega (PPO for short) use three spinning wheels to throw the ball, but TenniRobo actually turns the head to aim, while PPO use a guide rail to aim. Joola Infinity uses two wheels, so it can’t do as many stuff as the other two.

I’ll list a few things I think that people might be interested when looking to buy a robot:

• Placement consistency: TenniRobo wins, no contest at all. Power Pong Omega is consistent for the most part, but due to the design flaw it will gradually become inconsistent over your training session, though there is a quick fix, which is to scrape the guide rails clean of debris.
• Timing consistency: PPO wins. TenniRobo always have some weird delay once every few balls. Joola Infinity eats balls for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Spin and speed customization: TenniRobo wins, no contest at all. Both PPO and Joola Infinity have some capabilities to change these settings, but no where near the amount of freedom you get in the TenniRobo.
• Ease of use: PPO wins. Set it in place and you’ll never need to touch it again, other than cleaning the guide rails every so often. Ball recycling is also done very well, no jamming after 6 months or so of ownership. TenniRobo can’t recycle balls on its own , and sometimes the balls get stuck in the bucket, and you have to find the same spot you put it last time, though it is also a plus since it means you can put it anywhere you want. Joola Infinity eats balls for midnight snacks now.
• Price and availability: PPO is the most expensive one, but available all the time. TenniRobo isn’t available at the moment due to people being stupid and killing other people. Joola Infinity is not as expensive as PPO, but still not ready for retail yet.

So for me, the ease of use got me using PPO most of the time now, and the timing consistency is what I need right now.

 

[FrenchFrog33]

Looking at all of the Power Pong You Tube video's, it looks like the clear choice. Power Pong has a few refurbished Delta models at a great price. I think that I am going to grab one.

 

[lodro]

Just in case: My tenni robo could be for sale, can include tripod, catch-net and
a sophisticated ball collecting system. Comes with a spare electronic circuit .

 

[Jslick89]

Just in case: My tenni robo could be for sale, can include tripod, catch-net and
a sophisticated ball collecting system. Comes with a spare electronic circuit .

how much? possible to get in the USA?

 

[lodro]

how much? possible to get in the USA?

I assume you mean "is it possible to get it to the USA "" ??? Yes, of course.
I have never send anything to the US but of course this is possible.

As far as price is concerned I will have to do some research, then I can give an idea in US $

 

[DukeGaGa]

Actually I'm thinking about getting one of these https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=679053947150

I think it combines all the pros of all the other robots I've seen, and even considering the price to ship it to the states it'll only cost about half the price of a new Power Pong Omega.

Lots of TT channels in China are using this robot now, and from the reviews it looks very well built.

 

[dingyibvs]

Actually I'm thinking about getting one of these https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=679053947150

I think it combines all the pros of all the other robots I've seen, and even considering the price to ship it to the states it'll only cost about half the price of a new Power Pong Omega.

Lots of TT channels in China are using this robot now, and from the reviews it looks very well built.

Good luck getting it state side. Taobao vendors didn't ship to the US. The JD official store does (but not the Pongbot store on JD), so I tried to order it 3 times and my credit card got locked for "suspicious activities" 3 times. Each time required a higher level of identity verification to unlock, the last time required me faxing in my utility bills, copy of SSN, etc. and speaking to one of their fraud managers over the phone, which took like 5 days to complete. After that I was like screw it and ordered an Amicus Prime.

 

[DukeGaGa]

Good luck getting it state side. Taobao vendors didn't ship to the US. The JD official store does (but not the Pongbot store on JD), so I tried to order it 3 times and my credit card got locked for "suspicious activities" 3 times. Each time required a higher level of identity verification to unlock, the last time required me faxing in my utility bills, copy of SSN, etc. and speaking to one of their fraud managers over the phone, which took like 5 days to complete. After that I was like screw it and ordered an Amicus Prime.

Yea, I will never use taobao's official shipping service to the states again, tried it once for a blade before, it was a disaster. Now I mainly use famiboat, sometimes superbuy. There is one seller on aliexpress that sells it too, the price isn't too far off the one I calculated.

 

[dingyibvs]

Yea, I will never use taobao's official shipping service to the states again, tried it once for a blade before, it was a disaster. Now I mainly use famiboat, sometimes superbuy. There is one seller on aliexpress that sells it too, the price isn't too far off the one I calculated.

Yea when you count shipping the price is actually similar. I just wasn't sure if I could trust the Aliexpress seller. These things will fail at some point of time being mechanical machines, I wasn't sure how I'd procure spare parts. I'm hoping Pongbot will expand to the US, they really seem to make quality products. I'm also interested in their eagle-eye system if they ever come stateside. They can also just set up an European distributor to sell to the Western hemisphere.

 

[DukeGaGa]

Yea when you count shipping the price is actually similar. I just wasn't sure if I could trust the Aliexpress seller. These things will fail at some point of time being mechanical machines, I wasn't sure how I'd procure spare parts. I'm hoping Pongbot will expand to the US, they really seem to make quality products. I'm also interested in their eagle-eye system if they ever come stateside. They can also just set up an European distributor to sell to the Western hemisphere.

Agreed, hopefully they'll eventually expand their business here. Though I don't think the mechanical parts would be too much of a problem. Other than the motor, everything else should be relatively small and light, even things break it won't cost too much to buy replacement parts and ship them ourselves. And the only thing that really degrades over time would be the wheels that are constantly contacting balls, but of all the robots I've used, so far none had a wheel losing grip on me, it's always something else that bothered me so much I had to ditch and find something new.

Btw, since you have a Amicus Prime, how do you solve the problem where the guide rail getting dirty affects the ball placement accuracy? I tried putting some car ceramic coating on it, but it didn't really help much. Now I just remind myself to scrape it clean before every time I use it.

 

[dingyibvs]

Agreed, hopefully they'll eventually expand their business here. Though I don't think the mechanical parts would be too much of a problem. Other than the motor, everything else should be relatively small and light, even things break it won't cost too much to buy replacement parts and ship them ourselves. And the only thing that really degrades over time would be the wheels that are constantly contacting balls, but of all the robots I've used, so far none had a wheel losing grip on me, it's always something else that bothered me so much I had to ditch and find something new.

Btw, since you have a Amicus Prime, how do you solve the problem where the guide rail getting dirty affects the ball placement accuracy? I tried putting some car ceramic coating on it, but it didn't really help much. Now I just remind myself to scrape it clean before every time I use it.

Oh I just scrape it. Not too often, as I like some variations in placement, makes it a bit more realistic. I only scrape it about once a month.

 

[DukeGaGa]

Oh I just scrape it. Not too often, as I like some variations in placement, makes it a bit more realistic. I only scrape it about once a month.

Forgot to mention this in my review post, but trying to make a good serve -> push -> loop drill is a bit of a pain, since the head height is fixed once setup, and changing the head height itself is a pain as well.

 

[Jslick89]

I assume you mean "is it possible to get it to the USA "" ??? Yes, of course.
I have never send anything to the US but of course this is possible.

As far as price is concerned I will have to do some research, then I can give an idea in US $

Let me know. Are you selling because you are retiring or because you got the power pong omega?

 

[lodro]

Forgot to mention this in my review post, but trying to make a good serve -> push -> loop drill is a bit of a pain, since the head height is fixed once setup, and changing the head height itself is a pain as well.

my tennirobo is on a solid tripot so i can do about 1m above the table and of course even from under the table but then I would need to take the catch net away.

 

[DukeGaGa]

my tennirobo is on a solid tripot so i can do about 1m above the table and of course even from under the table but then I would need to take the catch net away.

Yeah, tennirobo is good, but the balls get stuck sometimes which is really annoying, and of course I want that ball recycling. Seems like the only way of not having a ball stuck is use a flat disk with spikes coming out of it that rotates horizontally, all the other mechanism I've seen so far always have the ball stuck every once in a while, with the exception of the Joola Infinity, which just don't care if there's a ball in the way, it cuts through the ball lol

 

[lodro]

Let me know. Are you selling because you are retiring or because you got the power pong omega?

I am old enough to retire but it is more a matter of slowing down and also reccognizing my limitations. I arrived at the point where I can give a decent game to most of the club members except the top guns but also know that improving is not possible anymore.

 

[DukeGaGa]

I am old enough to retire but it is more a matter of slowing down and also reccognizing my limitations. I arrived at the point where I can give a decent game to most of the club members except the top guns but also know that improving is not possible anymore.

Ready for long pips

 

[lodro]

Yeah, tennirobo is good, but the balls get stuck sometimes which is really annoying, and of course I want that ball recycling.

You are still in the "Table Tennis Hercules phase", as I am in the old cripple phase 😁
Under the catch-net the balls fall through a big plastic tube into a cardboard box, after 180 balls
I am quite happy to have a 30 second brake.
Stucked balls happen very rarely and only when I overfill the bucket.

 

[dingyibvs]

Forgot to mention this in my review post, but trying to make a good serve -> push -> loop drill is a bit of a pain, since the head height is fixed once setup, and changing the head height itself is a pain as well.

Oh yeah, it's annoying, but having the height at the 2nd bar is reasonable for all that. I'm focusing on loops right now so I just have it set at the lowest setting, above the 1st bar.