Pongbot Nova S Pro owners' review and discussion thread

[Jslick89]

In this post we're revisiting the important topic of wheel maintenance by opening a new perspective (and i should win the pulitzer for it).
Wheel maintenance Final(?) Solution

Apart from preliminary positive testing i haven't done full training sessions with this solution yet but from now on, all my Nova usage will be done with it until "further notice". The wheel's original surface is BASF hard rubber which is engineered to be wear'n tear-resistant and long-lasting (no aging, etc); most users will be fine with it for a couple of years to come, maybe 3-5 years. Hardcore users like myself who try to use the highest/max Spin setting whenever possible run rather quickly into the "problem" of wheel maintenance. So my idea/suggestion is to treat the surface as consumible/consumable by covering it with/adding a softish rubber band and see how that goes. My fear was that the balls could get cracked by the added pressure between the 2 thickened wheels (diameter increase from hard-50mm to squishy-52mm) or that something could get wrecked in the Nova head assembly. So how did it go?
Wonderfully! The Nova operates as if there weren't any rubber band on the wheels, maybe even better!



Comments:

• The rubber band's surface is not sticky/tacky but has about the same sliding friction coefficient as the (clean) BASF hard rubber surface.
• I have yet to see if there's buildup or a performance drop after hours of use at max spinrate.
• I have yet to learn how long 1 rubber band will hold up, i.e. how often i'd have to replace it with a new one.
• One can source these closed rubber rings easily from any local adult toys store 🍑🍆, i.e. legumes store
• I've got an inexpensive supply which should last me for many many hours, sessions, months, maybe a few years. Non-aging UV-resistant rubber bands are also available, they're a bit pricier.
• I am stoked, literally😭 crying, to have found this wonderful solution, and tbh i am confident that this is it, that the suggested solution is going to hold up over time. Only time will tell. Ofc i would update this post with more IRL observations/reports.
• For now i am keeping the nominal dimensions of the rubber band (advertised diameter×thickness×width) undisclosed since i am the only one employing this mod.
• If time tells that this is it, then all new Nova users should install the rubber bands too, AND the company should include them as spare parts in the accessory bag. Prolly the company had experimented with squishy bands as well and eventually decided to go for the BASF hard rubber solution because hard rubber requires less frequent exchange (replacement) than a squishy consumible. But tbh i'd rather exchange/replace a supercheap rubber band once in a while (say every 6 months) than clean the hard rubber surface every hour of Tomahawk serve receive practice.

Fingers crossed🤞 that this is it. So far, things are looking good though👀, so i have reason to have high hopes and be confident. If the solution holds up acceptably, say rubber band exchange needed after every 6.0 months (no matter if used or unused, simply due to aging), then this would catapult the Nova, not the Omni, to cleared skys 🚀🌤️.

Where did you get those rubber bands? i haven't noticed any drop off in performance on my omni but i do see a little bit if "rub off" on the spinny wheels in my robot. wonder how long it would take to affect the performance. I also wonder how difficult it would be to do the same retro fit on the omni. Either way, pretty near! where did you get those rubber bands? are you worried they might snap and get tangled up in the robot head?

 

[Infernal]

>> literally😭 crying

OK, I will make sure not to buy it. Thanks for the info though.

The robot should just work, not make you cry (at least until the robot uprising).

 

[Jslick89]

>> literally😭 crying

OK, I will make sure not to buy it. Thanks for the info though.

The robot should just work, not make you cry (at least until the robot uprising).

I still highly recommend a PONGBOT robot. For the price, you cannot get a better multi-ball "partner". All robots have their limitations and their benefits, but for the price point, a Pongbot really is your best bet. Ive been an owner of an OMNI S pro since late October, using the robot multiple times a week, and I have not had to perform and wheel maintenance and it is still operating like the day i purchased. 3 months later, i would definitely make the purchase again!

 

[plunder]

i haven't noticed any drop off in performance on my omni but i do see a little bit if "rub off" on the spinny wheels in my robot. wonder how long it would take to affect the performance. I also wonder how difficult it would be to do the same retro fit on the omni. Either way, pretty neat!

Good questions good discussion thx!
Erhm .. i hinted at where to source the rubber bands, and i would detail on it further but let's wait first and get some mileage in, one step after the other. Btw it would be equally easy to do the same retrofit on the omni wheels.

Little white rub-off is no big deal, if you keep running the same medium spin drills; it doesn't affect performance, because the wheels are still able to impart the desired medium spin levels. So i am assuming that you're not maxing out the Spin setting, am i right? Because that's where 'the white' gets much more and fast (buildup), and one really notices the drop in performance: the balls doht carry max spin anymore (~harmlesser Tomahawks)!

Nono, i am not worried that they could snap etc. Either way, i train with a Nova with opened head anyway, so no internal entanglement possible. Am looking forward to tomorrow's extensive robi2pon session at 54°F 🥶, getting in several hours on the rubber bands, stay tun🐟!

 

[plunder]

>> literally😭 crying

OK, I will make sure not to buy it.

crying out of joy/relief 🥹 it was!

Sorry for you misunderstands🤪

Anyway, this thread is addressing owners/users not shoppers 😉

 

[Jslick89]

Good questions good discussion thx!
Erhm .. i hinted at where to source the rubber bands, and i would detail on it further but let's wait first and get some mileage in, one step after the other. Btw it would be equally easy to do the same retrofit on the omni wheels.

Little white rub-off is no big deal, if you keep running the same medium spin drills; it doesn't affect performance, because the wheels are still able to impart the desired medium spin levels. So i am assuming that you're not maxing out the Spin setting, am i right? Because that's where 'the white' gets much more and fast (buildup), and one really notices the drop in performance: the balls doht carry max spin anymore (~harmlesser Tomahawks)!

Nono, i am not worried that they could snap etc. Either way, i train with a Nova with opened head anyway, so no internal entanglement possible. Am looking forward to tomorrow's extensive robi2pon session at 54°F 🥶, getting in several hours on the rubber bands, stay tun🐟!

for serve return, the highest spin setting ive used is 5.5. For drive / loop practice, i've had the spin set to a highest of 6...so yeah...maybe barely more than half of the spin power of the robot. I'm 1700 USATT and I find those levels of spin from the robot very similar to what my opponents are giving me in match play.

 

[plunder]

yeah there we go, for my Tomahawk serves i set Spin to 9.0, i.e. always the max. The app automatically reduces the max adjustable Spin, absolutely depending on the Speed one sets. So for max underspin of 10, one would have to set a very high Speed but then all balls from pos7 —no matter the Ball Height— would fly past the player's table side; if one sets a very low Speed, then one cannot set Spin higher than 5.0 for crying😉out loud.

Anyway, overall i am rather pleased with the levels of topspin (and the possible speed-topspin-pairings) and with the levels of sidespin (mostly useful for serve receive practice). The levels of underspin are usable/realistic for Loops and Flicks, i.e. not too high, but i am not satisfied with the possible speed-underspin-pairings, as mentioned in previous posts (~useless Short Pushes); that's a surprising (yet explicable 🔩⚙️🛞) limitation of the pongbot mechanics. I am going to repeat this unobvious aspect when writing up The pongbot Conclusion in 6 months⏳.

 

[bbgobie]

Yes, I find it can be a bit difficult to get the desired height/spin/speed I want to simulate a shot.
For me a heavy underspin that just barely clears the table is the one I like to practice slow loops with.

Thanks for your table, I think I'll print it out to have a reference. We have 3 users in our house + guests.
All 3 users are at different levels so its a bit annoying to setup new drills all the time. I wish there was a way to start with one of the standard and edit it. We have a big enough library that we can usually just copy and edit an existing custom one now, but it took quite a while to build up the library.

Honestly I don't even think we have that many drills. I'm the type of person that can do the same drill 5 days a week.

Will you follow up in this thread in 6 months with your rubber band solution? Look forward to seeing it. I'll have to pay attention to my wheels.

I've been thinking of making some sort of ball duster to clean balls every session or something.

I'm guessing you guys have noticed a lot of dirt/dust/debris in front of the machine? I assume these all come off the balls. I'm wondering if we can keep the balls a little cleaner we'll just get even better consistency

 

[plunder]

its a bit annoying to setup new drills all the time. I wish there was a way to start with one of the standard and edit it.
(…)
Will you follow up in this thread in 6 months with your rubber band solution? Look forward to seeing it. I'll have to pay attention to my wheels.

Welcome to the forum and congrats to your first post, wow yet another one!

I printed out the 3 pages on 2 DIN A4 sheets today too. Well done with the copying (<Duplicate>) and editing!, and yes agreed, it takes a long time to build a library.

I will follow-up re the rubber band solution in that post, to keep all the respective info contained; as soon as i have further confirmation about the non-snapping and durability (i.e. within the following days and weeks), the post will be updated right away to reflect the full set of observations/experience. No need to wait 6 months.

Hmm.. i know what you mean, but with my Nova unit there's virtually no dirt/dust/debris in front of the device; maybe it's just rub-off from the balls? ((I did have such a similar observation with the unmodded robi1 using brandnew balls .. which went away after installing the robi1 retrofit kit)) How clean are your wheels btw? And sure, the consistency is highest when the wheels (and the balls) are the cleanest. Cleaning the wheels has a bigger effect than cleaning the balls. The balls should be dry, de-greased, non-sweaty, and then they stay that way. Actually the wheels do the cleaning/polishing of the balls haha🌟💎.

Ball duster, good idea, .. fortunately in my environment (tiled basement room, no pets), i wouldn't need such a thing, because i vacuum the room on the day (or the day before), a 20min job. And for sure i always clean the table right before starting a robipon session (1min job). I h*te dust in a pong room!

Editing the standard pre-programmed drills .. remains a big complaint for now. Maybe the company surprises us with an app update which allows us the editing. In the meantime, i use the modified Programmed Drills (=Custom Drills) and duplicate/edit them.

Which is your ball settings set for "heavy underspin that just barely clears the table", please could you check and share? Maybe we'll find it in the modified Programmed Drills too

 

[bbgobie]

I think my roller seems to be in better condition than your's. I've pretty sure I've never tried more than about 6+ on spin due to the speed setting being not high enough.
I think I last wiped that side of the table Sunday. There's dust on the table on that side, but you can see this area below the head that has extra dust.
We do have 2 cats so there are some hairs as well, looks like they do get picked up by either the balls and thrown out, or just land in the basket and make its way through the machine.

I forgot to grab the settings for my slow loop drill. I'll go back down and check a bit later.
Like you mentioned, it can be a bit annoying not to be able to access your drills or setup them up unless you're connected to the robot.

 

[plunder]

The omni cleaning video mentions plastic burrs which could mar the surface of the white balls. Maybe you could examine with a jeweller's loupe if your balls have microscratches? As you can see from my previously shared photos, my Nova mouth doesn't look as "dirty".

Regarding the condition of your wheels/rollers, they look squeaky clean, congrats! So i am indeed wondering about the debris.

 

[bbgobie]

The omni cleaning video mentions plastic burrs which could mar the surface of the white balls. Maybe you could examine with a jeweller's loupe if your balls have microscratches? As you can see from my previously shared photos, my Nova mouth doesn't look as "dirty".

Regarding the condition of your wheels/rollers, they look squeaky clean, congrats! So i am indeed wondering about the debris.

Thanks, haven't seen this video
Pretty sure the debris in front of my robot is just accumulation of dust and hairs that come off the balls when they are shot out.
My current settings for mimicking a soft push to loop against are:

Robot position 8. But a few inches from the end of the table

Ball height 29
Speed 2
Spin 6
Freq 30

For me the ball drops just a bit past the table.
Its not totally like the ball trajectory from an opponent, but its close enough that I feel like I can practice this stroke.
If the ball drops too short I just push the machine up a little bit, but for me I want the ball to drop close to the edge. Sometimes I'll just push the robot farther up as well. I think looping against a soft push is the hardest of all so this is the one I usually practice at home. I think its also easier doing this with multiball or a robot than practicing with a partner normally so its one I like to do with the Pongbot

 

[plunder]

Robot position 8. But a few inches from the end of the table

Ball height 29
Speed 2
Spin 6
Freq 30

check out drill x10 from the printout 😁

I'm starting now my extensive robi2pon session with the rubber bands mod, 🤞 fingers crossed

 

[bbgobie]

check out drill x10 from the printout 😁

I'm starting now my extensive robi2pon session with the rubber bands mod, 🤞 fingers crossed

Nice, its good affirmation that we independently have basically the same setting.
I think getting the customized workouts setup is the hardest part. Its not like a training partner where you just say, I went some long pushes to my FH or short pushes to practicing flicking.
Translating a height/spin/speed ratio to get what you want, and than testing it out to make sure it feels the same as human practice and game play requires some experience.
I could see players with little experience being messed up by the pre-programmed drills. I haven't tried all of them, but the couple I tried did not feel normal.

 

[plunder]

I'm starting now my extensive robi2pon session with the rubber bands mod, 🤞 fingers crossed

Done, am back. "My Records" says that i did "# of Practiced Drills: 47 / Total Ball Hits: 1.5 K", and it took 2.0h incl. down time. What down time? The rubber band flew off once in a while (2x from the topspin wheel, 2x from the underspin wheel) but it never snapped/broke. So i had to take the wheel off in order to re-install the rubber band, easy peasy thing.

i went thru the 8 modified Basic drills and thru c01-c07, à 1min, with very little editing required. Quick observations/thoughts:
So far i am pleased with the rubber band solution, AND they wouldn't fly off if the wheels had a groove (lipped seating) where to seat in the band; it would be fantastic if the company made such plastic wheels where the user can seat in his own rubber bands! Actually the wheels of the Pongbot Pace series have such a suitable profile for the rubber bands to take seat:

Anyway I have a hunch why they flew off and am testing/working on a fix, e.g. maybe a wider (broader) rubber band which "shoes" the wheel could fix the problem of flying off.

Basically this is it, so from now on all my robi2pon sessions will be held with 2 rubber bands (i am testing a rubber selection Made-In-Germany).

The quality of the balls is still pretty consistent but for some drills of the spreadsheet some underspin balls went too far (= a sign of higher underspin rate?) and some underspin balls didn't clear the net, these were Pushes or Loops, so i had to higher the Ball Height (for the Pushes) or lower the Speed (for the Loops). The editing was quick'n easy and saved. That was a great workout, with challenging drills! 1min per drill is sufficient, then a short break, then another 1min, etc, or moving on to the next drill, again for 1min, etc.

So I am holding on to the rubber band mod. Once i have figured out its details, i am gonna recommend it to every owner.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

really amazing and detailed thread here. i have only reviewed the intro and tomahawk stuff and read parts here and there. for someone who wants a tool to specifically focus on serve return, it seems like consensus here is its pretty awesome.

would you currently recommend the Nova S Pro with serve receive practice as the priority?

 

[Jslick89]

really amazing and detailed thread here. i have only reviewed the intro and tomahawk stuff and read parts here and there. for someone who wants a tool to specifically focus on serve return, it seems like consensus here is its pretty awesome.

would you currently recommend the Nova S Pro with serve receive practice as the priority?

I am getting a ton of great serve receive practice on my OMNI S pro. I cannot move the robot around to different places on the table, but i have been able to practice returning against all the major types of serves (tomohawk, pendulum, hook, dead, etc). plus I get the added bonus of a more powerful robot for multi-ball practice. If you are not cash sensitive, the OMNI S is definitely worth it!

 

[plunder]

would you currently recommend the Nova S Pro with serve receive practice as the priority?

let's say it this way: i wouldn't know any better robot for this particular purpose, so the short answer is: yes.

generally speaking, if you want high Spin, you must set a high Speed too. So i practiced only fast wide Tomahawks (receives). The Nova can produce slow short Tomahawks too, but only with less Spin. and to repeat myself, using the Tomahawk spreadsheet, the hard rubber wheels will get clogged up real fast because of the max Spin. ((i am still working on the soft rubber band mod))

anyway, the answer is yes. the Nova is great for serve receive practice. just be ready to clean the unmodded wheels very soon!

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

appreciate your feedback @Jslick89 and @plunder ... definitely looking into it!

 

[plunder]

with the <Upgrade>-button leading to Google Playstore and with no update download to be found (yet).

The +0.0.1 update is

"Just to let know,
the update is downloadable since yesterday,
and i just installed it,
which makes me feel great! 🎉🤣"
— ©2025 plunder

What has been changed with the +0.0.1 update in the app UI?
Correct me if i'm long but i believe that, if you enter the Calibration page of any pre-programmed drill (Programmed Drills — … — Drill Prep — <Calibration>), there's now an added slider for Overall Frequency defaulting at "0%", a value which you can obviously decrease or increase with the "-" and "+" symbols, which i didn't test lol. Anyway, in a Complex drill, this should(?) mean that every ball's prepause, i.e. its Individual Frequency, gets adjusted by the same factor all at once. In a way, now "we are editing" the pre-programmed drill hooray!

By the way, their largest robot model, the Mone, is on sale on the shop's website for a whopping €18418.77; that's news! The product really does look like a "robot" and I would automatically think that it is made entirely of metal parts and components, wouldn't you? And with a weight of 127kg, it may well be. Hard to believe though that the outer casing parts are made of metal imho whadya think? Interesting **** in any case! ⚙️