Pongbot nova s pro review after 3 weeks usage

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introduction:
i am a returning player, after 25 years, in the end. Previously, i have tried to return to table tennis 3 times, but circumstances did not allow (Job, family, time, ...). But i especially followed this forum, Alex TT, mytabletennis. Upsidedowncarl,yogibear, Tony table tennis, attitude, zuhancorpe, nextlevel, mocker88 are my favorite members.
Last year, i moved to a small town, because of my son's health issues. The secondary school has a sports hall and a worn table tennis table available in it. The school principal allowed me to use it after the lessons. He even gave the keys. i train myself, since there is noone interested in sports. İ bought a decent net set, ball picker, balls. rubbers for both training and tournement.
i prepared retunboards inverted, short and long pips, anti, some PVC and slippery stuff on eva sponges. All of them respond differently to my shots. They are useful up to a point but retunboard is static, it just blocks and completely dependent on me. it can not serve pendulum underspin or cant loop.
in spite of these defects, i became group leader and promoted from 3.league to 2nd, in the regional league type tournement. (Elite-super-1st-2nd-3rd-4th). i saw that my returnboards can only deal %30-40 of my needs. i decided on buying a robot in the end. As long as i dont earn money from TT, i eliminated 800-2000$ products. i watched many videos. i really liked tennirobo and nova s pro. Unfortunately, tennirobo has marketing problems, because of the russia-ukrania war.
Plunder's scientific criticism caused hesitation but i listened to nathanbritt table tennis on YouTube and David Bruce from racketinsight again and i ordered the nova s pro.

Pros:
-Spin levels are satisfactory. Not as much as National level but very good. For example, if you really dont focus, your pushes, chops, loops, they go onto the net or your shots go out of the table. if an amicus-robopong-omni s has 10/10 backspin qualify, nova s pro can send %80-85 of them.
-whereas short backspin and side underspin levels are decent, long and faster versions are even spinnier and more diffucult to handle.
-You can not adjust head angle for every shot, but for every drill. So, i prepared same drills with different angles on the different serve points (For example, the same drill on serving point 7,8 and 9, but i adjusted the head angles 23-25-27°). i will make small head angle,pace, drop point alterations on drills in the future, in order to prevent myself from getting used to the same things.
-addition to basic/one type shot drills, i prepared drills, containing underspin, nospin, loop shots to diffent points, short and long, together. i shared some drills, about this. You can check on the app. My nickname is "lonelyplayer".
-since it is table top, you can get the robot closer to the net and make the drills even tougher, since you can adjust head to lower angles. Furthermore, the balls reach quicker on your side.
-Normally, i have to pay extra to the Customs when i buy a tool more than 150$, from abroad. But somehow the company dealt with this issue. i just sent to a notary, prepared power of attorney in written form and sent it to shipping company's Customs broker. He did remaining.

Cons:
-i would prefer one or two frequency levels with 20-15 shots per minute( Shots with 3-4 sec periods). This would help me for more technique feedback by thinking more about what i did wrong. (Was my unsuccessful loop because of leg, arm, upper body possitioning, or i didnt hit under the backspin ball, i did not brush enough, or i hit too early or couldnt make the power transfer?).
-Remote control is not good quality. i cant say that it is completely useless, but it is not that effective and practical. contrary to the robot, the remote control's technology belongs to 90's Nokia 5110. The screen is too small, just 1.5 inches. Maybe, the company did this, in order to reduce the price. But it is really bothering to use rc and it allows only one custom drill.The application is great but what happens, if the company decides on demanding money to use app or if the company ends the supoort for the app? By the way, my phone's battery and usb charging socket malfunctioned while i was preparing this review. i had to use the RC and really didnt enjoy.
i would prefer an RC, similar to the app. if company makes such a device, including memory for 30-40 custom drills, i would buy this accessory.

Conclusion:
if your are a 2400+ player, this robot's contribution is very limited (not none). Because, in order to reach this level, you have to train very systematically and profoundly with an expert coach and partners, everyday for hours. They can serve and feed more complicated balls. High end butterfly, robopong and pongbot series can really help their development but not Nova s pro.
On the other hand, it is a great coaching tool for my level and people who cant find a coach and "dedicated"partner. From now on, i dont need to find a determined partner everywhere. Because, nova s can send balls spinnier, faster, more consistently with a better frequency than %95 of people i know.
i researched and watched many robots, before my final decision. Below 500$, (even 800$), this robot does not have a serious challenger. Yt, joola/ipong, tibhar, newgy and such models are so deficient or basic, comparing to nova s pro. On YouTube, the table tennis teaching channel's pinpang serve bot may be a cheaper alternative. But as far as i see, their online store and customer care are not so professional and convincing. As a result, Nova s pro is not perfect, (when thinking the price, perfect) but great.
 
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I'm certainly keeping an eye on all the reviews for this robot. It is very attractive at the price point, particularly for people who are willing to tinker with the app a bit, from what I've gathered.

Would you still recommend it for people who struggle with technology/apps?
 
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I'm certainly keeping an eye on all the reviews for this robot. It is very attractive at the price point, particularly for people who are willing to tinker with the app a bit, from what I've gathered.

Would you still recommend it for people who struggle with technology/apps?
I have had this robot for 4 wks and can’t complain specially at the price. Customs drills making is dead easy I actually tailored quite a few while offline sat on sofa watching tv and then tried and tweaked the next time I was on robot.

It doesn’t replace a quality training partner but for continuous footwork drills or say if u want to practice a particular shot over and over again it’s very good. I have used it a lot for practicing the bh flick to get use to getting low and mastering the timing point, varying the underspin difficulty also where light spin u go over and heavier spin have to brush side a little. I have match related drills also ie short touch followed by open up so u practice in and out movement. Also push followed by counter drill and many more.

For the price you cannot go wrong and for different drills u set it up robot at 9 different positions on the table. I believe u can share custom drills on app for other users to use.
 
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Read 2 reviews
Plunder's scientific criticism caused hesitation but i listened to nathanbritt table tennis on YouTube and David Bruce from racketinsight again and i ordered the nova s pro.
will agree that at 305€ temp regular amzn pricing it has to be the best robot on the market. at 200€ (alibaba, alix, shein, taobao, temu, yinhe, etc) it was fairly priced (build quality is shameless 100% plastics toy 💀; the BOM estimated 65$ without the rc) and a no-brainer. if my unit continues to survive for another 6 years with the rubber band mod,
 
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Would you still recommend it for people who struggle with technology/apps?
it is not a complicated tech. Everything is so easy and user friendly. Custom drills have a reference simulation, demonstrates what yolu prepared. Before i used it first, i watched some drill videos and the adjustments. Even if i hadnt, it would be still easy.
i prepared some combined drills, addition to basic ones, like deep74 did. i completely agre with him. It doesn’t replace a quality training partner but how many people can find such partner. i could hardly find even just for match. i was tired of asking lwhether there is a TT player in 30km Amway province. Also, mostly people are bored of training,
plunder: i would get crazy while searching.here, Newgy 2050 is 10000€, v300 is 420€ on stores. A local expert made a robot and a TT company started selling it in mass production. its quality %80 of nova pro s and it is 650€. Certainly, real quality of nova s pro will be apparent after 1 year. But if i hadnt bought nova s pro, i would not buy anything else.
 
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Hi, im also looking to buy a robot.
I can buy Joola/Ipong v300...
V300: if you are a complete beginner and your aim is just recreational and fun, maybe. But it is too basic. Max backspin, topspin and speed levels are below average.For example, when you loop against v300's heavy backspin, it is equivalent to loop against a slight backspin. When you block a fast and heavy topspin, in fact it just an ordinary and low topspin ball. Namely, this tool can not put a pressure on you to improve your skills.
You can prepare such a drill in nova s pro:
wide short moderate backspin to fh, long and heavy backspin to fh/midline, long nospin/little topspin (opponent's block) to bh with 20° ball height (or antything else, according to your needs.).
 
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