Slinger - Spinshot - Lobster Tennis Ball Machine Comparison 

I did a thorough research of all the ball machines available in the market and bought Spinshot player machine since it met all my needs and had excellent reviews overall. I bought the Spinshot player machine and have been using it regularly for over 18 months. I use it for about seven to nine hours a week. I like the app wherein I can change the drills to my needs. I hardly get problems. But when the problem occurs the support is immediate. The support is given even during weekends. Jason has been extremely helpful. Some of the problems are due to the ball getting stuck inside the machine. I would recommend Spinshot without any hesitation.

I got a slinger and it worked great for a year then it stopped working. The machine comes with a 3 year warranty if you register it online. I emailed slinger and they claimed it must be the charger and gave me instructions to fix it. It didn't work. I emailed a short video of how the machine won't turn on, the lights just flicker and the motor makes a grinding sound. They stopped responding to me. No one answers their phones at the 1 800 number. Buyer beware. They don't stand behind their product.

You thought we needed a RU-vid video to read a list of specs? Show us the machines in use!

Purchased Spinshot 'Player' a year ago. Feed rate problems. Back and forth with customer service (Jason was great guy but no real help). Other problems as well, but mostly jut the feed rate would not work. Turntable would just spin around fast shooting balls out too often making the machine useless. Finally, Jason suggested I purchase a new control panel (about $300) which I did. Worked great for a couple months and I was happy. Now, the same old problem and I've got the feed rate problem as before. I regret buying this machine (it was expensive). I found out too late that other people were having their own weird problems, too. Anyway, I like the machine a lot when it works. I wish I had purchased the Playmate Volley but they were on backorder. I've owned two Volleys in the past and those things ALWAYS worked properly. So reliable.

Great review and comparison of products! Helped me make a decision

Great video! Well explained!

Thank you very much for this video. I have watched a number of them and researched the products on the websites of the manufacturers, and I found this to be the most helpful video in comparing the machines. My only suggestions are that it would have been nice to actually see maybe about three minutes of actual hitting through various drills and capabilities with each machine to get a better idea of what I'll see on the court. (Some other videos do this but usually only for just a few moments, or show for a few minutes but only with the same repetitive groundstrokes.) I'd love to see people practicing against topspin, underspin, varied oscillation and depth (i.e., side to side with short and deep balls), praciticing volleys, and overheads (I'm assuming that they can be set for lobs...though I've never seen this feature shown nor discussed.). I am also not totally clear on which machines can do both topspin and underspin and whether this can be alternated during court drills (i.e., deep underspin to backhand, then topspin short to forehand, etc.). Finally, I will say this video lacked one thing that I consider basic and to which I'd alert everyone...internal versus external oscillation. The point is that machines with external oscillation (which is most on the market, including the Slinger and the Lobster) will obviously slightly telegraph where the ball is going, whereas those with internal oscillation (e.g., Spinshot and only a couple of others) will disguise that. I really appreciate the user feedback from everyone below who has tried out or purchased the various machines. It's a tough and expensive decision. 🙂 I have it down between the higher personal end (i.e., still portable (so, NOT for club or home court use) but with maximum features) models of the Lobster and the Spinshot. Can anyone offer advice/suggestions, and also, does anyone know the answers to my above questions (use for practicing overheads, volleys, and machine capability to vary underspin and topspin in the same drill). Oh, and I apologize...one more thing. I really need practice against returning faster serves. I know Lobster and Spinshot can go up to 80-85 mph. Can those be set to mimic firing "serves" to various areas in the deuce box, and then changed to do the same for the ad box? (I realize that this leaves out slice and kick serve practice, but hey, that machine would probably triple the cost, and you can't have everything.)

Bravo pour ce comparatif, J’ai pu tester le slinger et le spinshot sur le terrain, les deux sont très différents, le slinger est pratique et esthétique cependant la balle qu’il envoie est aussi étrange que peu réaliste, lente avant rebond puis vous saute à la tronche avec une rotation importante. Le spinshot est très bien construit, compacte et envoie des balles à plat, liftées ou coupées très proches d’un vrai partenaire. L’application permettant de mettre en route le lance balles à distance et de modifier tous les réglages fait une nette différence. Le choix du spinshot est une évidence pour moi. Jérôme

A great first video.

Great video! Really enjoying my Spinshot machine!

I think all of these machines will meet the needs of different players... it will depends on what you want to accomplish.... If you want to "grove" your strokes, the Slinger works great... if you are looking for a fitness benefit, not so much... If you want to work on different sequences and situations, the other two machines are better tools for this... Also, there is a fairly large (for me at least) difference in price between these three machines... The Slinger is aggressively priced but it also has fewer features... no surprise... you get what you pay for and while I know there will be lots of folks complaining about the Slinger (that's seems to be what the online world attracts more of than anything else) I've had a Singer for two years and haven't had any problems with it... and at 66 years old, it fits my needs quite nicely. I'm not trying to downplay the issues that individuals have had but I constantly see folks from all ball machine brands complaining of issues and asking questions that could be resolved looking at the user manual and/or calling customer service.

Nice video

FYI: The club where this reviewer works uses the SpinShot machine... great review btw.

great video. Do you know if the spinshot can also handle pickleballs as well?

Haha no way... Ryan what's up man, it's been a minute! Can't believe I just stumbled upon your RU-vid video. Great review dude, I'm in the market for a ball machine and trying to get back into hitting after a LONG hiatus. Hope everything is going well for you bro!

nice video, I have the Slingerbag but just ordered the Spinshot plus 2 :-)

The idea of using Lead Acid Batteries when paying over 2 grand seems horrific to me.

Why are you comparing non-matching products? You are comparing a Mazda to a Lexus. Why not use the lower Spinshot and Lobster models if comparing to Slinger?

Yeah, not sure why but I ran into this similar database of 'top' ball machines a few years back when shopping for a unit, found Lobster pushed hard. FINALLY came across the Silent Partner manufactured by a Canadian firm and possibly not readily advertised in the US. Nonetheless went with their basic system with remote [remote matters]. The Silent Partner machine offers a quality unit top/back spin, speeds up to 95mph, manual elevation adjustments and programmed fore/backhand swing with simply OUTSTANDING customer service, well worth the Google. I managed to save approximately 40% off retail purchasing a demo unit [10hr use/1 yr warranty] off eBay

Hi Max, I am looking for a ball machine that shoot balls with random frequency. Can you help me? It seems like there is no ball machine that delivers balls with random intervals

I purchased the Spinshot player after comparing it with its competitors online during the summer 2022 and it has been very useful for my son, who does various drills with the machine about 5 hours a week. We have been satisfied overall; main gripe is that the settings often need tweaking. Initially this took a few calls in the beginning to sort out (I had friends who insisted that I return the machine because tweaking was necessary for proper feeds that didn’t launch balls wildly into over courts). Customer support was prompt and professional. It is fairly heavy to lift in and out of my SUV but easy to move around on the court. I like being able to use my phone as a remote but also wish that the ball capacity was greater.

on the paper everything is beautiful. a review where we cant see their functioning isnt actually a review

Do you recommend Nisplay?

I leaning toward a lobster...after reading the complaints of the slinger bag. Too spiny shots that can be adjusted much and limited speed.

hey there i am the guy who on 200th Like.

Slinger max speed is a paltry 45 mph. If you keep hitting at such low speeds, you'd never be able to face stronger opponents who hit hard at USTA 4.5 and 5.0 levels

Nope, not a tennis ball machine review made sitting on a bench

I had the Slinger bag for 18 months, now the turntable stop working. Hope they have a fix for that. Buyer aware.

8

Top slinger

Since people are reading this post, Just an update on my situation. After threatening Slinger with a lawsuit for not honoring their warranty, they replaced my broken machine. The machine worked for two months then the battery would only hold charge for 40 minutes! I emailed them and they said battery is not covered under warranty. For a new machine with only two months of use? anyway, I'm tired of fighting with these guys so I said fine, I'll buy your $60 battery. Except, they were out of stock! I had to wait for weeks. They finally came in and the machine is working fine..........for now. Crappy management and customer service aside, the machine is innovative in that you can carrying it in a car. The downside is that the heavy spin is not realistic. My strings are breaking faster than normal. You can try to adjust the spin down but then it makes the ball come at a much lower speed. Overall, it is a decent practice tool but its a shame management is so poor. Also, another downside is that unless you have one of those rolling ball retrievers, picking up balls is a pain. I bought a Tomohopper ball retriever for around $400. It makes picking up balls and practicing much more enjoyable.

can you review pickle machines??? great video.

I thought you would try them

$600 vs $2,100 If that means the slingerbag can consistently feed me balls for 90 minutes, using only a battery AND with a remote control - I could care less about anything else.

wtf just talking, no demo

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