Hi guys!

I’d already told you about it, I’d been waiting for it, and now it’s finally here – I’ve received it and tested it: my new ball machine, the Pace S Pro from PongBot.

See the official website here: PongBot

And in one word: when it comes to tennis ball machines, it absolutely rocks! … Yes, I can confirm: it completely blows away every machine I’ve tested so far.

• Impressed by the quality of its balls
• Impressed by its accuracy
• Impressed by its possibilities

This is the beginning of a revolution in ball machines.

We’re clearly entering a new era; I say it without hesitation: with its very first tennis ball machine, the company PongBot, until now specialized in ping pong machines, has hit very hard and is going to win everyone over.

First of all, the equipment:

The equipment looks pretty high quality, it seems very well designed. I’ve only had it for a week so I can’t say much more yet. (Edit 3 months later: I confirm, the gear is high quality.)

• The Pace S Pro is quite easy to transport, it weighs around 20 kg and isn’t very bulky. It fits easily in a car trunk. It has a carry handle and wheels, which is very convenient.

• Battery-powered with a swappable battery: it comes with a battery for 8 h of autonomy (announced) (I used it 2 h 30 non-stop without any problem).
• It comes with a remote control (which can replace the app).
• Its capacity is around 150–180 balls (I haven’t put more in).

OK, but what’s so special about this Pace S Pro?

Let’s start from the beginning: it’s a ball machine that does everything the others do – only better.

The basics of almost all tennis ball machines:

The robot can send:

• Balls to the forehand / backhand and to the center (in fact, it covers all areas of the court)
• Balls with more or less topspin, more or less slice, and neutral balls
• Higher or lower balls (and at that point we’re already going all the way up to smashes / lobs)

Let’s say that nowadays this is the minimum required for any tennis ball machine.

The “classic” of modern machines: programmable tennis drills:

Yes, of course it does that – but with more precision and some nice extras... In fact, you can program drills with complex sequences, with precise balls, varied spin effects, and fast combinations. Example of a programmable drill:

• Ball 1: Forehand flat deep in the court
• Ball 2: Wait 2 s, then send a sliced backhand into the service boxes
• Ball 3: Wait 2.5 s, then send a topspun backhand, strong and deep
• Ball 4: Wait 3 s, then send a slightly topspun ball to the forehand
• Ball 5: Wait 3 s, then send a “short cross-court” ball with a lot of topspin to the forehand.
• Ball 6: Wait 3.5 s, then send a lob to the center of the court.
• Wait 12 s, then restart the sequence
• Run the drill for 5 minutes, then stop.

You can save your programmed drills and reuse them another day or edit them later…

The nice extra: drills can be shared in the cloud … that really is a plus – you can access drills programmed & shared by other users (you’ll find mine there, by the way) and you can share your own…

In short, an almost unlimited library of pre-programmed drills… ^^ … Not bad, right? Here’s a demo video of the Pace S Pro with a programmed drill:

  OK, so just with that, if you’ve ever had a ball machine in your hands, you understand that the Pace S Pro completely blows away all the older-generation ball machines (which usually just offer sequences with a few positions and can’t change spin between each shot…) If you add the fact that ball quality, speed and placement are all finely adjustable, we already have an incredibly satisfying machine!

But stop, hold everything! That’s only the beginning, guys!!!

The AI actually makes you play tennis!!

This is the big innovation brought by the Pace S Pro: an AI tracks your movements on the court and the machine sends balls accordingly (and honestly, it pulled some nasty shots on me and I was tempted to say “Nice one” (or insult it… lol)).

• The Match Challenge (my favorite) The robot delivers training content according to your level, evaluates your motor skills based on your hitting positions, and uses an AI model to automatically adapt the training rhythm and generate content suited to your level. In short, the machine analyzes your movements and makes you play tennis in a fairly realistic way… it can really put you through the wringer depending on the difficulty mode!!I’ve done full training sessions using only this mode at different levels – it’s fun, dynamic, and I really like it.

• The Zone Recovery Trigger:

The machine sends a ball when you move into a selected zone. (There can be several zones and different balls for each zone.)

At first this mode left me a bit perplexed, because when you’re not in the zone nothing happens and it breaks the rally… but I ended up finding it very interesting for working on precise movement sequences…

Basically it’s like a coach feeding balls from a basket, sending you a ball when you move to one spot or another.

This is a mode I’m going to use for specific training sessions with specific balls. (Example: I arrive in zone R4 and you send me a lob… I smash.)

• The Adaptive Rally Exercise: You move around the court and when you stop, the machine sends a ball (more or less difficult depending on the settings). … Hmm… same feeling as with the previous mode: at first it left me a bit perplexed because there are breaks in play… but I ended up finding it very interesting for working on specific situations, especially positioning… I mainly use it to break points down into sequences (I mostly use it to work on positioning and see what the “opponent” is offering in terms of balls).

• The Arena of Dash: this mode is pretty fun – basically the machine starts easy and then gets harder and harder… it’s up to you to hold on as long as possible… (There’s even a global ranking!!)

In short: the AI features give the machine a whole new dimension. You can organize smart training sessions, you can “rally” with the machine and it can surprise you without just doing anything random… it’s relatively realistic (even if there’s still room for improvement) and it brings a lot… I don’t really know what else to say except that, from my point of view, it’s a revolution. But stop, hold everything! That’s not all!!!

It also does Padel!!! … (Pffuuu what a beast… ^^)

Yes, the machine also has a Padel mode… I haven’t tested it yet but apparently it also hits hard on padel courts…

OK it’s great, but it still has some flaws, right?

The Pace S Pro is obviously not perfect; it has its flaws, but from what I’ve seen they’re small issues, mostly improvements that can be made via a simple software update: Here are some examples of flaws / bugs / possible improvements I’ve noticed (and that could be fixed in a future update):

• The possibility of chaining two different drills is a potential improvement.
• The fact that you need an internet connection to launch certain types of drills.
• The AI modes still have room for improvement; sometimes the machine serves balls that don’t really make sense.
• Everything is in English, but that’s logical… (international community).
• The app might be a bit sophisticated… (it goes with the level of the machine).
• Bug fixes / improvements to the app interface are still needed, but that will come with updates.

And I’ll certainly find other flaws over time… but overall, for the moment, I don’t have much that’s really negative to say…

Edit after 2 months of almost daily use : There have been updates and already some improvements; there’s still more to do and I regularly send my feedback to the manufacturer, but I’m really super happy with this machine, it’s genuinely good. (Sometimes I take my old machines out and use them, but honestly it’s clearly not the same and I very quickly want to go back to the Pace S.)

Conclusion:

I haven’t talked about everything in this article because it would be too long… (it already is) but you’ve understood it: I’m completely won over by this machine. It is without a doubt the best machine we’ve ever had in our hands; it’s clearly a very interesting training tool that we very quickly integrated into our setup, and I’m convinced it will bring us a lot. Note that the machine is connected and regularly updated… There will be many improvements and lots of new features to come, that’s for sure. That’s it, feel free to ask your questions in the comments, I’ll be happy to answer!

Here’s the link to the official website: PongBot Pace S

Have a great day!!! Have fun!