OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Yer I'm definitely interested in a review.

_________________
My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtazeX ... oICGS9bqNg
Join the OOAK Discord!: https://discord.gg/Yw2hYUdz3g

[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)

Spoke Butterfly North America. basic price 1249.99; Advance 1699.99, Professional 2099.99. They are still contemplating stocking them but can special order them 3 days. They have a playing pro there and I'm going to speak to him soon.

I am intending on buying the Advance sometime in the next 3-4 months and will post a review on here. I think it'll offer a good training programme and enable me to work on certain aspects of my game. It's just a shame that it's quite pricey

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Hi Twiddler
Have you made your purchase yet?
Thanks

_________________
Previous Setups: -
Setup1: Blade: TSP Balsa All+FH: SpinLord Waran 2.0 BH: Lion Claw ox
Setup2: Blade: TSP Balsa All+ FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: Tenergy 05 max
Setup3: Blade: DMS Destroyer FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: DMS Transformer 1.5

I will probably be ordering it within the next couple of months. After thinking it over, I decided to wait a little longer and purchase the Professional version because it has more options. Most of all, it spins the ball more and is much more adjustable.

I'll post a review when I have it and have had time to play with it....hopefully within the next couple of months.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

I managed to find the manuals for each of the robots on the Butterfly site and decided to download the manual for the Amicus Professional. You can find it linked here:

http://www.butterfly.tt/media/wysiwyg/p ... nal_en.pdf

There are quite a number of differences that I've noticed that I don't think Butterfly have covered very well. From their marketing, it seems that the only a handful of differences between the Advance and Professional. However I think there's a lot more than meets the eye.

A few observations I've made that the Professional does that I don't think is made clear are:

1.) The "mega spin mode" isn't actually a mode. If you look at both control panels, the Professional is able to produce not only more spin, but also speed as well....quite a lot more.

2.) The Pro also has more adjustability on the trajectory.

3.) You can adjust the time intervals for each ball. Therefore rather than releasing a ball at a consistent pace (say every second), it can release individual balls more realistically as if in a real match.

4.) The Pro has 8 buttons and the first two have an "S" next to them. Press buttons 1 or 2 twice and it puts these buttons into service mode. Therefore the robot will serve the ball in the sequence more like in a real match.

5.) You can save 99 exercises on the Pro and only 10 on the Advance.

6.) The Pro comes with a small wireless remote so you can be at the table with remote in one hand and bat in the other as you start, stop, change the rate of balls or just want to sample a single ball for configuration.

Also both robots have a function that I like the look of in the random modes. For example you can:

- Set 1 ball to loop to your forehand to a specific point.
- The same ball can be played to land randomly within a 20cm radius area, more like a real player.
- If more than one ball is programmed, they can be played randomly out of order to a set place.
- The balls can also be played randomly out of order to but to land randomly with a 20cm radius.

I'll do a proper review when I get my robot (might be able to upload some video as well) but I think they've covered pretty much everything that you'd want. The only thing in wish they had included were set drills in the memory. However I can programme these individually but it'll take some time.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

I'd be really interested to know how well they can do spin independent of speed... most robots don't do this well, even the two wheeled ones, which are supposed to be able to do it.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I have one of the Basic models (at the time I purchased they only had the one model). None of the wheels spin backward, which is what you need if you want to truly separate spin from speed. I've tried getting one of the Professional control boxes, but they wanted almost as much just for the control box as I paid for the entire Basic model. I'd like to see if it can make any of the wheels spin backward. This isn't an easy engineering task as it's easy to allow the wheel to spin backward too fast, which forces the ball back into the robot instead of away from it, causing ball jams.

I was very unimpressed with the Basic's spin/speed. Much slower and much less spin than the Newgy 2050 I regularly use. I also dislike the deflection plate that entire Amicus line uses (as well as the Oukei/Killerspin/AMDT Chinese-made robots). It's very hard to tell where the next ball is going as the plate is very thin and without a lot of contrast from its background. In addition, the spin on the ball is reduced and changes direction after hitting the deflector plate.

Larry

I've yet to play with the new Amicus robots but have a friend who has. He was very impressed with it so I'm looking forward to trying one soon.

I also tried a Robopong 2050 at a local club and wasn't impressed. I liked the programmes / drills, but I didn't think the balls it produced felt very realistic.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Realistic in what way? Too much spin? Too little spin? Something else?

Larry

Just the way the ball bounced on faster balls with spin. I found that it skidded off the surface and didn't bounce up as if hit from an opponent. I can only assume this was something to do with the spin it was producing. Slower and medium speed balls were fine however.

I also didn't like the control panel (felt a bit cheap and plastic). I would have also liked a fully material / nylon collection tray at the base of the robot rather than plastic as it felt a little flimsy. I like the Amicus' control panel (feels solid and well made) It feels German quality (like a BMW or Mercedes) whereas the Robopong felt cheaper...but it is cheaper so I can't really complain at at I guess.

I appreciate that it's all very much personal preference however and what one person likes another may not

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Thanks for those comments. We like to hear what players think (good or bad) about our products. When you say that the ball skidded off the surface and didn't bounce up at the faster speeds, do you think this might have been because there was more topspin on the ball than you were expecting? Topspin is normally what is responsible for making a ball skid and not bounce up. And what types of players do you normally play with? Are they mainly inverted topspin players, pips out hitters, combination bat twiddlers? That will help me understand what types of balls feel normal to you.

Thanks again.

Larry

Thanks Larry. It could be have been a variety of things to be honest.

1.) I only had a very brief hit with the robot (it's not mine) so I might not have set it properly.

2.) When the balls came across with high speed, it felt there were being fired at me rather than hit at me if that makes sense. Thinking about it, it felt as if they needed more top spin to get the ball to kick up. Perhaps I didn't set the spin right but they felt more no spin fast balls...

3.) The table I used it on was thin (19mm I think) and I'm used to a 25mm table. The table was also quite old and shiny...maybe that could have contributed to the skid.

Apart from that I thought it was very good and would like to try it out on my 25mm table.

However the reason I didn't buy one was mainly down to the control panel and the plastic parts. I've looked at a number of robots and so many of them have a very cheap chinese mass manufacturer feel about them.

I really wanted something that felt higher quality. I like the Amicus as it has a nice material base catch net. I like the fact the catch net at the back isn't actually a net but fine meshing because I've always found nets can get tangled. I also love the control panel. It has a good layout and feels solid being metal.

I'd gladly pay the premium required on the Robopong if it felt a little higher quality.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

When I played with the original Amicus Pro (now called their Basic model), I was not impressed with either its speed or spin compared with the Robo-Pong 2050 I normally practice with. I would say that it was perhaps only 75-80% of the speed/spin when both robots were fully cranked up.

I've tried to get one of the Professional model control boxes, but they are just too expensive when buying as a separate part. I'll be curious what your reactions are as to the spin/speed ratios when the robot is fully cranked up when you receive your Amicus. Butterfly does mention improved spin, so I'm hoping that control box offers a significant performance boost from their Basic model. Let me know if you would please. I always like to keep up with these developments in robot technology and the Amicus line is the first to market with a 3-wheel robot, which I find quite interesting.

Thanks.

Larry

I've only ever used Robopong robots (2040 and one of the 10XX series) and I have to be honest, especially at higher spin levels, it feels nothing like playing against an actual player.

The ball seems to bounce differently, the curve and height of the ball feels strange, so on and so forth. I always just presumed that this was an unavoidable trait of a robot.

I'd love to get my hands on an Amicus but I can't justify the expense at the moment. Plus my table tennis area is barely big enough for my full topspin swing unless I open the doors to the patio area... so I don't know if I'd ever use it as much as I should.

_________________
My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtazeX ... oICGS9bqNg
Join the OOAK Discord!: https://discord.gg/Yw2hYUdz3g

[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)