OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'm in the market to get a robot in the coming months. It looks like Butterfly is pushing these 2 robots (the Amicus more so these days). I can't see to figure out what advantages the higher priced SmartPong has over the new Amicus models. Does anyone have input on the advantages/disadvantages for each?

http://shop.butterflyonline.com/smartpong-table-tennis-robot

http://shop.butterflyonline.com/amicus-professional-robot

Thanks!

I was waiting for someone to post something on this. This would be difficult unless someone has both machine and I've not seen many people with the SmartPong. We mostly have Amicus'

Mine is working well. Work out harder than my Newgy. complex programming very fullfilling once you learn to do it. quiet.

The Amicus series isn't flawless, but it has a good warranty (2yrs with parts covered, next 3yrs you have to pay for parts). Since it is new, I'm hopeful it will have better support for any issues.

With that said, when I was looking to the smartpong I found reviews talking about problems with maintenance and up keep. Here are some quotes from reviews that turned me away:

"It works really well but I had it for 2 years and the motor has burned out twice. And its been a total pain to get spare parts from the maker, Butterfly. I've been trying for a week and they can't even tell me how much the spare motor will cost me, never mind when they can have it in stock to mail out. Also, their warranty against factory defective merchandise is 1 year for SmartPong. The thing costs almost two grand and the motor burned out due to its intended use but not only is it not covered under warranty, I can't even get the parts!"

"Excellent. But where does on get help when the machine malfunctions? The ejection system for mine is current bad after one year of active usage and I don't know where to get help."

http://www.amazon.com/SmartPong-Table-Tennis-Robot/dp/B00EOC6KJA

Problems with no spin balls

"The machine is very noise.
Manual says there is no spin ball, but I called 1-800, I was told this machine is impossible to have no spin ball. This machine is made in Taiwan and manual is wrong...."

http://www.amazon.com/SmartPong-S100-Table-Tennis-Robot/dp/B003L1HLRK

Broke ones for sale from unhappy customers:

"The Butterfly Smartpong robot need repair, Both the Robot & Remote will turn on ( See Pictures),“When the robot first powers on, it only goes through half the usual movements. It is supposed to move left, right, up, down, then rotate. It only rotates. This means the motors may be damaged. Also the robot is unresponsive with the remote. I assume this is caused by damage to the receiver, But not 100% sure,"

http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=61581&title=fs-butterfly-smartpong-table-tennis-robot

It may be only a matter of time until similar reviews surface for the Amicus (fingers crossed that it doesn't happen). However, I'm hopeful this is an improvement over the Smartpong.

My 2 cents: there are too many moving parts that seem hard to service on the Smartpong. I would imaging this would burn the motors more easily when constantly alternating btw different spins within a drill session. Models like the Newgy require you to manually change the head position which this does by motor, however they're fixed to that spin within a session. Newgys seem pretty durable because the only thing you have to worry about are the throw wheels (please correct me if I'm wrong).

The Amicus, although it it has 3 wheels... uses deflector plates and seems to have a similar design concept as a lot of other models out there. So, other than replacing the wheels, hopefully any potential problems with the deflector plates have been sorted out with the other robots using similar technology.

Cheers

Disclaimer - This is the opinion of a biased Amicus Pro owner