OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Very tempted - they're offering this, bundled with the net, for RM700 at the WTTC. That comes to USD165, more or less - a lot less than I'd pay buying it online. The v300's apparently been revised in late 2015:

https://www.megaspin.net/store/default. ... ipong-v300

I hit against one at the WTTC last Sunday, it felt OK. I figure I can at least use it for repetitive stroke practice. At this price I don't expect anything fancy, and I don't have a place to set up a big robot in any case. I can set this up after work in the lobby and have an hour of exercise. It can supposedly be powered by batteries, shouldn't be too difficult to make up a rechargeable power pack so I won't need an electrical outlet nearby (there are a few in the lobby, don't know if I'd need extension cords).



I guess it does look cool, if nothing else.. and I do have something like 400 practice balls sitting around doing nothing at the moment. One modification I might make is to put a hole in the ball chute in front of the net and that way I can put a bucket under the table to collect the balls.

On another note - all the "Huipang" clones on AliExpress are gone!

Iskandar

I've ordered one of these. Was seriously close to getting a Newgy (sorry ooak) but with a busy family and having to set up my table each time, i strongly suspect the novelty will soon wear off. On this basis, couldnt justify price tag of the newgy, though was quite reasonable for what it is and likely much higher quality. Quality doesn't matter though if covered in dust in the shed.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm

That's exactly my thinking. If the robot "isn't that useful" (as many people say) and will eventually be ignored, better that I spend less than $200 than over $800 on one. The big draw, to me, is that I can put it in one of those long Ikea shopping bags and haul it around, which I can't do with any of the other robots.

Iskandar

Whether a robot gets used mostly depends on the availability of training partners who match your commitment/obsessiveness. Even if you have such training partners, they probably aren't where you are, and someone has to travel.

I have an iPong topspin-only AA-powered robot bought last year when I was returning to the sport. At that stage it looked like the importer was getting out of the brand, and it cost about AUD90 delivered. Certainly very portable. A picnic bag would hold the easily-disassembled robot and enough balls to fill it.

I've upgraded since, but if I'd bought a Pro or V300 in the first place, I think it would have forestalled the subsequent EJ-ing (or maybe not ). I practise with the robot maybe 4 days a week for ~30-45 minutes each time.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Had the iPong Master V300 for a couple of days now. I've not put pictures as its the same as any other picture you will find of it. No idea if mine is the 2015 revised model or the old one. The balls I use are DHS 1 star 40mm celluloid.

Out of the box it was easy to assemble with none of the tab issues that someone else has reported somewhere, was very easy. It is light however I'm not prepared to say that its not robust. Once again elsewhere someone made the comment that it feels like it could break easy if it fell off the table. This is true but then again, if it falls off the table and doesn't break then it is robust and lightweight which makes it very portable. I'm not planning to test it.

My purchase came with a catch net. The net seemed to take 10 times as long to put together as the robot. It had no instructions so I repeatedly had to keep going back to pictures on the net to figure it out. It has several clamps and pieces to it so I'm not sure how much of a pain its going to be to put up and down. Its not going to take half an hour like it did the first time but I don't think its going to take a minute either which would be nice..

The robot itself holds about 100 balls before you need to reload. The beauty of the catch net is that it has a hole in it so the ball can fall into a box or bucket below, so when the balls are out, just pick up the few off the floor, tip the box of balls back in and go again. Unless you are very wayward then I don't think its a big deal no having a recycling system. Give a chance for a quick break and change of drill.

There are two wheels on it which gives the ability for topspin, backspin and no-spin, all at varying paces. The speed of the ball does not determine the amount of spin which is an advantage over the Newgy 540 and 1040 series. Each wheel has 8 speeds. There are also 8 frequency levels and I think 4 oscillation speeds. Each of these are indicated on the front of the robot so you can easy see what setting you have on it. This is something the Y&T B3 does not have which is a complaint of that particular robot.

Once I fired up the robot and put it on the initial recommended settings which was midway of all settings, the first thing noticed was how fast the ball was coming out. Too fast for me at first. When I switched to backspin the ball was hitting me in the stomach and I couldn't get it right before I had to go out. Today when I took a bit more time and really lowered the speeds, I found it much better. A criticism of the Newgy is that the backspin is unrealistic. A criticism of the iPong V300 was that the spin was too weak. Once I got it right I found it to be quite good, equal to a strong push or even a bit more. At first I had no hope of lifting the ball but after a while I could do it consistently. Was actually really good practice.

The landing area seemed very consistent with just the odd ball that was perhaps 10cm off the mark but in my lot of balls there are several that have been stepped on and I've put them in boiling water so they can have little crease marks. This could explain the odd difference in landing spot.

Sitting here writing this, I can't remember whether there was a misfire or not, there may have been but the fact I can't remember tells me that its rare and not an issue. There were no jams. One thing that did happen though was that sometimes when on pause the robot still shot the odd ball out. I read somewhere that it can happen when you pause the robot where the ball drop and feeder are lined up.

One thing I was a bit concerned with the speed of the unit was if it could actually do really slow balls for my 8 year old to have a go. By putting the topspin on 2 and no backspin, and putting the robot near the net, it worked quite well. Of course he wanted me to put the frequency as high as it would go so when he got 3 in a row back on the table, we cranked it up a notch. He had fun.

So far I'm happy with the purchase. Two things that I want to work on is my grip and not dropping my shoulder for forehands and this robot will allow the repetition to help me do this. I can however see that if I have to set it up and pack it away every time I use it, it might become a bit of a chore and that was my fear.

Would I recommend it? Probably a little soon to tell but first impressions are good. Later on I might put some videos of various settings and robot placement so anyone else that purchases this unit can see its capabilities.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm

Try using the tilt thingie to tilt the robot forward, it might help with the fast balls. If the balls go in the net try raising the entire unit (complete with tilt thingie) by putting a big thick book underneath.

I've put mine together but haven't tried playing with it yet. Wanted to make sure it functioned before the people left for China! I got the battery case free - if this thing really draws 2 amps, one set of six Eneloops (2100 mAH) should give an hour of operation time. I've got lots of Eneloops and equivalents (including one set I just took out of the pack) since I use them in my cameras, so I'm all set - no need to get extension cords for power at the gym or in the department's lobby.

Maybe I should start taking videos now, too.. Don't have a proper video camera but some of my still cameras can take videos.

Iskandar

I have an iPong Joola "carbon" catch net with a cut-out at the centre bottom – I don't know if it's similar to the one that comes with the V300. When I remove it for game play I usually leave it it sort-of-assembled and collapsed. It is much easier to reassemble in any case, after you have done it a couple of times. I usually don't bother removing the vertical supports near the middle of the table for casual games (and at home, they're all casual games!).

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Same net here. Maybe we could put some drill suggestions here with relevant settings.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm

I've done a video showing some drills and the settings used. I've tried to show the level of spin for a few of the drills. Feel free to add to the list and provide any suggestions. Note that I'm not looking for any technique suggestions here or personal comments, its about the robot, not me. (Unless you are going to praise me up )
F = Frequency
O = Oscillation
T = Top Spin
B = Backspin

The maximums are 8

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Joola Rhyzm 425 2.0mm ,BH Donic Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm

I like your "dead racket" demonstrations of the spin generated, as well as the thoughtful way you have superimposed the settings on the video.

I predict there will be some court barriers in your near future, though – either "proper" TT ones, or some planks at floor level – digging for stray balls under furniture ain't fun.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Megaspin.net doesn't ship IPONG V300 to Europe Where can I get it? Joola Buddy V300 is available in Europe but I guess it's the older version of IPONG V300.

I found someone selling them on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-EDITION-RED ... Swa-dWkzcX

Someone in the US. Let's see if I can find a Chinese source (might be cheaper).

Hmmm.. none on AliExpress.

Went to the web site: http://www.ipong.net/, they have a web store. v300 sells for USD179 but they are out of stock. The booth at the WTTC sold every last one they had, and were taking orders for later shipping, this probably has something to do with that!

Well, there is also a list of dealers. And not surprisingly - the European dealer is Joola.

http://www.ipong.net/joomla/index.php/distributors

Iskandar

Thanks Iskandar!

USD245 with shipping + import charges. Well, I would get Joola Buddy V300 (the old IPONG V300 model?) for USD198 with shipping included.

Is the new model of V300 worth the extra USD47?

Edit: The old model is priced USD50 lower at Megaspin.net so I guess it is!

I'll betcha the Joola is exactly the same thing. Ask them for one of the newer ones, or if they've gotten the late 2015 revision in stock yet. I'd be inclined to wait a couple months if they haven't.

Ha.. went and visited Joola's web site:

http://en.shop.joola.de/zubehor/robots.html

If you ever wonder what happened to the v200 and v100, here they are! Haven't figured out the difference between the three models yet.

Iskandar

I agree about waiting for the newer stock. Small improvements – that is, fewer annoyances –cumulatively make a significant difference to how much use you get out of your robot.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible