Lobster Sports Elite Liberty Tennis Ball Machine

I have been using mine for 4 years, and it's been brilliant. I wanted to invest in my tennis after moving to a new area, and it turned out to be the best purchase. I use regular Wilson US Open balls (I buy 72 every Quarter), and this thing usually lasts a couple of hours 3 times a week (and yes, I do also play against real people). It's a very fulfilling workout when on full settings, and has improved my game immeasurably.

Lobster tennis machines have spare parts which need replacing every year (rubber membranes) and they cease to stock them as soon as they change the product. So a big expensive machine ends up in landfill and they want you to buy another one. A oid like the plague

So here's the deal. I am a 40 year old 3.0/3.5 player with a goal of being a 4.0/4.5 player in two years (that's what my coach says is a reasonable goal). I wanted to buy a tennis ball machine so I could practice my forehand and backhand over and over and over again without having to go to a drill or lessons. I bought the machine after spending two hours at the club with a machine at $40 per hour, and doing the math. The resale of these things on craigslist also appears to be pretty high, so it seemed like a relatively low risk purchase, that would pay for itself if I used it 25 times or so, and which I could always unload if necessary with little financial loss. I bought the elite liberty on November 2, 2016. So far I really like it. The machine throws out relatively consistent shots in quick or slow intervals. You can add topspin or backspin or keep it neutral. The dial says 0-80 mph -- though the official product description says it tops out at 70mph (not sure if it really goes 80 or if it just says 80 (that is, if they didn't want to create a specific 70mph dial for this one machine or whatever)). It can do random horizontal back and forth shots as well, though the sweep is pretty wide and will keep you running like crazy. Battery works fine...my one objection is that you never really know how much juice is in the battery...it's either solid green (charged), blinking green (kinda charged) or red (needs charge) but there's obviously a lot of variance in each of those categories that you are effectively blind to. Effectively does pretty high lobs. Only a couple of downfalls I can see so far: 1. When you add a lot of topspin to the delivery, the speed goes down pretty significantly. I wasn't expecting that to happen as much as it does. When you set max speed and zero topspin, the balls are coming out pretty darn fast, but when you put a lot of topspin on it, they slow WAY down, maybe even 15-20mph or so. I'm only a 3.0/3.5 player, and full speed at full topspin doesn't seem particularly fast to me (though neutral spin top speed is pretty fast). I usually practice at almost top speed and a little bit of topspin. 2. There's no way (that I can see) to limit the degree to which it spits them out horizontally, or to make it alternate forehand-backhand-forehand etc...That is, the only setting is random delivery (not alternative), and the only width setting is the entire court (not more narrow). There's no way that I can see to narrow the tosses so you're not running from side to side in the entire court, or to make it alternate forehand to backhand. The playmate machine at my club does this, but i'm sure it's a far more expensive machine. So the liberty may deliver two identical forehands in a row, or a forehand on the extreme right line, then a backhand on the extreme left line. You never know. It's a good workout, but not best for alternative practice shots. It looks like you have to go up to the elite 3 to get the two line alternative narrow oscillation...not sure if that's worth the $700 upgrade. (And to be clear this is no fault of the machine; it's my fault for not researching it enough on the front end, though the illustrations on the Lobster website are not 100% clear on this point.) A couple of things I was worried about that are fine: Some folks complained about the wheels and I was worried that they were going to be some cheap, breakable plastic. They're not. They're big and tough rubber wheels. I haven't had, and doubt I'll have any problems. I was worried about not getting a remote, but it's not that big of a deal. When you turn it on, it gives you a good 10-15 seconds before it starts shooting balls, so you don't even have to run, you have plenty of time. Lots of folks say it just tore the fuzz off of the balls. It does a little bit, and I'm sure it will do it more over time, but it's not extreme or anything. (For reference, i bought a bucket of Penn pressureless balls and they work great.) So overall I'm really happy with it. I wish it were a little faster, and it would be nice to have it alternate left/right and have the sweep be a little more narrow. But I'm sure to get my money's worth with the lobster elite.

I bought this liberty machine(like new for $827) to practice tennis alone on the court without any hitting partner. I can practice my shots for long hours without need of anyone in my opposite court. I got it delivered it yesterday and tested the functionality without balls. Everything works as mentioned. The is one discrepancy in the elevation markings. In the www.lobstersports.com it is clearly mentioned that liberty machine has 50 degree elevation, but machine it is printed only 40 degree so kind of wrong impression about their honesty in giving the correct specification in actual machine. I will test it on the court tomorrow and give further feedback on elevation and top spin and back spin and speed. For 10 degree less elevation on machine then what is on Amazon.com and lobstersports.com, i can give only 4 stars. I stay on second floor and it is not easy to carry machine 36lbs every day for charging internal battery. So I decided to check the internal circuit layout and found a solution to connect the battery externally and carry only the battery home for charging. Lot of relief as I can keep the machine in my car. Let me tell how to separate the battery from machine, it is quite easy if you know how to check the polarity for +ve and -ve terminals. Please be careful before connecting the battery externally and connect correct polarity for XLR cable and battery. I have made a custom XLR cable to connect to battery. I modified the XLR connector and using only two pins of the XLR cable . 1 & 2 pin only. XLR Pin 1 is +ve and 2 is -ve. Lobster machines have an XLR connection port to plug in external battery pack. The lobster battery pack 12V 18AH with fast charger is $179. So I decided to buy a cheaper 18AH battery an Amazon for $37. Bought an XLR cable cut it and used the male side connector to battery. We can buy XLR connectors separately without cable and make our own cable. Please check the continuity of the +ve and gnd wire using multimeter. I made the connections wrong twice and two 7.5 A fuse blown away. Thank God, I have connected the fuses in line to protect the machine PCB board in case I make the wrong connections. I found out that the lobster machines has reverse battery connection protection circuit. So I saved my brand new machine from getting fried due to components burning on the PCB. I am using two battery chargers one 1.5 A schumacher charger from Amazon $25 for the 18 AH battery and another battery tender .75 A charger ($27) for the 8.5 AH battery which was previously inside the machine but now it is outside the machine in the external battery BOX. I bought this BOX from amazon for $12. I bought the XLR CABLE for $10 Monoprice brand . The cable is not 16 AWG as mentioned by Monoprice only the outer sleeve is thick making it 16AWG, So if you can solder and make your own XLR cable that would be great using 16AWG or 18 AWG wire. I posted the pics also for everything. Please do not forget to make the XLR cable correctly and with correct polarity.Use 16 AWG wires for safety as 18Ah battery has higher current than internal 8.5 Ah battery. Connect only one battery at a time to XLR cable and another when first one has depleted. Enjoy court time of 6 to 8 hrs . More review on the way. Please let me know if any questions. I took the machine to the court yesterday and after messing around with the adjustments with elevation, speed, feed time, spin control and finally started playing. I am really amazed as the balls were consitent in their desired spot and i was able to practice for 6 hrs continously as I have total 2 batteries. I left with 2 more hours of juice left in battery. I tried the horizontal sweep but stopped it after 15 mins as it made me tired very fast. I have not tried the overhead lob yet but will try it next weekend and will update my review. The top spin and underspin is great, though need some adjustments on the control panel for speed and elevation. Overhead lob is great, I practised at max elevation and speed around 50MPH , need to adjust as per wind blowing. Overall great machine and true partner so far.

It worked great the first outing, using it for about an hour, turning it off only to collect balls. Charged it overnight for the next outing, and it only lasted for a few minutes before the low-battery light came on. During charging the green charging/charged light never ever comes on, and the low-battery light turns on for a few seconds after inserting the charger, then turns off. Update: It inexplicably came with two slow chargers, and switching to the other one made the third outing better. It worked for at least 45 minutes before I had to leave. Upgrading from 1 star to 3, will update with further battery-life info. Update: The 2nd charger did not solve the problem. After leaving it plugged into the charger overnight, it worked for only 25 balls before dying. I suspect the problem is inside the charging jack. The red "low battery" light only turns on with lateral pressure on male jack, so I'm trying that. Update: impossible to recharge, so worthless. Shame on Lobster.

This is the initial review after four trips to park hard courts in dry Spring conditions(April 2014). My motivation for buying a tennis ball machine: 1. In Clackamas County, OR I don't know of any reasonably-priced and adequately-maintained membership courts. 2. People's practice schedules (fellow novices) rarely line up, and I need routine to learn this sport and to exercise. 3. Stationary bikes are way too boring for routine exercise. Pluses: + Does most of what it is advertised to do * Shoots tennis balls at varying angles and speeds * Good repeat-ability for top spin and back spin shots * Angle adjustment is simple * Few device settings to learn * stable footing * old pneumatic works are cool * fast charger is quick and claims to turn itself off to avoid battery damage * quiet operation * tough plastic shell Minuses: - Highly variable shots on flat and at higher speeds - Why continue to use solid state technology when micro-controllers are affordable and more reliable? - Knobs are just cheap potentiometers instead of knobs that click into place. - Handle does not fold, so I have to lower back seats in my SUV to make the machine fit - Why advertise U.S.A. when the motor is clearly marked "China"? - Creates A LOT OF FUZZ shooting balls. You need to purchase computer dusters to blow out the fuzz. - Price is high for such old technology - Fast charger costs extra and the basic charger can damage the battery. - The remote control is an add-on feature at extra expense and requires the unit to be disassembled. I returned mine and just run to the other court side. - The ball hopper does not support 150 balls as claimed. 100 seems more likely. Summary: I'm having fun, getting regular exercise, and learning to strike the ball more consistently. The Liberty is not a good consumer value (neither is a club membership in this area though)... but it does 80% of what the sales folks promised. I hope to enjoy at least five years of biweekly use. The stated warranty is two years. And care must be taken to maintain the battery properly and keep the inner mechanical workings clean. As a side note, 60-pack tennis balls and compressed air can both be found at Costco.

I have had this model since Sept 2015 and use it twice a week for an hour to practice. I can practice my forehand, backhand, lobs, and volley.. and you can set the machine to topspin and backspin. I always set the machine to oscillate, speed to 60 and top spin to +3/4. Note the more topspin you dial in the higher speeds you might need, use reverse logic for backspin. You need to use good quality pressure less balls, you can buy those on here and they last a long time. When the felt starts to shed its time to replace, I would not recommend using regular balls in this machine. I have done regular cleaning and maintenance, and never had to replace any part including the batteries. Recently I have noticed that he batteries are not holding charge like they used to .. but I can still get a decent 1.5hrs of continuous use our of it .. I might have to replace batteries by the end of the year. Also, as of couple of days ago the machine stop to oscillate randomly and resumes again after a couple of minutes, I need to look into that, may be the batteries are too weak to drive the oscillate motor. I would definitely recommend getting the fast charger and charging the machine for (not more than) 3hrs prior to play. The features on this model are plenty enough for 3.5/4.0 player, you can spend more money on fancier features.. its your money. At least once during my practice session I find myself hitting the ball back directly into the hole where the balls come out... if I don't stop and remove the ball bad things happen inside the machine like felt all over and balls don't get fired consistently. I have had no problems transporting the machine, it is a little awkward to pickup and it has no carry/lift handles, I wish they had molded the plastic/metal parts to give the user a better grip while lifting the machine. As a long time user of this model, I am pretty happy with it and hopefully this review helps you make your buy decision.