How to Choose a Portable Tennis Ball Machine?

What is a portable tennis ball machine?

A portable tennis ball machine is a machine which throws balls at you while you are practicing. These machines are a great way to practice when you don’t have a partner. These machines keep throwing balls at you with pre-determined speed and angle so that you can perfect your shots. A portable tennis ball machine is a smaller version of commercial tennis ball machines. They can be taken along with the player and can fit inside the back of the car which makes it a very good utility.

How does a portable tennis ball machine work?

The way tennis ball machines work is not very complex. There is not a great deal of technology or science involved in the design of a tennis ball machine but the accuracy and durability of the machine depends on the quality of material being used in its construction.

Most of the tennis ball machines use the counter rotating wheels method. As per this design, there are two wheels inside the machine which rotate in opposite direction. These wheels have a small opening in them. When the ball is pushed inside this opening through a tube, it is thrown out after getting squeezed between the wheels. The angle and speed of the ball can be tweaked by changing the position and spin of the wheels. Backspin is accomplished by spinning the lower rotating wheel faster than the top. Likewise if the upper wheel is spinning faster, the ball ejects with topspin.

Features of a portable tennis ball machine

There are some features which are basic and available in all portable tennis ball machines. These include size, power, flight of machine, capacity of machine, oscillations provided by the machine, battery life etc.

• Size is the most important consideration of the best portable tennis ball machine. It has to be small enough to be carried along easily.

• Another important consideration is the capacity of the machine. It has to be big enough to carry enough balls for a small session before being refilled. Usually the range is between 30 and 300. The size of the machine will increase with capacity.

• Another factor is the battery life. Since, this is a portable tennis balls machine; it needs to have a decent battery backup. Not all tennis courts will have the provisions of power plugs to hook up the machine.

• Power is also an important factor since power only determines the maximum speed and control of the machine. The speed can vary from as little as 10mph to as fast as 100mph.
• The all-in-one control panel is also a nice feature to have in a portable tennis ball machine. From this panel, the user can customize his settings like speed, trajectory, interval control etc.