PongBot Pace S Pro Review

The PongBot Pace S Pro is a tennis ball machine touting AI features to set it apart from the competition. For someone like me, who loves the idea of improving at tennis, but can’t reliably find people to practice with, and isn’t ready to get fully into it with a human coach, this could be the perfect solution. PongBot is promising a lot with its flagship unit, but how has it fared during my real-world testing? Here is my review.

Impressive tracking

The Pace S Pro’s most impressive feature is its movement tracking. Users put sensors on the net and a sensor on themselves and then the machine can track where to send the ball. Most impressively, it can sense when to send the ball, as it will wait until the player is back in the right position. In practice, this lets you program in high-speed fire rates, but only when you are situated in the right ready position. In use, I was able to bias drills toward my forehand, which I found especially helpful as a beginner.

If you’re looking to push the Pace S Pro to the limit, you can crank the settings up to the max and take advantage of advanced features. This machine fires out balls at up to 80 mph with up to 60 rotations per second. It has a capacity of 150 balls and a battery life of up to 8 hours, which offers a nice bit of longevity.

It’s all in the app

Diving into the app, which is where much of this machine’s functionality is programmed for better or worse, users will find over 500 preset drills to attempt, as well as the option to create their own. There are also some challenge modes.

After getting used to programming in drills and understanding the various speeds and variance controls, I found the Pace S Pro extremely fun to use. Rather than simply firing out a ball, it feels more like a training partner thanks to the variety of shots it offers, not to mention the way it consistently tracks the player as they move across the court. It certainly feels like it’s pushing the envelope in a good way.

Some nitpicks to point out

The Pace S Pro’s main strength is also its main weakness. For the wrong type of player, the dependency on the app to fine-tune workouts and settings may be too much. PongBot hopes players will embrace the technology on offer here, but for those unwilling to adapt, the Pace S Pro’s main advantages would go ignored.

I’d also highlight how the Pace S Pro is more of a middle ground between a standard tennis ball machine and a dedicated human coach. While this product is impressive in its enhancements over a “dumber” machine, it’s not going to match up to a human coach, though perhaps it was too grand an expectation to have in the first place.

Disclosure: Review sample provided by PongBot.