Frequently asked Questions
Ball speeds
Question:
I'm a coach working mainly with players of average ability. I've seen no other battery-operated ball machine that equals the ball speeds that your models can deliver. But do I need these speeds?
Answer:
We would say yes. There are several reasons for this:
- The maximum achievable speed very much depends on what condition the balls are in. The ball machine should have enough power in reserve to allow for this.
- The spin you choose also reduces the maximum achievable speed – in much the same way as with any tennis player.
- Apart from that, you'll find that your pupils learn surprisingly quickly to cope with faster balls and also to hit harder themselves.
It would then be annoying if the ball machine couldn't keep up with newly achieved ability levels or cater to higher standards.
Playing times
Question:
I've found that, for instance, the LITE battery performs distinctly better than the batteries in basic-level competitor models. But you still don't claim longer playing times. Why's that?
Answer:
Unfortunately there's no standard that states under what conditions ball machine playing times should be measured. Usually the maximum playing time quoted by manufacturers is for the lowest ball speed that can be set – and this can vary a lot.
The target user group for TenEquip ball machines ranges from youth and adult beginners to semi-professional players. Accordingly, the lowest ball speed is 25 km/h. Quite a number of battery-operated ball machines tend to cover the lower ability range and thus start with speeds of 10 to 15 km/h – which is fine for, say, coaching children at beginner's level. Delivering speeds like this, machines of this kind can of course run for quite a long time, even if they have only small batteries. But this is not comparable with the figures we quote for maximum playing times given a basic setting of 25 km/h.
You'll also notice that we always quote a range, e.g. 2.5 – 5 hours for the SPORT and the PRO. The first figure is the playing time typically achieved in a demanding training session for a good to very good tennis player. The second value is for a ball speed of 25 km/h.
Battery performance
Question:
In your brochure, you talk of batteries that are optimized for use in ball machines. Can't I simply compare batteries by their Ah (ampere-hour) ratings?
Answer:
Ampere-hour ratings refer to a battery discharging at an even rate over 20 hours. Due to internal losses in the battery, the number of ampere-hours greatly decreases at higher rates of discharge. But precisely this is typical of operating conditions for ball machine batteries.
The batteries we use deliver 20%-30% more ampere-hours under average playing conditions than other types of the same nominal size and weight that you'll find in competitor products. At the same time, the maximum number of charge cycles is 30% higher than that of standard types.
That's the reason we use these batteries despite their higher price. In the long term, they're the most economic.
Remote control
Question:
When I compare your ball machines with those of ... I notice that, even though you've got two buttons, you can only operate one function (ball throwing on/off), whereas on the ... remote control the two buttons operate two functions (ball throwing on/off and sweep on/off). Can't you provide more functions?
Answer:
We've deliberately designed the remote control so that one button (i.e. one channel) is used to start ball throwing and the other to stop it. Remote keylock controls for cars, for instance, also have separate buttons for opening and closing the doors – and there's a reason why:
In practice, using just one button to operate a function doesn't work well. You can never be sure whether you've turned ball throwing off or left it on after all – maybe because you didn't quite press the button right or because transmission was briefly interrupted at the precise moment you pressed it.
Uncertainty as to the state the machine is in becomes such a nuisance that it detracts from the usefulness of the remote control. You'll see tennis coaches with this kind of remote control pressing the buttons and then habitually waiting a while to see whether the machine has actually responded before carrying on with their training session.
That's why we decided to use a dedicated button for each of the two functions that are by far the most important on the remote control – starting and stopping ball throwing. This does mean we have to do without a second remotely controlled function – which would usually be switching sweep on and off – but this setting is not changed so often that there is any great benefit in making it available on the remote control.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
