Customer Reviews

SPC Personal Pitcher Pro Mini Polyball Pitching Machine w/ 24 Balls, 4 Hour Battery, & Windup Indicator Light

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this for my daughter who plays fastpitch softball. Hitting a 65 MPH breaking ball from 40 feet is very difficult.

How I use it:

1. Always set it to the maximum speed: 55 MPH. (It may be 55 MPH as the ball exits the unit, but it quickly slows down, especially outside. That said, it still works very well).

2. Play with the distance. 25 feet seems to work for basic batting practice. 20 feet is tough but is hittable. The shorter distance makes the reaction time quicker simulating a faster pitch. Don't even think about standing more than 30 feet away. (55 MPH at 20 feet seems to equate to a real world 60-70 MPH fastball at 40 feet, although mathematically it doesn't. There is a lot of wind resistance on the wiffle ball causing it to really slow down after exiting the machine.)

3. This forces the hitter to watch the ball, not watch the pitcher's arm. Too many hitters watch the arm and get fooled by a change-up. This forces an explosive swing, not a lazy roundhouse swing.

4. I don't use the automatic ball feeder (but it does work well). My daughter sees my arm in the air, and then I feed the ball.

5. You must use a camera tripod. I had an old one at home that works fine.

6. It is accurate enough to consistently pitch high outside balls or low inside balls. It also varies more than a regular pitching machine (especialy on windy days) which I think gives the batter a real sense of facing a pitcher. Batting machines are too repeatable, and the hitter gets in a groove. It's impossible to get in a groove with this machine.

7. This is also an excellent machine for bunting practice.

8. If you are going to buy new golf wiffle balls, make sure they are the EXACT size. Some balls are too small and are too loose for the rollers.

9. The battery works fine. I don't really know how long it lasts--at least 45 minutes of continuous use.

10. I have a duffle bag with the pitching machine, a plastic bucket with golf balls, a calibrated rope, a rubber home plate, an extension cord, and a tripod.

11. It's great to use in the back yard or before a game. When we roadtrip and are staying at a hotel, we'll find a grassy area and warm up before the game. All you need is about 75 ft of space. It's easier to find the balls if the grass is short.


Cons:

1. The plug on the transformer to the unit is cheesey. The unit vibrates, the plug loosens causing sparks and then the connection corrodes, then it can't charge the battery or run. I had to hard wire the whole thing. I called the company, but they could care less.

2. I wish it had an LED indicating that it was charging when it was plugged in. You have no way of knowing if the plug is firmly attached or if it is just running off the battery.

3. Once in a while the machine shoots duds into the ground. Not really a big deal.

The personal pitcher I bought new from the manufacturer is the pro model and it is not very consistent. If it is windy forget about using it outside. You must use quality heavy balls like eastons to work good. The auto feed works when it wants to so I manual feed it most of the time . .This unit makes me scared to touch anything inside because it is flimsy and has crude soldering on the electronic circuit board. It looks like some kids electronic project! I handle this unit like it's made of glass. My son and I take it outside for a little while and end up abandoning it not long after we start using it because of inconsistent pitches. It is not good for hitting practice to chase balls all over short,inside, outside, up and down. I get much better results sitting on a pale about 15-20 feet away hand throwing the plastic golf balls hard towards my son.

I have owned 4 of the personal pitchers from one of the first to now owning two of the improved pro models. They are inexpensive and when it works, it works well. My models never held a charge so it always had to be plugged in making portability an issue. Balls tend to get stuck in the shoot which makes using by yourself difficult as you need someone to constantly monitor the ball feeding.

Again, good machine for price but could use improvement.

I just wanted to let everyone know how impressed me and my family are with this machine! In fact, I can't remember a time that the whole family was able to get together and laugh at just how horrible we really are at batting/catching, but let me tell you just how much we have all improved in a very short time.

For example, my son's baseball coach has just recently commented that your "batting has changed somehow", Mike! All of a sudden this kid that couldn't hit is hitting good hard line drives and showing a confidence that we just didn't expect, especially after only having the machine for a couple weeks!

Further, we just returned from a local division little league chamionship game and my son drove a hard line drive that scored a very important R.B.I for the team...AMAZING...everyone is just amazed at the change in this boy!! They are now division champs...grand championship is this weekend (wish us luck)!

Great construction, reliable pitching speed...can't say enough good things here. Thanks again...honestly, the best money I ever spent for my family!!

I recently purchased a Personal Pitcher Pro from this website. I was a little reluctant to choose this machine after reading a COUPLE of these reviews. So this is what I did. I looked up the manufacturer and went to the website which is personalpitcher.com. I called and spoke with the owner Bob Richard to get to the bottom of this and express my concerns. First, he explained to me that there are multiple "dealers" on this site that sell his machine. That could explain the customer service remarks. I found that he was more than willing to explain his product and to be quite sincere. He said to call 800-474-8243 and ask for yourself. The Personal pitcher has been selling since the 90's so it is obviously proven and consistent. I also spoke with Dennis, Bob's Operations Manager. He has been working with Bob for over 8 years and knew the machine inside and out. He was refreshingly honest and fair. So I bought the machine. My daughter plays on a 10U softball team and I'm an avid softball player. I can allow the kid to pull it out herself and practice without supervision. The Personal Pitcher is pretty versatile also. I can plug it in to an extension cord or take it out to the park. We are at the end of baseball season but I plan to get my use out of the machine. Thank you Bob and Dennis for clarifying and thank you Personal Pitcher.

I purchased this machine for my 10 year old son. Very poorly constructed. Maker claims inconsistant pitch placement mimics real pitcher but only led to frustration while waiting for a good pitch. After only one season 'pitch light' broke and one wheel ofter would stop or run at a slower speed than the other. Also poor pitch strengh as hitter developes. Figured it was ok despite headaches. This year I bought the "sandlot slugger'- Amazed! could tell the better construction right out of the box. I used it for my son's entire team - consistant pitches even in a light breeze.I bought the 'turbo' upgrade that throws over 70 mph. Wont need it for awhile, medium speed was great for the 11-13 year olds on his team. Cost more but well worth it considering the 1 1/2 unsatisfied seasons I got from the 'personal pitcher'

I purchased the Personal Pitcher before Christmas for my Kids. I received the item and it was damaged by the shipping company so I contact SPC and they "Bob" emailed me back and sent me a new product out no cost to me and with shipping labels to mail back damaged product immediately. We only had 4 day before Christmas and they where very responsive to making sure that my needs where going to be meet for Christmas morning from the special man.

** Performance of the item **

I know I was trying to decided which item to purchase because their are several items on the market to choose from. The machine throws the balls fast and very accurate. Some please say the they are not consistent on the location of the balls being pitched. You will have an occasional wild ball but this is due to where the wheels grab the ball people need to remember that the balls have holes. I have a 9 years old son that it using the machine daily and the few inconstant balls helps him determine which ones to swing at and not to swing at. I always ask myself one question when I have purchased a product and used it.

Would I recommend this product to a friend? Absolutely!!

Save the money and purchase this product it will perform exactly the way you would want it to.

First, realize HOW much you are paying for this machine. A metal two wheel machine can cost upwards of 1,000's of dollars.
The mini ball offers great hand eye that we incorporate with real BP and soft toss practice.As a part of total practice a very cool tool.
I purchased this for my son to stay sharp in the winter months and in the garage it is perfect. Outside with little or no wind we have found 90-95% of the balls on target. The curve and slider modes take some adjusting but when you figure it out it is a great practice tool.
At 20 ft the 55 mph selection is very accurate, at slower speeds an occasional clunker,but isn't that like real pitching? We still spend more time hitting than watching.Even so, most balls are hittable and maybe 1 out of every 30 or so miss.
At further distances(25 to 30 feet) the balls vary a little more but is still accurate.
We use all the speeds and I am pleased with the overall results.
It is pretty basic machine and when you figure out the "guts" actually good to know one can fix it in the back yard. I also found the owner to be very open and willing to help,more than can be said with most products today.
The pitch indicator light takes some getting used to,but again with some work it gets easier to figure out. The speed selectors are easy to understand and the pitch isolation training (curve, sliders) is helpful,and the break on the balls are realistic and again accurate.We adjusted to low inside fastball and it was on spot and helped him learn to hit a weak spot.
Battery life seems to be more than adequate, we hit about 300 balls every 5 seconds before any noticeable decrease in functionality, this was more than enough for our practice.
Lightweight and portable, the personal Pitcher Pro is a great tool and we love it.
If you purchase as a package the gro-bat is great to use with the machine and the web gloves are a super tool that we actually take time to just have fun and have challenges together.

Im slightly disappointed with the personal pitcher, because after watching the video I was expecting a machine that really threw curves and sliders. I not only have not gotten the machine to throw these pitches, but the location is incredibly inconsistent. Ordinarily that would be a good thing...except its pretty easy to lay off a pitch that gets thrown strait into the ground.

Im going to toy with it some more to see if I may be setting it up incorrectly or something but I doubt thats the case. The "Righty slider/curve" looks identical to the "Lefty slider/curve".

However, the principle of the small ball+skinny bat is proper. They got that one right. Although it doesn't do exactly what they say it will, the machine will still make you a better hitter if you use it consistently. Play with the distance to get the speed simulation right. If you can hit the small ball with the skinny bat at a high speed, it will still really help your hand-eye coordination. I am a first baseman, I know something about how important that is!

From day one the machine was not working to specification. We were using this machine in a basement plugged into an AC outlet so there are no other variables like wind/battery life which would affect the performance of this machine.

I tried all the suggested pitching speeds none were accurate. Infact, the lowest speed would like spit out the ball about 10 ft. To have any luck with the machine, I had to run the machine at the fastest setting, and even then was pretty weak.

The balls were also not accurate. It would spray the ball all over the place. If you're lucky, you would get maybe 4 balls over the plate.

I'm very dissappointed with this machine and would not suggest it to anyone.