> Hi Tom I hope you can help me.    I live in XXX Canada
> and want to purchase a robot of my own.  I am interested in the
> TTmatic 500-B but I have not been able to talk to anybody who owns
> one. They are expensive, and I want to make sure that they are
> reliable and that owners are happy with them.  I am trying to make
> up my mind between the Newgy 2040 and the TTmatic 500-B.  The
> supplier in Quebec (www.ping-pong.com) recommends the TTmatic, but I
> am sure it is in their best interests to sell that one to me.  What
> are your opinions? I would really appreciate the feedback.  Best
> regards 

Hi,

I'll put this on my website, too.

Yes, I have the 500B.  I like it better than the Newgy's that I have
used and repaired and re-repaired and consider to be a toy rather than
serious tool.  The Newgy is plastic; the TTMatic is steel.  The
TTmatic is quite reliable; its motors are much bigger than the
Newgy's, its more robust to dirt, it has more degrees of freedom, it
can give you a quite interesting workout with plenty of variety (with
topspin and underspin alternating at a specified rhythm).  On the down
side, the TTmatic lacks the hit-the-spot game and the pick-up tube,
and the net is worse than the Newgy (balls go right through it in
certain locations (about 20% or so); balls can sometimes collect in a
pile at the bottom of the net rather than falling into the collection
basket).  So buy more balls, a fish net
(www.tomveatch.com/tt/pickupnet.html) and develop imagination for
other drills.

On the other hand, the TTmatic is much more expensive, so it depends
whether money is an issue.  For me, I was willing to pay more to get
more, especially after having borrowed Newgys from a local club (older
one) and from a friend (brand new one).  I don't see the TTmatic
wearing out after thousands of hours of use; whereas the Newgy does
have plastic parts that wear down over time; I notice significant
performance reductions on Newgy after a period of use: the motors are
slower, all the gears and mechanics get gummed up and don't move as
fast.  Taking apart the Newgy has to be done a lot more frequently, in
my experience, just to get the hair and gunk out of its parts.

On the TTmatic the problems have included

1) Problem: Sponge disc that projects the ball wears out.
   Solution: Cut a new disc from cheap foam rubber.  
	Poke a hole in the middle. 
	Squeeze it over the axle, with some Elmer's glue to make it stick
	Works fine for another couple of months.

2) Problem: Can't do heavy underspin.
   Solution: I don't know.  Light underspin is the best I can get from it.

3) Problem: Plugs up.
   Solution: Don't boil squashed balls and re-use them in the robot.
	Boiling them unsquashes them, yes, but it also makes them
	a little bit bigger in diameter, so they clog the robot.
	So go through the box of balls and remove the expanded ones.

4) Problem: Balls stop dropping from the collection basket into the channel.
   Solution: Temporary fix: poke a stick into the collection basket so
	the balls fall. 
	Permanent fix: See problem 3.

The other robot you should consider is the Amicus, from, is it,
Butterfly?  That sounds like it has even more degrees of freedom than
the TTmatic, and costs much less.

My sense is that the Newgy is for users that want a robot for a month
or two and who will get tired of it after they get their basic four
strokes down (BH & FH topspin counterdrive and underspins) and realize
its limitations (no robot provides the variety of a human opponent,
but the Newgy much less variety than the 500B), whereas the TTmatic is
for clubs and for users that want to have a tool for disciplined use
and study, to continue to use for training over the course of multiple
years.  That's how I use mine, and I'm very happy with the investment;
I don't see it wearing out any time soon; whereas with a Newgy you
sort of get tired of it as soon as it wears out, and it gives you
about that much learning assistance, too.

Tom