Newgy 1050 review

Seems like nobody has written any reviews on the Newgy 1050, so I'll write one.  First real post of mine on this board, so hi!

Where to start?  I've had mine for 1 month.  First off, it's a digital control pad.  That's the good news.  The bad news is it's still a single-wheel design, so no-spin balls are not possible.  However, since it's only 395 USD, the benefit to your footwork from the programmable DRILL mode completely overshadows any shortcomings.

Let me start by saying I have only played on one other robot -- the AMDT TW2700-06 (dual-wheel no-spin model), so my point of reference is limited.

1) NORMAL mode.  You can configure random oscillation and/or random speed.  This is as close to a random hitting partner you can get without spending 2k USD for dual-headed robot that can shoot back-to-back topspin/backspin shots to you.  You have to decide up front whether to drill in topspin mode or backspin mode.  And since spin is dependent on speed, long balls are always high spin, and short balls are always low spin.  And amount of sidespin is also chosen at beginning of drill.  So it's not perfect.  But who cares?  It was $395.

2) DRILL mode.  This is where the 1050 shines.  I do easy falkenberg drills using drill mode (half table movements, not full table width, I'd die).  There are 64 pre-programmed drills, and the upper 32 drills are really tough (like end-to-end falkenberg and slash drills), talk about sore legs trying to do that.  DRILL mode is very flexible.  You can adjust speed and frequency of balls for any drill.  For example, I might use the same drill to practice FH at ball freq of 1.3 balls per sec.  But when I practice FH chopping, I set to 3.0 secs to give my chop reasonable time to get back on table before next ball shoots.

3) Quality of robot and maintenance.  Very high quality.  My only worry are the plastic fingers that bring the balls from bucket up to shooting head.  Otherwise, seems well made.  I get one ball jam every 2000-4000 balls.  It's usually caused by dirty balls.  So you do need to wash your balls (no pun intended) every 2 wks, and wipe off dirt from friction block + throw wheel, just to keep things smooth.

4) Catch net.  Why not buy the 2050?  It comes with recyling net?  Yes, the 2050 is great for lazy people, but at $795 it was not in my budget.  The Catch Net II is $80 including side nets.  Works great, has funnel in net for easy reloading of balls.  1050 can hold 200 balls.  But a bonus of the 1050 is the versatility -- think about this -- most recycling net robots can only shoot balls from middle of table.  They cannot shoot down-the-line shots or shoot full cross court shots.  The 1050 can.  And you can use it to similuate Joo Hse Hyuk chopping at you by placing it 15 ft back from table with backspin.    I can't think of any recycling robot that can do this.

5) Noise.  It's a lot quiter than I thought.  The left/right oscillation is silent.  The only noise comes from the spinning wheel and shooting of the ball.  Problem is you get no visual hints on speed since the robot has no paddle.  But, you do hear the wheel spinning faster/slower, so you have an equivalent hint audibly.  But the sidespin?  Holy smokes, completely blindsided since there's no hint at all.

Yes, I haven't tried programming my own drills yet.  Newgy calls it a USB interface, but it's actually a serial interface to your PC.  For laptops without serial ports, you have to buy a USB-to-serial adapter. 

One other note -- the backspin even on moderate speeds is unrealistically spinny.  No human could generate that amount of backspin.  You literally have to push horizontal/upwards with your blade face, like as if you were serving. 

So basically, to practice against backspin, set it at lower speeds in service mode (angle robot head to bounce twice, like a real serve).

lakhilove wrote: Hi Pushchop, Are you talking about 1050 with serial interface ? (as for as i know 2050 has USB/Serial interface). At the moment I am looking for robot but not sure which one I after, initiall I thought buy 1040 because of budget constraints but now not sure whether 2050 or Y&T 989 F/G (too expensive). As you do more research you more confused ....hahahha Regards John

lakhilove.....Y&T989F  is the lower end version of the E/F/D  choices.   The G is the model that is very different in design and functions, even compared to the new dual head S-27.  

Yes.....easy to get confused unless you have tried many robots.  They all do things differently and each have +-'s compared to other robots.  No one robot does it all......yet.  Basically, you have to spend $1,000 + to get one with advanced functions that you would be more satisfied with than any of the robots that are less than $1,000.   Newgy is living in the stone age with their single wheel design.  Super Master is the same robot as the 2040, but with 2 throwing wheels.  The biggest problem people have with the lower end robots is that the speeds or spins are not realistic enough in most modes of use. 

I had a 2040 that I upgraded to the 2050 a few weeks ago. The drills are great. As a mid-level player at my club, I'm getting a lot of help in working with footwork, and adjusting to shots coming at differing paces.

The single drive wheel may limit the variety of shots, particularly switching from top to backspin, but my rationalization was that most of the players I was facing tended to play predominantly back or topspin anyway. The upside of having the single drive is significantly less cost, and a bit more reliability, IMO. I've had very few jams in my 6 months.

I remember reading somewhere the price was hiked $100 to $495 after April 1st. Lowest is $445 these days.

Does anyone have a 1050 for sale used? I'm thinking of buying a robot and table for more practice. I can get a butterfly centerfold 25 for $700 but I want to stay around $1000 total for the table and robot. I was thinking of getting the 1040 but the 1050 fits my needs a lot better.