The Lobster Elite 2 tennis ball machine is the second in Lobster’s Elite product lineup.
The Lobster Tennis Ball Machine company, who is known for their innovativeness and quality tennis ball machines, has differentiated the Elite lineup by providing numerous different features at different price points.
Each machine is built to cater to a specific level of player and is tailored to provide an affordable tennis ball machine no matter what skill level.
The Lobster Elite 2 tennis ball machine has the signature Lobster body style with the white hopper that can be reversed to fit snuggly over the red base. The hopper holds 150 tennis balls (we suggest using pressureless tennis balls) which at its peak can provide 5 minutes of intense play.
The Lobster Elite 2 weighs only 50 pounds and coupled with the oversized wheels, makes it extremely portable. The Lobster 2 is quite portable; however, it helps to have a vehicle that you can easily lift and situate the machine (it’s not very easy to put into the back seat of a car).
The removable handle and wheels are easy enough to use to maintain the portability, but it would be nicer if the handle telescoped instead of coming off. The Lobster Elite 2 comes with a battery which provides anywhere from 4-8 hours depending on a number of factors (length of time it’s on, oscillation, etc.).
The Lobster Elite 2 provides a number of features of which includes:
There are a lot similarities between many of the Lobster ball machines, to begin with is the shape of the machine.
As I mentioned above, the Lobster Tennis Ball Machine Company has designed each machine in their lineup based off of one platform. So they all feature the reversible 150 ball hopper, the same battery and speed controls.
The biggest difference between the Lobster Elite 2 and Lobster Elite 3 tennis ball machines is that the Elite 3 offers an advanced horizontal oscillation so that the ball can be thrown wide and narrow, mixing up the play a little more.
See our Lobster Elite 3 review for more about that machine.
The Lobster Elite 2 offers a wide variety of options for a pretty reasonable price. Using the Elite 2 you can practice a consistent shot (such as the forehand or backhand) and you can use its random oscillation feature to place the ball just about anywhere on the court providing you a very healthy workout.
It’s fairly light and portable and while there are certain features that would make it better (telescoping handle), the unit does a pretty good job of getting around.
The battery life on the Lobster Elite 2 is excellent, lasting for many hours (much longer than I had expected).
Overall, the Lobster Elite 2 tennis ball machine is well suited for the beginner through amateur to even serious competitor. If you can live without the enhanced horizontal oscillation feature, you can save yourself a couple of extra bucks. Go buy some tennis balls with the money saved.
While the Lobster Elite 2 ball machine is a well crafted tennis ball machine, there are a couple of things that could use improvement.
The biggest out of all of these is an automatic shut off on the charger. The way that the unit is setup, you have to plug it in to charge it and come back when it’s full and unplug it.
If you leave it on the charger it could damage the battery or worse. On a machine of this expense, you would think that they would provide some sort of shutoff feature. They do offer a charging module that will do this, but it’s sold separately.
Another thing that would make the Lobster Elite 2 better is that the dials are somewhat inconsistent. You have to spend a little while figuring out just exactly where the limits are so you aren’t playing in someone else’s court. And if you have a setting you really like, you can’t necessarily count on it being the same next time you play, even if it’s the same court.