Depending on your needs for a tennis ball machine, you'll want to compare machines based on the features they offer, which run from basic ball throwing to complex, automated drill programs. If you just need a machine to shoot balls to you, you can spend less money on an economical model. If you want spin or variable patterns, you'll need to research a bit more and be prepared to spend more.
History
Rene LeCoste, famous as a top tennis players during the 1920s and 1930s, and for his "alligator" sport shirts, invented the first machine to project balls to a tennis player. The machine was hand-cranked by a person on the other side of the court. Inventor Bob McLure invented the first commercially viable tennis ball machine in 1970, when he reversed the motor on a vacuum cleaner to create enough pressure to propel a tennis ball out of a pneumatic tube. He named the machine the Little Prince, and created Prince Sports, Inc. Some ball machines companies still offer this method of projecting balls, although more modern machines deliver balls by squeezing them through rotating wheels.
Types
When you compare tennis ball machines, you'll choose between machines that shoot balls from a pneumatic tube or squeeze them between two rotating wheels until the ball shoots forward. The air-compressed machines are louder and deliver a less consistent projection, based on the different pressure in old and new balls that it may be feeding, as well as any problems with the air pressure in the tube before delivery. They cause less wear and tear on balls than rotating wheels.
Spin
Ball machines can put forward, sideways and backward spins on tennis balls. Rotating wheel machines with counter-rotating wheels, one above the other, provide topspin and backspin. If the wheels are side-by-side, they produce sidespin. Just because a machine has rotating wheels doesn't mean it produces topspin and backspin; be sure to ask if it does before you buy. Air-compressed machines use an adapter inside the tube that creates the desired rotation on the ball as it leaves the tube.
Direction and Trajectory
If you want balls to land to your left and right, and have different heights so you can practice overheads, or play deep and short balls, you'll want to compare a machine's ability to move the ball around the court. Some machines have a basic capability to move shots to the left and right, with trajectory set before you turn it on. The higher the trajectory is, the deeper the balls will land in the court. Other machines use more advanced technology to create variable, random or preset patterns to give you a more varied workout. These machines have computers attached and offer wireless remote controls.
Portability
While most ball machines have wheels to let you move them on and off the court, several manufacturers make lighter, battery-operated machines you can easily put in your car, remove and set up on a court.
Considerations
You will pay more for more features, based mostly on whether the ball has rotating wheels and how much electronics the machine offers. Different manufacturers offer different warranties, with difference in length of coverage, repair versus parts, shipping and replacement.
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