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Pickleball machines are really expensive, so are they worth it?
I have wanted to purchase the Erne pickleball machine. Still, I wanted to see whether there was that much of a difference between the inexpensive Furlihong pickleball machine and a costly machine like the Erne.
Let me tell you.
I would not purchase the Furlihong pickleball machine again.
That said, I realized that the right pickleball machine might be worth it, so I decided to take the plunge and purchase the Erne pickleball machine. That said, there were 4 crucial things I wish I had known before purchasing the Erne.
Here’s the Amazon link to the one I purchased. Later in this article, I will show a video of the used machine.
Furlihong has a 681PBH and a 3802PBH that have more features. Here’s the comparison of the features per Amazon.
My Review
I want to improve my two-handed backhand because I played a friend recently and he placed the ball to my backhand every time. At first, I could play okay, but he rushed the net and could play me like a fiddle.
So, I decided it was time to purchase a pickleball machine.
I wanted to purchase the Erne, but it was nearly $2,000, and I wasn’t sure whether I would like the machine.
Let’s go through the issues.
Unboxing
When I unboxed the Furlihong pickleball machine, I noticed how light it was. It wasn’t a pro in this situation though as it felt almost too light. I’ve read that the Erne weighs around 50 Ibs, but this felt like it was 2-5 Ibs. For $100, I am expecting something that has a bit more weight.
Also, the cheapest machine I could find came with a screwdriver to open the machine to put the batteries into the device.
Opening the bottom of the unit was annoying to put in batteries.
Also, the pickleball machine came with many plastic parts you had to connect. This makes it a bit harder to get it all set up. The device also comes with some connectors, so you could plug it into the wall, but I am not sure when I would do that. You could also plug the pickleball machine into a portable battery device.
Playability
Once I got the batteries in, I wanted to test the different variables such as the speed and the ability to oscillate the device.
This was the first big red flag.
I turned the device on the lowest setting and then tried to move up to a higher power setting. There is a 1-4 setting, and the machine worked okay on both the 1 and 2 settings, but when I tried to move it to the 3 settings, the device stopped working.
For setting 4, I could never get it to work. Also, the oscillation did not appear to work for my device.
I wonder if this didn’t work because the pickleball machine doesn’t get enough power from the batteries.
17 seconds
Another huge issue is that this pickleball machine took 17 seconds to shoot a pickleball. This made the machine boring because you must wait so long for each pickleball.
Also, the machine can generally only hold around 15-20 outdoor pickleball balls.
As such, I was not impressed with this function. Check out the video below.
Am I Going To Purchase The Erne?
It’s unclear at this point whether I will purchase the Erne. I love how many features the Erne has, but the machine is almost $2,000 and I don’t have a pickleball court in my backyard, so I could see lugging this machine around being cumbersome.
I’ll plan to keep you updated.