This seemed like the right place to put this thread, but feel free to move it if it's wrong.
Right, about a year ago I was in the market for a bowling machine for the nets in my back garden, so I pretty much had the choice between the Paceman (there's already a thread about that one) and the Stinger. The cheapest one is the Paceman, which only fires the soft balls at a top speed of 60mph. I went for the Stinger which fires pretty much any soft ball at a top speed of 60/70. It also fires the 'Stinger' ball (a dimply foam ball) at around 80.
I managed to get a ex-demo version on eBay for around £200, a decent saving of around £150 on a new one.
It's nice and sturdy, comes on a good quality tripod (it's a standard camera one) and you can get some really good swing on it when you mess about with the dials - there's two of them with settings of 1-10. I primarily used the GM First balls, they're like tennis balls but a bit heavier and don't bounce as much. I also used the Swing King balls which are similar. Tennis balls are a bit rubbish, they don't really come out with any real venom and obviously don't bounce like a cricket ball. The line and length is nice and consistent, especially the GM balls. My recommendation would be to get a good supply of them and don't mix it up too much as other balls will come out at widely different line and lengths.
I got a couple of the Stinger balls too - the one's that come out at 80mph - and you've got to be careful of them as a short pitched ball with a GM ball will be like a beamer with these! The only issue is that they are very light so lose pace very quickly, especially when they pitch. Normally you would need to pay at least £700 to get a bowling machine that can deliver 80mph balls (either a BOLA or a Paceman Pro) so in that sense I cannot complain about value!
It's at its best when you've got friends round to manually feed it in, as well as adjusting the line, length, speed and swing, because my main complaint is with the accessories.
You need a mains power supply to use with a plug, you can get one directly from the website for £65 but you can find it much cheaper than that elsewhere, I got mine for about £20, also on ebay.
With the money I saved I got myself a feeder so I could bat on my own. You press the switch and it sends balls down at about 7 second intervals. It cost £79 but it looks like it cost about £10 to make, and it never seemed to work properly for me. The connectors never seemed to stay in and the whole thing is very flimsy. It is also too narrow for the Stinger ball. On random occasions it wouldn't fire the last ball for a long time, which once gave me a nasty surprise when I was walking towards it to refill the feeder, thinking it was empty! You also have to drill a hole the the top of the machine in order to mount the feeder too. The Pacemans come with a feeder that seems to work much better, and is cheaper and works with all the different balls.
Towards the end of the summer it also started to smoke a bit when my Dad was using it so he had to replace some electrical part which was fairly simple apparently, although I didn't see him do it. Anyway, on the whole I'd say it was pretty good, considering a paid a lot less that most people for it and got a good amount of enjoyment out of it I can't complain too much.
I do miss not using hard balls though, using what are essentially tennis balls just doesn't feel right to me, which is why I'm looking to upgrade to the Paceman Strike (£379.99 at AJ Sports at the moment) which fires Bola-like balls. I'll probably either put my Stinger on eBay, or donate it to my club (for a nominal fee
). I think it will be great against the kids who don't want to bat against the Bola and the hard balls.
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Topic: Stinger bowling machine review (Read 3621 times)