Over the last decade, we have seen some spontaneous additions to the world of table tennis. Few have been better than the table tennis robots that have taken the game to the next level. Thanks to these amazing machines, people are now able to practice on their own and improve their game even without the help of a coach or a trainer.
The Oukei is a fantastic robot, that is manufactured to provide you stiff competition and test your skills. It helps by providing several tough challenges that can improve your game within a few weeks or months.
Table of Contents
Oukei TW-2700-S9 Robot Specifications
Our Rating: 4.4/5
- Price: $$$
- Size: 40 × 22 × 19
- Weight: 55 lbs / 24.94 kgs
- Speed: 4 – 40 meters / second
- Frequency: 30 – 100 balls / minute
- Oscillation: Yes
- Mounting: Full size and self-standing
- Adjustable Height: Yes
What to Expect?
If you want to buy the Oukei robot, it is quite important to know what you can expect from the range of features available. Luckily for you, we have listed them all down, here.
Combination of Serves
The Oukei S9 offers a combination of different serves that players normally come up against. From slow-speed serves that are difficult to tackle to the faster ones that push you a little further away from the table, you can mix these up to get used to all speeds.
Similarly, you can also use a combination of different spin serves, from the backspin serves to the topspin serves, you have the accessibility of mixing things up. The unpredictability factor can help you, tremendously, once you come up against better players.
Advanced Control Panel
The control panel is quite advanced. It has a range of features that allow you to control the robot and throw the balls at different variations.
The mechanics that went behind the scenes in the making of the control panel are to be lauded, as they are the biggest reason, that the manufacturing of such a robot, was possible.
Automatic Ball Recovery
The Oukei S-9 comes with a tub that offers automatic ball recovery. This helps as you stop worrying about gathering the balls and that can be terrible for your concentration levels. With the option of automatic ball recovery, you can be free to play, without having to scoop up the balls from around the room.
The robot collects the table tennis balls in the tub and automatically feeds them to the robot and you get uninterrupted play.
Catch Net
The S-9’s catch net features plenty of depth from front to back, allowing for excellent ball recycling. Its design is distinct from that of many other catch nets in that it isolates the robot body and heads with an extra padded portion amidst the netting.
The heads barely fit through the two openings in this well-padded section of the netting. Isolating the robot’s body and head from the hitting side of the robot has a significant impact on preventing balls from rebounding out of the net and keeping more balls in the netting to recycle back to the robot.
This implies fewer balls bouncing in the path of a robot shot or disrupting your concentration due to fewer balls jumping about on the robot side of the table tennis table. You also spend less time scooping up balls that did not stay inside the catch net.
Dual Head
The dual-head feature is an incredible idea in robots. Dual-head provides the ability to program a sequence with consecutive topspin to backspin balls to programmable landing spots.
Now Oukei brings the S-9 dual-head robot to market with a robust assortment of programmability and functions.
Random Sequences
The Oukei S-9 can also generate a variety of random programmable sequences and includes numerous pre-programmed patterns. You can also design and save up to 5 custom sequences of your own. See the handbook, which is freely available online, or request a copy from a dealer for more information and descriptions of all the capabilities.
Pros
Heavy Duty Construction
For something that costs over the odds, the Oukei S-9 is durable. There are no problems with failure or breakage from any weak parts, in the entire construction, making it a useful purchase. The two ball feed tubes coming out of the robot body are very strong and heavy-duty plastic.
Items Included
Are you a fan of free things? Wait, till you see what you get with the purchase of the Oukei S-9.
There is a long list of items that are included with the purchase of the Oukei S-9. While you are already receiving a top-of-the-line robot, you also receive a catch net and a ball pick-up net. In addition, you receive 100 Oukei white training balls that are of high quality and get you started on your robot, without wasting any time.
Oukei also pack two extra throwing wheels that can come into use, in the long term. Not to mention the tool pack, which ensures you can get your robot up and running without making any excuses. The tool pack contains two screwdrivers, a hex key, a wheel gap tool, and a spare fuse, all of which are sufficient to get your Oukei S-9 up and running.
There are manuals in Chinese and English. You also receive a DVD that visualizes the setup and program sequences. If you are lucky enough, you may also receive a gift with your robot, for example, a shirt or a racket cover, or even a bag!
One Year Warranty
Oukei S-9 comes with a year-long warranty that covers damages or any breakages. Rest assured, you can safely tuck the warranty card away, as you will not need it. They have put a lot of heart and soul into the manufacturing of this robot and the year-long warranty is proof of this commitment.
Cons
Very Expensive
Despite being released over a decade ago, the Oukei S-9 remains an expensive option in the market for robots. It was manufactured to ensure that players of all levels can crack at it, and while that has been a success, the price tag remains a sticking point.
Tough to Set Up
For most people, it is not going to be easy to set up the Oukei S-9. Even with the manuals and the DVD, people will struggle if they have not done this before. The set-up takes a bit of time and unless you like doing things on your own, you might not enjoy putting together so many parts and getting the robot up and running.
The DVD is in Chinese, so that is another reason why people tend to struggle.
Our Rating 4.4/5
All in all, Oukei makes a lot of sense to buy. There are a few limitations, for example, the range of features is far lesser when compared to some of the other high-end products in the same price bracket. It is quite expensive, as well.
In conclusion, this robot was not as complicated as I had initially assumed. Once you’ve figured out the fundamental setup for both heads and their shots, you’ll be able to avoid the confusion of so many buttons on the control pad.
With that understanding, because the Oukei S-9 has so many distinct programming and pre-programmed settings and functions to use, the depth of usage of the Y&T S-27 dual-head shines through in these complex programming features.
We love the many features, and we think it can be a good purchase if you can afford it, of course!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Does the Oukei S-9 Compare to the Y&T S-27 Dual Head?
To put it simply, they are both unique in their way. While Y&T has returned to certain mechanical controls, Oukei has deviated slightly from the standard that their previous TW2700-08 model provided.
The greatest difference between the S-9 and previous models is that the top and bottom throwing wheels on each head are no longer separately operated. The bottom and top wheel speed settings on the S-9 are preprogrammed in stages of 1 to 15 for topspin shots and 1 to 15 for backspin shots.
This indicates that the offset between the upper and lower throwing wheels is fixed and cannot be adjusted.
In comparison to the Y&T S-27, the Oukei S-9 robot shines in random and programmed sequence tasks, but the Y&T S-27 shines in the ability to manage ball speed and spin with the capacity to operate all four throwing wheels separately.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the choice is all yours. There is a lot to like but there are also a few drawbacks that can limit your potential to buy the Oukei S-9.
The fact that it is quite expensive is a major reason why people think twice; however, we suggest researching other options, too.
Although, if the intended consumers purchase the Oukei, they will simply love the range of features provided. It is a solid investment and a very durable option for players of different levels. If you put in the right amount of effort, you can benefit greatly from the Oukei and it will be very much worth the money and time.
