Acemate tennis robot S10 Pro vs S10: The differences after going hands-on with both

The Acemate S10 Pro is not a radically different tennis robot from the S10. It is basically the same clever idea with stronger hardware, more pace, a better launcher and enough extra headroom to make it more appealing to stronger players.

I reviewed the original Acemate tennis robot S10 a few months ago and had a lot of fun with it. Now that I have spent time with the S10 Pro as well, the choice between the two is actually pretty straightforward. Acemate says the Pro is not replacing the S10, and that makes sense because the software experience is very similar. Most of what separates them happens at the hardware level and, more importantly, in how that hardware feels once you start hitting.

The S10 Pro is bigger, but the design is familiar

Put the two machines next to each other and there is no mistaking that they are related. Both still have that slightly comical mechanical-frog look, with two camera eyes at the front, four Mecanum wheels underneath and the big catching net rising above the body.

The Pro simply looks like the S10’s bigger brother. It is wider, taller and 5.2 kg heavier, so it has more presence on court. That sounds like a negative for portability, and in some ways it is, but there is a slightly strange twist to that which I will get to in a moment.

Acemate tennis robot S10 Pro

At checkout use code “G&W01” for a $50 discount.

View at Acemate

There are some nicer little changes too. The telescopic net poles on the original always felt like the most delicate part of the machine, and I was careful every time I extended them. The Gen 2 poles on the Pro are much sturdier and use twist-lock sections that hold everything more securely. Acemate also sells these poles separately, so S10 owners can upgrade rather than being stuck with the original design.

ACE+ SHOT is the biggest difference

The launch mechanism is one of the biggest upgrades. On the original S10, changing the direction of the next ball means the whole robot has to reposition itself first. It can still vary speed, height and spin, but if you want the ball sent somewhere very different, the machine itself needs to move.

The S10 Pro handles this differently. Its ACE+ SHOT system can change the horizontal direction of the outgoing ball internally, while the robot itself stays facing the same way.

So if it wants to send one ball towards your forehand and the next towards your backhand, it does not first need to rotate the entire machine. That makes directional changes quicker and gives the rally a more natural flow.

That is the real benefit of the new launcher. I do not particularly care about the ACE+ SHOT name or what the mechanism looks like inside the casing. What matters is that rallies feel smoother and the machine can mix up placement with much less effort.

There is more pace

The S10 tops out at 97 km/h, while the S10 Pro pushes that to 120 km/h. On paper, that does not look like a gigantic jump, but you notice it once you start ramping things up.

I like to think of myself as an intermediate player. And the original S10 was already more than enough for me. I never came away thinking it was slow or not challenging enough. But the Pro gives you more room to make a session difficult, particularly when you combine the extra pace with wider placement and quicker changes in direction.

Acemate also says the Pro can generate stronger spin. The actual spin choices have not changed, so you still get topspin, backspin and flat shots, and Acemate does not publish a directly comparable maximum spin figure for the Pro. I would therefore treat the extra pace and improved shot delivery as the more obvious upgrades rather than buying the Pro purely because of spin.

The heavier machine is actually easier to wheel

This one surprised me. The Pro is substantially heavier, so before using it I assumed getting it to court would be worse than with the S10.

In my case, the opposite happened. I usually walk about a kilometre and a half to my local courts, and the S10 Pro rolls more freely when I pull it along. The wheels feel less stiff, and I can move at a quicker pace without constantly feeling as though I am dragging the machine behind me.

I am not completely sure why. Acemate may have changed something in the wheel mechanism, or it may simply be that the taller body gives a better pulling angle. Either way, it is a genuine improvement for me.

Acemate tennis robot S10 Pro

At checkout use code “G&W01” for a $50 discount.

View at Acemate

That does not suddenly make the Pro highly portable. It is still a large tennis robot, and a proper suitcase-style handle would make life much easier. But I expected the extra weight to make transport noticeably worse, and it did not. In fact it is quite the opposite.

The taller net helps with ball collection

The catching system works the same way on both machines. Your return is tracked, the robot tries to move into position and, when everything lines up, the ball drops into the net and goes back into the hopper.

The Pro has a slightly larger catching net than its predecessor. The top reaches almost 2 metres from the ground, around 26 cm higher than on the S10. Quite simply, a bigger net gives it more area to catch the ball, so higher returns have a better chance of ending up back in the hopper.

Nevertheless, you should still think of the catching system as a bonus. Wide shots, sharper angles and harder returns will still end up scattered around the court. But anything that reduces the amount of time spent picking up tennis balls is welcome.

The larger hopper helps too. The Pro holds 100 balls rather than 80, so you can go a little longer between collections even before you factor in anything the robot manages to catch.

Battery life is much better

Battery life is one of the clearest specification differences. Acemate rates the Pro for up to five hours in Ball Machine mode, while the current rating for the S10 is up to three hours.

There is some fine print here. The five-hour Pro figure applies to Ball Machine mode with the launching wheels running at moderate speeds, so you should not expect five hours when the machine is constantly moving around in Rally or Battle mode.

Still, the extra capacity is useful. It means you should roughly get twice as much time between charging as you will on the S10.

The software is basically the same

The software is an important thing to understand before spending the extra money. You are not buying the Pro to unlock a completely different app or a special collection of training modes.

Both machines have Rally, Drill, Serve, Battle and Ball Machine modes, along with more than 100 preset drills and custom routines. Serve and Battle were not available when I originally reviewed the S10, but Acemate has since expanded the software on the regular model too.

Acemate tennis robot S10 Pro

At checkout use code “G&W01” for a $50 discount.

View at Acemate

The app itself has also had a nice makeover. It looks cleaner and more polished than it did when I first tested the S10, with better organisation around suggested sessions, saved drills and training data. But again, that is not a Pro advantage. S10 owners benefit from the software improvements as well.