The Butterfly Amicus Basic table tennis robot is the cheapest robot from Butterfly and is produced in Hungary. All three Amicus robots look exactly the same, it is only the control panel that changes between versions. This basic robot has fewer options and functions. Here is our full review.

Butterfly is the biggest brand in table tennis but they have teamed up with the Hungarian company LCS Sport to create their latest range of robots, that were released in 2014. There are three options available; Basic, Advance, and Professional. LCS Sport also sells the robots under the brand name “Power Pong”. The Power Pong 3000 is the same as the Butterfly Amicus Professional.

BUTTERFLY AMICUS BASIC

Here’s everything you need to know about the Butterfly Amicus Basic table tennis robot…

All Butterfly Amicus robots are easy to carry and set-up – they attach safely to one end of the table. Amicus robots can send up to 120 balls per minute. They also have three heads allowing them to deliver variable amounts of topspin, backspin, sidespin and no spin. You can also adjust the height of the robot head. These are top quality robots that really stand out from the others on sale.

The following description comes directly from Butterfly…

Excellent for high-intensity training of stroke technique and footwork. Six balls per exercise with different position. Spin, speed, and trajectory adjustable. Random function gives balls with a natural scattering.

And here’s the Butterfly video demonstrating the features of their new Amicus robots…

This is a basic table tennis robot that is aimed at new players looking to use a robot for developing simple stroke technique and footwork.

THE REVIEW

The Butterfly Amicus Basic table tennis robot is a very good entry-level robot. I really like how lightweight and easy to transport it is. After having a Practice Partner 50 myself (Y&T V-989) I understand the importance of this. My robot was very heavy and difficult to move around.

The Amicus Basic comes with a bag to carry it in and only weighs 6kg. My Practice Partner 50 weighed in at 22kg!

The Amicus Basic does everything that you would expect from a simple robot. It can provide you with balls of every spin, and no spin – which is a nice addition. Not all robots are able to give no spin balls. You are also able to control the amount of spin – this wasn’t an option with my Practice Partner 50.

Another feature that I really like is the random function. It means you can set the robot to deliver balls randomly over the table. Playing with a robot and doing loads of regular patterns can make you a bit predictable and less able to adjust to surprise placements. This random setting should help a lot to address that problem.

The main drawback to the Amicus Basic is that it doesn’t have some of the fancy features of the Amic Advance and Professional. If you are looking for a very simple robot then that won’t bother you at all. However, if you like the idea of having a “mini-computer” built into your robot that can remember drills and even gives you game-like situations that start with a serve, then you might be better off going for one of the more expensive Amicus options.

Finally, I’m pleased to say that the Butterfly Amicus Basic table tennis robot works well with both the old celluloid 40mm balls and the new plastic 40+ ones. For a while, I know a lot of players were worried that the new balls wouldn’t work in their robots due to the small increase in size – but they do. You can read our ball reviews here.

BUY THE ROBOT

You can buy the Butterfly Amicus Basic robot in the US from Megaspin. If you are in the UK TeesSport are the Butterfly dealer.

• Megaspin.net: The Amicus Basic retails for $1,259.99.
• TeesSport: The Amicus Basic retails for £809.99.

Or why not check out our favorite table tennis robot, the Newgy Robo-Pong 2050. The Robo-Pong 2050 is the top-of-the-range robot from US company Newgy. It is very reasonably priced and can do everything you might want from a table tennis robot.

• Amazon.co.uk: Available for £650. It is imported from the USA.
• Amazon.com: Much better value at $749 (roughly £500).
• Tabletennis11.com: Available for €890.00, with free shipping worldwide.

You might be interested in reading Ben’s popular article The Best Table Tennis Robots, which is available on his Expert Table Tennis blog. And don’t forget to check out all of our other Table Tennis Robot Reviews as well.

Have you used the Butterfly Amicus Basic yourself? What did you think of it? Please share your experiences and leave a review below in the comments.

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