The Butterfly Amicus Advance table tennis robot is Butterfly’s mid-range robot and is produced in Hungary. All three Amicus robots look exactly the same, it is only the control panel that changes between versions. This Advance version has more features than the Amicus Basic. 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 ADVANCE

Here’s everything you need to know about the Butterfly Amicus Advance 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…

The ideal partner for those who want to train complex play sequences. Individually adjustable spin, speed, trajectory, and placement for each ball in an exercise. Complete ball sequences including service. Memory space for up to 22 exercises. 10 pre-saved exercises recommended by Richard Prause.

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

This is a very good table tennis robot with some high-end features such as memory space to save exercises. Advanced players will enjoy being able to pre-plan their training drills.

THE REVIEW

The Butterfly Amicus Advance table tennis robot is a really great robot. I 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 Advance comes with a bag to carry it in and only weighs 6kg. My Practice Partner 50 weighed in at 22kg!

The Amicus Advance can do everything the Amicus Basic can do. However, the main selling point for the Amicus Advance is the ability to pre-program and save complex drills into the control panel. This means you can save some of the favourite drills into the computer and then easily switch from one to another during your training session.

That feature is going to save you a lot of time and probably lead to you actually training with your robot more often. If it is a lot of effort to set up the robot each time you change drill, this can make you less inclined to practice. If all you need to do is select a number from 1-22 and a saved drill will begin, it’s much quicker to start playing.

The fact that the Amicus Advance can simulate a serve, as well, is very important. Returning serves is often one of the main weaknesses for players and being able to practice all types of returns against all types of serves will really help you to get better at handling tricky serves in matches.

The Butterfly Amicus Advance can do basically everything you would ever want a table tennis robot to do. Looking at the Amicus Professional, there aren’t a load of better features. The Professional version has a few little differences but I’m sure you could get away with just using the Amicus Advance.

The Amicus Advance is considerably better than the Amicus Basic. I’m not sure if the Amicus Professional is considerably better than the Amicus Advance. Maybe just a little bit better. But is that worth the extra money?

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 Advance robot in the USA from Megaspin. If you are in the UK, TeesSport is the Butterfly dealer.

• Megaspin.net: The Amicus Advance retails for $1,699.00.
• TeesSport: The Amicus Basic retails for £1,124.99.

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 Advance yourself? What did you think of it? Please share your experiences and leave a review below in the comments.

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