Prince tennis ball machines are machines which were manufactured by a company called Master Sports which is a manufacturer and distributor of premium quality sporting goods equipment. Since mid 1990s, Master Sports have been in this business and has been creating equipment in the brand name of Prince Tennis Ball Machine under a licensed agreement.

In early 2006, Master Sports changed its brand name to SAM which stands for "Sports Action Machines". Now the Prince tennis ball machines and SAM tennis ball machines are being sold in different model names but essentially the products are same. They are created in the same manufacturing unit and have same performance and features. The quality and standards are same as were applied when these were created under name of Master Sports..

Models of Prince and SAM tennis ball machines:

There is a corresponding SAM model for each Prince tennis ball machine. Here is the complete list.

Prince® Brand Models     SAM® Brand Models
Little Prince®                         Model 1 iSAM®
Little Prince®                         Model 2 iSAM® Plus
Prince® Portable Model 1     SAM® SP-1
Prince® Portable Model 2     SAM® SP-2
Prince® Portable Model 3     SAM® SP-3
Prince® Portable Model 4     SAM® SP-4
Prince® Surefire                    SAM® Sport
Prince® Hotshot                    SAM® Coach

Let us go into a bit of details in a few of these models:

iSAM® Model 1 Portable Tennis Ball Machine

This model was called Little Prince earlier and has been renamed as Model1 iSAM. The Model 1 iSAM portable tennis machine is a perfect entry level machine for any beginner. This is one of the lightest machines available in the market which weighs only 29 lbs. The maximum speed with which it throws the ball is 60 mph. This machine has feature to modify things like he feed rate, the speed, the elevation (depth) and then decide whether you want the oscillation on or off. The machine will do the rest, tirelessly throwing balls over the net until it is empty or you turn it off. It can run on battery or AC, has an optional remote and also has smart charge technology.

iSAM P1 – P4 - SAM® Professional Portable Tennis Ball Machines

SAM professional portable tennis ball machines are ideal for intermediate to adnavced level players. These machines have all the features of any portable machine which a player needs like speed range of 10 to 75 mph, trajectory control, built in oscillation, great battery life, capacity to hold 300 balls, choice of charging (battery and AC), smart charging etc. The ball hopper is unique in that it turns over and acts as a cover, providing protection to the electronics and delivery system while in transportation and storage. When in use, the hopper is rugged and will not collapse when hit by a ball. The weight of machne is 49 lbs and hopper is another 9 lbs. The model SAM P4 is similar but it has another added feature for remote control. The remote has 10 functions which helps the player to make any change to the settings of the machine from opposite end of the court.

SAM® Commercial Tennis Ball Machines
Introduced in 2000 and upgraded in 2002 and 2007, the SAM Commercial Tennis Ball Machine product line has proven to be the ideal companion for any club or hard-core tennis player. The speed of the ball ranges between 18 to 90+ mph and the interval between 1.4 seconds to 8 seconds. These models have all the features whch should be there in the best tennis ball machines like variations in trajectory and spin, oscillations, 250 plus ball capacity and many more. There is an added option of using a remote which is a very useful feature.