With the ATEC you have to do both speed and angle adjustments. If I had it to do over again I would have gone with a Hack Attack simply because a 3-wheel design allows you to do different pitches simply by adjusting wheel speed. Very rateable and you can place the ball anywhere. The machine is also great at doing outfield fungos. I try to start by holding the ball over the machine, then giving a slight motion before feeding the ball into the machine (give them something to cue off of). Also, as others here have mentioned, there is a timing element missing versus live pitching. You have to monitor it as it can move a bit requiring adjustment every 3-4 pitches (I actually view this as a good thing, though, to get the kids used to seeing pitches around the strike zone but not in the same place every pitch). With that said, there are issues with it. The machine helps to get pitches reliably over the plate. As you say, pitching is a big thing and I can't pitch BP effectively. It's been invaluable over the last couple of years especially now that I've purchased low-seam baseballs for it.
Based on research done on this site, and others, I purchased a ATEC Casey Pro.
