Dr. Dish vs The Gun vs GRIND: three home shooting machines, three different bets

The verdict

These three are not three versions of the same product. Dr. Dish sells a connected machine: the Home3 is programmed from the Player app, passes across 180 degrees, counts makes and misses and ships with 250-plus workouts. Shoot-A-Way sells the opposite philosophy at almost the same price: The Gun Home Edition has 11 programmable locations and seven pass distances driven from a touchpad on the machine, with a countdown bar instead of a screen, and Shoot-A-Way states plainly that no phone or app is required. GRIND sells neither — it sells portability. The GRIND Machine launches the ball to one distance at nine spots you change by hand, and weighs 110 pounds.

So the question is not which machine is best. It is which of three things you are buying: programming (Dr. Dish), simplicity (Shoot-A-Way) or portability (GRIND). The $2,300 spread between the Home3 and the GRIND Machine is almost exactly the price of the first two.

Spec by spec

Two gaps in that table are worth naming rather than filling. Shoot-A-Way publishes a shots-per-hour figure for its gym machines (1,800 on the 10K and 12K) but not for the Home Edition, so we have not carried one across; a smaller machine is not the same machine. And GRIND's 1,000-shots-an-hour figure is explicitly two-ball, with the company's own FAQ putting the realistic band at 500 to 1,000 depending on pace.

Programming: an app, a touchpad and a lever

This is the real difference, and it is not subtle. The Home3 programs passes across 180 degrees to virtually any spot, with five passing distances, from a phone; WiFi is listed as needed for full functionality. A player can run a built-in workout without a coach standing there.

The Gun Home Edition gets to a similar place by a different road: 11 preset locations and seven pass distances, selected on a touchpad, with the machine rotating automatically to the spots chosen. There is no app, no login and no WiFi dependency, and for a 12-year-old without a phone that is a feature rather than a limitation. What you give up is data: a lightweight makes counter rather than shot-by-shot tracking.

The GRIND Machine rotates manually. There is a lever on the base; somebody moves it to pick one of nine spots, and there is one passing distance. In a solo workout that means stopping between drills, which is exactly the friction the expensive machines charge to remove. In a two-kid driveway where one shoots while the other moves the lever, it matters much less.

Weight, footprint and where it lives

The Home3 is 270 lb on locking wheels and stores at 40 x 30 x 78 inches, which Dr. Dish states fits through a standard doorway. The Gun Home Edition is 247 lb at 52 x 28 x 75 inches and ships 100% assembled. The GRIND Machine is 110 lb and folds to 38 x 13 x 18 inches, with the netting detaching so the heaviest single piece is about 40 pounds lighter to lift.

Put that in driveway terms. The two heavy machines need a garage bay with a clear path to the slab and a 120V outlet in reach; neither is weatherproof, and Shoot-A-Way says The Gun must be stored out of the elements. The GRIND Machine fits in the corner where the bikes are, and GRIND states one person can set it up, run a session and break it down, though loading it into a truck may take two.

If the hoop is a portable that gets wheeled around, the weight question is moot and none of the three is the right purchase — a rim-mounted return is. That is covered on the machine roundup, which carries both $499 options alongside these three.

Price, delivery and subscriptions

Read on 2026-10-12: the Home3 at $4,495, The Gun Home Edition at $4,295 against a $4,795 list, and the GRIND Machine at $2,195 against a $2,495 compare-at price. Only the Home3 has an Amazon listing; when we read it, that listing showed “usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks” rather than in stock. The other two are direct orders.

Delivery is a real line item on the heavy machines, not a rounding error: Dr. Dish listed curbside or porch/garage delivery at $424 to $554 on the Home product page. Subscriptions are the other hidden axis. Dr. Dish sells a Player App Membership at $39 a month; the Home3 is advertised as requiring none, and the previous-generation Home's full experience is described around one. The Gun needs no account. The GRIND Machine has no app to subscribe to.

Who each one is actually for

The Home3 is for the household that already runs on apps. If the player tracks workouts on a phone, wants a prescribed session rather than a vague plan, and the garage has WiFi reaching the driveway, the Home3's 250-plus built-in workouts and shot counter are the product. It is also the only one of the three with an Amazon listing, which for some buyers settles it on returns policy alone.

The Gun Home Edition is for the household that does not. Eleven locations and seven pass distances on a touchpad, a countdown bar instead of a screen, no login, no WiFi, no subscription, and a machine that arrives fully assembled and is listed as working on a 9-foot rim as well as a 10. For a middle-schooler without a phone, or a family that does not want another account, that is the stronger machine at a slightly lower price.

The GRIND Machine is for the household with no spare bay. One hundred and ten pounds, a 38 x 13 x 18-inch stored footprint and a 30-day trial. It is also the right answer for a shared or rented driveway, a player who travels to a grandparent's hoop, or anyone who suspects the machine will get used twice a week rather than daily and does not want four thousand dollars finding that out.

What we could not verify

Three gaps, stated rather than filled. Shoot-A-Way publishes no reps-per-hour figure for the Home Edition — the 1,800-shot number on its site belongs to the Gun 10K and 12K gym machines, and we have not carried it across. None of the three publishes a ball capacity for the chamber; GRIND states its machine comfortably uses two balls in succession and recommends letting the first reach the funnel before the second, which implies there is no stopper holding and timing passes. And no maker publishes a decibel figure, which matters on a driveway with neighbors twenty feet away: Shoot-A-Way calls the Home Edition quiet, Dr. Dish says nothing, and neither claim is testable from here.

We also have not tested any of these machines. Everything on this page is the maker's own published number, read on 2026-10-12, which is the same standard every other comparison on this site is held to.

Warranty and trial

Dr. Dish Home3: a 2-Year Full Warranty covering remote diagnostics, replacement parts and standard shipping. The Gun Home Edition: a 2-Year Warranty, shown with a money-back guarantee, on a machine Shoot-A-Way states is made in the USA in the same facility as its professional models. GRIND Machine: a 1-Year Standard Warranty, with extended terms sold separately and a 30-day trial — the only trial period of the three.

On a $4,000 machine with a motor and a chamber, the second warranty year is worth real money, and it is the clearest thing Dr. Dish and Shoot-A-Way have over GRIND. On a $2,195 machine you can put in a car and return inside 30 days, the shorter term is a more reasonable trade.