Pocket Radar

They're more subtle about it.

josh said:

So I have 1 vote for each. That doesn't help much

I appreciate the differences, I think I'll probably get a rev-fire after the fall season, I am more interested when people ask me for advice, what I should suggest to them... I think I'll just suggest they visit this forum!

It isn't the absolute velocity that I am interested in, more relative, she throws slower in games and insists she doesn't... but the radar don't lie... so we are working on it.

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I agree with the "Wait until she's throwing the 12" ball" to get the Rev Fire. At the tender age of 8, work on mechanics and velocity. If she starts throwing movement pitches with an 11 inch ball, I agree with Ken... don't focus so much on the rate of spin, but rather the orientation of the spin. For that, you can replace the $350 Rev fire with a $3 roll of electrical tape. I would get the Pocket Radar first. Amazing how much more effort goes into a workout when they're trying to increase speed. Mark it on a chart for her once a month. She'll bust her hump to get a new high every time you measure....which is what you really want at that age.

FrozenRope said:

I agree with the "Wait until she's throwing the 12" ball" to get the Rev Fire. At the tender age of 8, work on mechanics and velocity. If she starts throwing movement pitches with an 11 inch ball, I agree with Ken... don't focus so much on the rate of spin, but rather the orientation of the spin. For that, you can replace the $350 Rev fire with a $3 roll of electrical tape. I would get the Pocket Radar first. Amazing how much more effort goes into a workout when they're trying to increase speed. Mark it on a chart for her once a month. She'll bust her hump to get a new high every time you measure....which is what you really want at that age.

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I just used a sharpie to draw a line, i'm not sure of the cost of it, since I used the sharpie for a lot of other things too, bats, bases, gloves, tees, etc... I even once used it for something non-softball related (gasp), although I can't remember what.

You can use that Sharpie to draw up a progress chart as well. My favorites starting out were good vs. bad pitches. Didn't focus on balls and strikes in the beginning. The exclusive goal of just throw strikes creates the tendency to "aim", which we all know wreaks havoc on their mechanics. They slow down.....lean forward, and try to toss the ball to the target .....Instead..... Give her credit for "Good Misses". If she properly executes the general mechanics of the pitch and it just misses the strike zone......it's a good guy.... If she slows down, aims, or in general, fails to execute on what youre currenetly working on mechanically.... even if the result is "good""...it's a bad guy. Sorry for the tangent...just thinking of ways for you to get your value out of that sharpie!

Josh Greer said:

We've been talking about making an accessory to our bracket to mount a PocketRadar to the standard LynkSpyder. The idea would be that you would be able to mount a camera and a PocketRadar to the fence at the same time. We had a couple conversations with them about our initial design concept. Anyone think this would be useful (and by useful, I indirectly mean marketable)?

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Just ordered one of your lynkspyders, will be great not to have to deal with people hitting my tripod.

There was a question earlier about bat swing speed. This is a very good question. There is a lot of confusion on this issue of measuring bat swing speed with radar. First, I want to explain that you should not try to use any radar gun that is designed to measure a pitched ball to measure bat swing speed. This is because the radar beam needs to be in-line with the path of the ball to get a good reading. Radar does not work off at an angle. Since a bat swings through a large arc of many different angles you will not get an accurate and consistent reading on a bat swing. There are other devices designed to measure swing speed, but they do not measure the ball speed.

The Ball Coach radar does measure the Ball Exit Speed off the bat. This is actually what you really want to know because it gives you the only direct measure of the power of the hit. While swing speed is very important, it does not tell you what power you will put on the ball. For instance, you can swing a broomstick very fast but it will never put any power on a ball. The Ball Exit Speed off the bat is one of the standard measurements that NFCA has specified for evaluating player skills. You can learn more at: Ball Coach Radar | Pocket Radar | Sports Radar Gun

Please let me know if you ever have any questions.

Thank you,

Chris Stewart, President / Pocket Radar, Inc.