Best radar equipment?

[JJsqueeze]

Mike-

the exit speed is only interesting to me because it seems readily available and the ability to measure in flight pitch speed changes is not readily available on the lower end radar guns. Just a little widget that adds functionality and is a sell against feature.

also-the price is too low. You could have easily gotten me for $9.99 for this app.

A pitch counter would a nice feature for some. I don't really use specific pitch counts in workouts but some do.what would be really nifty- and you owe me for this one, is if you had a graphic output of the pitch profile. I will take a mere 20% of the company for that little tidbit . Just kidding.

We are absolutely nuts about dropballs and riseballs in our little world of Fastpich. Your device is already set up at the perfect view to grab it so getting that info seems possible.

Other ideas- being able to see what the camera is seeing during setup would be nice.

 

[trpltongue]

Those are some great suggestions. To visualize the pitch profile would be incredible. Also to see the setup view would be great as well. I asked in another thread, but is it possible to adjust the side distance? Not all of us have 20' to the side to work with.

You may lose some accuracy but it would be better than not getting results at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cuzmail]

Looks like we revived an old thread of mine. Here is my update.

Bought a Ball Coach and love it. Easy to use and accurate. Continuous mode rocks.
Bushnell turned out to be about 5mph slow and inconsistent. After using the BC, I'll add bulky to the Bushnell con list too.

Now I use a BC for speed and still use the RevFire for spin.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Same experience here-Bushnell is slow, pocket radar is pretty accurate.

 

[javasource]

Going to try out the iphone app today... thanks to a cool cat on dfp.

Really like the ball coach. I've sat next to a Stalker and Jugs (sounds like a dynamic duo) on three occasions... and they are always looking over at my read-outs.

Funny story... was at a college game sitting next to these two guys, and my readout came in at 61 mph. The Stalker dude sorta scoffed at mine for being a mph off... only to look over at the Jugs dude's reading... which was two mph more than the stalker. Jugs 62, Stalker 60. Poor man radar.... 61.

 

[Pocket R]

Going to try out the iphone app today... thanks to a cool cat on dfp.

Really like the ball coach. I've sat next to a Stalker and Jugs (sounds like a dynamic duo) on three occasions... and they are always looking over at my read-outs.

Funny story... was at a college game sitting next to these two guys, and my readout came in at 61 mph. The Stalker dude sorta scoffed at mine for being a mph off... only to look over at the Jugs dude's reading... which was two mph more than the stalker. Jugs 62, Stalker 60. Poor man radar.... 61.

It is always interesting to hear these discussions about accuracy. We often have these discussions with the college coaches and scouts.
You should visit the Stalker web-site and take a look at the actual accuracy spec on their $1200 scouting gun: Stalker Pro II Sports Radar Gun | Professional Sports Radar Gun Check out the specifications tab. The actual accuracy is +/- 3% of the reading, so at 60 MPH on his gun the accuracy was +/- 1.8 MPH, without the decimal shown the reading could be off by +/- 2 MPH. People always assume that if it costs $1200 it must be accurate, and I think their company assumes that nobody ever reads the spec sheets.

Check it out for yourself.

 

[JAD]

Most people who use a radar gun are looking for a way to measure progress - as long as you use the same radar gun consistently, you should be able to tell when your DD is making progress. If you are looking for maximum MPH for bragging rights with your friends, call Radar Grandpa for some pointers!

 

[josh]

I use a pocket radar ball coach and love it, just the sheer fact I can carry it in my pocket is great, it measures accurately, at least on occasions when I can compare.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Here is my speed measurement device baggage...

had a bushnell, it read a little slow than other guns but it served its purpose for a long time and was only $100 bucks. It met an untimely end in my front yard after giving me a bunch of 23 miles an hour readings.

Then I took a break from measuring speed accurately, just kind of used my RevFire to make sure the FB CU speed difference was correct. Then I tried the Athla app and while it is good, it is just too sensitive to light/rustling leaves, pitch location. once again it let me know things were in the general area but not accurate at all.

Then RT started up his ball coach talk and I bought the classic Pocket Radar since I am a cheapskate. I haven't measured game speed yet but since it reads 60+ on my kid's walkthroughs and 55-57 on pitches I say it is a wonderful product a year form now if those readings stay the same it will probably end up on Craigslist.

 

[Swim Coach]

I was a little disappointed to go out and look at this after a search a year later only to find a 400%+ increase in price to $15.99. I was thinking to give it a whirl but I certainly wasn't expecting that kind of inflation.

I tried out that Athla app- here is my review.

Pros-

Cheap-$2.99 for the in app baseball purchase
Reasonably accurate if set up with a lot of care.
Hands free and it calls out the pitch speed so no need to go read it

Cons-
It is highly sensitive both to the distance from the pitch and the angle of the device to the line of the pitch. So you will get a different reading between an outside pitch and an inside pitch.

Cannot pick up the ball out of hand, you get the middle to the end of the pitch. If the pitcher is in too much of the frame then it does not read.

Highly sensitive to background motion (I mean branches gently blowing in an 8 mph wind)

I wish it had the ability to give the actual data points used so you could get a beginning of frame pitch speed and an end of frame. I assume it is using several frames in order to average them and do error correction on any misreads.

Overall I think it is great and measured DDs speed right around where she has been measured with guns. I mean it's $2.99 and is as good as a Bushnell at $99 accuracy wise.