Has anyone ever had a pocket radar that reads slower in the cold. Playing with radar today DD was slower by 4-6 mph than a cpl weeks ago. Me being the dork that I am had the wife drive at me while I stood in the road with the radar. Wife had the car cruising at 50mph radar was reading a constant 44mph. Does temperature affect the pocket radar.
cold radar
- Thread starter humpty
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- Dec 7, 2011
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Temperature shouldn't.
Outside with the car was there any heavier moisture in the air at the time?
There IS error relative to heavy moisture in the air. That's why cops don't give radar based tickets on foggy days. (or at least you should fight them).
That might explain an outside reading.
When you were reading pitch speed was it in the same EXACT pitching tunnel with NO new elements around you? (I still swear that pocket radar has software that might "overwork" and in reflective environments it will read a bit different. (same 3-6mph)
My experience with mine is that it worked a bit different from the indoor tight pitching lane to the big open gym at HS to outdoors. It did appear to be very repeatable in the SAME environment.
Outside with the car was there any heavier moisture in the air at the time?
There IS error relative to heavy moisture in the air. That's why cops don't give radar based tickets on foggy days. (or at least you should fight them).
That might explain an outside reading.
When you were reading pitch speed was it in the same EXACT pitching tunnel with NO new elements around you? (I still swear that pocket radar has software that might "overwork" and in reflective environments it will read a bit different. (same 3-6mph)
My experience with mine is that it worked a bit different from the indoor tight pitching lane to the big open gym at HS to outdoors. It did appear to be very repeatable in the SAME environment.
- Nov 18, 2013
- 2,258
- 113
Just to be clear by "cold" you mean 50 degrees??? I'm in the wrong state. Lol
- Dec 7, 2011
- 2,366
- 38
Noting that the radar "return" on a bridge pillar or street sign is HUGE compared to the detector trying to discern the image of a softball from any & all erroneous reflections it simultaneously receives.
Make sure you have nothing moving in the backdrop towards the pitch you are trying to measure. I have heard that detectors (not necessarily the PR) can read on a swinging chain on a fence double the distance behind your pitcher.
The point here is that the PR detector engineers have implemented some special software that attempts to read back to you (the user) only the speed of the ball.
I think the PR engineers do a good job BUT there are just going to be some environments where even their good software is not going to interpret the right return accurately.
Just learn where you get “bad” returns and don’t speed-test there anymore.
For DD & I it’s a funny case because my PR reads the slowest at her PC’s indoor pitching tunnel and then our feisty PC then gets under the skin of my feisty DD which leads to good entertainment for this ole bucket dad. Then my PR reads the highest at her HS where DD will at times have a pretty good crowd and they ask what speed she is pitching and I can just show them the PR results without having to say a word
The speedometer in vehicles typically reads a couple MPH slower than your actual speed. This keep car manufacturers out of lawsuits with drivers who get speeding tickets because their speedometers were reading slow. Check it with a GPS unit that calculates speed and you will see a discrepancy.
How accurate is your car speedometer? | The Car Expert | Buying a car
