Pocket Radar Vs Stalker and Bushnell

[savagesbdad]

For the money, you can’t beat pocket radar. It’s all about being correctly oriented. Hold it as straight you can, not carelessly relaxed as some do and think it’s the radars fault. You would hold a stalker or other pistol style in the air and wonder why isn’t it reading right. For the accuracy ive used my PRC and PRSC against multiple stalker/pro models and have never been more than 1 MPH off besides maybe 3-4 times where it was 2. And this is over thousands of reps pitching and hitting. Plus the size factor. No one can beat that.

 

[cvsoftball]

Good Question. All radar guns only measure "relative speed" which drops off as you go off angle. At 2 feet off to the side it is not a problem. However, if you tilt the radar down slightly you will see a problem. Let me explain: There is a scientific formula for this effect. You take the COSINE of the angle between the path of the ball and the path of the radar beam. If the pitcher releases the ball about 40 feet from the plate and you are 15 feet back from the plate the ball is 55 feet away at release. If you are over to the side by 2 feet then the angle is ARCTAN(2/55)=2.1 degrees. The COSINE of 2.1 degrees is .999 so you are still accurate to within 0.1% of the true speed. So 2 feet to the side is no problem. On the other hand, if you are not careful to hold the radar straight up and down vertically, then you could easily have a 10 to 20 degree tilt down. The COSINE of 20 degrees is .94 so you would be off true speed by 6%. At 58 MPH, 6% low would be 3 MPH low. So the important point is to make sure you are not letting it tilt down. Most people that say they are getting 2 to 3 MPH low are usually seeing this from tilting it down without even knowing they are doing it since you cannot tell when you look at the face of the unit. Think about the radar beam that comes out of the back of the unit as shaped like a flashlight beam that needs to be directly in line with the path of the ball. Sometimes holding it up too high can cause the same problem, especially from behind the pitcher in training. When used properly the Ball Coach radar is the most accurate gun on the market. This is why it is used by all of the top college coaches in softball. Please let me know if this helps or if you have any other questions. Thanks,
Chris Stewart / President, Pocket Radar Inc.

There!, I said to my DD. I told you Math wasn't just to annoy you.

 

[uncdrew]

I've recommended the Bushnell to many people here, many times. And I stand by that recommendation. It's great for a 8U/10U girl as you simply don't know if they'll stick with pitching long. So the Bushnell is inexpensive and accurate and works great to measure progress.

However, I've moved up to the Smart Radar. What makes it worth getting is the size. It fits in your pocket. And you can use it and look to others like you're just checking your phone. I bring it to all tournaments and it's nice to have just to get speeds of any pitcher you want.

 

[HunterMO]

I picked up a Bushnell speed gun early last year. And we’ve used it to track DD’s progress for pitching. It has been perfect for that.

But I’m ready to go smaller with something like the pocket radar.

 

[midwestdad]

We tried the Bushnell and that was off quite a bit. Been using the pocket radar for about a year and it works well.

 

[HunterMO]

We tried the Bushnell and that was off quite a bit. Been using the pocket radar for about a year and it works well.

That’s funny. I have been using our Bushnell and DD has been very consistent with her pitching speed. Her PC used a pocket radar and it showed the same speed as I was seeing with the Bushnell.

In the end I’d still prefer a pocket radar even just from a size/travel standpoint.