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The Radar 1st Impressions

JB

JB

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Albatross 2024 Club
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We had this product in a Misc Unboxing thread and this morning we got a chance to try it out at the range. First impressions are quite positive, but there were some hitches. First off, the only thing we used it for today was to measure Ball Velocity and Total Distance. We will be putting it through all of its tests this weekend and early next week to determine exactly how valuable it is.

The distances seemed to be pretty accurate as to my game. We used it for a couple of different clubs and it came in right about where it should. However we did notice that on a couple of swings (1 out of every 10) it just did not register.

We actually learned that after the 1st swing, that the device needs to be a little closer than this.
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Hitting 56* degree wedges and the distance seemed right on for my game.
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Here are 3 driver swings and again it seemed right on. I took something off of it. Then hit my normal swing, and then took a pretty big cut at it.
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MO_Hacker said:
Glad to see you're doing a review on this device, I've been wanting one.
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I'm not sold on devices like this... you have to factor in spin rates to measure accurate distance...
 
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I think if you check out the devices Zelocity makes, you will see that they are a little different than those cheap swing speed monitors. These things are quite expensive at $229 and have a lot in them.
 
agreed... but a 299 device versus a launch monitor worth 3K

obviously these are much more afforable and offer the freedom of taking it to and from the range with ease
 
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$229. But the price point is dictated based on size and what it can do. Not that it does not work. We are going to put it through a huge amount of testing over the weekend, but so far with the exception of a few glitches this is a far superior device than a swing speed measurer.
 
does this unit record your sessions? does it connect to a computer?
 
I imagine this type of device is geared towards players who want to know thier yardages better? I wouldn't expect at the price that it be comparable to a launch monitor. I'd love to try something like this for a day or two, but not sure I would buy one.

And NVM sync capability would be awesome!!
 
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It has a 100 shot memory but does not connect to the computer.
 
Didn't someone on the "Fore Inventors" show have a product like this that had a video camera on it as well??
 
They did CM. But it was more geared towards swing speed rather than Ball Velocity.
 
DDBowdoin said:
you have to factor in spin rates to measure accurate distance...
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Im not much of a math man, but is there a formula to plug in swing speed and distance to get spin rates? Or would you need the launch angle too?
 
TheGasman said:
Im not much of a math man, but is there a formula to plug in swing speed and distance to get spin rates? Or would you need the launch angle too?
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GOOD QUESTION....

not sure, but for the best measurement and fitting you need launch angle, ball speed, clubhead speed, spin rate, side spin rate

If you can calculate or guestimate without those stats then I'd be all over this tool if I only needed a little bit of math
 
DDBowdoin said:
but for the best measurement and fitting you need launch angle, ball speed, clubhead speed, spin rate, side spin rate
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Yes, you would need all those factors to accurately determine distance(plus wind speed and direction). If you take away one of those you have 2 unknown variables and it gets harder to accurately get the correct distance. Of course wind speed and direction aren't usually taken in to consideration or considered important because the golfer makes the adjustments to compensate for the wind.
 
Craig Mac said:
I imagine this type of device is geared towards players who want to know thier yardages better? I wouldn't expect at the price that it be comparable to a launch monitor. I'd love to try something like this for a day or two, but not sure I would buy one.

And NVM sync capability would be awesome!!
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That's exactly why I would be interested in one.
 
It would certainly be great for someone hitting into a net for practice.

I'd also like to know if it "assumes" a good swing for calculating the distance. In other words, how does a hard slice or hook register?
 
I had a ball that was a hard slice and it registered significantly shorter than the other balls. How? I have no idea. That will come as we get more thorough with it and I have some of the teaching pros out there.
 
JB said:
I had a ball that was a hard slice
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Impossible!

I had the net thing in mind too, but if it doesn't tell you trajectory and flight curvature, the quality of the net session as a learning tool would still be relatively limited. I guess it would still help you play with swing changes designed to increase your ball speed and distance, which could be helpful.
 
worst_shot_ever said:
Impossible!

I had the net thing in mind too, but if it doesn't tell you trajectory and flight curvature, the quality of the net session as a learning tool would still be relatively limited. I guess it would still help you play with swing changes designed to increase your ball speed and distance, which could be helpful.
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Agreed. I would love to have my own launch monitor!

But if you knew your general distances, you could at least tell if it was a mis-hit by the sorter distance.



Dammit! I just got the hiccups for no apparent reason. And they are the really huge and frequent kind!
 
Harry Longshanks said:
Agreed. I would love to have my own launch monitor!

But if you knew your general distances, you could at least tell if it was a mis-hit by the sorter distance.



Dammit! I just got the hiccups for no apparent reason. And they are the really huge and frequent kind!
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Personally, I'd rather have a nice driving range with many targets and a quality rangefinder. Accurately measure the distances and work from there.
 
DDBowdoin said:
Personally, I'd rather have a nice driving range with many targets and a quality rangefinder. Accurately measure the distances and work from there.
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Yeah but you're one of those diehards who goes out to the range in 10 degree weather. During the winter, I want to hit balls in my shorts in the basement!
 
Well, the best alternative is a good range with a launch monitor. And there is no substitute for seeing your ball flight. But still, good launch monitors are cool.
 
worst_shot_ever said:
Yeah but you're one of those diehards who goes out to the range in 10 degree weather. During the winter, I want to hit balls in my shorts in the basement!
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ahh yeah, that is true

I wish I had ceilings high enough that I could make full swings!
 
So, JB....

any more updates on this device?
 
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