anyone ever use the bushnell radar guns?

Think the problem with a Bushnell is range (or lack of) and not necessarily accuracy. My son's pitching instructor has one he uses and I bought a Stalker Sport a couple of years ago. Due to lack of space behind the plate in facility the gun was always used directly behind the pitcher. We compared speeds with both guns numerous times & the Bushnell was consistently 1-2 mph below the Stalker. The Bushnell has more no reads or obviously wrong reads but I'd say it worked at least 80% of the time. I've read & been told the Bushnell is horrible from behind the plate & the further away you are the worse. I'd think the limited range is the reason and directly behind the pitcher picks up the ball sooner for the Bushnell. I'd say if you are only going to use in bullpen sessions and can stand close behind the pitcher a Bushnell is a good low cost alternative.

 

I know the guy in this video....    I can see if it's still for sale

 

http://hardcorepawn.eu/season-4/40-turf-wars

 

Starts about 7 minutes in

Got a Bushnell as a gift.  Could never get it to work despite many varied attempts.  Unless the boy was throwing 42 mph fastballs!

Dang, that's the kind of guy that gives dad coaches a bad name.  

 

That was a Juggs gun...

Knew a dad on a competing HSs team.  He had the Bushnell, I had a Juggs.  Sitting behind the backstop during games, his gun was consistently 5-6 mph slower than mine.  I think it's the distance as well.  The further away you are with a Bushnell, the slower the readings will be.  Not worth the money if you ask me...

I have had a Bushnell Velocity for several years.  It's as accurate as a Juggs or anything else, if you know how to read/use it.  My model gives two readings - max and min. (When you let go of the trigger it shows the max number)  If the difference is 8-11 mph, you're good.  Anyone looking over someone's shoulder might see the min reading and think the gun is screwed up.

 

I'm sorry, but distance does not make the gun less accurate - that's not how radar works.  The radar 'waves' travel at the speed of light, and they either return, or they don't.  At some point the gun will simply not give a reading, the further away you go.

 

It does have range issues compared to more expensive guns, because it has a lower powered wave transmitter.  And, because of that, it may only give a reading about 80% of the time.

 

Mine works best with Coppertop batteries.  If you put a cheap Chinese battery in it, you will get some weird readings, and I can't explain that.

 

I would not use the very old Velocity model that only gave one reading, I would not trust it.

 

I hope the newer Speedster III is better than the Velocity.

 

As someone said before, if you are using it for bullpens it's great/cheap.  If you are going to sit in the stands and get a reading, it's no good. If you're trying to measure bat speed on a non-wood bat, that's difficult.

 

If you have $300-400, buy a used Stalker, or a Ball Coach Radar.

Lol.....sad thing is he wasn't a coach.   There was some "acting" there...but crazy thing is everyone around here really saw him as "that guy" and thought it was completely real.  I know him well enough to know he's kind of a nut....but not that much of a nut

How about the Pocket Radar? I bought one and used it to check pitcher speed. I usually stand behind the plate (and backstop) and aim at the pitcher. I don't know whether I can trust the reading. For example, a pitcher's mom keeps telling me her son pitches around 84mph, but the Pocket Radar has shown 79mph at best. Recently I went to a showcase and measured the best pitcher and got 82mph, but the showcase recorded 88mph. That kept me wondering, is the Pocket Radar always 5-6mph lower than the "real" speed?

I was at an equipment show a couple years ago.  The guy next to me was selling pocket radar.  They had a cage set up where you could throw.  My son was there so we tried it.  It seemed pretty accurate based on what he had been throwing leading up to that day.  Didn't have another gun to compare it to, but I'd say that the pocket radar readings had to be within 2-3 of what he was throwing

There are 2 Pocket Radar models.

 

#1 relies on when you press the button.

 

#2 the Ball Coach Radar, appr $299, is (can be) on continuously.

 

Radar speed can vary as much as 8-11 mph depending where along the path that any  radar gun picks up the reading.  Example out of the hand is fastest, and at the plate is slowest.

 

I personally would not rely on version 1, since you have no idea where along the path that you pressed the button.  Some people say they are good at button pressing.

 

The continuous model will always pick up the fastest speed, and seems to be very, very accurate.

       
       
over 4 years of the pocket radar I have become very, very good at timing the button...  I am still hoping it breaks so I can get a ball coach!

The Ball Coach Pocket Radar is great. Works really well.

 

If you are doing a recruiting video though, only Stalker guns will do. You have to have equipment that scouts use or have used, and none use Pocket Radars. For personal tracking it's fine, but for $300 you can get a Stalker gun used if you search Craigslist and eBay hard enough.

       


I've heard many complaints about Bushnell 5-7 mph slow. My experience in direct comparison to a Stalker is minuus 1-2. Never tried except directly behind pitcher. I believe my Stalker Sport has a range of around 300 feet. The Bushnell is around 60 feet? The theroies I've read is the Bushnell picks up the ball out of the hand later which might explain why having the gun closer to the pitcher would get a better reading than behind the plate. Another interesting comparison would be a Jugs vs Stalker. I've read numerous times Jugs is a plus one or two compared to a Stalker. Not inaccurate but picks up ball out if the hand a little quicker. My son's school has a Jugs and based on what they clock him vs what I get him the Jugs is a little faster. Won't argue at all about the accuracy of a Bushnell or Stalker vs Jugs but do believe the difference is how quickly one pick up out of the hand vs the others & can see where the Bushnell's limited range could make a difference. It's like Kyle said though; only the Stalker is official & the can be found used at a decent price. Got mine for $370 on eBay including shipping. Would take that over the cost of pocket radar any day. If you want an idea how fast you are throwing; $100 plus or minus for a Bushnell isn't bad. Just stay close and online when measuring.

Edit: Out of curiosity I looked up range on latest Bushnell models. Latest has a 90 ft range and previous model has a 75 ft range. Below is a video comparison of a Stalker Sport II vs Bushnell. My only reference point is direct comparison of an older Bushnell vs Stalker Sport (1-2 mph difference) directly behind pitcher which is much closer than the 60 feet plus tested on the video. Just looks like the further away with the Bushnell the less accurate.

https://youtu.be/6IwApzYYHmQ

I have a jugs that reads both fastest and slowest (looks like a stalker sport)...this is 1-2 faster than a stalker? 

 

Thanks for the info --- we were looking on this end too.

Has anyone else noticed that Pocket radar readings are starting to show up on the front stats page of PG players pages?

       
       
nope.  Tell us about that Root, I would be interested.  Or.is it just some sort of advertising?

It's down where they put the ZEPP metrics. I pulled this profile just as an example (the first I came across):

http://www.perfectgame.org/Pla...ofile.aspx?ID=348974