Stalker Sports 2 Radar Gun

I have one....and as long as it hasn't changed, I think there is a "Sport" mode...that is the mode I have it on....also while there are adjustments to make for angles, I don't find myself that far off from behind the catcher to find that useful. 

Maybe someone else has more input, but for me in "Sport" mode, and just pull trigger has worked well.  I have used next to a Juggs, and the Stalker is consistently 1-2 MPH lower in reading than the Juggs.

These things are still too pricey for me as I would just be using it for fun.  Wife suggested I buy it and charge other dads $5 per look.  I think she is on to something. I could pay it off over a couple tournaments!

Good idea. You could probably charge $10 per look if you could figure out how to tweak the reading upward by 5mph or so.

So the Juggs has a parent setting?  

I have the newer Stalker Sports 2 which has a menu button to allow you to change about 10 different attributes from cosine angle (angle that you are measuring from path of ball) to low threshold velocity. 

There is no Sports mode but the manual gives the general settings that baseball scouts use. 

I agree about the price and I thought about charging parents of the opposing team for speeds but my problem would be the disappointment of parents when they discover little johnny is throwing 8 to 10 mph slower than what they believe.   

If you are right behind the plate it should work just fine regardless of distance. It's one of the best guns on the market, though most of the scouts use the old Stalker Sport 1 gun.

K.  Thanks. 

Have the Stalker 2 Sport myself.  Did not find generic manual very helpful.  Maybe a little too much gun for this dad.  Too many options/settings.  Agree with BFS in that the readings are consistantly lower than readings on other guns.  My son hates it when I get it out because he knows it is not going to give #s that he gets at college camps and their guns.  I tend to agree.  Not sure what the deal is with that?

The manual does state that the more angle the gun is positioned from the target the more error is induced.  

There is a cosine angle setting that automatically adjusts for the error. 

For example the American Legion field where my son played last year has no place for a parent to sit behind the catcher to measure the velocity of the incoming ball.  I would have to be at about a 15 degree angle off of the catcher.   According to the Stalker manual a 15 degree angle gives a 3.4% error, so a true speed of 80 mph would be read a lower speed of  about 77 mph, unless you changed the cosine angle setting to 15 degrees. 

Anywho, I'm sure it will take me some time to figure out the right settings. Especially since my eye isn't calibrated and I would be guessing on angles. 

My son would KILL me if I showed up at one of his games with a radar gun......probably because we know this guy.....

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

I'm sure some of you have seen it....if not, it's worth watching.....lol

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I just bought a a Stalker Sports 2 Radar Gun to get a baseline velocity for my freshman high school son. "

If you just want to get a baseline, do it during a bullpen session, that way you can accomplish two things.  The second being you don't want to be that guy at your son's game with a radar gun. Just saying.....

Buckeye, I saw that episode on TV awhile ago, that guy can't be real? If so I feel real bad for that kid.

mmm.....oh, he's real...lol.  Known him for a long time....and truth is, he's not as bad as he's made out to be on the show....some of it had to be scripted...though it's hard to say how much.   Problem is, a lot of people in our area saw it and think "oh, that's exactly how he is".   He's as over the top as any baseball dad I've ever met....but I know him well enough to know that the way he was portrayed on the show was a little bit nuts...even for him.

I understand what you are saying.  

My thought was to measure the speed of all the pitchers and keep a log throughout the season.  That way it doesn't look like I think my son will be the next Nolan Ryan.  

"My thought was to measure the speed of all the pitchers and keep a log throughout the season."

Last season at my sons college games, he held the gun or kept the log about every 3rd game.  During  his teams at bat he would come sit with us and visit, best parts of some games.

now they have a program, don't know which one, but they chart the bullpens, noting speed and locations. he emailed me the results of his first live bullpen session this year. It was neat to see.  He was throwing the old man a bone, he knew it would save 100 questions.

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but I know him well enough to know that the way he was portrayed on the show was a little bit nuts...even for him."

I would be embarrassed to be around any baseball field if I was him, not only for the behavior but my grandma could  catch better than he could..

Buckeye, thanks for the clip on radar gun dad.  Yeah, that's insane.  My gun has never left the backyard.  This baseball dad does not have a "permit to carry" a radar gun to any legitimate baseball setting.  Strictly has been for backyard research and training.  Even used it for a school science project.

The dads with radar guns can be a bit scary if too much focus is put on velo.  Obviously important but nothing beats throwing strikes and an old tire is the only thing needed for that.

I understand that the newer guns have a "dad" mode on them.

It takes actual speed and adds + 7MPH. 

We have over 100 stalker radar guns. Most are the older model, but we are replacing them with the PRO 2.

I don't see anything wrong with a dad using a radar gun. It can give a lot of information that could help his son.  It's not just how hard can he throw, but speed differentials from one pitch to another are important.  Surely many dads want to know the velocity their son is throwing. some might want to know what velocity all the pitchers are throwing.  If no one was interested they wouldn't show the radar readings on television.

So if they can afford to buy one, why not use one?  They don't have to act like a fool just because they are holding a radar gun.

PG Staff- check our "Dialogue" folder.   Sent you a PM.

To answer baseballmania, I have a Sport 2. I keep all the recommended settings. I rarely change the angle setting. First, because you have to be pretty far off to the side for it to make a real difference. And secondly because if I'm far enough off to the side for it to actually make a significant difference in the reading (say more than 0.3-0.5 mph), then I'm usually so far off that I can't estimate the angle very well. If I have to do that, then I just figure that I won't have accurate readings for that game. Of course, if I just set the angle or 10 or 15 degrees, that will usually get me close enough for fairly accurate "ballpark figures" anyway.

The PRO 2 is the ultimate dad radar gun!

If you set it at 45 degree angle and use it straight behind the catcher, you will get some very big readings.  We have experimented and we get readings of upper 90s even over 100 with guys in our office throwing 80 at best.

those of you that have one, try it for yourself.  If nothing else it's worth a good laugh.

Well I used my Stalker Sports 2 radar gun for the first time today at my son's Varsity scrimmage.  I was fortunate to be able to sit in line with the catcher as there were bleachers positioned behind the backstop.  This is suppose to get the most accurate reading. 

I measured velocity of 6 pitchers on our team through 6 innings and I measured between 71 to 76 mph on our pitcher's fastballs.  One of our senior pitchers touched 79 mph on one fastball.  And anywhere between 61-66 mph on a slower secondary pitch.  The average fastball seem to be about 74 mph.

My son who is a freshman got to pitch and averaged about the same.  This was the first time I ever had a radar reading of him.  I honestly thought he would average about 70 mph.

The statistical error is +/-3% as reported in the radar gun's brochure.

Varsity?  Nobody's touching 80? Seems a little slow.

Yes it does but unless my new radar gun is not calibrated then that is what I got. 

The first two pitchers on the other team were throwing about the same speed (~75 mph).  

Remember that this is a small school.  We only have 13 kids on Varsity.  

I am building a portable pitching mound for my son and I will be working with him to hopefully get close to 80 mph by the end of the season. 

Haha awesome! I think the Stalker Sport 1 has a cosine adjustment, right? If not, my JUGS Pro Sport Radar has one, I'm sure. I gotta try this, LOL!

Regarding sub-80 readings on your "Varsity" pitchers.  I know it's early in the season, but I agree at least one of the 13 varsity guys should be hitting 80 at least. 

My original question in this thread was about my Sport 2 reading 3-5mph consistantly lower than guns at camps/showcases my son has been to?  A camp would clock him as a 13yo throwing 78-79 and then I'd clock him in the backyard at 73-74.  He gets so mad!

I don't know?  I've still got to make sure I'm using it right?

The Sports 2 radar gun has an angle adjustment, even though I didn't adjust

At the worst I was 5 degrees off the pitcher-catcher line which would have affected my reading only +/- 0.75 mph.  Also the literature says the gun has an accuracy of +/-3%.   Taking this into consideration it could be that the readings were 3 mph lower but I doubt it. 

I wonder how many really believe that their kids throw 80+ mph when in actuality they are sub 80?  Time will tell.  I had no illusions.  I was more surprised my son was throwing about as hard as everyone else. 

I used my Stalker to gauge pitching during the 1st game of the season.  I adjusted the cosine angle to 10 degrees as that is where I estimated I was sitting relative to the pitcher-catcher. 

All our kids average about 74 mph.  

The first kid on the opposing team cruised at 85 mph.  I found that in the 4th inning the kid was tiring out because he became very erratic. until he was pulled after the 5th inning. The opposing team 2nd pitcher cruised at 75 mph.  

My freshman son was drilled in the back by a 87 mph fastball. 

We played a double header today.  

One of the opposing team pitchers cruised at 86 mph and topping out at 89 mph.

Toward the 3rd inning he couldn't control his speed very well.  The most effective pitcher on the opposing team was a 73 mph pitcher who had a funky delivery with a lot of movement on his ball.  

My son got his first save in one of the games and did top out at 80 mph a few times, cruising at 77 mph. 

I think I've registered the slowest pitcher.   A reliever on a small town Varsity team came in for the last 2 innings.  He average 62 mph.   I had to yell to my son on the on deck circle to be very patient.  Needless to say he popped the ball straight up between the catcher and the pitcher.