Best Speed Radars For Ball Sports

What to Look for in a Speed Radar

As with most ball sport related technologies, there is a lot of variability in terms of quality and as the old adage goes, what you get is what you pay for.

With that in mind, there is more that goes into making a high quality speed radar than simply having a high price tag. Accuracy, distance, ease of use and battery life as well as price need to be considered in order to get the right radar for you.

The first question you’ll need answering however, is which type of ball speed radar should you actually go for. You only need to do a quick Google search or scroll through Amazon to realise that there are two distinct types of radars to choose from.

You have portable, hand held radars that you point towards the target, and floor mounted radars that aim to measure the speed of a ball coming past them.

Hand held radars are derived from traffic radar guns so are incredibly accurate and are able to record speed accurately 100 yards away. On the other hand, floor mounted radars tend not to be as accurate as they don’t read speed directly from the device.

These are a lot cheaper to produce and are therefore very popular for recreational players looking for a cheap and simple device to record their serve speed, but they are far from the most accurate speed radars out there.

Accuracy

When it comes to accuracy with speed radars, you really do get what you pay for. The more accurate radars do come with a heftier price tag, but some of the cheaper radars are so inaccurate that they are not even worth wasting your money on.

Naturally, an expensive, professional level ball tracking system like Playsight or Hawkeye measures ball speed using cameras that track your ball from the moment it leaves the strings of your racket.

This makes them very costly and time consuming to set up, but once they are they can record with almost perfect accuracy. However, a cheaper speed radar, particularly one that is simply mounted on the floor near the net, can only track the speed of the ball once it approaches the device itself.

This means the ball may have already slowed down by around 15% by the time it actually passes the radar, meaning these devices are inherently flawed. Sure, they give you a round idea of your serve speed for example, but they are far from perfect.

That said, there are a number of ball speed radars that are actually living up to the hype nowadays. Whilst they are never going to be quite as accurate as a multi million dollar professional system, some promise incredible levels of accuracy for a fraction of the price.

If a hand held radar can get within around 1.5MPH of the true speed of a ball, I’d say it’s pretty accurate.

Distance

The distance you can measure the speed of a ball from is of course important, so you know how far away you can stand to make a recording.

Some cheaper radars will be thrown off by the racket speed if you stand too close however, meaning the device will pick up the speed of your racket travelling through the air rather than the ball leaving your strings.

This of course completely messes up your readings and limits the usefulness of the radar altogether!

Whilst this may not be so much of an issue in tennis, in other ball sports like baseball you may want a radar that can cover a long distance!

Price

Ultimately, the main area of concern for a lot of recreational tennis players will be the price of a speed radar. Just because something is expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best product for you.

So, not only will how much you can afford to spend on a speed radar determine which one you choose, but your playing level and how high you need the speed recording of the device to go will also influence your decision.

You don’t need to break the bank, but it is also worth investing in a more sophisticated and well engineered speed radar if you are actually going to make use of it.

Of course we all don’t have access to high quality, multi camera facilities, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get good results!

Ease of Use

A factor that a lot of consumers may overlook when looking for a speed radar is how easy it is to use.

Whilst higher level players that are experienced at using these devices may not need to worry about this, the recreational or casual tennis player that simply wants to get a rough idea of how fast their serve is compared to some of the top professionals would be grateful for a simple system that is easy to understand.

Think about the size of the display screen, how many buttons the radar has, how many modes you may have to scroll through and how long the initial setup process takes. These are all important things to consider if you aren’t familiar with one of these devices.

Battery Life

Another element of speed radars that some people may not think about is their battery life or charge time.

Of course some devices are powered by standard AA batteries whereas others need to be charged up, but either way you need to think about how much you’ll be using your radar and how much charge it can take.

Additional battery packs or higher capacity devices may be worth considering if you intend on using your radar for extended periods of time.

The Best Speed Radars for Ball Sports

Now, we have discussed the main things you need to consider when looking for the perfect speed radar for ball sports, and there are a lot of factors to take into account! So, let’s dive into our top picks for the best speed radars on the market today!

Takeaways 

There are a wide range of speed radar guns to choose from on the market today, which is great for customers who want to shop around and get the best deal possible.

However, so many options can make it difficult to decide which radar is best for you, which is why we have put together this guide to help you understand the key factors that go into great speed radars and some recommendations for the best devices at different price points.

We hope you have found this useful and good luck with your search!