FAQs: Smart Coach Radar

The Smart Coach Radar has been developed based on feedback by top MLB and college coaches on what else they would like to see added to the Ball Coach Radar. The same radar technology used for the Ball Coach Radar is used in the Smart Coach Radar but a lot more has been added. Both are specifically designed to track a ball in flight, automatically finding the fastest speed for you. This is true for the pitch velocity and the exit velocity off the bat, as well as other types of ball speeds. Both have up to 120 feet of range on a baseball and are great training and coaching tools for all types of ball sports.

The Smart Coach Radar adds connectivity via Bluetooth and USB to allow it to work with the Pocket Radar Companion App to provide a ton of extra features like speed embedded in video, remote display and remote control. It also allows you to track and export your data. The App enables multiple high-value training features as you can see in the comparison chart below. Using the USB connection, the Smart Coach Radar can be used with the Pocket Radar brand Smart Display for outdoor viewing in bright sunlight. The Smart Coach Radar can also be powered by an external USB power pack so that you can run it for many hours and not worry about battery life. Select this link to learn more about the Smart Coach Radar.
https://www.pocketradar.com/smart-coach-radar

View the Product Comparison Table

The Pocket Radar technology has been independently tested and certified to be accurate to +/- 1 MPH (+/- 2 KPH). Testing was performed by the police radar test lab sanctioned by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), which certifies all of the radar guns in the US and Canada for police use.

All radar guns only measure the relative speed of an object in the direction directly towards or away from the radar antenna. If you point a Pocket Radar (or any radar unit) at an object moving sideways instead of directly towards you or away from you, it will read a very slow speed – not the accurate speed. This is because an object moving at right angles to any radar only moves at a very slow relative speed towards or away from that radar.

In order to make the most accurate speed measurement, you need to point the Pocket Radar antenna at a moving object and be as close to in-line with the direction of motion of that object. Obviously, you need to stay safe when you use the product, NEVER put yourself or anyone else in a position to possibly be hit by a moving object.

2 Years. The Smart Coach Radar is built to be very rugged. With proper care it will last a very long time.

The range of any radar depends on the size of the object being measured and how well it reflects radio waves. For an object the size of a baseball, the range is 120 feet away. For an object the size of a volleyball, the range is 200 feet away.

*Note: This is ample range for training and coaching applications or measuring the speed from right behind the backstop on most high school fields. It is not intended for long range baseball scouting from back in the stands.

Most handheld radar units are called radar guns because they are held like a large gun. They contain a radar transmitter that uses a large antenna called a horn. It is usually cone shaped and actually looks like a megaphone. It is long and the radar unit or gun has to be big to fit the horn antenna inside.

All of the Pocket Radar™ models use a much smaller, flat antenna array to create the same type of focused beam shape that the horn antenna creates. Because of this, and many other proprietary inventions, Pocket Radar products provide the key advantage of a much smaller size.

Pocket Radar products also use less power than the larger radar guns. Pocket Radar technology is designed to give you a very useful range for an affordable price in a very small size. It has shorter range than a few of the most expensive guns, but much longer range than the less expensive larger guns. The Pocket Radar Smart Coach™ model can report the release speed of a baseball from up to 120 feet away. This is range is sufficient for training and coaching applications or measuring the speed from right behind the backstop on most high school fields. It is not intended for long-range baseball scouting from back in the stands.

The Pocket Radar products will give you the same or better accuracy than the larger more expensive radar guns. However, they do not have quite as much range as the most expensive radar guns. The Smart Coach Radar is intended for coaching and training in sports. If you absolutely need to capture the speed of a baseball right off the pitcher’s hand from a very long distance away or sitting back in the stands then maybe you need a much more expensive radar gun. For the vast majority of applications, the Pocket Radar products offer a very portable and economical solution that is much more convenient and very easy to use.

The Pocket Radar™ products are all based on much newer technologies than the large radar guns. It is very stable and holds the factory calibration. It does not need any further calibration. You can verify the calibration using a special Pocket Radar Calibrated Tuning Fork. This Tuning Fork is provided with the professional traffic engineering model, the Traffic Advisor™. If you would like to purchase a Calibrated Tuning Fork for use with another model of Pocket Radar™ please contact us at info@PocketRadar.com

All radar guns operate on reflected radio waves. The beam will travel through objects that will allow radio waves to pass through like a glass windshield or a metal backstop fence with large openings in it but the range may go down slightly as a small amount of the signal is reflected off the metal fence and does not go through. The radio waves from a Pocket Radar™ product will not pass through solid metal objects or conductive walls. It will easily pass through a chain link fence that has openings in the mesh that are similar in size or larger than the radar lens on the back of the Pocket Radar.

The Smart Coach Radar has a lot of technology specifically designed to pick up the speed of the ball as it leaves the bat. This gives you the only direct measure of the power of a hit. This is often referred to as Exit Velocity or sometimes referred to as Ball Exit Speed. The Smart Coach Radar can measure the Exit Velocity in batting practice, from off a tee, from soft-toss, or with live pitching. If you are using it with live pitching from behind the batter you will get the speed of the incoming pitch and the Exit Velocity off the bat as long as it is a well hit ball with the Exit Speed faster than the incoming pitch..

All speed radar guns are susceptible to picking up interference that can sometimes cause unexplained or random readings that are often referred to as “ghost” readings. There are two main sources of these ghost readings, electrical interference and objects in motion. There are many sources of electrical interference including things like cell phones, computer monitors, fluorescent lights, neon signs, radios, etc. Any objects that vibrate, move or spin can also create a ghost reading. Things like motors, fans, propellers can often be unseen behind covers or other objects but still be picked up by your radar. If you are experiencing these types of random readings change your position to try and aim the radar unit away from the source of interference.

We are happy to work with educational organizations on a Purchase Order basis and invoicing with N30 day terms.

Create your quotation by starting an order and making a different selection at the end when it requests payment information.
• Begin at the Pocket Radar store https://www.pocketradar.com/collections/frontpage 
• ADD TO CART the items you would like to purchase
• PROCEED TO CHECKOUT
• Complete the CONTACT INFORMATION (email and shipping address)
• CONTINUE TO SHIPPING METHOD – select the option best for your delivery needs
• CONTINUE TO PAYMENT METHOD - select "Purchase Order"
• Verify the BILLING ADDRESS is the same as the shipping or provide a different address
• Once you have completed this, you will receive an email for use as a quotation. 
• Once the PO is issued you can choose your method to send us a copy of the PO:
-  Email a copy to info@PocketRadar.com
-  Fax a copy to 888-381-2672 or 707-775-6040
-  Mail a copy to our address Pocket Radar, Inc, 3535 Industrial Drive, Suite A4, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 
• When the official PO is received, we will ship out your order and mail a hard copy of the invoice to the address on your PO.

This link will provide you with all the details: https://www.pocketradar.com/pages/trade-up-program

The app in your phone acts as a remote control and overrides the radar settings.   You have an operational setting selected in the app that is causing this to happen.   To change this setting, select the Settings Icon in the top center of your device screen > change the RECORDING MODE from Auto Stop to Continuous.    This can cause the batteries in your Smart Coach Radar to drain more quickly.    We recommend you consider using NiMH rechargeable batteries (not included with the unit) or hook it up to a USB power pack.   NOTE:  The battery indicator is calibrated for 1.5 volt Alkaline batteries.  If using 1.2 volt NiMH rechargeable batteries the battery indicator may initially read slightly lower even though the batteries will run much longer.

The Bluetooth range depends on the antenna inside your particular phone or tablet, and if there is anything between the radar and the smart device. Nearby metal fences will also cut the range down significantly. We have tested some high-end Apple devices that can go up to 100 feet away if there is nothing else nearby. We have also seen smart phones that could only go 15 to 20 feet away from the radar. Your range will vary depending on the environment.

Yes, the data can be exported as a .csv format file and opened with a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. The export file will contain the following pieces of information: Date, Time, Activity, Sport, Recorded Speed, Units, Video Associated (it won’t display the video, it will simply say “Y” if a video was recorded or “N” if it was not.) NOTE: You can edit the Activity and Sport tags to anything you want to display.

You can locate the export feature by selecting the MENU in the top right corner of the app > then select HISTORY > then select the EXPORT ICON (it is located next to the trash can in the top right corner of the screen).

Once you have the data in a spreadsheet program like Excel you will be able to organize the data provided to further analyze the player information. You can add features in the spreadsheet to calculate things like the number of pitches, hits, minimum speed, maximum speed, average and so much more.

Watch this Tutorial Video for helpful tips

The recorded videos are at 30 frames per second (FPS).

No, this feature does not work with the Smart Coach Radar videos.

They are exported in .MOV format.

The Pocket Radar app does a large amount of calculation to add in the black speed display box that you see in the videos. The built in camera app does not have to do this extra “work” which results in videos that may look “smoother,” have more resolution, or have a higher frame rate. Generally, more powerful, higher end phones and tablets will produce better videos due to their increased processing power. We will continue to improve the quality of the videos in our future app releases.

The USB port on the Smart Coach Radar is used to power the radar or connect to a Pocket Radar brand Smart Display. When there is power available on the USB port the internal batteries are switched out. It does NOT charge any batteries.

The voice you get is controlled by a lower level setting in your phone.   This is the path for the default voice that was set when we shipped your Smart Coach Radar for the IOS device (before starting, make sure to check that your Pocket Radar App is updated to the latest version):

o Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Voices > English > Select Samantha as Voice

You can use the SCREEN MIRROR function with your IOS device to display on the Apple TV.
Here is the Apple support link to mirror you iPhone, iPad or IPod touch to Apple TV https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204289#mirroriOS