Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Apr 13 22:58:17 2004

>>> I purchased The Final Arc CD and have been working diligenly with my sons on rotational mechanics for about a year. Their swings look picture perfect, and they are generally hitting the ball with good (occassionally great) power and consistency. The issue is this: I bought a SpeedChek portable radar detector last winter to clock their bat speeds, and the inconsistency really bothers me.

My 12 year old can take 20 swings, with three or four in the range of 65 mph, three or four from 58-64, six or seven 50-57, and the rest between 45-56. My 14 year old is the same way, although his bat speed tops out at 70-72 mph. I can't see any perceptible difference in their mechanics between a low speed and high speed swing. The radar is working fine (my swing speed with the same bats they use is consistent). What can I do to get their bat speeds consistently hitting the high end? Any advise, Jack? Thanks. <<<

Hi Rock

Welcome to the site. I would agree with Andy, the inconsistencies in bat speed-readings you are experiencing are probably due to your radar equipment. A unit that would provide accurate and consistent readings was our main concern in choosing a product for Batspeed.com. We had also hoped to find a handheld unit that could be used to record hitters bat speeds during batting practice and games. We tried a number of radar units (some costing over $700.00) and found none that gave reliable results.

The SwingMate was designed to lie on the ground for the golf swing. We modified it to accept a tripod for use in the baseball swing. It is a low power unit with a range of about three and one half to four feet. This short range made it not suitable with live pitching. However, it gave very accurate readings when used with the heavy bag or tee. As long as the bat-head is traveling directly at or away from the unit, it will give contact bat speed readings within 1 MPH accuracy.

Jack Mankin