Zepp Baseball Sensor

[Resin Glazed]

I know there is already a thread about this product but I'm starting a fresh one with a little review.

Picked this thing up and haven't had time to go to the cages yet (that should be Sunday) but I was taking a few swings with it after work last night.

Seems to work pretty well, you might need to recalibrate it after every few swings or so but as long as you're not spazzing out while using it or moving around it seems to record the bat path and other stats accurately. Basically to get an accurate read you need to hold still in your batting stance for 3 seconds before you swing. It will record each time you swing and save it in a log for review complete with a calender that shows your average swing speed for the day.

Along with seeing the bat path and bat plane you can check your bat speed, positive and negative angle of impact, % of swing in the zone, and time in the zone.

It is pretty simple to set up, you basically have to make profiles for each person you try to test it on as it takes into account your height. I had a guy shorter than me swinging it with my profile settings and it looked like he was swinging the bat into the ground so for a more accurate read it would be best to set up separate profiles if you are trying to test someone besides yourself.

I'll give a little more insight once we get it into the actual cages but I would give this nifty little thing a positive rating. Price might be a bit high at $150 but it is a brand new product. My only real gripe would be that I hope they add a little more to the app itself, it feels a bit watered down for the price.

Definitely a cool gadget to help improve your swing.

 

[low0r]

What grip do you swing with? Do you see any issues with an overlap grip, dropping one or two fingers?

 

[ghunt25]

I have one in a cart, ready to pull the trigger.

 

[Ranger4Life]

If you have a knob cuff, there is no issue dropping your pinkie with it. I tried without the knob cuff and it didn't yield good results.

 

[Ranger4Life]

I have an extra one if anyone is interested.

 

[Resin Glazed]

I have used it on bats with and without knobcuffs without problems on either, if anything the knob cuff holds it better. The mount is pretty stretchy you shouldn't have a problem. I have my pinky wrapped around the knob usually it didn't bother me but I can see how it might get in the way if you drop your pinky on top of the weight sticker.

The sensor is pretty small, maybe about an inch or so wide. I don't think it would be too intrusive if you drop your pinky but then again I don't hold the bat like that.

 

[SvtRickey]

I drop a pinky off the bat, it's feels I little odd but still not hard to swing with. I suggest getting in a groove then swinging away with it. I am looking to use it in games to see how I do then.

I haven't tried it in a game yet, but it's quite easy to use in BP. I would give the product a 7 out of 10. Would love for it to be able to not have to hold the bat still for 3secs. Other then that it's great. Would be sweet to have it in a tourney then you could see what needs work in BP.

 

[Qoheleth52]

So basically it won't work for 90% of the board because of Extreme Bat Waggle Syndrome?

 

[SvtRickey]

You can move it but not a ton. And really 3secs isn't a long wait when using it just have the pitcher hold one ball at a time. Then pitch, grab one pitch grab one pitch......

Plus, I hate hitting BP like its a race to the bottom of the bucket.

 

[Ranger4Life]

Using this in the cages is pretty much a waste. Doing BP or hitting off the tee is much better.

 

[RT Addict]

So basically it won't work for 90% of the board because of Extreme Bat Waggle Syndrome?

I was thinking the same thing....

 

[Resin Glazed]

So basically it won't work for 90% of the board because of Extreme Bat Waggle Syndrome?

Pretty much, I had to become conscious of not bat waggling like a fool for it to read.

Also another thing I forgot to mention, you need to hit a ball for it to read. Don't expect to take dry cuts and get a measure.

 

[Gishdream]

Using this in the cages is pretty much a waste. Doing BP or hitting off the tee is much better.

Why is this? does it give bad data in the cage?

 

[Qoheleth52]

Still not really clear about how a sensor on the knob gives you accurate data on how fast the barrel is traveling when you make contact with the ball.

 

[corndiggity]

Still not really clear about how a sensor on the knob gives you accurate data on how fast the barrel is traveling when you make contact with the ball.

one fairly simple possibility would be that the sensor knows where it is and what it's speed is. If you know the length of the bat and the distance from the sensor to the pivot point (your hands), you should be able to determine the velocity of any point along the barrel at a given point in time.

 

[Qoheleth52]

one fairly simple possibility would be that the sensor knows where it is and what it's speed is. If you know the length of the bat and the distance from the sensor to the pivot point (your hands), you should be able to determine the velocity of any point along the barrel at a given point in time.

What is "it?" I can't possibly see how this relationship is a constant...

 

[corndiggity]

What is "it?" I can't possibly see how this relationship is a constant...

"It" is the sensor. It's in the same spot relative to the bat at all times. The sensor knows where it is in space, it's orientation, and it's velocity at certain points in time.

Then assuming a fixed focal point, you can extrapolate the same data (location, orientation, velocity) of any other point along the line segment (bat) at a given point in time.

In the above picture. Whenever the sensor is in the position and orientation that it is currently in, the bat head will ALWAYS be in the same spot as it is. ALWAYS. When the sensor moves, because we know where the hands are, we know where the bat head will be as well. ALWAYS.

Not sure how else I can explain that.

 

[Chrisklol]

I dont pause for three seconds, i just take normal BP. I dont bat waggle so maybe my pause is long enough in between pitches. But i dont ever recalibrate it, it records 100% of my swings.
I really haven't had a single issue with the zepp.

 

[Qoheleth52]

"It" is the sensor. It's in the same spot relative to the bat at all times. The sensor knows where it is in space, it's orientation, and it's velocity at certain points in time.

Then assuming a fixed focal point, you can extrapolate the same data (location, orientation, velocity) of any other point along the line segment (bat) at a given point in time.

In the above picture. Whenever the sensor is in the position and orientation that it is currently in, the bat head will ALWAYS be in the same spot as it is. ALWAYS. When the sensor moves, because we know where the hands are, we know where the bat head will be as well. ALWAYS.

Not sure how else I can explain that.

That bat head in the pic is about to explode forward (the ball is already there) and will be moving much faster than the pivot point, the knob (hands). How fast the barrel will be traveling in relationship to the knob is not a constant--i.e. you or I won't get the same results he does.

 

[DynamicD]

That bat head in the pic is about to explode forward (the ball is already there) and will be moving much faster than the pivot point, the knob (hands). How fast the barrel will be traveling in relationship to the knob is not a constant--i.e. you or I won't get the same results he does.

If you know the location of the pivot point, you would be able to calculate the barrel speed in relation to the knob.

The question is, does the Zepp assume the pivot point to be a standard grip or is it calculated during your swing? One test would be to look at differences between chocking-up/standard/overlap grips.

 

[Qoheleth52]

If you know the location of the pivot point, you would be able to calculate the barrel speed in relation to the knob.

The question is, does the Zepp assume the pivot point to be a standard grip or is it calculated during your swing? One test would be to look at differences between chocking-up/standard/overlap grips.

I assume there is some estimation/fudging going on but I have never used one. Just curious.

 

[corndiggity]

That bat head in the pic is about to explode forward (the ball is already there) and will be moving much faster than the pivot point, the knob (hands). How fast the barrel will be traveling in relationship to the knob is not a constant--i.e. you or I won't get the same results he does.

Yes it is, and no, you won't likely get the same results as him, because he's a pro.

 

[Qoheleth52]

Yes it is, and no, you won't likely get the same results as him, because he's a pro.

What I mean by constant is that the amount of "whip" is not the same from person to person. How does the Zepp know how fast the barrel is moving from the sensor at the handle? What else is it measuring except when the ball is struck?

 

[Ranger4Life]

Why is this? does it give bad data in the cage?

I started using this the day it came out. I was having to pause for a few seconds completely still for it to track my swing. So I would have to let pitches go by in the cages. A few days later it started working much better, and now I don't think it has missed a single swing out of the last 500+ between the cages and regular BP.

 

[corndiggity]

What I mean by constant is that the amount of "whip" is not the same from person to person. How does the Zepp know how fast the barrel is moving from the sensor at the handle? What else is it measuring except when the ball is struck?

If you know the length of the bat, and the pivot point, you know how fast any part of the bat is moving in relationship to any other part at any time. If you wanted to talk about flex, causing 'whip', that's a bit trickier, but I'm guessing you could determine the velocity needed for x amount of whip then determine how much speed the whip affect adds, then factor that in. It's just physics brah.

The wife just ordered by one and we got the tracking # this morning. I've installed the app on my z10, but haven't set it up as you need the sensor after putting in your name.

I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing that even if the pivot point is estimated, being off by an inch or so, isn't going to have that much of an affect on the outcome. If it did than you would think loosing an inch would've cancelled out the hotness of the Lady Virus and made it a dud.

I work for a Math Software company (Maplesoft) and there's a few people ion my building who could prolly work this out and come up with some nice worksheets with animated plots and **** to show how all this works. A couple used to play on the 3-pitch team. Maybe i'll go pester them at lunch to crunch some formulae for us.

 

[Ranger4Life]

What I mean by constant is that the amount of "whip" is not the same from person to person. How does the Zepp know how fast the barrel is moving from the sensor at the handle? What else is it measuring except when the ball is struck?

Because it's a solid construction and not an actual whip. Or are you talking about the actual flexing that happens during the whipping motion?

 

[corndiggity]

In this pic. You an determine the speed at any point on the blue line, by knowing the speed of the sensor at the same time (and the pivot point).

Try to imagine another tracking line that follows the sensors movements.

 

[DynamicD]

What I mean by constant is that the amount of "whip" is not the same from person to person. How does the Zepp know how fast the barrel is moving from the sensor at the handle? What else is it measuring except when the ball is struck?

This is why you are confused. It tracks the speed/location of the knob/barrel during the entire swing, not just at impact.

 

[Qoheleth52]

Not talking about "whip" as in flex, just bat lag in general. Has anybody posted one of those videos from the app (not just a pic)? Do you see a sharp increase in speed when the barrel comes forward to impact the ball?

 

[Resin Glazed]

Watching a few of my recorded swings now, it does look like the bat slightly picks up speed just before and after impact. Could also be my wrists rolling over.