Measure cueball break speeds among other things

Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
I don't know if the novelty has worn off of measuring the speed of people's breaks but here is a little tool to make it a little easier even if it doesn't seem to be the most convenient radar gun out there. At $130 it's not exactly cheap either so I hope this thing is wonderfully accurate or it really doesn't have much going for it:

http://gizmodo.com/you-can-turn-your-phone-into-a-radar-gun-with-a-simple-1732043313

Actually now that I'm taking a good look at it and trying to list it's pro's and con's I'm wondering what it's target audience/use is? Anyone have any idea?


Neil
 
stratshutr said:
What's wrong with predators break speed app?
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The Breakspeed app is far superior for clocking breaks in pool - much more accurate than radar (it uses the time between the sounds of hitting the CB and the rack), you need nothing but your smartphone, and it costs just $4.99.

pj <- did I mention it's much more accurate?
chgo
 
Great feedback, I didn't know that people thought so highly of the Predator app and that is was that effective. Awesome, thank you.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
The Breakspeed app is far superior for clocking breaks in pool - much more accurate than radar (it uses the time between the sounds of hitting the CB and the rack), you need nothing but your smartphone, and it costs just $4.99.

pj <- did I mention it's much more accurate?
chgo
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i second this. I have used it quite often.
But i think mine might be off a bit,I can't get over 20 MPH :D
 
If you look closely at successful and consistent breaks you'll notice that it's not the speed.
If only, you would measure this how powerful a draw you can do.
 
Yeah you're right, accuracy, is JOB #1.

Focusing on accuracy, while developing your rhythm & coordination, will develop your speed.

We offer the Break Speed Radar with 0.1 mph accuracy, which you can use with the BreakRAK or Live Balls, by using a bridge.
 

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anything with an excel file and a microphone and 1minut of time to write the formula and you are set if you are a cheapo (same as the predator app but free), if you want to spend money on it, then there are many different ways.
 
Solartje said:
anything with an excel file and a microphone and 1minut of time to write the formula and you are set if you are a cheapo (same as the predator app but free), if you want to spend money on it, then there are many different ways.
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Sure, the formula's simple, but how do you accurately measure the time between tip hitting CB and CB hitting rack? That's about 1/7 of a second to greater than 1/15 of a second accuracy.

pj
chgo
 
I've measured people's break speed using my radar gun........I have it from my children's travel ball days playing softball and baseball........it's very accurate.......and somewhat interesting........when you break as hard as you can, you might think you still have more left in the tank......under testing, none of us were able to pick-up more than 2 mph more speed trying as hard as we might......and we also found the scatter on the pool balls seem to better with a break dialed down a little from what your hardest hit would be......the cue ball remained in a better position after the break........we tested 15-20 different players one Sat afternoon at the local pool hall........it was interesting and fun to fool around with......the fastest cue ball break speed measured that day was 26 mph and mine was only 20 -21 mph......I couldn't reach 22 mph no matter how hard I hit the cue ball but then again I'm almost 70....... the guy with the fastest break speed was 28 yrs old and is also one of the more talented players in Fresno.

Matt B.
 
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Patrick Johnson said:
Sure, the formula's simple, but how do you accurately measure the time between tip hitting CB and CB hitting rack? That's about 1/7 of a second to greater than 1/15 of a second accuracy.

pj
chgo
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The soundrecorder from your cellphone. Then all you need is a free wav analyser to measure the time. It's very simple. I've done it before cuz i'm a cheap guy. Thats how the app works. Sound is sampled at thousand of seconds.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
The Breakspeed app is far superior for clocking breaks in pool - much more accurate than radar (it uses the time between the sounds of hitting the CB and the rack), you need nothing but your smartphone, and it costs just $4.99.

pj <- did I mention it's much more accurate?
chgo
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I agree that the app is superior in convenience, but I don't know what you are basing the accuracy claim on? In *theory*, the concept of the app is slightly superior to radar. However, the really nice radar guns out there with the super fast target acquisition speeds (like the $800 Stalker gun for example), probably *more reliably* give an accurate answer. Radar guns depend on a lot of things to work well. Fluorescent lights seem to mess with them, and you obviously have to break directly at it (any angle is subject to cosine error). The angle thing is true both right and left and up and down. So anyone going to a speed break contest with radar make sure you are shooting the cue ball directly at the guy, and make sure it is at table level.

My experience with the app is that it is very susceptible to a variety of noises that throw it off. A big one is the bounce of the cueball when you hit a nice pop. I must say that 1) I rarely get better than 60 or 70% legit readings with the app, and 2) It is vastly better in all ways on an iphone vs an android. When the app is working well, it is fantastic. If you are willing to invest serious money into a radar gun, that can be a very nice setup as well. But, um, the app is $4.99...so end of discussion.

KMRUNOUT
 
Fuji-whopper said:
Great feedback, I didn't know that people thought so highly of the Predator app and that is was that effective. Awesome, thank you.
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Incidentally, I really hate calling it the "Predator app". Predator had absolutely NOTHING to do with the development of the app. The app was developed and marketed as the "My Break Speed" app. It worked great. Predator bought the rights to it. Basically they stuck their name on it. It really should be called the "Paul Nettle Break Speed App", imho of course...

KMRUNOUT
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Sure, the formula's simple, but how do you accurately measure the time between tip hitting CB and CB hitting rack? That's about 1/7 of a second to greater than 1/15 of a second accuracy.

pj
chgo
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I actually uploaded a some video to a sound editing program and looked at the wav file (which is accurate to about 1/44,100 seconds) of a break shot like 15 years ago lol. I calculated out a pretty accurate speed I think. Like you say the formula is easy. With a wav editing program, the peaks are pretty obvious. You can zoom way in, and its pretty easy to see the specific sounds you are looking for down to a ridiculous accuracy. The really genius in the app is making the smartphone find those peaks *itself*. But with a microphone and some wav editing software, its pretty easy.

KMRUNOUT
 
If you budget can handle it, I recommend the Bushnell Portable Radar Gun.......basically around a $100 on eBay.......some auctions for used ones go for around $70-75. The darn thing is really accurate and you can be several feet away and not pose any distraction......as far as the florescent lights, I've never encountered any issues especially since you are away from the table when using the radar gun. Like I said, you can stand 7 -10 - 12 feet away behind the table/rack and also be situated at a slight angle too.......when that cue ball passes thru that focused/aimed radar beam, you immediately get a readout on the radar gun. The only way you miss is if your aim is off because yo have to be pointing at the table surface the cue ball will roll through.......it's really cool to use, especially if you ever go to high school baseball or softball games........everything looks faster than it actually is or so I've learned from experience.

Matt B.
 
If your budget can handle it, I recommend the Bushnell Portable Radar Gun.......basically around a $100 on eBay.......some auctions for used ones go for around $70-75.

The darn thing is really accurate and you can be several feet away and not pose any distraction......as far as the florescent lights, I've never encountered any issues especially
since you are away from the table when using the radar gun. Like I said, you can stand 7 -10 - 12 feet away behind the table/rack and also be situated at a slight angle too.......
as the cue ball passes thru that focused/aimed radar beam, you immediately get a readout on the radar gun. The only way to miss is if your aim is off because you have to be
pointing at the table surface the cue ball will roll through.......it's really cool to use, especially if you ever go to high school baseball or softball games........everything looks faster
than it actually is or so I've learned from experience.

Matt B.
 
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KMRUNOUT said:
I agree that the app is superior in convenience, but I don't know what you are basing the accuracy claim on?
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My understanding is that radar guns are accurate to within 1 mph (as reported by cops trained in their use) when used for their intended purpose of clocking vehicle speeds. That means getting readings from large objects that last several seconds (vs. a fraction of a second from a very small object for a pool break). They're also susceptible to positioning errors, as you say (and maybe others I'm not familiar with).

My understanding of BreakSpeed, on the other hand, is that it's accurate to maybe 1/10 mph (10 times as accurate as radar, as reported on the BreakSpeed website), and it's made to measure pool breaks lasting fractions of a second and using sound, which is not sensitive to object size or positional error.

My experience with the app is that it is very susceptible to a variety of noises that throw it off. A big one is the bounce of the cueball when you hit a nice pop. I must say that 1) I rarely get better than 60 or 70% legit readings with the app
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My experience is different - I have rarely seen a reading that looks off to me (and when it's off, it's WAY off, so easy to detect). You can look at the wave graph for each break and see which peaks the app selects for the measurement - they always look like the right choices to me. You can even move the indicator bars that show which peaks were chosen to see what the difference would be if others are chosen - in my experience, most peak-choice mistakes (if made) would be less than 1 mph anyway - so better than radar.

But I admit the radar gun looks way cooler.

pj
chgo
 
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We used a Police Radar & a Break Speed App to test our Break Speed Radar . The results are very,very close, unless you are in a busy, noisy room. Then the App is LOST, to say the least.

The App is certainly inexpensive & sorta easy to use. We couldn't rely on the product in a Big Tournament environment or at my Pool Room....
 
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