cheapest, DS worthy radar gun?

[keithsmith]

I've seen a flood of Bushnell Speedster guns on ebay for around $150. I'm sorely tempted for three reasons...

1) I would like to know how slow I'm going

2) I would like to know how fast the ppl around me are going, I can't compare the recollections of my flight with what I'm seeing in their flights

3) It would give me a better appreciation for what 186mph is really like if I find out I'm only doing 80!

So, those who have used the guns, what do you like?

Keith

[ShredAir]

As with anything "cheapest," you will be disappointed. Ka-band guns like the Stalker will most consistently track and record the sleekest and fastest planes.
"Stuff that works is worth it..."

Dieter Mahlein
http://shredair.com

[Ade]

the stalker looks like a balls out best of the best.... and the price tag shows it :-)

http://www.stalkerradar.com/sports_pro.html

anybody know of anything between the bushnel and the stalker? My club is looking to buy a radar gun for our DS spot but def can't afford to spend 1500usd on a radar gun.

[bjaffee]

My only experience is with the Bushnell. It does work...we've tracked airplanes up to 177mph with it. However, I believe the range is MUCH shorter then with the other guns. Based on the video I've seen from the DS fest, they are able to get speeds much further out from the gun then we are able to. With the Bushnell, you sometimes often have to get scary-close to get a reading.

I don't think the Bushnell is a waste of $$ by any means...we've had lots of fun with it. If you absolutely can't afford one of the more expensive guns, I think it's worth it, otherwise, go for the better ones.

[Craig Toutolmin]

Hi Keith,

For safety and accuracy I bought a Stalker. I've seen some scary recordings and erroneous readings with the Bushnell. Save your cash and lets go flying.

Craig

[bjaffee]

Haven't seen anything weird with the speed readings on the Bushnell, but again, range is definitely an issue.

[Bart Vaio]

With my exposure to radar and DS I’ve seen bad, unreliable readings from the inexpensive Bushnell and you have to be WAY to close to the plane to get a reading. Since the whole point of a radar gun is to get reliable readings not "guesstimation" I would say try to save up for the good gun. Otherwise you’re paying for inaccuracy when you’re striving for accuracy (doesn't make sense does it?) Plus the KA band guns add "piece of mind"(safety) that can't be counted in dollars.

[bjaffee]

All other points aside (which are valid) I guess I don't see why it's viewed as being inaccurate. It's definitely more difficult to get readings, but from what I've seen, the readings are consistant, and from what I can tell, accurate (the gun still appears to be calibrated correctly).

Of course, the shorter range does tend to mean that you'll probably get more shots from an off-angle, meaning you'll get a lower then actual speed reading (if that's what you mean by inaccurate, I'd agree). I'd be more concerned if it was giving false-high readings.

[Craig Toutolmin]

At this last Blanco get together I had the opportunity to compare various locations vs a fixed radar gun. The two guns were Stalkers that are accurate to +-.1 mph to 250 mph. The display board was accurate to 1mph. When the two guns were recording side by side, picking up the plane on a tangent to the middle of the bottom turn (approx 50 yards away) they were identical. When I moved up to the pilot location to record the plane on a tangent just following the bottom turn the recording were consistently 2-3 mph slower at 100-110 mph than the first fixed location. Speeds recorded near the pilot were slower yet.

The Sports Pro unit can read from similar distances, is a little less accurate (+- 1 mph) and needs to be aimed well to avoid missed readings. Very consistent results can be optained once a little time has been spent with the unit .

If you don't mind risking your life to get slower, questionable readings and still desire a proper radar gun then buy the Bushnell or any of the other cheap guns.

Everyone, less one that has bought the Bushnell has said it simply does not work.

I don't believe that the readings from the Bushnell unit are valid until it has been tested with the more accurate guns.

[bjaffee]

If people are making the blanket statement that it "just doesn't work," I dunno what to say, as we've found that to be far from the case.

As far as validity goes, until I see otherwise, it's safe to assume (IMO) that it's reading slower, rather then giving anomolous results....unless someone can give a mechanism by which it could actually read a faster then actual result.

BTW, if it sounds like I'm beating a dead horse here, it's just because I'm usually somewhat incredulous about blanket/absolute statements or claims that conflict with what I've actually witnessed. And with that, I'll shut up.

[Bart Vaio]

Brett, I was not trying to make blanket or absolute statments, just statments based on my own obsevations. All the Bushnell guns I have used have been somewhat funky, basically half the time they were either not picking up the plane or giving a wierd anomolous reading(low or high)the other half they worked fine. But like I said, these were just the ones that I had seen. But upon exposure to newer guns, like the ones Bob Bingham and Craig have, I really saw what a difference the KA guns make in accuracy and safety. Also if you snoop around on the web, used KA band radar guns are dropping into the 400 to 500 dollar range ocassionally, while definately still not cheap by any means I think it's a better option than spending 200 dollars on a unit you may or may not be satisfied with. But that's just my 2 cents :) ..If you subscribe to "Moores Law" in theory we should have Ka band bushnell guns at around 300 dollars in 6 months to a year hehehe.... I can't wait :)

[bjaffee]

Fair enough.

[coma24]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

I'm aware that buying the cheapest product often comes with risks. I just wanted to understand what those risks were. Thanks to everyone's responses, I think I've got a clear picture.

$150 would've been about my limit, so I'm going to take Craig's advice and just use the money for planes. I'm just not willing to commit several hundred dollars toward a radar gun right now.

Thanks again for the posts.

Keith

[bjaffee]

Now can we argue about what plane he should buy? :)

[thepilotbruss]

Has anybody tried to get a speed reading by putting a small GPS unit inside the plane?

[Daemon]

GPS receivers don't update fast enough to keep up. And the accuracy degrades when they go around sharp corners because they tend to do a little bit of velocity/positional averaging (sort of a holdover from the days of selective availability).

ian

[wdratsloper]

On Woodrat, I taped my GPS on top of a few of my gliders.
It was kind of cool because you could get a map of where you had flown, how far your flight was, your average speed, and top speed. But this was on the front side so the average was between 25 - 40 mph and the dives were in the 60 - 70 mph range. These speeds were with foamies.
CYA JOE

[cobalt]

Anyone tried this one?

ASTRO Products Sports Pro:
http://www.astroproducts.net/Sports%20Pro%20Handheld%20Radar%20Gun.htm

It's $799:

"Even a BB from an air gun reads about 134 MPH with one pump, and about 220 MPH with two pumps. We know of NO other sports radar gun that can equal this performance! The Sports Pro has these typical ranges: 35 yards on a tennis ball, 125 yards for a golf ball.."

Jason

[Ade]

Originally posted by Craig Toutolmin

Everyone, less one that has bought the Bushnell has said it simply does not work.


make that 2, It does work, works 3-4times better without the tinted bit of plastic the front of the detector.

You don't have to get any closer than I would fly anyway.

However. We have only done one relatively slow days flying with it. When it gets faster I think it may be nice to be able to fly that bit further away. I think the hit rate will probably drop a fair bit.

I have seen no spurious readings, Not even any low ones, Fast readings were followed up with several similarly fast ones.

The Calibration seems to good, certainly within 1-2mph at 90ish, It reads less than the speedo which ties in nicely with our regulations.

My club are looking to buy a radar gun but I am not going to be able to convince them to spend 1500usd. Is there anything sub 500usd that works better than the bushnell?

Ade

[Craig Toutolmin]

Good deal Ade. If you are pleased with the performance of the Bushnell you need to look no further. Any more money spent would just be a waste.

[bjaffee]

It would be nice if there were some mid-level priced gun...like $300-400. Perhaps in a couple years.

[Ade]

I wound't say I am pleased with it.

It works, its not as bad as some have made it out to be (at least the one we are using isn't)

It would be nice if you could fly further out if you wanted to. If we could get this at an affordable price then it is worth spending the extra money. However 150usd to 1500usd is a pretty big jump!

Ade

[surfimp]

I haven't had any experience with the Stalker, but I am familiar with the Bushnell and have to say that, based upon my experience, it's not that cool. It's been very tough for us to get readings with it (i.e. lots of passes with no readings taken), and often we seriously have to put ourselves into harm's way in order to get those readings. I think it's wrong when the DS pilot has to modify his circle in order to suite the limitations of the radar gun. I've told my buddies they need to upgrade, but the high cost of the Stalker makes that pretty prohibitive...so, you just make due with what you can.

[Ade]

Try taking the bit of tinted plastic off, you will be seriously supprised!

Ade

[surfimp]

Thanks Ade, I'll mention that to my friends who use the Bushnell. I'm not much of a DS'er yet but my flying buddies are, and since I occassionaly end up shooting their planes with the radar gun I'll definintely pass the tip along.