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View Full Version : 150mph (finally!) and radar comparo


bjaffee
May 09, 2003, 12:04 AM
Had a good day today. Was finally at the slope at the same time one of my friends brought his radar gun. After what seemed like an endless series of 140 speeds in inconsistant conditions, I managed to eek out 150mph even. I would have liked to have gone a bit faster for good measure, but that'll do for the day. :)

On the subject of radar guns, my friend brought up his new one, a Speed-Pro, I think it's called. Having been using the Bushnell gun for over a year, I was eager to see the differences with this more expensive (around $700, I think) unit.

The range on the Speed--Pro was oviously much better. You could easily get speeds on front side when the glider was pretty far away, which the Bushnell can't generally do.

On the backside, I'd estimate the readings were probably about 2x more consistant (in other words the Bushnell would only get a reading half the time that this one did). That said, it was prone to the same type of low-reading errors when the plane was not coming straight at the gun, but that's just a limitation of phyics, not the hardware.

Now, I gotta say, the speeds I was seeing with the Speed Pro were totally in line with the speeds I've been seeing with the Bushnell, so I still don't believe the Bushnell's accuracy is in question. Still, the real test will be putting the guns side by side and comparing the performance, which I was not able to do today.

I hope to have both guns on the hill next week and will report the results.

cobalt
May 09, 2003, 02:26 AM
I think you mean Sports-Pro?

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

BTW, Congrats!
Jason

bjaffee
May 09, 2003, 02:38 AM
Originally posted by cobalt
I think you mean Sports-Pro?

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

BTW, Congrats!
Jason

No, that's not it. My mistake, its "ProSpeed" not "Speed Pro." Here it is...

http://www.scalesoaring.com/radar.htm

Reed
May 09, 2003, 04:46 PM
Nice Brett, were you flying the Opus?

bjaffee
May 09, 2003, 04:56 PM
My Sting DS, actually. I've had my Opus up to 143 on radar, but it always felt a bit on edge at that speed...sometimes fluttering the outer wing tip and such (and the flap linkage could be setup better for DS).

I'm looking forward to some windier days this summer. :)