Mevo+ Swing Speed Accuracy vs Radar

[pgetzen]

I have a Flightscope Mevo+, have had it for about 6 months and have really enjoyed it.  I am currently working on increasing swing speed, so have really been paying attention to the numbers with my driver.  I also have a Swing Speed Radar (SSR) as well.  I have noticed on E6 Connect that it is consistently 1.0 - 3.5 mph lower than the SSR.  Does anybody have thoughts on which is more accurate?  (I know which one I’d like to be more accurate😀). I haven’t checked yet on the Flightscope app, but will try tomorrow.  It doesn’t matter too much as I am looking for relative increases, but would still be interested in thoughts on which is more accurate.  Thanks!

[hammersia]

There has always been a lot of discussion about what different systems are actually measuring, particularly whether they are picking up the toe closure of the club which is a bit faster than the centre. Some of the industry definitions vary - I believe Trackman and Flightscope don't agree on AoA for example, as to at what exact point it is measured.

 

Personally, and it maybe due to setup, I've never got consistent enough readings out of the SSR to be useful for swing speed training. Just go with whatever system gives you the most consistent readings.

[mgoblue83]

The Mevo+ is most likely more accurate but the real answer is in your ball speed number. The ball speed number is the easiest thing to measure and is 99.9% accurate with the Mevo+. Even Trackman and GCQuad disagree on the CHS number because it's so difficult to measure but they almost always agree on ball speed. 

 

To find out how fast you are actually swinging take the ball speed number and divide it by 1.48-1.50 (theoretical max smash factor with modern drivers) assuming you hit the center of the face. 

 

For example:

Ball speed = 150

 

CHS = 150/1.5 = 100   and 150/1.48 =  101.3

 

That means your real CHS is between 100-101.3mph. 

[Stuart_G]

On 9/16/2021 at 12:57 AM, pgetzen said:

I have a Flightscope Mevo+, have had it for about 6 months and have really enjoyed it.  I am currently working on increasing swing speed, so have really been paying attention to the numbers with my driver.  I also have a Swing Speed Radar (SSR) as well.  I have noticed on E6 Connect that it is consistently 1.0 - 3.5 mph lower than the SSR.  Does anybody have thoughts on which is more accurate?  (I know which one I’d like to be more accurate😀). I haven’t checked yet on the Flightscope app, but will try tomorrow.  It doesn’t matter too much as I am looking for relative increases, but would still be interested in thoughts on which is more accurate.  Thanks!

 

It's really not a matter of one being more accurate than the other.  They both use doppler radar which is always very accurate for velocities.  It's just using different definitions or formulations for the reported speed.  e.g. different points in time during the swing relative to the time of impact and/or on different parts of the head.

 

To track your progress, just make sure you don't mix numbers from different units.

 

Now that said, I'm guessing the mevo+ has better logic (understanding) of when impact happens and is probably better at getting the club head speed at the "right" time during the swing.  The SSR could potentially be just reporting the fastest speed it gets w/o worrying about when during the swing that velicity is happening or where on the club it comes from.  

 

[pgetzen]

These are all very helpful replies.  I was on the sim this morning on the Flightscope app, and saw something kind of interesting…the Mevo Plus seems to underestimate swing speed with the driver relative to the SSR, but it seems to overestimate swing speed with my 7 iron relative to the SSR.  Not sure why that happens.  I think I’ll pay attention to ball speed more when I’m hitting balls on the Mevo Plus.  However, the reason I was thinking about this at all was that I was considering the Stack System to work on increasing club head speed, and wanted to make sure the SSR was accurate enough to track changes.

[crussogolf]

My personal data set has SSR about 5-10% faster than M+ and X3.  M+ and X3 are more a bit more consistent, SSR can jump around a bit more.  SSR is still useful to compare against itself.

[ShortGolfer]

A 7 iron, being made out of metal, provides an excellent reflecting surface for radar to pick up.

If you look at the back of a modern driver, the reflecting surface is rather poor by comparison.

The front surface of the driver would be much better, in terms of radar performance, but much worse in potential damage from a ball striking the radar circuitry.  So that isn't an option.

[Stuart_G]

7 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

A 7 iron, being made out of metal, provides an excellent reflecting surface for radar to pick up.

If you look at the back of a modern driver, the reflecting surface is rather poor by comparison.

The front surface of the driver would be much better, in terms of radar performance, but much worse in potential damage from a ball striking the radar circuitry.  So that isn't an option.

 

Radar isn't light.  It can go through the composite materials enough to still be able to use more reflective parts  (like the face and internal metallic structure) on the driver.  It can even "see" the ball "through" the club head.

 

 

[ShortGolfer]

Radar is light of a different frequency.  Yes, it can go through composites but the radar has to sort through the different reflections or return paths to decide which is the desired signal.

Indoors, the signal bouncing off the face and off a wall may be stronger than the one we want.

[Stuart_G]

2 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

Radar is light of a different frequency.  Yes, it can go through composites but the radar has to sort through the different reflections or return paths to decide which is the desired signal.

Indoors, the signal bouncing off the face and off a wall may be stronger than the one we want.

 

That's where the dopler aspect of the radar comes in.  Every reflection has a dopler shift and therefore a velocity associated with it so it can filter out and ignore anything that's not moving.

 

image curtesy of the TM site:

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/looking-around-corners-radar/

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Stuart_G