Amazon.com Product Description

The Bushnell Speedster is a handy, multifunctional speed gun for all sports enthusiasts. It tracks the speed (in mph or kph) of everything from pitching speeds, tennis serves, and downhill skiers to cars at the racetrack. It can measure the speed of a baseball going 6 to 110 mph from over 75 feet away and the speed of a racecar going 6 to 200 mph from over 1,300 feet away. The Speedster also enables you to keep statistics for baseball and softball.

The easy-to-read screen can be formatted to track a series of measurements and keep a running tally of the average speed, making it ideal for analyzing baseball pitches, tennis serves, or car speed per lap.

It features a highly legible, four-row LCD graphic display, a trigger, and a two-way button pad. The Speedster uses digital technology and DSP (digital signal processing) to provide instantaneous and real-time speed measurements with an accuracy of +/-1 mph.

Speedster FAQ

What is the Bushnell Speedster used for?
The Bushnell Speedster can be used to accurately measure and display speeds of many of your favorite sports. It can track speeds of baseballs, softballs, tennis balls, and can be used in ice skating, auto racing, horse racing, track, and other sports where speed is crucial to success.

What technology does the Speedster use?
The Bushnell Speedster contains a K-Band microwave RF (radio frequency) transmitter whose signal gets reflected by the target object. The reflected signal will have a Doppler shift proportional to the target speed. This Doppler frequency shift is detected in the receiver, amplified, filtered, and then digitized in an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and passed onto the digital signal processing (DSP) chip. Using complex algorithms, the DSP chip filters out false and low-level return signals to identify the speed of the desired target. The speed, along with various statistics and averages, is then displayed on the LCD.

What is radar?
Radar is an acronym for radio detection and ranging.

How does the Speedster work?
Once you press the trigger, the Speedster sends out 24 GHz radio waves at the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second. It measures the difference between the signal it transmitted and the signal bounced back to it and relays this information to the DSP to quickly calculate the speed of the object with an accuracy of +/-1 mpg.

How is speed calculated?
Speed is calculated using the difference between the transmit frequency and receive frequency (also known as the Doppler shift).

How accurate is the Bushnell Speedster?
The Bushnell Speedster is accurate to within +/-1 mph.

How does the user need to be positioned in relation to the moving object?
The Bushnell Speedster works best when positioned in front of or behind the moving object.

Can radar guns determine the speed of an object moving in any direction?
No, Doppler radar can only determine the relative speed of targets moving either toward or away from the radar.

Does angle affect accuracy?
A 12-degree angle should not affect performance. The Speedster is accurate to within +/-1 mph for a baseball 75 feet away at an angle of 12 degrees or less. A 20-degree angle at 60 feet away would result in an accuracy of +/-3 mph.

From how far away can the speed of a baseball, softball, or tennis ball can be determined?
0 to 75 feet. ... Read more

Features

• Applications are endless, from measuring pitchingspeeds, tennis serves and downhill skiers to cars at the racetrack
• Measures the speed of a baseball from 6-110 mph at 75 feet
• Speed of larger objects like race cars can be measured from 6-200 mph at 1300 feet
• Features large LCD graphics display and two-way button pad
• Uses 6 AA batteries

Reviews (23)

For the price, works well, though not very rugged
I've owned a Speedster for the past two years, and for the price, it work adequately for getting pitch speeds for my son's club baseball team. The accuracy was reasonable and it picked up most pitches. It would occasionally fail to lock on to a pitch.

While not as accurate as a Jugs or other high-end radar guns, for my use, it was a good price-performance tradeoff, i.e., I don't sit behind the backstop measuring every pitch of every game, and +/- 1MPH is OK for measuring prep players, so I simply can't justify spending $800+ for a Jugs. I'm a "team parent", not a scout.

My '4' rating is relative to price-performance ... not necessarily to absolute quality or performance. My only complaints: the battery door in the handle is pretty cheap and breaks easily if the unit is dropped; the unit requires relatively fresh batteries ... it gets dicey on readings when the batteries get partially drained; and, I wish it would hold the highest absolute speed reading until you reset instead of when you release the trigger.

I'm now buying a second Speedster ... my first took a hit by an errant ball to the handle while I was holding it, the battery door broke off, and the battery pack slid out and fell to the ground ... breaking into several pieces. Tried to glue it all back together again, but with the plastic, it simply didn't work. I thought about looking at a higher quality radar gun like a Jugs, but at 4-5 times the price, there's simply not enough value-add to me for that step up in price.

"Speedster" Delivers Quality at a Great Price
After reading the four previous customer reviews and giving a lot of thought to what was said, I decided to buy the Speedster. Fortunately, my gamble paid off. After a day of use, the Speedster appears to be all it's advertised to be. Though the battery compartment latch and the fastening point for the carrying strap could be improved upon, the rest of the design is impressive. It only took a minute to get used to knowing when to pull the trigger (to activate the radar beam) and when to release it ("locking in" the reading). In practice, I was able to easily read the speed of pitched baseballs from about 50 feet away, but later in the practice, I was surprised when I found I couldn't read any of the pitches. On a hunch, I asked the pitcher to use another ball, and I found I could read everything again. There must've been something about the troublesome ball that scattered or absorbed the signal, preventing the gun from calculating the speed of the pitch. It's unfortunate that a previous reviewer chose to return his gun when he might've been having a similar problem. By the way, just for grins I clocked the speed of a van driving past my house, and the gun worked like a champ. One final point: I can't say I agree that the trigger design is inadequate. The trigger isn't meant to be depressed more than 1/10" or so, and if you use it as intended, I can't imagine it breaking. The bottom line - the Speedster is well worth the [money] I paid through Amazon.com - buy it with confidence.

Total waste of Money.
Why has my past review been removed.
I thought you guys where fair and im-partial.

Anyway based on the number of other negative feedbacks looks like you cant hide the truth for long.

THe triger breaks. The Battrey compartment breaks without even touching it. The strap breaks the minute you use it.

Acuracy is poor. And gets worse with age.
Customer support is non existant. Not even an e-mail address on the site.

My honest feedback. If you need a toy buy it. If your serious. Buy something else. Ever wonder why a products price keeps droping. No sales.
And I paid 300$ for mine.

Rip Off
At www.Walmart.com the are selling the same exact gunfor $160, go and check it out!

This gun is too expenisive
www.Walmart.com has this same exact radar/speed gun for $160so save your Money and check it out! ... Read more

Features

• A simple lens-cleaning system
• Small, pen-style design easily fits in any camera bag
• Soft brush retracts into pen body to stay clean
• Removes fingerprints, dust, and other debris that may compromise your image
• Works with all types of cameras (digital and film), as well as binoculars, telescopes, and other optical products

Reviews (1)

Great tool for in the field lens maintenance
Binoc, teles, range finders and cameras. All can benefit from one of these. Light and compact, sturdy and effective. Keep the prints off the lenses. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

The Meade 8-24x50 was made to be able to change your viewing magnification at the touch of a finger. This model features "Triple Zoom," which allows you to change the magnification from a low of 8x to a high of 24x. This Triple Zoom feature makes the binoculars an excellent choice for following movement from a distance, specifically sports and racing. The rubberized body protects it from light dings and scratches while out in the field.

About the Prism
The Meade 8-24x50 uses a Porro prism with large, bright objective lenses that deliver high-contrast images on the entire range of viewing subjects.

About the Lens Coating
The objective lenses and prism surfaces on the Meade 8-24x50 are fully coated with magnesium fluoride (MgF2), which can significantly improve light transmission through the binoculars and reduce ghost images of bright objects.

About Field of View
A binocular's field of view is often measured as field-width (in feet) at 1000 yards distance. This model has a field of view 234 feet wide for an object 1000 yards distant from the observer when viewed at the lowest (8x) magnification. Zooming further in will shrink the field of view.

What's in the Box
Meade 8-24x50 binoculars, soft case, neck strap, and user's manual. ... Read more

Features

• 24x zoom
• Fully coated optics
• Rubber armor
• Under 30 ounces
• Porro prism design

Features

• Rubber coated texture for comfortable grip
• Dent and scratch resistant
• Dipter adjustment for exact focusing
• Modern champagne and black rubber styling
• Compact

Features

• Rugged metal body with leatherette accents for comfortable grip
• Center Focus
• 16.5 Feet Closest Focus
• Magnification -10x (brings objects 10-times closer)
• Objective -25mm

Features

• Ultra wide field of view
• Slim design ? fits in a shirt pocket
• Quick, central focusing
• Unique twist out eyecups retract for comfortable use by eyeglass wearers
• Diopter control for all day viewing comfort

Features

• Ultra wide field of view
• Slim design ? fits in a shirt pocket
• Quick, central focusing
• Unique twist out eyecups retract for comfortable use by eyeglass wearers
• Diopter control for all day viewing comfort

Features

• 800 yard (1/2 mile) range
• Powerful 8x multicoated optics for easy target acquisition and discretion
• Easy to operate, pocket-sized design
• Rubber-armored for shock resistance and easy grip

Features

• High quality optics
• Military style lens
• Protection from ultra-violet rays and sun radiation
• Rubber coated
• Includes Carrying Case, Hand Strap, Cleaning Cloth

Features

• Multicoated for enhanced contrast
• Threaded to accept Celestron colored eyepiece filters
• Eye relief of 22mm
• Apparent field of 52 degrees

Features

• High quality optics
• Military Style lens
• Light and compact, fits in your bag or purse!
• Includes -carrying case, hand strap & cleaning cloth
• Black finish

Features

• 800 yard (1/2 mile) range
• Powerful 8x multicoated optics for easy target acquisition and discretion
• Easy to operate, pocket-sized design
• Rubber-armored for shock resistance and easy grip

Features

• High quality optics
• Military Style lens
• Light and compact, fits in your bag or purse!
• Includes -carrying case, hand strap & cleaning cloth
• Black finish