Radar Guns

[Mark Leyde]

What is a good inexpensive radar gun. I want to check the speed out on my .12 rigger for different setups and such. But my GPS weighs way to much. Has anyone used one of these? http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Bushnell-Speedster...1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks,

Mark

 

[P THOMAS]

They work ok but youhave to be pretty close and inline with the target.

I was showing these Prospeed I have, they cost more but they will pick up small 20 mono at the end of the straights.

http://www.intlwaters.com/index.php?showtopic=28077&hl=

PHIL T

 

[camaroboy383]

What is a good inexpensive radar gun. I want to check the speed out on my .12 rigger for different setups and such. But my GPS weighs way to much. Has anyone used one of these? http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Bushnell-Speedster...1QQcmdZViewItem
Thanks,

Mark

i have one of those bushnell guns.... i like it personally for the price,,, i payed $119.00 for mine 3 years ago at radio shack....like phil said though you have to be basicaly directly in line with the intended target.... it says in the manual that after a certain amount of degree's out of line that it will comprimise the reading.... i run as small as a aquacraft sv -27 through the gun and it picks it up just fine.... main purpose for buying it was to tune snowmobiles for 660 ft. i also have a $400.00 stalker radar gun,,,,,both guns show the same number consistantly....only the stalker will show you points,,,for example (48.4 mph) where as the bushnell will show only solid numbers.... hands down bushnell is the best for the price......

Alden

 

[HTV Boats]

Mark,

Not sure if the weight would be an issue but I use a Garmin Gekko and with batteries it's only 3 oz. Run a half tank of fuel and call it even. They are generally availiable online for just over a hundred bucks. Unless you get a pretty spendy radar gun small targets are hard to pckup. Use tin foil somewhere on the boat as a radar reflector. Inside a cowl or hull.

Mic

 

[camaroboy383]

this is just my opinion,,,,,.......to me its in-acurate in certain conditions........i could be wrong but doesnt gps measure mph by distance over time?????? if this is how it works then there is an issue with that.... if water is choppy/ wavy/ wouldnt it measure those and tell you that your going further in a shorter time which would show greater mph??? we had a guy out here last year running gps in his sled across a snow covered lake......his gps said consistantly 118 mph top speed... thing wouldnt break 96 mph on the radar guns..... just my opinion,,,,,,dont like gps

alden

 

[Matthew Hughes]

I don't think it really matters what your speed is when measured. What does matters is if it is an improvement over the last measurement you took. The only reason you would need the accurate reading is so that when your having a pissing contest with someone over speed, you will be right. Whippy do da!!!

Mike

Alden

I am not sure what the water rippling would have to do with affecting the measurement of GPS. GPS sees you at point A and them sees you at point B. The distance between these too points and the time will give you the speed. They use the same set up for SAW. 2 beams set at 1/16th mile apart. The boat triggers the timer between the 2 points and then you divide by 225. GPS is not an exact science. I think you can get it accurate within 10'. So your distance can be 20' longer than it actually is.

 

[TERMINATOR]

I don't think it really matters what your speed is when measured. What does matters is if it is an improvement over the last measurement you took. The only reason you would need the accurate reading is so that when your having a pissing contest with someone over speed, you will be right. Whippy do da!!!Mike

Alden

I am not sure what the water rippling would have to do with affecting the measurement of GPS. GPS sees you at point A and them sees you at point B. The distance between these too points and the time will give you the speed. They use the same set up for SAW. 2 beams set at 1/16th mile apart. The boat triggers the timer between the 2 points and then you divide by 225. GPS is not an exact science. I think you can get it accurate within 10'. So your distance can be 20' longer than it actually is.

mark i am selling my bushnell gun , it is like new , and i am getting a gun from phil.. drop me a pm and we can discuss this , thanks

terry

 

[camaroboy383]

I don't think it really matters what your speed is when measured. What does matters is if it is an improvement over the last measurement you took. The only reason you would need the accurate reading is so that when your having a pissing contest with someone over speed, you will be right. Whippy do da!!!Mike

Alden

I am not sure what the water rippling would have to do with affecting the measurement of GPS. GPS sees you at point A and them sees you at point B. The distance between these too points and the time will give you the speed. They use the same set up for SAW. 2 beams set at 1/16th mile apart. The boat triggers the timer between the 2 points and then you divide by 225. GPS is not an exact science. I think you can get it accurate within 10'. So your distance can be 20' longer than it actually is.

i totally agree mike,,,,as long as you see improvement it doesnt matter what the top speed is unless making saw runs..... as far as watter ripple/waves,,,,, let me say it like this,,,,,, its like a ditch dug into the ground,,,say its 20 foot wide but 40 foot deep,,,,,well it would measure both down one side of the ditch,,and up the other side,,,,,in other words it would recognize the down hill and the up hill.... so it will add extra footage,,,,so say you jumped over the ditch,,20 feet,,,, you saved your self that extra footage cause you didnt go down one side and up the other......hope that makes sense....

alden

 

[Mark Leyde]

mark i am selling my bushnell gun , it is like new , and i am getting a gun from phil.. drop me a pm and we can discuss this , thanks
terry

I think I am going to try one of them little GPS's that Mic mentioned.

Thank's anyway,

Mark

 

[Sean Bowf]

this is just my opinion,,,,,.......to me its in-acurate in certain conditions........i could be wrong but doesnt gps measure mph by distance over time?????? if this is how it works then there is an issue with that.... if water is choppy/ wavy/ wouldnt it measure those and tell you that your going further in a shorter time which would show greater mph??? we had a guy out here last year running gps in his sled across a snow covered lake......his gps said consistantly 118 mph top speed... thing wouldnt break 96 mph on the radar guns..... just my opinion,,,,,,dont like gps

alden

The problem with the RADAR gun, is the thing you are measuring the speed of has to be going directly at you, or directly away from you, to get an accurate reading. Otherwise you will get a slower than actual reading on the radar gun. With GPS, it does not matter which direction you are going.

Yes, GPS can measure altitude if it gets four satellites...but in the context you are putting it, the waves would have to be 10 feet tall to make a difference. The boat skimming across the tops of the waves is not going to make a difference.

Ever see that show where they pointed a RADAR gun at a tree and it was going something like 90 MPH (can't remember the actual speed)??

Sean

 

[Walt Barney]

this is just my opinion,,,,,.......to me its in-acurate in certain conditions........i could be wrong but doesnt gps measure mph by distance over time?????? if this is how it works then there is an issue with that.... if water is choppy/ wavy/ wouldnt it measure those and tell you that your going further in a shorter time which would show greater mph??? we had a guy out here last year running gps in his sled across a snow covered lake......his gps said consistantly 118 mph top speed... thing wouldnt break 96 mph on the radar guns..... just my opinion,,,,,,dont like gps

alden

The problem with the RADAR gun, is the thing you are measuring the speed of has to be going directly at you, or directly away from you, to get an accurate reading. Otherwise you will get a slower than actual reading on the radar gun. With GPS, it does not matter which direction you are going.

Yes, GPS can measure altitude if it gets four satellites...but in the context you are putting it, the waves would have to be 10 feet tall to make a difference. The boat skimming across the tops of the waves is not going to make a difference.

Ever see that show where they pointed a RADAR gun at a tree and it was going something like 90 MPH (can't remember the actual speed)??

Sean

MAN that's a fast tree

Walt Barney

 

[camaroboy383]

sorry man didnt mean to hyjack your thread...

alden

 

[Bob Morton]

this is just my opinion,,,,,.......to me its in-acurate in certain conditions........i could be wrong but doesnt gps measure mph by distance over time?????? if this is how it works then there is an issue with that.... if water is choppy/ wavy/ wouldnt it measure those and tell you that your going further in a shorter time which would show greater mph??? we had a guy out here last year running gps in his sled across a snow covered lake......his gps said consistantly 118 mph top speed... thing wouldnt break 96 mph on the radar guns..... just my opinion,,,,,,dont like gps

alden

The problem with the RADAR gun, is the thing you are measuring the speed of has to be going directly at you, or directly away from you, to get an accurate reading. Otherwise you will get a slower than actual reading on the radar gun. With GPS, it does not matter which direction you are going.

Yes, GPS can measure altitude if it gets four satellites...but in the context you are putting it, the waves would have to be 10 feet tall to make a difference. The boat skimming across the tops of the waves is not going to make a difference.

Ever see that show where they pointed a RADAR gun at a tree and it was going something like 90 MPH (can't remember th e actual speed)??

I have some of those trees up here for sale

Sean

MAN that's a fast tree

Walt Barney

 

[Don Ferrette]

this is just my opinion,,,,,.......to me its in-acurate in certain conditions........i could be wrong but doesnt gps measure mph by distance over time?????? if this is how it works then there is an issue with that.... if water is choppy/ wavy/ wouldnt it measure those and tell you that your going further in a shorter time which would show greater mph??? we had a guy out here last year running gps in his sled across a snow covered lake......his gps said consistantly 118 mph top speed... thing wouldnt break 96 mph on the radar guns..... just my opinion,,,,,,dont like gps

alden

I'll take a high quality radar gun like a Stalker Pro over a GPS any day. A good radar gun properly used & aimed is a constant signal, GPS units are subject to the refresh rate of the unit itself. Even the best ones that a retail consumer can purchase do not have a fast enough refresh rate to be consistently accurate in these little boats, the ones that could be you can't buy because the military has them. They are also affected by weather conditions in satellite signal strength and the accuracy of the consumer models is within 15-20 feet at best. A good friend was going to use one to plot locations of in ground sprinkler (irrigation) boxes until he found that with the margin of error even the best one had they could be digging anywhere within a 30 foot wide circle of the recorded and plotted GPS point.
The two best tuning tools for me are a radar gun that reads accurately in tenths & a stopwatch.

 

[kcvnd]

"A good friend was going to use one to plot locations of in ground sprinkler (irrigation) boxes"

Man that is some serious business plotting irrigation with a GPS, I always found my trusty Stanley tape measure to work just fine, guess I am behind the times.

 

[Don Ferrette]

"A good friend was going to use one to plot locations of in ground sprinkler (irrigation) boxes"
Man that is some serious business plotting irrigation with a GPS, I always found my trusty Stanley tape measure to work just fine, guess I am behind the times.

His group services & maintains the irrigation systems for the football/baseball/soccer fields for an entire county, alot of ground to cover there for sure. h34r: Don't think your tape measure is that big.

 

[moparbarn]

"A good friend was going to use one to plot locations of in ground sprinkler (irrigation) boxes"
Man that is some serious business plotting irrigation with a GPS, I always found my trusty Stanley tape measure to work just fine, guess I am behind the times.

His group services & maintains the irrigation systems for the football/baseball/soccer fields for an entire county, alot of ground to cover there for sure. h34r: Don't think your tape measure is that big.

gps has been part of golf course maintainence for quite a few years. think about plotting an entire golf course with a transit & tape measure, like the "old days". irrigation, bunkers, tees, greens cart paths, restrooms, ball washers, water coolers, piping & wiring, control boxes, spraying of pesticides & fertilizers & that's not a complete list, by far...... i know the system we used at city of tallahassee's 2 courses would get within 6' - 8' regularly, almost always better than the manual said was possible. out of all the systems mentioned, i like the stopwatch. don't care how fast i am in a piece of the course, want the quickest lap times, for the whole course B) !