mad dog1's Zepp Tennis Sensor Playtest
Tennis experience/background:
Played on the high school tennis team. Work and life after college got in the way of tennis. Only got back into tennis about 4.5 years ago. I don't play USTA so I do not have a rating however one of my hitting partners has had good success playing 4.0-4.5 USTA and during this time, I've gone from losing to him by scores of 6-0, 6-1 to now being able to regularly win tiebreakers to 10 and winning 4 to 6 games off him in set play. Another hitting partner is a USTA 3.5 and in practice tie breakers to 10, I usually win handily and when I've lost on a few occasions, the scores are very tight. My match play isn't as good as it can be because I have a torn RC so I have to moderate my serving.
Describe your playing style (e.g., baseliner w/heavy spin, serve & volley, etc.,):
I primarily play singles and am predominantly a baseliner w/ good pace and moderate spin.
Current racquet/string:
Racquet 1: Yonex RD Ti 80 Lite (modded w/ lead) strung with Discho Iontec 1.25 @ 47/44# on an electronic CP machine
Racquet 2: Babolat APD 2013 (modded w/ lead) strung with Discho Iontec 1.25 @ 43# on an electronic CP machine
Which mount did you use? Was the device easy to attach to the racquet?
I test-fitted the silicone Flex mount and did some dry swinging while the Zepp sensor was being charged and I can already tell this Flex mount is going to be uncomfortable for me as it's a sleeve that slips over the buttcap flare. I grip the handle at the bottom on the flared portion but my hand does not hang off the buttcap. I experimented transistioning between my semi-western fh grip to my eastern 1hbh grip and I can feel the edges of the Flex mount catching on my hand. Over the course of 2-3 hour hitting session, this irritation will likely cause blistering.
Also a factor is the weight. With the Flex mount, the entire contraption weighs 21 grams or 0.74 oz. I haven't tried the Pro mount yet, but I can already see how this will be the preferred mount for me since the Pro mount is a lower profile nylon mount that adheres to the buttcap via double stick foam tape so it does not change the feel of the handle. the Zipp Sensor then snaps into the Pro mount. the Pro mount + Zepp sensor tips the scale at 12 grams of 0.4 oz.
1st hitting session: i used the Flex mount on my modded Yonex RD Ti80 Lite. I want to point on that I installed a Fairway leather grip (one of the tackier leather grips) on this racquet which is an L2 gripsize. Also of importance is that Yonex buttcaps have very little flair. Why am I specifically pointing these things out? i installed the Flex mount using the correct orientation, but after hitting for about 11 minutes, i go to download the data. after downloding, i look at the Shot Type and it's showing that i'm hitting 66% forehand, 12% backhands and 22% serves. my hitting partner and I look at each other and don't quite understand this breakdown because we both felt the breakdown as more like 60/40 fh/bh and 0 serves as we were just warming up w/ some easy ramping up to some spirited rallying. Then i drill into the forehands and see that i'm hitting 59% slice and 37% flat and 4% topspin. i'm thinking this makes absolutely no sense at all because I hit primarily topspin during rallies especially on my fh wing. Then i accidentally touch the Zepp icon on the screen and it informs me that the Sensor is unable to calibrate because the sensor is orientated wrong on the handle. I know i slipped it on correctly so how is this possible? Well, the Flex mount had twisted over 1/8 of a turn on the handle so that the Zepp sensor was now ~45 degrees off axis! That's why I was getting the funky readings. Apparently through the course of normal hitting, the Flex mount had rotated off keel. It's entirely possible that this was simply due to the fact that the Yonex butt cap flare is so slight that the mount is unable to apply enough grip to hold firmly even though the Fairway leather is very tacky. Anyways, i twisted the Flex mount to the correct orientation and then continue to hit making a concerted effort to grip the handle a bit further up. After another 16 minutes, i do another data download. The stroke split looks better this time but the slice/flat/top mix is still off. There's no way i hit my fh flat 47% of the time. it was plenty hot on the courts and my forehands were landing 4-5' inside the baseline and were bouncing head and shoulder high by the time they reached the baseline. no way flat shots bounce like hat. Looked at the orientation again and once again, the Flex mount had twisted a little. i'll have to try the flex mount on an L3 grip with a more pronounced flare and see if it resists rotating better.
i noted that during dry swings, i thought the Flex mount might cause blisters. turns out after hitting for 27 minutes, it caused no physical discomfort after i moved my hand a little further up the grip. still not ideal, but was much less of an issue than i expected.
I discovered that the Flex mount can and does slip on the handle allowing the Zepp Sensor to go out of alignment. After i hit for about 26 mins, i looked at the data and noticed a lot more FHs than BHs which didn't makes sense to me. when i drilled into the FHs, i noticed that the app showed i was hitting a ton of flat FHs and i know i always hit about 70% topspin on my FH which has been substantiated by my Babolat PD Play. didn't make sense but I didn't understand why until the Zepp Tennis app tried to calibrate the sensor. At that point, i realized that the Flex mount had rotated about 45 degrees so all the readings were wrong as a result. it's possible that the slippage was due to the small L2 gripsize coupled with the very slight buttcap flare of the Yonex. Yonexes are known for their buttcaps having much less flare than other brands. i'll try it on my L3 APD 2013 next time to see if the larger gripsize and greater degree of flair helps prevent the Flex mount slippage.
Given its weight along w/location on the racquet, was it a hindrance?
I was fully expecting that adding almost 0.75 oz to the racquet which weighs in at 11.8 oz was going to be a disaster. It really wasn't bad. Much to my surprise, the 12.55 oz weight didn't cause too much issue. Yes, i was late a few shots, but overall, i was able to adjust to the extra weight better than expected. I did notice my arm got tired quicker than usual due to the extra weight.
How easy was it to upload, view and understand the data on the app?
Downloading data from the Zepp Sensor to either phone was a breeze. When I went back to the bench during a break, I simply got my smartphones and opened the Zepp Tennis app. As long as Bluetooth is enabled, the data automatically begins to download. Can't get any easier than this.
What did you like about the app?
I downloaded the Zepp Tennis app to both my iPhone5 and my Samsung Galaxy S3. Both downloads went smoothly and successfully. Registering was a breeze as was pairing the Zepp sensor to both smartphones. You create an account to use the app and to create an account you will need to register with your email address.
One of the really nice features about the Zepp Sensor is that it allows users to set up multiple accounts to one device meaning you only need one sensor for the entire family. You do need to download the hitting session first before switching to another user. What you do is hit to record. When you are done hitting, go to your smartphone to sync/download your session. After you've successfully downloaded your session, you switch to another user on your account. the other users then hits to record. when he/she is done hitting, he/she can download their session to their smartphone.
Very nice job on the multi-user functionality, Zepp!
What did you dislike about the app?
Haven't stumbled onto anything I dislike so far!
Did you find the data you received from the app useful? Please explain your answer.
After the first hitting session, in Play Tracking mode, it's hard to say as the data was very skewed due to the Flex mount slippage causing the Zepp Sensor to go out of alignment. Proper alignment is required to get any sort of meaningful data.
Any additional comments/suggestions?
When I first saw the Zepp Tennis Sensor, I liked the fact the Sensor was attached to the racquet with a removable mounting sleeve (Flex mount) and wasn't built into the handle like the Babolat Play technology because this would enable those players who like to switch racquets to easily install the Zepp sensor on different racquets. Now that I've installed the Flex mount and done some dry swinging, I realize the drawbacks of the removable design. It may be too heavy and/or uncomfortable for some people. If you choose to use the Pro mount which is lighter and doesn't alter the shape or feel of the grip at the buttcap, however you won't be able to move the Zepp Sensor from racquet to racquet unless you install a Pro mount to each one of your racquets.
Suggestions:
I recommend Zepp make additional Pro and Flex mounts available for sale for low cost. This would allow owners of the Zepp Tennis sensor to install mounts on the different racquets they own and would enable the Sensor to be easily used on a number of different racquets. Also, I can see the Flex mount wearing out over time and eventually losing its elasticity and no longer being able to tightly grip the butt cap. I'll continue to monitor the durability of the Flex mount throughout the duration of the playtest.
Finally, in conclusion, i want to thank TW and Zepp for giving me the opportunity to playtest and share my experiences with everyone.