g4driver
Legend
Tennis experience/background: 30+ years playing, 4.0 USTA Rating playing both 18 & 40+
Describe your playing style: Nearly equal mix of Singles and Doubles in USTA and local 4.0 ladder held four times per year, as an all-court player. I prefer the baseline in singles and net at doubles. I don’t have a big serve but place it very well enough with a great degree of accuracy to get aces vs 4.0 and 4.5 men both wide and down the T on both sides. I consider my footwork and mental game to my greatest assets. I hit my 2HBH harder than my forehand, but I get more winners with my forehand as it is my biggest weapon.
Current racquet/string/device: Wilson Steam 99S / Volkl Cyclone Tour 16g / Apple iPhone 6
How many hours did you play with the Sony Sensor? 7.5 hours or 450 minutes recorded time. (Unfortunately all of it right in the heart of our Mixed Doubles Leagues and I am on two 7.0 and two 8.0 mixed teams. My 8 week Single and Doubles Ladders start next week, with our Combo Leagues starting June 30th, so this playtest is a little early for me, but I will continue to update this review as I get more time with the Sensor. It was hard to get guys to play singles with so much mixed doubles going on. Most of my friends play mixed also with many of them on 7.0/8.0 teams so it limited my guy/guy singles with this playtest.
Was the device easy to attach to the racquet? Yes, very easy to attach to the frame. I had to remove my old Wilson Steam 99S Buttcap and replaced it with the Wilson Sony Smart Sensor Butt Cap, before I received the Sony Smart Sensor.
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Wil...t_Caps_non-ProStaff/descpageWILSON-WSSBC.html
Just pop out the Wilson Red logo and install the base of the Sony Smart Sensor into your frame and it is ready for the Sony Sensor.
Given it’s location on the racquet, was the sensor a hindrance? For 95% of the players, I doubt they will notice it at all. So no, it was not a much hindrance at all. When I am hitting my forehand, I leave my right pinky finger almost off the buttcap, so I do feel the Sensor, but I get use to it after a few minutes. Same thing for my backhand. But when I am volleying, I move my hand up my handle to make the frame more secure versus harder balls. (Yes, you can make the racquet more secure in your hand my not holding it like I do when I hit forehands.) The Sony Sensor is nothing like the cumbersome 18 gram Zepp Sensor which seems like an epic fail from what seems like a non-tennis player who came up with the Zepp Design.
FYI: Some guys are complaining about the 8 grams at the end of the buttcap, and for me, it is more mental than physical. I have five Wilson Steam 99S frames all custom ordered and matched by TW's Paul Reed. When I add the Sony Sensor and it's 8 grams at the end of the frame, it makes my frame slightly more headlight, and I mean slightly. I could switch between a frame without the Sensor and the one with the sensor and it didn't bother me.
How easy was it to upload and view the data on the app?
The bluetooth connection works very well. Every time I turned on the bluetooth it would connect with the phone within 2 seconds. The only problem I had was seeing the blue light in very bright sun (even while standing in the shade). I solved this by putting the handle of my racquet in the bottom of my unzipped and very dark tennis bag, so I could see the blue light. So I could connect the Sensor to my iPhone once at the court.
What did you like about the app?
I like the layout and interface of the app on the iPhone / iPad but the icon “… “ should say “Menu” because if you click on the “…” in the top right corner you get the “Menu”
The “How to Use” is written very well. I would love to get more time with the live/video feature. But this the portion of the app I got to use the least as the courts are so crowded right now with mixed doubles leagues and having my tripod on the top of the bench table didn’t work out. It keep getting hit by players on the other courts, when they switched sides and reached for water bottles and grab towels on a table portion of a shared doubled bench. And mounting my iPhone on the back fence against 4.0 guys is something that gives me pause to wonder. Pretty sure a direct hit by a line drive would bust an iPhone.
What did you dislike about the app? This is what I would like to see updated the most. This is very nitpicky, but I don’t understand the baseline for any shot with a +/- . Example, my average forehand is a +5.1 on a scale from -9 to +9, but what does that really mean? 0 is completely flat, but is + 9 4500 RPM? Or 3600 RPM, or 2700 RPM? I think Sony could make the scale more useful by giving an upper limit and lower limit value and then the math could easily be solved. E.g. if the upper limit for Topspin Forehand were 4500, each integer would have a value of 500 RPMs. It would make the -9 to +9 scale more useful IMO.
Was there anything you thought was missing? I wish the Sony Sensor came in different colors. Lol I hate orange and I got a lot of comments about a “nipple” on the end of my frame. Maybe this is Sony’s way of getting attention. Because a bright orange “nipple” was noticeable by other players.
How did you use the data you received from the app? First of all, I looked at the total number of shots I was taking in each match. Then I looked the time on the court and looked at total shot count. I then looked at the number of groundstrokes vs volleys I hit in matches that weren’t challenging, vs groundstrokes I hit in matches that were closer. I get that the opponents were tougher when I hit less volleys, but the data seemed to reinforce my net game won more matches quicker than my groundstrokes. As a guy who hits singles and doubles in nearly equal amounts in the spring and fall, I tend to get too comfortable on the baseline in doubles, when trading groundstrokes with 4.0 and 4.5 guys.I know I am more disruptive and a bigger threat at the net, and this data confirmed that I need to come in more in doubles.
Other notes: I would like to see a plug to fill the open hole when the Sony Sensor is not attached to the frame. I only had the Sensor come off one time accidentally, and that was when it was in my bag as I probably never got it on securely.
Thanks to both TW and Sony for this opportunity. I think the price is a little high at $199, but I think this product is far superior to the Zepp Sensor and I showed the app and the Sensor to a lot of people who noticed it and were asking questions about it. The feedback was positive from the folks looking at the data, and I told them I was play-testing it for Tennis Warehouse getting a plug in for TW, since you were so gracious to let me try this device and even more gracious to let me keep it.
Describe your playing style: Nearly equal mix of Singles and Doubles in USTA and local 4.0 ladder held four times per year, as an all-court player. I prefer the baseline in singles and net at doubles. I don’t have a big serve but place it very well enough with a great degree of accuracy to get aces vs 4.0 and 4.5 men both wide and down the T on both sides. I consider my footwork and mental game to my greatest assets. I hit my 2HBH harder than my forehand, but I get more winners with my forehand as it is my biggest weapon.
Current racquet/string/device: Wilson Steam 99S / Volkl Cyclone Tour 16g / Apple iPhone 6
How many hours did you play with the Sony Sensor? 7.5 hours or 450 minutes recorded time. (Unfortunately all of it right in the heart of our Mixed Doubles Leagues and I am on two 7.0 and two 8.0 mixed teams. My 8 week Single and Doubles Ladders start next week, with our Combo Leagues starting June 30th, so this playtest is a little early for me, but I will continue to update this review as I get more time with the Sensor. It was hard to get guys to play singles with so much mixed doubles going on. Most of my friends play mixed also with many of them on 7.0/8.0 teams so it limited my guy/guy singles with this playtest.
Was the device easy to attach to the racquet? Yes, very easy to attach to the frame. I had to remove my old Wilson Steam 99S Buttcap and replaced it with the Wilson Sony Smart Sensor Butt Cap, before I received the Sony Smart Sensor.
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Wil...t_Caps_non-ProStaff/descpageWILSON-WSSBC.html
Just pop out the Wilson Red logo and install the base of the Sony Smart Sensor into your frame and it is ready for the Sony Sensor.
Given it’s location on the racquet, was the sensor a hindrance? For 95% of the players, I doubt they will notice it at all. So no, it was not a much hindrance at all. When I am hitting my forehand, I leave my right pinky finger almost off the buttcap, so I do feel the Sensor, but I get use to it after a few minutes. Same thing for my backhand. But when I am volleying, I move my hand up my handle to make the frame more secure versus harder balls. (Yes, you can make the racquet more secure in your hand my not holding it like I do when I hit forehands.) The Sony Sensor is nothing like the cumbersome 18 gram Zepp Sensor which seems like an epic fail from what seems like a non-tennis player who came up with the Zepp Design.
FYI: Some guys are complaining about the 8 grams at the end of the buttcap, and for me, it is more mental than physical. I have five Wilson Steam 99S frames all custom ordered and matched by TW's Paul Reed. When I add the Sony Sensor and it's 8 grams at the end of the frame, it makes my frame slightly more headlight, and I mean slightly. I could switch between a frame without the Sensor and the one with the sensor and it didn't bother me.
How easy was it to upload and view the data on the app?
The bluetooth connection works very well. Every time I turned on the bluetooth it would connect with the phone within 2 seconds. The only problem I had was seeing the blue light in very bright sun (even while standing in the shade). I solved this by putting the handle of my racquet in the bottom of my unzipped and very dark tennis bag, so I could see the blue light. So I could connect the Sensor to my iPhone once at the court.
What did you like about the app?
I like the layout and interface of the app on the iPhone / iPad but the icon “… “ should say “Menu” because if you click on the “…” in the top right corner you get the “Menu”
The “How to Use” is written very well. I would love to get more time with the live/video feature. But this the portion of the app I got to use the least as the courts are so crowded right now with mixed doubles leagues and having my tripod on the top of the bench table didn’t work out. It keep getting hit by players on the other courts, when they switched sides and reached for water bottles and grab towels on a table portion of a shared doubled bench. And mounting my iPhone on the back fence against 4.0 guys is something that gives me pause to wonder. Pretty sure a direct hit by a line drive would bust an iPhone.
What did you dislike about the app? This is what I would like to see updated the most. This is very nitpicky, but I don’t understand the baseline for any shot with a +/- . Example, my average forehand is a +5.1 on a scale from -9 to +9, but what does that really mean? 0 is completely flat, but is + 9 4500 RPM? Or 3600 RPM, or 2700 RPM? I think Sony could make the scale more useful by giving an upper limit and lower limit value and then the math could easily be solved. E.g. if the upper limit for Topspin Forehand were 4500, each integer would have a value of 500 RPMs. It would make the -9 to +9 scale more useful IMO.
Was there anything you thought was missing? I wish the Sony Sensor came in different colors. Lol I hate orange and I got a lot of comments about a “nipple” on the end of my frame. Maybe this is Sony’s way of getting attention. Because a bright orange “nipple” was noticeable by other players.
How did you use the data you received from the app? First of all, I looked at the total number of shots I was taking in each match. Then I looked the time on the court and looked at total shot count. I then looked at the number of groundstrokes vs volleys I hit in matches that weren’t challenging, vs groundstrokes I hit in matches that were closer. I get that the opponents were tougher when I hit less volleys, but the data seemed to reinforce my net game won more matches quicker than my groundstrokes. As a guy who hits singles and doubles in nearly equal amounts in the spring and fall, I tend to get too comfortable on the baseline in doubles, when trading groundstrokes with 4.0 and 4.5 guys.I know I am more disruptive and a bigger threat at the net, and this data confirmed that I need to come in more in doubles.
Other notes: I would like to see a plug to fill the open hole when the Sony Sensor is not attached to the frame. I only had the Sensor come off one time accidentally, and that was when it was in my bag as I probably never got it on securely.
Thanks to both TW and Sony for this opportunity. I think the price is a little high at $199, but I think this product is far superior to the Zepp Sensor and I showed the app and the Sensor to a lot of people who noticed it and were asking questions about it. The feedback was positive from the folks looking at the data, and I told them I was play-testing it for Tennis Warehouse getting a plug in for TW, since you were so gracious to let me try this device and even more gracious to let me keep it.
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