Set-up instructions, and instructions on how to access the menus, are printed on the back of the unit for extra convenience. To access it you simply hold the red (power) and black (function) button in at the same time for more than two seconds.

The advanced menu gives you even more options, such as setting the Smart Display to measure miles or kilometers per hour, setting the auto-off timer, adjusting the brightness and more. Holding the black button down for two seconds lets you check the life of the batteries if you are using alkaline C-cell batteries. This was her second new high of the night. It looks very similar to the types of displays used on scoreboards. It delivers a large, very bright speed readout of up to three digits that the manufacturer says can be read from 100 feet away in bright sunlight. There is a solution, however: the pocket radar Smart Display. The bright sunlight on a super hot day might make the display on an iPad or other tablet tough to read, and it could cause the tablet to overheat and shut down. But it might be a little dicier out on an actual field.

One of the major benefits is that the free app that comes with it lets you set up your Smart Coach to capture each pitch (in Continuous mode) and then display the results on a phone or tablet via Bluetooth so the pitcher can get instant, accurate feedback on each pitch so she can measure her progress. The current top of the line is the pocket radar Smart Coach, which I reviewed back in 2018 when it first came out. The handy devices are not only easy to carry around (and not as obtrusive to use as a standard radar gun since they can easily be mistaken for a mobile phone) but priced within reach of most programs, coaches and bucket parents. You see them everywhere, at the ball park, in practice facilities, and in social media photos as grinning pitchers proudly display their latest speed achievements. Pocket radar devices have become pretty commonplace in the fastpitch softball world.

Pocket radar smart display