Blast Motion Baseball Review: Compared to Zepp Labs

November 13, 2020 | by Brian Duryea | @BatDigest

The Blast Motion Sensor for baseball and softball is a device that attaches to the bottom of your bat with a rubber mount. It sends, via Bluetooth to your smartphone, data points that capturing the performance of your swing.

We used it, and write our review of it below.

If you are entirely unfamiliar with the device, this is the video to start with.

At least two other gadgets attempt to perform the similar task of real-time objective analytical feedback, including Diamond Kinetics and Zepp Labs (Zepp doesn’t make their sensor anymore because they didn’t have the patent).

Where to Buy Blast Motion

As always, the best place to check for a device like this directly on Amazon. You can also look at any number of major vendors and, as well, Blast Motions’ site directly.

Blast Motion Recommendations

If you’ve yet to swing a bat with an attached sensor that gathers objective analytics, we are confident you will be impressed with the Blast Motion, which is distributed from Easton.

We like its ease of use and the speedy manner in which it delivers the most helpful metrics: bat speed and attack angle.

Blast Motion Review Experience: The Good

We’ve spent at least 20 hours in the cage with the Blast Motion sensor—and we’ve spent at least another 50 with other sensors like Zepp and the Diamond Kinetics. Those who have yet to enter the bat sensor market should be impressed with the Blast Motion—which is distributed by Easton Sports.

We like a few things from this sensor over other sensors.

1. It quickly syncs to your phone—after you’ve downloaded the app—and starts sending interesting metrics to your device directly after the first swing. Other products didn’t feel nearly as seamless as they took a little more time to sync and log in before sending data.
2. These metrics were easily navigable and record-able. Items like bat speed, attack angle, and time to contact, which were heretofore impossible to gather and record before this sensor phenomenon hit the market, now stream to your phone in mesmerizing fashion with the Blast Motion sensor. Additionally, the Blast Motion app and sensor delivers a few esoteric metrics that, at first glance, might not mean much, but aggregated, attempt to deliver a numeric score for your entire swing. These metrics (Blast Factor, Efficiency Index, and Power Index) appear to give a decent general feel, in numeric form, regarding how good the swing was. More about these factors is included in the app.
3. The app’s metrics are displayed as well, if not better than any sensor on the market. They are clear, direct, and easily navigable.

As a final note, the app also lets you record the swing in slow motion—this is built directly into the app and uses your smart phone’s camera. The swing is then captured with its accompanying metrics and stored within the app to review later or share with others. Not necessarily unique to the Blast Motion sensor, but a useful feature for sure that any user will appreciate.

Blast Motion Review Experience: The Not So Good

There are three areas where we thought the Blast Motion fell short.

1. Unlike other sensors, the rubber cap in which the sensor fits and attaches to the bat is housed around the sensor, not underneath it.  This design requires you to remove the entire rubber mount to change the sensor from one bat to another. Not an issue if you are only gathering the metrics of one particular player, and that player happens to be sure he only wants to use one bat. While it isn’t the end of the world to take the mount off of the bat and change it to another, it does take extra time and, we surmise, based on how hard you need to dig at the mount to get it off, that it lowers the mount’s useful life.
2. Third, while the Blast Motion does excel in using aggregated metrics like the ‘Blast Factor’—which attempts to relay the effectiveness of the swing into a single number—it fails by not giving a visual representation of the swing. The Blast Motion feedback lacks that visual awareness teaching moment of the bat path—and it’s hard to make that same impact with only a numeric “Blast Factor” or “Power Index.”

The Final Say, For Now

Sensors gathering data on your swing’s performance have come to the market quickly, and apps can be updated so easily that it’s hard to say which sensors on the market may be the best long term play. There aren’t very many options in the space as Blast has strongly enforced their patent.

If you are looking to acquire bat speed tech in the palm of your hands, then the Blast Motion your very legit option.