After previously announcing the Babolat POP tennis sensor, we were able to put this interactive wristband through its paces last month. Here is an extensive review of the Babolat POP!
After our post of mid-September 2015 about the arrival of Babolat POP, team mijnracket.nl got the opportunity from Babolat to test the interactive tennis wristband themselves before the official release mid-January. Thanks to Babolat for this! Buy the Babolat POP tennis sensor now in our webshop !
What is Babolat POP? Just to refresh your memory: Babolat has developed a tennis sensor for the wrist in collaboration with PIQ (a company specialized in activity trackers and sports sensors). The sensor is placed in a special wristband around your hitting arm. The wristband is very comfortable and feels almost like a normal sweatband. With the arrival of Babolat POP in early 2016, Babolat offers players the opportunity to collect all kinds of game data, regardless of the brand or type of tennis racket, to analyze it, to challenge your tennis buddies with a challenge via social media and to measure yourself against the greats of the world, such as Rafael Nadal and Eugenie Bouchard!
What does Babolat POP consist of? 
- Adjustable neoprene wristband (one size fits all) of 10 grams
- 9-axis sensor with built-in battery (9 grams total) with the following functions: gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer
- Bluetooth 4.0 charger with cable
Getting started with Babolat POP To get started, you need to install the Babolat POP/PIQ application on your smartphone and create an account.
What does Babolat POP measure?
With Babolat POP you can measure forehands, backhands, smashes, volleys and serves. With each stroke you can also see your spin or slice. The sensor measures racket speed or swing speed, total number of strokes and playing time and gives an activity score and a PIQ score. You can also measure your best rally and your number of shots per minute.
How does Babolat POP work?
The Babolat POP menu looks like this:
At the top is your name, your level (Rookie in this case) and your activity ranking, in this case from January. Furthermore you see the buttons Dashboard, PIQ score, Activity, Skills, Challenges, Community, Settings and Help.
We will discuss the most important functions with you here.
In your Dashboard you can see an overview of all your activities. My global stats still have some room for improvement with a ranking of 2076 and activity score of 1913 and my associated level of Rookie. Below you can see that I played 4 sessions, hit 1006 balls in 2 hours and 47 minutes divided over 1 match, 2 trainings and 1 open session. The last one was a short drill of 20 minutes for me. After each session you can indicate on which surface you played, whether you won or lost and how you felt physically. All data is then saved. A total score, the so-called PIQ score , is then calculated over your last 6 sessions. This is made up of style, (swing) speed and effect (spin/slice). With this score you can measure yourself against others!
What is clear from the above data is that I am not a spider monster, which is also true given my rather flat repertoire of strokes. You start at level 'Newby' and can work your way up to 'Pro'. I am currently a 'Rookie', but not for much longer given the following stats:
Now I am at 74% Rookie level in terms of Skills , where I have already volleyed enough, but in particular still have to hit some backhands to unlock the next level. Each level has its own color by the way. Now I can challenge other players in this level or be challenged by them. In a higher level you compete against stronger players in your challenges, where you also have to play more forehands, backhands, serves, volleys and smashes to be able to complete that level again. A nice incentive all in all. Below is an example of a Challenge that I have taken on:
This particular player 'Pablo Millan' challenged me to improve his score in 20 backhands. The nice thing about this feature is that you can challenge both your local tennis buddies as well as players from all over the world by searching for them in Community . Conclusion Babolat POP is a fun, accessible way to collect a surprising amount of game data. Although this tool does not measure ball speed like the Sony Smart Sensor does, it can be used by any player with any racket. Moreover, the price of 89.99 euros for Babolat POP is much more attractive than the 199.99 euros for the Sony Smart Sensor. The supported app for the Sony Smart Sensor is also still not available for the Benelux, where the Babolat POP app can be downloaded directly. The option to challenge your tennis buddies or other tennis players worldwide by means of challenges is super fun. Babolat POP is therefore a great motivator to make more hours on the court and to improve yourself! I will continue to use it with great pleasure! Buy the Babolat POP tennis sensor now in our webshop !