Garmin has added to its extensive range of sports training aids with a new gadget to help get trapshooters aiming truly. The Xero S1 makes use of radar and computer vision to provide instant feedback every time a shot is fired, offering opportunities for slight and swift adjustments to take one's game to the next level.
"Shooting accuracy and performance have traditionally been determined by best-guesses, but not anymore," says Dan Bartel, Garmin vice-president of global consumer sales. "The Xero S1 provides a new approach for trap shooters, both novice and seasoned, to better understand their strengths, weaknesses and natural biases, as well as their shooting equipment."
The Xero S1 looks much like a portable projector, and just like a projector users can prop it up on a tripod pointed in the direction of all the action. They can then stand alongside it and let the onboard radar and computer vision track their hits and misses, plus a few other performance metrics that could help next time they pull the trigger.
These include the distance to the clay target when the trigger was pulled, the shooter's reaction times and a quality score of the clay break through what Garmin calls the "break factor." More detailed assessments are offered at the end of a round, where users can observe clay launch angles and a graph detailing every shot relative to the clay target.
All of this is displayed through the Xero S1's five-inch display, but the data can be transferred over to the companion smartphone app for a deeper look at the user's performance. This includes things like their best and worst shooting stations, clay speed and hit percentage per station and per round.
Clay practice, trap league and tournament mode make up the trapshooting modes, while Garmin has also included an Upland mode for bird hunters wanting to practice in the off-season.
The Xero S1 can run on a rechargeable battery good for 2.5 hours at a time, or be powered externally, and packs up into a rugged, portable package when not in use. It is available now for a recommended retail price of US$1,000. You can check it out in the promo video below.
Source: Garmin