Zepp has updated its sports tracking wearable, with a new design and extra features for golfers, baseballers and softballers.
The key change in Zepp 2 is the shape of the device. Going from square to circular, the change in form factor is to enable better placement on equipment and apparel, although for golfers, it still clips to the back of the glove, so there's little difference there.
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On the insides the tech is much the same, but Zepp now features two gyroscopes, compared to the single sensor in the last iteration. There are still two accelerometers at work as well.
However, a big change is the new Smart Coach aspect, that claims to deliver much more personalised coaching. The old Zepp was fantastic at showing you your swing, but the coaching element was slightly undercooked, especially when it comes to golf. If your swing was deemed to be defective in a certain metric – temp for example – you could watch videos on how to improve swing tempo, but that would be an extremely generic fix.
Zepp says that after a few swings the system will detect strong and weak points and offer useful drills and guidance. How useful these are will become clear in time, and we hope there's a significant improvement over the last version. All of these drills are located within the app, and will be able to be accessed without purchasing the sensor (although you'll have to diagnose your own faults).
The Smart Coach lessons will take the form of videos, with experts such as Michelle Wie, Keegan Bradley, Rick Smith and Pat Shea.
Elsewhere, the features look pretty much the same as the previous generation. You still get the swing metrics beamed to your device seconds after a strike, and you can view a 3D representation of you swing and compare it to top professionals.
We've been big fans of Zepp, and the technology is extremely well respected around the sports industry – so much so that lack of competition is more down to brand's inability to match what it's doing. We've heard that more than once. While Zepp 2 doesn't look like a huge leap forward, we can't wait to take it down to the range and see how it can help us develop our game.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.