My kids love playing basketball, but when the temperature drops, their practice time does too. But they’re getting outside more since they’ve been practicing with Infomotion Sport’s 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball which was a big hit at CES 2015 this past week–and a big hit in our own home.
This smart basketball offers incredible real-time data on a wide range of fundamental skills and it’s a pretty impressive application of fitness tracking technology. In fact the InfoMotion technology scored a coveted CES award for innovation and I can see why.
The 94Fifty basketball looks and feels like a regular basketball—you can play indoors or outside, and it inflates with any standard air pump. However the inside is filled with sensors that wirelessly report every shot and dribble to the 94Fifty app on your iPhone or Android (or even your Google Glass–if you’ve got one of those for your kid).
In addition to measuring different aspects of your shooting game, like the arc of your shot, it can track dozens of ball-handling workouts at different skill levels. Just place it on the included wireless charging base, and you should get up to about 8 hours of play.
Each workout in the app has a short tutorial video you can watch before you start. During the drill, the ball measures your accuracy while the app calls out reminders like Keep your head up! or Don’t quit! Finish hard! After completing a drill, my kids race over to the iPad see their results, which hopefully show them that their skills are improving. And they have been. It’s great motivation for them to keep working hard.
Kids can practice with the ball alone, but the app also offers head-to-head challenges allowing up to five players to compete in different skill areas. You can even use the results from workouts and drills to create report cards you can share with your coach, friends, or LeBron James.
The one big thing: This is a $179.99 piece of technology. So it’s probably not for your four-year-old, or for casual players.
Fortunately, you won’t need a new ball in a few months; all app updates also automatically upgrade the firmware in the ball to take advantage of new features. And you do get a one year warranty on the sensors, which is reassuring. The battery itself is expected to last about two years which isn’t bad. And while the ball can be used outside, I still wouldn’t leave it out at night when we’re not using it.
This ball is an investment for sure, but for a family of serious basketball lovers like ours, it’s a great way to have fun together while getting better at our favorite sport.
You can find the 94Fifty Smart Sensor basketball at their website or at our affiliate Amazon (but note that their refund policy only covers balls purchased directly from them).
Note to our readers: The 94Fifty SmartNet is backordered until March. Thanks to 94Fifty for sending us a sample ball to test out.
