If I Had £1,000 for a Launch Monitor, I’d Buy THIS One…
These four budget launch monitors all cost less than £1,000, and I could quite easily recommend any of them to be part of your home golf simulator. But there is one that I’d recommend more than the rest. I’m about to explain what’s good about each of these devices, but also what you might not like about them, and I’ll reveal which one out of these four, in my opinion, is the best and why. So, I’ve tested pretty much every launch monitor on the market, specifically the budget ones. Now, in this video, we’ve got the Rapsodo MLM2 Pro, Square Golf, the original SkyRack, and the Garmin R10. Now, before we can even start thinking about which launch monitor you want to buy for your indoor golf setup, there’s something that you need to know because you can probably eliminate two of them straight away. if you’ve got less than six meters or 17 feet of room length, which basically means from your impact screen all the way to your back wall. Now, the Rapodo and the Garmin are radarbased launch monitors, and they need at least 6 m or 17 ft of room length in order to work accurately indoors. Now, if you’ve got less than that room length, you’re going to want to consider either the original SkyRack or the Square Golf launch monitor because they work fine in much smaller spaces. This is the Rapodo MLM2 Pro launch monitor. And not only does it come with ball data, it comes with some pretty accurate measured club data as well. As you can see, it’s pretty small. It’s lightweight, which means it’s extremely portable to take with you to the driving range if you want to use it outdoors as well as indoors. It comes packed with loads of features, including access to over 30,000 virtual golf courses that you can play. And perhaps most impressively, it has this amazing impact vision camera, which basically allows you to see how you’ve struck the golf ball in super slow motion. But on the other hand, it is a radarbased launch monitor, which again means it’s going to be more accurate outdoors than it is indoors. And if you do want to get the best indoor accuracy for this launch monitor, you are going to have to use some specifically marked golf balls. It’s a mobile and tabletbased app, so you can’t access it on a desktop PC, which if you want to have an indoor setup, might not be ideal. And again, most importantly, in order to access all of the amazing features within this launch monitor, you are going to need to purchase the annual subscription, which is going to set you back $199, although you do get a free trial with it. The Garmin R10 is tiny, it’s portable, it easily fits in your golf bag, and you can use it indoors and outdoors. There’s no subscription required to use the app and it connects to a variety of different third-party golf simulator softwares. So, you can play recreations of world famous courses on it. And I’ve actually been using this lately with the third party software called Awesome Golf because it’s fantastic to use with the kids. Now, on the other hand, the app isn’t great. It’s pretty basic for what you get. There’s no game improvement functions within the app, which would be nice. It’s a radarbased launch monitor, which means it’s not going to be as accurate indoors as some of the camerabased launch monitors. And in order to get the best accuracy, you’re going to need some titalist RCT golf balls, which are a little bit more expensive. This is the original Sky Track launch monitor, and it’s actually quite old now. But don’t be fooled by its age. Even though it’s quite old, it’s still extremely accurate. In fact, this device was my first ever launch monitor, and it helped me get from a 12 handicap all the way down to a seven handicap. Now, not only is it accurate, it has some of the best game improvement software available. You get access to things like a specific bag mapping feature inside the app. There’s skills assessments. There’s wedge matrixes which honestly changed my game. It’s a camerabased device so it’s very accurate indoors. And it’s really simple to use as it visually shows you a laser dot on the floor where you need to place your golf ball. On the other hand, there are a few little quirks to this device that some people might not like. For example, there’s quite a noticeable delay from when you hit the golf ball to when it registers on the software. Also, you do get the occasional no read. So, you hit your golf ball and the launch monitor just doesn’t pick it up, which can be quite frustrating. You only get ball data measured with this device. You do get club speed, but that’s just a calculated estimation. Now, Skyrack say you can only use this device indoors, but you can use it outdoors as well. Just keep it out of direct sunlight. Now, even though the original SkyRack is compatible with other thirdparty golf simulator softwares, SkyRack are pushing their own virtual course software at the moment. So, compatibility with third-party softwares in the future might not be great. This is the Square Golf launch monitor and it’s actually the cheapest camerabased launch monitor on the market. But despite it being the cheapest, it comes packed with a ton of features. You get access to ball and club data, and it’s actually really accurate compared to other higherend launch monitors. Now, it’s also very accurate when it comes to short game. So putting and chipping on this device is really, really impressive. And that’s something that you don’t usually find with budget devices. There’s practically zero shot delay. There’s no subscription. It works on PC and mobile devices, and you get access to quite a few golf courses straight out of the box. Now, on the other hand, in order to get the most accurate data out of this launch monitor, there’s a select few golf balls that you can use with it. In order to access the club data, you’re going to need to put some metallic stickers around the shaft of your golf club. And perhaps most importantly, this is an indoor launch monitor only. So, you can’t take it with you outside to the driving range because it’s going to damage the cameras. So, in my opinion, these are the four best launch monitors that you could use in an indoor golf simulator. But which one is the actual best? Which one would I recommend? So, if you were just starting out with a home golf simulator, the launch monitor out of these four that I would choose would have to be the square golf launch monitor. Now, my reasons behind this are simply because there’s no subscription. And the amount of features that you get with this device is amazing compared to all of the others. The Garmin is very basic when it comes to once you’ve bought it, you’ve pretty much got just the driving range. The MLM2 Pro and the SkyRack keep all of their features behind a subscription, which is not ideal. With the Square Golf, there is no subscription. You get access to the driving range as standard, but you also get access to closest to the pin challenges. You get access to virtual golf courses which are a great introduction to simulator golf before you may consider buying a third party software. It’s got hardly any shot delay and the accuracy that you get from this device is fantastic. The one thing that I forgot to mention earlier was that it is a little bit flimsy compared to the other devices. So, you’re definitely going to want to invest in some sort of protective case. whether that’s the official one from Squareolf or one of the third party ones that you can buy as well. But as I mentioned previously, I wouldn’t grumble about any of these launch monitors being in my first ever home golf simulator. So if you’re interested, check out the links in the description where you can get some discount on each of these devices. And if you want to learn exactly how to build your very own DIY home golf simulator setup, check out the links in the description to my ebook and my online course.
👇🏼 LAUNCH MONITOR DISCOUNT CODES 👇🏼
Square Golf
🇬🇧 5% off use code HANDICAP5 https://www.golfswingsystems.co.uk/product/square-golf-launch-monitor/
🇺🇸 5% off use code HCPGOLF5 https://rainorshinegolf.com/products/square-golf-launch-monitor?sca_ref=8031664.dye6eEvHGfEZzxrV
Rapsodo MLM2 Pro
🇬🇧 5% off use code HANDICAP5 https://www.golfswingsystems.co.uk/product/rapsodo-mlm2-pro-mobile-launch-monitor-golf-simulator/
🇺🇸 10% off use code HANDICAPGOLF10 https://www.playbetter.com/products/rapsodo-mlm-2-pro-golf-launch-monitor-simulator?_pos=1&_sid=7c7d6773e&_ss=r&ghref=2301%3A656440
SkyTrak
🇬🇧 5% off use code HANDICAP5 https://www.golfswingsystems.co.uk/product/skytrak/
🇺🇸 https://amzn.to/3SmbY7z
Garmin R10
🇬🇧 5% off use code HANDICAP5 https://www.golfswingsystems.co.uk/product/garmin-approach-r10-portable-launch-monitor-golf-simulator/
🇺🇸 5% off use code HCPGOLF5 https://rainorshinegolf.com/products/garmin-r10-golf-launch-monitor?sca_ref=8031664.dye6eEvHGfEZzxrV
__________________________________________________________________________________________
⛳️ The Complete Step-by-Step System to Build Your Own Home Golf Simulator: https://mitch-s-site-003e.thinkific.com/courses/golfsim
📖 Download my Ultimate DIY Home Golf Simulator guide https://handicap-golf.ck.page/products/golf-sim-guide
7 Comments
Went with square golf. Great reviews and comparison
⛳️ The Complete Step-by-Step System to Build Your Own Home Golf Simulator: https://mitch-s-site-003e.thinkific.com/courses/golfsim
📖 Download my Ultimate DIY Home Golf Simulator guide https://handicap-golf.ck.page/products/golf-sim-guide
Couldn’t agree more!
You do have to pay for course play on square when initial credits run out.
Kept my R10 for awesome golf, so it still get the love in the sim room at home.
I bought a square golf and it is a step up from the R10, worth it for putting.
Been considering an MLM2Pro. Will have to take a closer look at the Square monitor, this is the first time I’ve seen it.
Which LM would you get if you can only hit at the range?