CarlH

Rhapsodo MLM Review: Introduction
Hello again fellow Golf Spies! 
I'm excited to get started on another product review with MyGolfSpy, it is always an honor to be selected. 
My name is Greg, and I live in Tampa Florida, and play the majority of my golf in and around the central Florida region. I first started playing golf in high school after a friend invited me to go play. We borrowed his dad's clubs and off we went. I shot about 120 that day, but on the 17th tee I hit a soaring long draw with the driver and I was hooked, I mean destined, to be a golfer for life. I played as often as I could through the rest of high school and college with a 'set' of clubs I was able to piece together one or two clubs at a time off the sale rack at Sports Authority on a minimum wage pay check.
After completing the four year ROTC program at UCF (Go Knights) I spent just over 20 years flying KC-135 air  refueling tankers in the Air Force.
 
During my first year in the AF, I bought my first real set of clubs and began playing golf in earnest. I was mostly self taught and relied on whatever natural athleticism would manage and could usually make it around the course scoring in the low 90's. In my late 30's I finally decided to seek out a coach and take lessons, but the military lifestyle and transient nature of golf instructors made it difficult to stay with any particular coach for very long, but I managed to work my handicap down to about 10 for a while and played pretty consistently in the low 80's.

After retiring from the Air Force I got to move back home to Tampa where I now work teaching current KC-135 pilots in the flight simulator. I'm able to play or practice golf 2-3 times per week. My current handicap index is around 13, and I'm about to finish my fourth season playing in a local competitive league. See the League Play From the Middle of the Pack 2021 Season thread for my story there.

I've done several other tests for MyGolfSpy, including Odyssey EXO putter, Ping G410 irons, and Sqairz golf shoes. This is going to be my first 'soft goods' test though so it will be interesting to interact with you all as we put the Rapsodo MLM through it's paces.
How am I going to approach this testing process?
 Like the other testers, I'm most curious about the Remote Coaching option they have generously added into the test process for us. I have been working with my current coach for about 6 months now, and I feel like my swing is in a pretty good place. I've played pretty consistently the last couple of months. It will be an interesting comparison to see what the remote coach can see and recommend versus the in-person coaching. 
One cool aspect for this test is my current coach uses an indoor studio with a ForeSight system for full swing lessons. I think I can convince him pretty easily to let me set up the Rhapsodo during a session and get some direct comparison data. 
I also purchased the ShotScope V3 GPS watch (thanks in large part to the MGS review) for shot and performance tracking. I've also been using the 18 Birdies app for scoring history and track handicap trends along with MyScorecard through the league managing my USGA official handicap. Especially Shot Scope will give me a way to do some side-by-side data comparisons with what the Rapsodo says on the range and the on-course performance data I've gathered through Shot Scope.
As always, the fun part of these reviews is the interaction with the other testers and all of the readers as we put the product through its paces. Thanks again to MyGolfSpy for this newest opportunity. Really looking forward to getting started, and as always, feel free to ask whatever questions you like along the way, and I will give the best answers that I can.

 
 
Final Review: 28 November 2021
Thanks again MGS for another great test/review opportunity. Many of my review centric thoughts were included in the discussion thread, so if you've followed along or scrolled through those comments some of this final review might sound repetitive. Anyway, here goes, and happy holidays!
First Impressions:  Packaging for the device was simple, compact, and more than enough for protecting the device in transit. One big plus is the compact size. The carry case and device are small enough to carry in or attach to your golf bag for transit to the range. Keeping the charging cord in the carry case made keeping track of that easy, especially in my house where chargers and cords tend to be everywhere. Getting started was easy and intuitive as well. A quick search in the app store, and a couple of clicks in the app itself, some charging time, and I was off and running (well in the car at least) to the range for session number one!
   
 
Looks and Feel: 8 out of 10 points:  As more of a soft goods product, there really isn't much to looks and feel with regard to the device itself. It's small size makes it easy to use. The device is simple, and I suppose for looks you'd have to say simple is better. I didn't have to spend a bunch of time on the range with it answering 'Hey, what's that?' type of questions, which meant I got to enjoy my range sessions with the device. The interface within the app is simple and intuitive as well, so I didn't have to spend hours figuring out how to access my data or swing videos after a session.
Setup: 9 out of 15 points:  One of the aspects of the Rapsodo MLM is it's versatility and being able to use it both indoors or outdoors. The less you need to change the ball placement spot, the easier setup winds up being. That makes indoor setup a breeze, since hitting off an indoor mat means you don't need to reposition the ball after several swings or potentially change your target line. Outdoor setup is a little more cumbersome. The app tracks your device's gps postion, so it can recognize you are on the property of 'Golf Club X'. It takes a minute to properly position and orient the device to your spot on the range. Once you've done that, the instructions are pretty spot on with where and how to position the device. A challenge to battle is changing your position relative to the device. If you have to move forward or back a few inches/feet for turf you have to make sure you are in line with the device.
The MLM itself seems to charge  pretty quickly. Even after sitting unused for several days, it lasted at least through a range session with as little as 15 minutes of charging time. If it has a battery level indicator anywhere other than the LED on the front of the device changing color, then it was somewhere I didn't notice it.
One thing of note here was needing to give the device a little shade to operate in. Several of my sessions here in Florida were in full sun and warm temperatures. On days like that, the device tended to overheat pretty quickly, whether it was my phone or the device itself, left exposed 20-25 minutes was about all the session time I could get out of it before needing to let it cool down a bit and start a new session. Giving it some shade by using the umbrella on my push cart usually got me to 45-60 minutes before the device would drop offline.
Accuracy 13 out of 15 points:  Considering the size of the device, and the fact it is using radar to capture two different, simultaneous data points (club speed, ball speed) the Rapsodo MLM was pretty accurate. For outdoor sessions I made sure to laser capture the target posts on the range to give me a gauge for estimating shot distance to compare. Indoors, I had the opportunity to use it side-by-side with my coach's Trackman system and the distance numbers were pretty close to the same.
Indoors has some limitations on the output though. It seemed like the more of the ball flight the camera was able to capture, the better the 'Shot Type' description turned out. Hitting indoors or into a net, the short ball flight tended to come back with almost every shot being called 'Straight'. Outdoors, with the camera interface seeing the entire ball flight it was much more accurate identifying Pull/Hook/Draw/Fade etc. 
Keep in mind, the only real data points you get are club head speed at impact, and ball speed at launch. The rest of the distance is the device doing math that we don't want to. You do get the depiction of ball flight on outdoor sessions, and since ball flight is king, that is a big benefit with this device. If you are looking for more advanced club related data like attack angle, face angle, path and such, you're out of luck. And if you are a 'spin nerd' then  you are left out completely.

On Course 20 of 30 points: The Rapsodo MLM is not really designed or intended for on course use. That being said, I did have the opportunity to take it out onto the course on a slow day and see what I could get out of it. Of course, you have to have the time to go through the setup process before any shots you want to record on the course. The data again was accurate relative to the comparison, which on-course for me was ShotScope v3. I did like getting to see a video replay of a couple of good shots though. 

On the range though, where it is intended to be used, it is easy to set up, even if it's not necessarily quick. It provides good, useful launch data and it's nice and portable so you don't have to take a whole bunch of extra stuff with you to the range to use it.
Miscellaneous 7 out of 10  points: It feels like there is a lot more to cover in the Miscellaneous category for the Rapsodo MLM when you start looking into the extra little features in the app. 
One that most of the testers were keen to investigate was the Coach Connect feature. Once I looked into this in the app, I decided it wasn't really for me. Living where I do, I have year round access to coaches I can see in person that are within close proximity to my house. For players who live in remote areas without a lot of golf course options or quality coaches close enough, then the Coach Connect feature can get you in touch with a coach. There are a lot of coaches in the Rapsodo system, but price depends on which coach you choose. Then you have to take video recordings of you swing/s to send them and wait for their feedback and drill recommendations. 
 
Other in-app features were the remote Long Drive and Close to Pin contests. I'll admit, those didn't seem inviting enough to me to try. Take note though, those in-app contests do offer prizes to the winners, of course you have to be a subscription member to participate.
A feature added later into our testing process was the Insights feature. So each recorded session gives premium subscription members an option to get robot analysis of their practice session. It uses some algorithms to compare your recorded session to other players of your handicap level to suggest where you are better or worse than average on some performance parameters, and gives a suggestion on where to work to improve. It seems pretty intuitive and accurate with the analysis, but it goes by every shot in the session, including any drill swings or outlier swings you recorded.
 
One helpful little feature is the club recognition for outdoor sessions. It is, so far, not available on indoor sessions, but outdoors, if you hold an iron in front of the camera for a few seconds, it will automatically change the club in the session. I found that it works about 80% of the time, and is more accurate recognizing irons versus driver etc. 
I especially liked the headphone compatibility option. If you have Bluetooth compatible headphones connected while you use it, you get audio feedback after each shot with ball speed, launch angle and distance. You can also listen to your range tunes at the same time. I didn't notice any detriment to the device function life with that over the sessions where I went without the headphones.
As other reviewers have mentioned, the camera field of view can be a serious limiting factor if you are looking for reviewable video of your swing. With long clubs the hands and forearms tend to get cut out of the frame at the top of the backswing unless you more significantly further from the device. When you do that though, the data accuracy tends to get degraded. Same applies with indoor use. You may not have sufficient room in front of the MLM to get the entire swing in the frame. It's designed to capture the launch data though, and it does a good job of that.
Play It or Trade It - 10 out of 20 points: I went middle of the road here because my jury is still out on what I plan to do with this long term. The folks at Rapsodo were more than generous with our test group and set us each up with a one year premium subscription. I'm going to wait and see what comes down the pike as far as additional features or upgrades. There is also the fact that this is a rapidly growing segment of the golf gadget market and there are likely to be more options to choose from in the not too distant future. For now it stays, and I'll continue to use it during my league off season to help steer me toward where to focus my lessons and practice.
Conclusion: The Rapsodo MLM is not a device for every golfer out there. As I mentioned in the discussion thread, if you are a competitive golfer or are seriously trying to improve your game, then it is a wallet friendly option as a personal launch monitor compared to it's high priced big brothers used by professional coaches and teachers and club fitters. Other than saying "I have this really cool gadget I use on the range" there really isn't much utility in it for a purely recreational golfer. It's got enough useful data you can verify your club gapping. If you are working on swing changes, ball flight is where it's at, and this is a very good ball flight monitor. As far as capturing video of the swing, well, the device is what it is. It is a Launch Monitor, and it does a good job of giving you the basic launch data you need - Club Speed, Ball Speed, Smash Factor, Launch Angle and doing the math on all that, an accurate distance. 
Final Score: 67 / 100 points

Hello everyone and welcome to my Rapsodo MLM Launch Monitor review! Thank you MGS of course for the testing opportunity and Rapsodo for providing a incredible product for myself and our other 3 lucky testers to put through its paces.
Introduction: August 2, 2021
To start off we will of course begin with a introduction. For those new the the site I am lucky enough to be the newest of the Mods on a fantastic team here at MGS. Before I managed to get my @golfspy tag I went by Apolloshowl and before that Danbrook . In previous reviews I would leave a link to a past one to give you an idea of me and my game, however that seems like a lifetime ago and with our new system it means time for a brand new introduction.
My name is Jamie, I am 33 and I live in a little town about a half hour from Zurich, Switzerland. August 1st not only represents the Swiss national holiday, but also our 1 year here in Switzerland... oh I should probably elaborate on the plural. When I made the decision to move here for work, my then girlfriend now wife (Allyssa) joined me on this great adventure. We were of course joined by our 3 dogs. Apollo, Fender and Oliver (or Ollie or Smalls or Smalliver). We absolutely love it here and are excited to welcome a new member to our family in the new year and are very fortunate to call Switzerland home. 

As for the work that brought me here, well it is unique. I work as a Ice Technician for curling clubs and events. For me this normally means travelling a few months a year to different parts of the world making ice and maintaining my home club where we have ice 11 months a year and host many Olympic teams and training. It's work that has constant surprises and is always changing. I truly love what I do and can't imagine doing any other work... of course my work here as a mod not included. 

That sums up life/work in a short way, which means we are now onto the fun part. Golf and MGS!
Before I get into my game here is a link (I'm doing it again) to what sums up my MGS career a little bit: 
Now with that out of the way my golf game. I play to a 11, although sadly I really haven't got a chance to play nearly as much as I would like to this season with work, incoming baby and covid it has meant a lot less golf. However when I have played I still have a good feel for everything and have put up respectable scores. My biggest strength is my putting. That is also what I practice a fair bit at home so it is simply a comfort for me. My weakness is chipping and tee shots. My driver is less then consistent and after SuperSpeed testing last year it didn't hurt, but also didn't help. With a increase of speed and not as much practice it has meant some more big misses with the driver. My irons I love and am just really comfortable with, although arccos would tell me to club up on approach shots as I will very often come up short vs miss left or right. 
If you want to check out a WITB for me it will be linked in the post about my MGS history above. 
Finally now we get to the goods and the product in question for testing. 
For starters I'll be using my ipad on it, as I have an Android phone (old iphone if I have to). Most of testing will be here at home (be ready for the unboxing post of all unboxing posts!) at the range and some on course use where possible (golfing in Switzerland is a little different and very go go go so less time to videoing and so on). I do promise to try and get some good backdrops where I can!
Why am I excited for Rapsodo and what this test means to me?
As eluded to above I don't get out to play nearly as much as I would like and Rapsodo will give me a great tool to practice and work on my game here at home both indoors and out. The coach feature is likely what I'm looking forward to most in I have not had a lesson in years and think this will be very beneficial as I can take the time to work on what is given to me before taking it to the course and get lots of reps in. It will also be great to get numbers and have a better idea of how far I am hitting all of my clubs since Superspeed training. 
What will be tested and examined?
For this test I will again test it both indoors and outside. I will also be going to our local shop and see how some of the numbers compare against GC Quad for those curious in that. 
Last the coach feature. I truthfully am not exactly sure what to expect with this. I will be going in with a open mind and willing to try anything the coach recommends or suggests. I think I forgot to mention this, but I am also a lefty... so outside of suggesting I play right handed I'll be all ears! 
There are lots of good solid reviews out there on the Rapsodo MLM so I will try and bring something fresh and new to the table with that, but I will also put a large focus on the Coach Feature and how it could benefit all of you. 

Unboxing: September 23, 2021
Time for a photo dump. As I said in the post the Rapsodo comes with everything you want and need and nothing that you do not. This to me is great. Less waste and I don't need a bunch of things to open or fiddle around with. A power button, simple setup guide and instructions, usb C cord and thats about it. 

That being said my ipad case does not work with it so that had to be taken off which is fine, but not a easy case to take off.

It is pretty small and compact which is also fantastic!

It also feels sturdy as a device, which I won't say is surprising but i feel the durability will be great for the long term with this device as well. 

Then we have the home setup which is a big reason why I wanted to get in on this. With life changes and being in a new country I haven't got a chance to play nearly as much as I would have liked and with baby on the way this is going to get a lot of use and the Rapsodo will help me dial in numbers over the course the review a future.

First impressions are great so far and very happy with the quick setup and install and looking forward to the Coaching Feature and how I can improve my swing. 

For now I am going to wrap this up and for future updates, unboxing, photos and reviews check back both on this post and the comments! 
Final Review: November 25th, 2021
Looks & Feel (8 out of 10 points) 
Describe the following for the device:
This is a big bonus for the Rapsodo device. It is small, compact and really simple. I’ve touched base on this throughout parts of the review process, but with how simple it is I really think this is a key feature to it being a good product in any golfers bag. The added carrying case, USB C charger are great to have with one protecting the device and the other being a basic standard for most chargers now aday (funnily enough not apple which is what you need to use to use for this… just now noticing the irony in that)
I used mind with a ipad in a net almost exclusively and although I didn’t get around to doing head to head with gc quard or trackman I was able to do some with the PRGR which if we are being more realistic is a more comparable device for those who may be looking at getting the Rapsodo MLM. 
In comparison the Rapsodo is a slightly larger, but add in the ipad and it feels like a much more professional unit and one much more suited to someone looking to dive into the data. 
As for the score of 8, it is a good unit and sleek there is no doubt about that, but there is also nothing really makes it stand out and say WOW so a score of 8 I think is justified. 

Setup (10 out of 15 points)
Set up is stupid simple. Make sure its charged up, turn the power on. Have the app downloaded and account created within the Apple device and simply select pair. The app walks you through step by step and within a matter of minutes you are ready to hit golf balls. The app really does a stellar job and making sure you are given the proper knowledge going into it. 
The battery on the device for me lasted several sessions and I never ran it down to dead, it was quick and easy enough to bring in and throw on charge for a couple hours and put it back on the bag. 
Although I did not have any reason to contact customer care, I was happy to see that after one session that seemed to have missed more then a fair share of shots I got a email notification asking about the session and saying here are some tips and tricks if I was having trouble and gave the information for customer service. I did have another bad session where the ipad kept shutting down, I reset it and recharged it to full and didn’t have the issue again. HOWEVER I did make sure the ipad always had 80% or better charge from there on out. I don’t recommend using it with a lower charge as it may use too much and shut down. Also worthy to note that the ipad would not simply turn back on, but had to be plugged in to reboot. 
Scoring reasoning of 10 I think is covered above, but even though initial setup and integration and app itself are really good. The bugs with the devices and needing to have a near full powered device is a downfall for me. Side note a feature which I would love to see, not sure if it was there or not but a power indicator on the unit itself would be great!

Accuracy (12 out of 15 points)
The accuracy of this device is exactly what you should expect for its price point. Some shots are missed, some are spot on and there is a variance in between. That being said if you are trying to dial in distances as a whole I think this is a great unit. I like how it displayed and showed the data on the ipad and really liked how you can go back and look at shots. I believe it accurately detected thin shots, fat shots and of course the odd perfect one that I hit. Distances were consistent with what I would expect on the course and there were very few that I looked at and said well thats a obvious misread. If anyting those misreads were simply just missed entirely. This happened for me I would say 5-7% of the time. Again this could be more because I was using a net almost exclusively and maybe the flight wasn’t far enough. 
This brings me to the second point in this where distance is one thing, direction is another. I again believe in the distances it showed. The direction I’m not so sure of. I mean I would love my dispersion to be as tight as it was, but know that I’m not that accurate so I think into a net with a limited ball flight the direction has a bit of room for improvement, but is more then adequate. I didn’t shank any, but did hit some high toe shots that I could see go into the top left of the net and it would read them as being more straight. 
Comparing to PRGR I was quite happy, swing speed seemed to be close to on point which is what PRGR is known for and ball speed I would say is pretty darn close to. Now with that information is that showing better things for Rapsodo or PRGR? I’ll let you know and determine that for yourself.
Scoring reason- lets be honest for the price this is at and the features it provides its great. A 12 given some of its grey areas are truly awesome. 
Are the yardages accurate? (compare to another method if possible)

On-Course (20 out of 30 points)
I did get out for a round with it, as well as a few range sessions, but again I want to focus this more on net compatibility as we head into the off season and colder weather could this be something that is used a lot indoors for training and improvement?
Again setup is simple, the app is great and I think this could work really well for someone who wants to use this at home not as a simulator, but as a training device and to keep their swing in shape in the winter months and dial in some numbers as well as distances. 
Obviously the ball flight features and such are great for on course and range, but something you do not get at home. Maybe one day there can be a simulated flight, but for these purposes it's not really needed. 
The biggest draw back I found was outside of a 7 iron I could barely see my swing, almost my whole body was out of the video which I’m sure I could move the device further and further back, but driver I would need to have it so far back it would be way out of the parameters of working so I do think that is a area for improvement. 
I feel like I am being a little harsh on Rapsodo with my gradings, but I think it is important to understand what you are getting and what you are wanting to achieve with this device. Outside of testing I’ll be honest I don’t think I’ll be bringing this onto the course with me again. Not that it was difficult, but I’m not sure I see the benefit for on course use. That being said range/net use I think is great as a base device to get you numbers, data sets and general swing thoughts for your golf game. Which I do believe is important, especially in todays number centric golfing world. It gives you a lot more then PRGR, but that also comes with a cost of $350 or more… which is about what I would expect. 
I will also say that I used multiple sets of clubs to see if there were different launch angles and such and it did seem to pick those up. My Cobra Fly Z Pro set was shorter as expected then the i210s. Sadly driver was a tough one. I believe it was good and generally accurate, but I was using my old old driver as my Epic decided to crack on the crown so I can’t really accurately say driver numbers were spot on. I feel they were, but my 3 wood was about as far according to the numbers Rapsodo showed. This I also don’t doubt. 

Miscellaneous (10 out of 10 points)
Okay there isn’t too much to put in here. However this is where I think Rapsodo does score perfect. It is clear they believe in their product. They have come out with several updates for the App along with new features. They have also expanded the use of the Rapsodo MLM to include a coaching feature which unfortunately we weren’t able to gain access to, however they did give us full access to the premium subscription which allows you to store more shots, see more videos and get some additional data sets. This is FREE for any Rapsodo user for the first month which is fantastic! A great trial before you decide to take the plunge, which I do believe is worth while. 
It is great to see they are enhancing features around the same unit to give it more uses as well as data to use. This is great to see and Rapsodo themselves were very good to deal with when I had to email them about some of the features of us doing this review. 

Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This will be more brief for me. I will play it and use it. With life changing and family growing my golf game will be more out of home focused which means this will get used more and be part of my more normal golf routine as well as help me keep my game in check and swing smooth. However if I was to be out on the course a lot more and able to play more I honestly am not sure how much I would use it? So in short yes and I am very happy with the unit itself along with its features for my golf game and where golf fits into my life now.

Conclusion
TLDR- The Rapsodo device is a great small, simple and compact device that gives you solid data points across the board and in terms of my testing was nice to see net compatibility function well. Rapsodo continues to work and improve not only the app, but features and uses of the MLM which only adds to its overall value

Final Score: 75/100