Hey guys, my name is Matthew Bryant. I was extremely fortunate to be selected by MGS to have this awesome opportunity to test the Rapsodo MLM Launch Monitor. I want to thank MGS and everyone involved who makes these opportunities of testing equipment happen. With the winter months upon us, this opportunity gave me more incentive to continue working on my swing. Living in Alabama still allows me to get out to the range, but you never know with the weather. I also have a set up at the house I’ll show a little later that allowed me to get some extra practice in.
Here’s a little bit about myself before I dive into the review. Born and raised in Alabama, I played a lot of sports growing up which didn’t leave too much time for golf as a kid. I really started to play more golf when my abilities for other sports leveled off at church league softball/basketball. While in college, I got a student membership at the local course and that’s where the love for golf really started. My goals continue to get lower and lower over the years as my handicap is trending lower. I am married to my wife, Kelsey and we have a son, Brooks. I like to think Brooks likes to listen to my post round recaps and express how happy he is no matter how bad I might do. I work for the local power company (Alabama Power) and help design the electrical system. Outside of keeping the lights on, watching the Atlanta Braves, Alabama football and basketball are some hobbies.
Now lets get to what y'all came here to read. Here are a couple goals for this review:
1) I have a general idea of how far my clubs go, but I wanted to nail down and get a better idea of my gapping and where I can improve.
2) How does the Rapsodo compare with hitting inside into a net and outside on the range?
3) How easy is it to set up the launch monitor on the course and not mess up pace of play.
4) Data retention and ease of access?
First Impressions
The Rapsodo launch monitor came in right before Christmas for me. Before actually starting any of my testing, I was really intrigued to see how a $500 Rapsodo can produce results in comparison to a $20,000 Trackman. Trackman uses doppler radar technology to track the full flight of the ball whereas Rapsodo only tracks the initial impact flight of the ball. I am impressed with what Rapsodo has to offer as shown in some of the pictures below. Some of the statistics include distance in yards, ball speed, club speed, smash factor, launch angle, and launch direction. Using the camera from your phone, you can see replays of your shot and if your swing fits in the frame.
Grading
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points)
Easy 10 out of 10 here. The Rapsodo is small enough to carry in my golf bag. It isn’t a bulky design. The case that it comes with is sturdy enough where if you accidentally drop the launch monitor in the case, it’ll be just fine. There is a clip that comes with the case and you can easily attach it on the outside of the bag if you wanted to.
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
From taking the launch monitor out of the case in my bag, opening the app, placing my phone on the launch monitor, it takes about 45 seconds to 1 minute. When you use the Rapsodo outside like on the range or on the course, it’ll take about another minute to get the orientation of where the ball will be traveling. Below is what you see from the camera perspective.
The important part about setup is how far away you place the launch monitor away from the ball. As we saw in the initial post when asking for reviewers, if you are hitting inside, you will need 6-8 ft from the ball to the net and about 6-8 ft from the launch monitor to the ball. Here is my set up at the house. I’ve had this cheap net from Amazon that has held up quite nicely. I was able to borrow a good mat from one of the RTJ courses here by me. I never had a problem with my set up at the house. Thankfully I never shanked one into one of the metal poles by the net.
My only knock on using the Rapsodo launch monitor with setup and use of the equipment was how quickly the battery on my phone drains. I have an iPhone 12 and haven’t had it for more than 4 months. Now I can still easily get in a long range session, but I could go from 100 % down to 60%. Another thing that I experienced recently was that the launch monitor and my phone got overheated when the temperature was reading 70 degrees! Now I realize the sun was bright and shiny that day, but I can only imagine what might happen during a 90-100 degree day down here in Alabama. I’ll report back this summer.
Scroll down to the miscellaneous section where I talk about the Rapsodo app, ease of use, and data retention.
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
Disclaimer before I talk about accuracy***Let’s say I hit the pin and it says 165 yards out. I am happy if I hit the ball 160-170 yards. I don’t need the yardage down to 1 yard for I do not have pinpoint accuracy due to inconsistent ball striking.***
One of the accuracy tests that I have not been able to test yet, but have a lesson lined up at the end of this upcoming week is testing the Rapsodo next to the Trackman. I’ll come back and update some of the results I found. I read on Rapsodo’s website that they also conducted that test and the picture below shows how close they claim to be to a Trackman.
What I did end up testing is the accuracy of hitting indoor into a net versus outdoor. With the weather being rainy and cold for the past 2 months, I have definitely compiled more data inside. I compiled just over 800 shots. 500 were inside and about 300 outside. Hitting inside had some challenges as my ceilings are only 8.5 ft ceilings. If I had a normal follow through with my 5 wood, 3 wood, and driver, I would clip the ceiling (see bloopers at the end). Below are my averages and as you can see I averaged 5-10 yards further outside with each club. This makes sense as the camera and radar technology have the ability to track the ball further outside than inside.
SW
PW
9 i
8 i
7 i
6 i
5 i
4 i
5 w
3 w
D
Outside (yds)
127
141
152
162
173
174
194
203
232
247
278
Inside (yds)
115
131
144
157
168
177
187
195
230
213
266
While these averages are about what I expect, I did get some off the wall distances during my indoor and outdoor sessions. The only way I can reach these two distances shown below is with a 20-30 mph wind at my back (there wasn't). I will probably average 1-2 of these session where I either get off the wall long numbers or like a distance of 7 yards. It would only bother me if it happened every 4th shot.
On-Course or Range (27 out of 30 points)
I spent a lot of my time using the Rapsodo during the review hitting inside at the house and outside on the range. Hitting outside allows you to see a replay of your swing (like hitting indoors), but also get to see the shot path as seen below in some of the videos. With the ease of setup, it didn’t mess up my routine at all when first getting on the range. Take a minute or two set up after getting some range balls and then do my regular routine.
Sometimes when I was hitting indoors, I’d try really hard to see how far I can hit it since I didn’t truly know where the ball was going. Of course I could tell if I bladed or chunked it, but my issue was I couldn’t truly tell if I pushed, sliced, drew, or hooked the ball. What I have enjoyed using the Rapsodo launch monitor outdoors is seeing different shot shapes and knowing exactly how far I’m hitting it. I like going back and seeing the videos of my shots with the shot tracer. Here is why I didn’t give it a full 30 out of 30 points: the shot tracer is not always accurate. I feel like most of the shot trackers were lower than my actual ball flight. The shot tracker would follow the ball most of the time, but would be a lot lower making it seem like when I look back at the videos that I am hitting the ball low on the face or smothering the ball. There are some other times where the shot tracer gets funky. See pictures/videos below.
Since I still need to have the Rapsodo about 6-8 ft away from where I am hitting the golf ball, the placement of the Rapsodo might be in the walking area of where other golfers might be passing by. I try to either get on the outside part of the range or try to go when there are not a lot of people out there. Another thing I had to be aware of is the volume of the Rapsodo launch monitor. After each hit, the launch monitor will read out the distance. If the volume is turned up too loud, it could annoy some of the other golfers nearby.
Miscellaneous (9 out of 10 points)
In this section I’ll talk about the Rapsodo app. The app is free from the app store. There is a premium subscription of $100 a year for you to buy if you desire. The app stores every single shot and breaks down each shot. You do have the ability to delete bad shots that I consider throw aways. I try to delete those as they aren't true to what my average would be for that club. There are 5 sections in the app: Home, Coach, Play, Explore, and Profile.
1) Profile is where you can set up a lot of the behind the scenes stuff like a profile picture, what is in your bag, app settings, and tutorials.
2) Explore tab allows you to view other people who post their shots. You can like their posts or give it a thumbs down if you so choose.
3) Coach tab is where you can look at featured instructors and purchase virtual lessons from them.
4) The Home tab is where you can go back and look at all the sessions you completed along with the data you compiled over the lifetime of using the Rapsodo. This is where some of the premium subscription comes into play. If you have a premium subscription, you can view all the video replays of every shot you have made. If you don’t have a premium subscription, you can only view the most recent videos from your last few sessions.
You can go into each session and look at each shot (distance, ball speed, club speed, etc.)
5) Play tab is where you start your range/on course sessions along with competing in games like closest to the pin or longest drive with other Rapsodo members. You can only do the games outside.
The only reason I didn’t give this a 10 out of 10 is because you have to purchase the yearly subscription to see all your videos. I wish they would allow access to all the videos and not the most recent ones. I like to look back and see my progress or try to find why I’m struggling with a certain club.
Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points)
So here is what this comes down to. Are you willing to pay $400-500 for a launch monitor? If you are in the market for one cheaper than a Trackman, then absolutely. I believe the Rapsodo launch monitor can truly help you hone in your distances for your sticks. I believe any type of golfer can find use with the Rapsodo launch monitor. You can get as detailed as you like with the club head, ball speed, and smash factor or you can just look at the distances.
Conclusion
The Rapsodo launch monitor is an affordable device, with the help of radar technology, that can help develop and make your game better. Through the use of the launch monitor and your phone, one can see distance, ball speed, club head speed, and smash factor through every shot one takes. One can set up anywhere to use the launch monitor from on the course, inside into a net, or out on the range. I believe you have to practice to get better at anything you put effort into. Depending on if you’re willing to spend money on this area of your golf game, having a launch monitor can help pinpoint what each club in your bag should carry distance wise. Whether this translates to success on the golf course is up to you.
Final Score: 92 out of 100
Bloopers
After a round of frustrating golf today, this beauty was sitting on my front steps. Looking forward to diving in and testing out this product! I’ll add some quick notes of what I’m looking to gain out of this review here in a little bit.
