SkyTrak Golf Launch Monitor Review

[Tinkering]

Hello Everyone,

 

Andy, the Vice President, Managing Director of the Golf Division at Skytrak, was nice enough to agree to send me a SkyTrak Golf Launch Monitor to review for you guys. So please check back here for the full write up and videos in the upcoming weeks.

 

I am very excited to put it through some tests inside and outside. Please let me know if there are any questions you have or specific things you would like tested.

 

Here is the link to their website for info on the product, pricing, etc.

http://www.skytrakgolf.com/content/welcome-skytrak

 

I am not being paid and have no affiliation with the company. I do, however, have interest in the product and its potential applications. I look forward to doing this for you guys!

[jbil8802]

That's pretty awesome. I'm excited for this. If you happen to need an extra participant to further your review I'd be happy to take a ride over to Honey Run one day haha.

[Tinkering]

Well I'd be happy to have you come. I'll let you know when it arrives. Working out a date as we speak. I told Andy at SkyTrak I would probably need 2 weeks thanks to all this lovely snow.

[PlaidJacket]

I'll be interested to see what you discover. I'm in the market for a LM. I posted in Classifieds yesterday that I'm looking. I haven't really considered the SkyTrak because of Sky Golf's lousy track record with their other products. I own a SkyCaddie which is ok I suppose. My real grip with it is the clunky OS that runs it. I'm also a little less inclined for this LM and other newbies to the LM game due to the newness of their products. I'm not too much of a first adopter. 

What I really want is a FlightScope Xi - Xi+, X2 or perhaps a Trackman. FlightScope is my dominate choice. None-the-less I'm still very interested in your review and the initiative you've taken. 

[KCLeo12]

Can't wait to see your review. I have seen others and it seems to be pretty good unless shots are hit way offline. I have been looking for a more affordable LM for my own use. I have had my eye on a Flightscope Xi+ but they are hard to find used.

[Mike Z]

I look forward to seeing your thoughts.  I own one and as you go through, I  would be happy to bounce ideas back and forth with you to assist in your review. 

[Tinkering]

I look forward to seeing your thoughts. I own one and as you go through, I would be happy to bounce ideas back and forth with you to assist in your review.

I really appreciate that. I'll message you later on with some questions.

[Tinkering]

A quick update:

 

After meeting with the GM at my local club, I emailed Andy to get a date for the demo. He will be sending it out tomorrow. Hopefully I will have it by Friday. The mygolfspy team just finished their review which is a nice read.

 

I am going to take about two weeks for testing during which I will take videos and get user feedback from players at honey run (for those of you that are close, would love to have you stop by and see it in action).

 

Let me know what questions and concerns you all have. I believe the next software update is set to launch as soon as tomorrow (v1.8.5) which will address the mid iron carry distance issues.

[Tinkering]

Tracking info received. I will have the unit on Thursday. Stay tuned!

[jbil8802]

Awesome! I'm free Friday and Saturday.

[Tinkering]

Unfortunately it looks like snow and rain on Friday and I have my fitting at club champion in MD on Saturday, but I plan to be out the following week and weekend. Just let me know. Thanks.

[PlaidJacket]

After reading the reviews on the Blog and thinking more about it. I'd just as soon pay $500 more and buy the Flightscope Xi. It's proven technology and great support. In other words... it's the real deal.

[Tinkering]

That's fine if you have the 21ft minimum requirement for flightscope and don't want spin numbers and launch angle, but a lot of people do. (All of which is $500 more for less features as you pointed out)

 

If you'd like to compare the xi+ then sure if I had the money I'd go with that for sure.

 

For people wanting spin, LA and have limited indoor space, this is an intriguing product. It is also new. If we always went with what was tried and true we wouldn't have some of the great things we take for granted (in golf and life).

 

I guess I'm just getting at, don't give up on this product this early. I believe they are going through growing pains but they are directly working with forum member feedback over on the golf simulator forum. Early results on 'consistency' have looked very good. Accuracy is constantly being tweaked and will get there (not at flightscope or trackman level, but you aren't paying $8-30k either). For my purposes I want a consistent product. If the accuracy of spin rates is off 5% so be it, I'm looking for it to be off ~5% all the time then. I have little need to know exact numbers, it is all relative.

 

But we will see what my experience shows. I do not want to sound like I'm championing these guys though, so if anyone has had bad experiences or concerns I'd be happy to investigate them during my testing.

[Tinkering]

I was able to get out today with the skytrak unit on the range at honey run.

 

First impressions:

 

Positives:

-Love the form factor, very compact, does not bother me at all when hitting balls.

-extremely easy to get connected to my iPad.

-red laser dot for ball position is fairly easy to spot and is a nice aide for setup.

-numbers when properly aligned (see below) seemed to be very accurate based on gps readings

 

Negative (need more time with the unit)

-although I have read about how important setup is for this unit to work well, i have to be honest, without a large mat to hit off of, it can be a bit of a pain. I was on a grass range but took a couple of my small mats along encase they would be needed. Long story short the unit worked just fine on the grass, but after a few shots you have to move the unit in order to have a good spot to hit from. This moving of the unit affected my numbers because I am sure I did not have exactly the same alignment each time it was moved.

 

***as stated, however, this negative would be a moot point if hitting off of a full size mat where you could consistently keep the unit in the same place.***

 

The Takeaway:

When properly setup and aligned, I was very impressed with the numbers I received as they were very consistent with what I was seeing down range. I am anxious to get out on Sunday to another local course (Briarwood) where I can use the full size mats for a more consistent and reliable test.

 

Quotable Moment:

Another gentleman was hitting on the range today while I was set up, so I asked if he would mind hitting a few balls for me. I asked "how far do you typically hit an 8iron?"

"About 150-160"

(I watched him swing a few earlier and that was what I had been seeing)

Sure enough first shot registered 159yards

Second was a little fat off of my thin mat (not super penalizing) and that one carried 154.

To which he said "very cool device"

He really liked the graphic display of the shot and the accuracy of the yardage given.

 

In summary, my initial response echoes that of the gentleman from the range "very cool device". Running on v 1.8 I did notice some unusual spin numbers, but by the weekend I am hopeful to be running on v 1.8.5 that was submitted to Apple recently. So outside of a finicky setup and alignment when using on the range, my results are very promising in this vey limited amount of testing. Much more to come so stay tuned!

[jbil8802]

Good work on the initial impression. I think the grass issue would be the case with any launch monitor with having to move it around. Interested to see if they improve on the spin numbers with the new version of software.

[hckymeyer]

This product is so intriguing, I can't wait until the sim software update comes out for it and I can read reviews on that.  Someday i WILL have a simulator setup at my house.  (if I keep telling myself that it has to come true right??)

[Tinkering]

Good work on the initial impression. I think the grass issue would be the case with any launch monitor with having to move it around. Interested to see if they improve on the spin numbers with the new version of software.

Actually with a Doppler based system hitting on grass and moving around should be no problem (at least with the units I've used in the past)

[Tinkering]

My observations after round 2:

 

Positives:

-with the exception of a handful of shots, trajectory was dead on

-the data was coming in as quickly as on the trackman I had been on earlier in the day.

-distances were showing shorter than with trackman, but I was using range balls vs pro v1s and was outside vs inside. So not really an applicable comparison, other than flight patterns and reliability. Both would miss a shot here and there if struck very thin or fat and both reproduced very similar flights.

 

Negatives:

-spin numbers (as previously noted were not always reliable) hopefully will be fixed within the week

 

I realize this is not "scientific" but it is real world. I set the unit up in about 2mins and was hitting. Info overall would've been perfectly acceptable for working on my game at home into a net. Ultimately spin numbers need to improve and I think it becomes a viable home sim and possibly even a reliable fitting tool in addition to already being a great teaching tool (individually or with a coach)

 

I will be doing my final part 3 of this review following the release of v1.8.5 complete with pictures and video. Feel free to ask any questions.

[joen]

Snakebit

 

Looking forward to your final review.  Thanks for posting.

[Mike Z]

Would like some more information on where you believe spin numbers are off.  That's one of the things I thought was pretty dead on and it proved out against a flightscope (though it was only 4 swing with the same club so that may not prove or disprove what you are talking about).

[Tinkering]

Would like some more information on where you believe spin numbers are off.  That's one of the things I thought was pretty dead on and it proved out against a flightscope (though it was only 4 swing with the same club so that may not prove or disprove what you are talking about).

It is a known problem that their mid iron spin numbers are off. V1.8.5 is supposed to fix that. I've notived a few shots get up around 11k spin and the occasional flight conflict (shows a draw but I hit a fade).

 

I used it for roughly two hours last night from before sunset to when they had the range lit and it was exceptional. I was truly impressed with its ability to pick up 9i through driver on every single swing. It had no missed shots...none. And I would say out of 120 shots it may have had the spin axis off twice. Now that I have used the unit 4 times I am becomming much better at setting it up quickly and accurately. I would have had no problem using the numbers from last night in swing analysis or club fittings. In fact I was using lead tape to adjust swing weights at one point and it allowed me to immediately see results and adjust each club through driver for optimal numbers. Yardages were compared to range signs which I have hit with a rangefinder in the past, and they were easily within a couple yards on all reasonably struck shots. I had my first really good range session using the unit, and that certainly seems to help it pick up good numbers (which makes sense).

[Tinkering]

Snakebit

 

Looking forward to your final review.  Thanks for posting.

I'm still eagerly awaiting the v1.8.5 update to do the final review with screenshots and possibly some video (video has proved difficult as I'm usually by myself and its tough to get the iPad screen to show up well) I think I may video from behind while also videoing the iPad)

 

But it will be done by next weekend for sure!

[Mike Z]

Interesting....  the other forum I am on that has a lot of info, people seem to think the mid-range distances are off, but I have not noticed any talk about the spin.  I have never had a spin number like you referenced.  Maybe I missed something somewhere. 

 

I will keep on the lookout for it, but spin is one of the numbers I pay a lot of attention to. 

 

Thanks for the work you are doing. 

[Tinkering]

I apologize for no update on the review as promised. My aunt died suddenly so things have been a little hectic around here. I will likely get to it before this next weekend. The v1.8.5 update did not get to me before I had to send the unit back, so I will give my final thoughts based on my last two sessions with the unit that I had not previously talked about.

[KCLeo12]

SnakeBit any further info on this? I am looking to purchase one and was wondering what you final thoughts are

[Mike Z]

Post your questions.  I own one and will answer them to the best of my ability.  I will say this, that the software app has been upgraded to make it pretty easy to do a club comparison.

[KCLeo12]

Mike have you compared yours to other monitors to see how close the numbers are?

[Mike Z]

Quite a while ago, I had compared it to a Flightscope during a lesson.  over 8-10 shots the measured data was extremely close (spin, horizontal launch angle, vertical launch angle, ball speed). Everything was within an immaterial difference in my opinion.

 

At the time, the distances (calculated - not measured) were a little off, but SkyTrak has done a lot of subsequent work in refining its algorithms.  And while I have not tested it side by side again, I believe the carry distances are pretty good in the latest software.

[KCLeo12]

awesome thanks for the info they have a pretty good sale going right now

[Mike Z]

For anyone who owns or is considering a purchase, SkyTrak is in beta testing with simulator software (WGT) and it is getting pretty good reviews.

 

So, by the time the snow flies here in Michigan I expect to be able to use my SkyTrak as a simulator and play indoor golf on it. 

 

Also, right now, and I don't know for how long, the Ipad/Iphone version of WGT can be used with SkyTrak to play par 3 closest to the pin challenge  - I don't know all of the particulars so just throwing what I do know out there.

 

If anyone is interested, PM me and I will give you a link to the forum that I got the information on.