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Bushnell Launch Pro


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On 9/24/2021 at 3:34 PM, dlow206 said:

THP posted a test of the GC3

of t

I’ll never get that time back…. 

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Hybrid: Ping G425 22*, Ping Tour 80X

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2 hours ago, cnosil said:

It will be accurate; IMO probably the most accurate below GC4.  Cost is always relative to the individual.  For Bushnell You are looking at $3k initially plus a yearly subscription.  For foresight $7k plus I would guess unknown upgrade charges to keep the software current.   Maybe a little more costly than your 1/3 but close.
 

Personally, I don’t think this will drastically change the launch monitor market but will put a little pressure on sky track to do something. 

I think when one breaks down the subscription costs of launch pro with the straight out of the box cost of the gc3 and the initial reports on accuracy the gc3 would be worth the price.  As someone else stated above, if one chooses to go with the launch pro and highest subscription package they would have to weigh time frame for owning the unit for it to be cost effective.  Funny I could’ve waited 12 hours for all this info rather than jumping to conclusions in my earlier response haha

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11 minutes ago, BMart519 said:

Seems like a challenge for the software guys to unlock the Launch Pro software to spit out head data. 😆

I have already been reading comments about people buying the low model once the hack is found.  Just like rooting a phone or Amazon fire stick 

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1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I have already been reading comments about people buying the low model once the hack is found.  Just like rooting a phone or Amazon fire stick 

That was my thought. It's almost inevitable that someone will find a way around it. $3k for a LM that doesn't give you much more than a Rapsodo feels like a rip off and royal 💩💩💩 on golfers. I get what they are going for but I would rather see them charge $4k or $5k for the base unit and at least provide the raw data. $4k extra for the unlocked model seems a little rich. I'm sure it's going to be a fine unit in terms of accuracy but $800 a year for FSX and the metrics is a little steep. I know this product isn't aimed at the budget golfer by any means but these prices seem asinine. Plus, who in their right mind decided to call their sim software FSX?!

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Well, I've been waiting for this release. I'm building out my hitting bay /sim this winter and didn't want to get the 7 year old skytrak. Just talked it over with the wife. I'll be preordering one. Going for the 3k+800, if I use the heck out of it I'll likely just sell it and go gc3. 

That's the plan. Expect unofficial review to follow. 

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1 hour ago, Thin2win said:

Well, I've been waiting for this release. I'm building out my hitting bay /sim this winter and didn't want to get the 7 year old skytrak. Just talked it over with the wife. I'll be preordering one. Going for the 3k+800, if I use the heck out of it I'll likely just sell it and go gc3. 

That's the plan. Expect unofficial review to follow. 

Curious if they offer a financing option, it might make more sense to buy the GC3 and sell that one if you really don't end up using it that much.  The $800 for forever really seems like a deal breaker as at this price I'd hope to get 10 years of use out of it and if you don't pay it, then you're not getting any more info than what a Mevo+ offers.  I feel like depreciation on the Bushnell is going to be really high because people will get tired of spending the $800 where as the GC3 is one and done and will probably hold up much better.  

If you're at all considering the possibility that you would have to sell it, I'd rather get the GC3 and look for some way to finance it to defer some of the up front cost.  

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2 hours ago, cnosil said:

I have already been reading comments about people buying the low model once the hack is found.  Just like rooting a phone or Amazon fire stick 

I could definitely see myself picking up a used one of these in 2 years @ $1500-2000 if I know I could unlock the full functionality of it and hook it up to a computer, etc.

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12 minutes ago, ChitownM2 said:

Curious if they offer a financing option, it might make more sense to buy the GC3 and sell that one if you really don't end up using it that much.  The $800 for forever really seems like a deal breaker as at this price I'd hope to get 10 years of use out of it and if you don't pay it, then you're not getting any more info than what a Mevo+ offers.  I feel like depreciation on the Bushnell is going to be really high because people will get tired of spending the $800 where as the GC3 is one and done and will probably hold up much better.  

If you're at all considering the possibility that you would have to sell it, I'd rather get the GC3 and look for some way to finance it to defer some of the up front cost.  

I'm going to go out on a limb and say for the sake of financial discipline that luxury golf launch monitors are in the realm of things that shouldn't be financed. I could see financing being a viable option if this is a business that is returning earnings from the use of the item but from a personal finance perspective, this seems like a questionable decision assuming the LM is a depreciating asset.

For anyone reading this, please do yourself a long-term financial favor and be careful if you're looking at things from the perspective of monthly payments. If you don't need something and can't afford to buy it outright, you should really carefully consider your purchase decision before you finance the purchase. If you finance the $7k GC3 at say 5.5% (optimistic), you will have a monthly payment of $211/month over three years or $134/month over five years. The total cost of ownership over three years would be $7,596 and over five years, $8,040. That's $600 - $1000 of interest that you will never get back. If you don't have a flawless financial picture and the interest rate is 8.5%, then the three year monthly payment would be $221/month ($7,955 total) or for five years $144/month ($8,616 total). That's a lot of money going down the drain and for the love of God, please don't finance this on a credit card with rates that range from 16% to 29%. We haven't even included any sales tax that would likely bump that number up another $400 - $700 depending on your area.

Sorry for the rant, I just see too many people make poor financial decisions for things that are extra. If you have the cash to burn, then feel free and buy it but if you don't, please think very carefully and don't make a rushed decision. Please keep in mind that the SkyTrak is also a perfectly capable device if all you want to do is keep your swing in somewhat reasonable shape over the winter. 

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52 minutes ago, Kansas King said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say for the sake of financial discipline that luxury golf launch monitors are in the realm of things that shouldn't be financed. I could see financing being a viable option if this is a business that is returning earnings from the use of the item but from a personal finance perspective, this seems like a questionable decision assuming the LM is a depreciating asset.

For anyone reading this, please do yourself a long-term financial favor and be careful if you're looking at things from the perspective of monthly payments. If you don't need something and can't afford to buy it outright, you should really carefully consider your purchase decision before you finance the purchase. If you finance the $7k GC3 at say 5.5% (optimistic), you will have a monthly payment of $211/month over three years or $134/month over five years. The total cost of ownership over three years would be $7,596 and over five years, $8,040. That's $600 - $1000 of interest that you will never get back. If you don't have a flawless financial picture and the interest rate is 8.5%, then the three year monthly payment would be $221/month ($7,955 total) or for five years $144/month ($8,616 total). That's a lot of money going down the drain and for the love of God, please don't finance this on a credit card with rates that range from 16% to 29%. We haven't even included any sales tax that would likely bump that number up another $400 - $700 depending on your area.

Sorry for the rant, I just see too many people make poor financial decisions for things that are extra. If you have the cash to burn, then feel free and buy it but if you don't, please think very carefully and don't make a rushed decision. Please keep in mind that the SkyTrak is also a perfectly capable device if all you want to do is keep your swing in somewhat reasonable shape over the winter. 

I would agree with this in general, obviously people shouldn't be buying things they can't afford.  My point was more that the $800 per year in perpetuity is going to add up to a lot of money as well and imo is kind of required to reap the actual benefits of this LM versus many of the cheaper options out there.  So if the reason for going with the cheaper version is to reduce the up front costs and pay the balance incrementally in the form of a subscription fee for the life of the product, then perhaps financing the full featured model might be the better option.  My assumption is that if he can afford either model along with building the rest of the sim he is in decent enough financial shape to pay off a loan in 2 or 3 years.  Also, there is nothing to say that he has to do no money down either.  Putting down the $3k+tax that he is already planning to spend would still be a good idea and will reduce those monthly payments and total interest a fair amount.   

Edit:  You have to remember that in year 6 you're going to be into this for $7800 and in year 7 it will be $8600, etc.  and that assumes that they don't raise the subscription prices which I would say is not a very good assumption.  

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38 minutes ago, ChitownM2 said:

I would agree with this in general, obviously people shouldn't be buying things they can't afford.  My point was more that the $800 per year in perpetuity is going to add up to a lot of money as well and imo is kind of required to reap the actual benefits of this LM versus many of the cheaper options out there.  So if the reason for going with the cheaper version is to reduce the up front costs and pay the balance incrementally in the form of a subscription fee for the life of the product, then perhaps financing the full featured model might be the better option.  My assumption is that if he can afford either model along with building the rest of the sim he is in decent enough financial shape to pay off a loan in 2 or 3 years.  Also, there is nothing to say that he has to do no money down either.  Putting down the $3k+tax that he is already planning to spend would still be a good idea and will reduce those monthly payments and total interest a fair amount.   

Edit:  You have to remember that in year 6 you're going to be into this for $7800 and in year 7 it will be $8600, etc.  and that assumes that they don't raise the subscription prices which I would say is not a very good assumption.  

I could afford either option, my personal thinking was to give it a year of use and make sure I'm using it as much as I think I would. If I am, switch to the gc3. The skytrak is valid, just the delay on it bothers me. Also looked into the Ernest ES Tour Plus, it might actual be the winner. But I haven't gotten to hit on it. I'll see if I can order it and one of these and return the one I like less. 

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FW Wood:     th.jpg.d6e2abdaeb04f007fd259c979f389de6.jpg Gen5 0311 7w  Fujikura Motore X F3

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35 minutes ago, ChitownM2 said:

I would agree with this in general, obviously people shouldn't be buying things they can't afford.  My point was more that the $800 per year in perpetuity is going to add up to a lot of money as well and imo is kind of required to reap the actual benefits of this LM versus many of the cheaper options out there.  So if the reason for going with the cheaper version is to reduce the up front costs and pay the balance incrementally in the form of a subscription fee for the life of the product, then perhaps financing the full featured model might be the better option.  My assumption is that if he can afford either model along with building the rest of the sim he is in decent enough financial shape to pay off a loan in 2 or 3 years.  Also, there is nothing to say that he has to do no money down either.  Putting down the $3k+tax that he is already planning to spend would still be a good idea and will reduce those monthly payments and total interest a fair amount.   

Edit:  You have to remember that in year 6 you're going to be into this for $7800 and in year 7 it will be $8600, etc.  and that assumes that they don't raise the subscription prices which I would say is not a very good assumption.  

I don't disagree with you about the continued pain of subscription fees for perpetuity and I agree that they are unlikely to go down anytime soon. However, I think the reality is that this is a luxury golf product through and through. If you buy a $7k LM, you will likely have over $10k in a full-setup assuming you're starting from scratch. There probably are a few rare situations where financing makes sense depending on how your assets are tied up but my general gut feeling would be to advise against financing this kind of purchase. However, I've seen people finance dumber things and yes, a GC3 isn't the worst thing you could finance mostly because I think it won't depreciate too hard the next couple years but that's also an unknown. You never know what SkyTrak, Trackman, or some other company have coming. SkyTrak may come out with a GC3 competitor next year or two for $3k that gives you everything the GC3 has to offer at $7k. I wouldn't put it past them. Then suddenly, you might have lost a lot of value on the GC3. The other question I have when you start getting into expensive LMs is how do you insure them or can you insure them? Do they fall under a homeowners policy? What happens if you smack a ball into it at the range somehow? 

I don't know, I just think if you can't easily afford something like a launch monitor that costs thousand, it's probably not your time to be buying one. 

 

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8 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

I could afford either option, my personal thinking was to give it a year of use and make sure I'm using it as much as I think I would. If I am, switch to the gc3. The skytrak is valid, just the delay on it bothers me. Also looked into the Ernest ES Tour Plus, it might actual be the winner. But I haven't gotten to hit on it. I'll see if I can order it and one of these and return the one I like less. 

The upper end Ernest LMs have always intrigued me but I have rarely ever seen anyone discussing their performance. The ES Tour Plus and the ES 20/20 are interesting and with the 20/20 at $7k, I would be curious if it's as accurate as a GC3 or even closer to a GC4. 

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15 minutes ago, mkmkmk said:

3 packages

28429837_ScreenShot2021-09-30at11_59_40AM.png.c5304581b20588e34adc3b55642bfa15.png965529680_ScreenShot2021-09-30at11_59_56AM.png.99d812b384834e18db06f76d56365b36.png1031814965_ScreenShot2021-09-30at11_59_47AM.png.e64f9d3c95575eadebdcd2397d1a6722.png

Yeah, I won't be building my setup via this option. Yikes that's a markup. 

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On 9/30/2021 at 3:52 PM, BMart519 said:

Seems like a challenge for the software guys to unlock the Launch Pro software to spit out head data. 😆

My first thought when I read the review. It's just a software unlock, the hardware between them both is the same. Someone is going to make a decent amount of cash when they hack this to unlock all the features.

$3K for the base option that provides nothing over a lot of the cheaper PLM seems like a complete rip off. 

Can't see SkyTrak being worried about either of these options tbh, it's 3.5x the price to have the fully unlocked version and it doesn't really provide $5K worth of data points.

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3 hours ago, Springveldt said:

My first thought when I read the review. It's just a software unlock, the hardware between them both is the same. Someone is going to make a decent amount of cash when they hack this to unlock all the features.

$3K for the base option that provides nothing over a lot of the cheaper PLM seems like a complete rip off. 

Can't see SkyTrak being worried about either of these options tbh, it's 3.5x the price to have the fully unlocked version and it doesn't really provide $5K worth of data points.

I'm not a software engineer or programmer but I'm guessing they will make it a little more complicated than just unlocking the software. I could be wrong but I'm guessing there is some firmware or software that is not yet installed on the base option that doesn't come along until you pay for your subscription. That's not to say someone could rip the firmware from when provided via subscription but I would take a guess and say that the odds of someone taking the time to do this is relatively low given the volume these will probably sell at. If they sell a ton of Bushnell Pros, then I could see a hack coming but I'm guessing it will be awhile assuming Foresight doesn't make it easy.

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3 hours ago, Springveldt said:

My first thought when I read the review. It's just a software unlock, the hardware between them both is the same. Someone is going to make a decent amount of cash when they hack this to unlock all the features.

$3K for the base option that provides nothing over a lot of the cheaper PLM seems like a complete rip off. 

Can't see SkyTrak being worried about either of these options tbh, it's 3.5x the price to have the fully unlocked version and it doesn't really provide $5K worth of data points.

The accuracy is better than SkyTrak as well as response times, or at least I would assume so. You have near 2x the data with club head info and spin will be more accurate which will be worth it to advanced users as it is basically a discounted GC Quad. ST requires a $200-$300 annual subscription cost. If you plan on using the unit 5 years or more, that eats into the difference. 

My preference would be to get the GC3 over ST, but I doubt my wife will be impressed with the $9-10K price in Canada. It would be nice to see a price drop on the SkyTrak considering they haven't updated anything in the 6 years since it launched and Mevo+ is $300 cheaper here without the need for a subscription. 

At $7K US, I would need to see a reason not to purchase a Uneekor QED instead. A ceiling mount with no risk of damage, or calibration is a plus. 

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I would think the price of the subscription will come down over time. Maybe not, but I bet the $400/$800 levels will be less than that 3 to 4 years down the road. Either that or if the price stays flat then the amount of stuff you get at each level goes up. 
just my thoughts…

I have a MNML V2 bag and PXG Clubs (12 of them) and I’m happy with that. 
My eyes are bigger than my wallet. 
I play significantly better in my mind than I do on the course. 
Need to know more…. Just ask. 

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On 10/1/2021 at 5:22 PM, GoArmy said:

I would think the price of the subscription will come down over time. Maybe not, but I bet the $400/$800 levels will be less than that 3 to 4 years down the road. Either that or if the price stays flat then the amount of stuff you get at each level goes up. 
just my thoughts…

Curious as to why you think they would go down?  In the relatively short history of any and every subscription service I have seen in the last ~10 years since they became a thing I can't come up with a single one that has decreased in price or started offering significantly more for the same money.

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Mevo + it is. Was worried these would quickly price me out. I do love the product, it looks awesome, if I could afford it I think the GC3 is easily the better option. Not a huge fan of the subscription system. 

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On 10/4/2021 at 4:20 PM, ChitownM2 said:

Curious as to why you think they would go down?  In the relatively short history of any and every subscription service I have seen in the last ~10 years since they became a thing I can't come up with a single one that has decreased in price or started offering significantly more for the same money.

I’m not basing my opinion on anything in the launch monitors space, just on trends in general. 
my Hulu subscription just added more channels and didn’t raise the price. The cost of a Microsoft Office subscription has gone down at least once maybe twice since I started it, and it is constantly being enhanced. 
Apple has lowered the price for additional cloud storage space several times. 
look at mobile phone plans: when they first came out, pricing was by the minute use. Soon it was unlimited minutes and data was by usage. Now you have unlimited data. Speeds and quality have gone way up. 
That just seems to be the nature of pricing pressure. Someone will come out with something better and/or less expensive and this company will have to respond in order to keep their subscriber base. 

I have a MNML V2 bag and PXG Clubs (12 of them) and I’m happy with that. 
My eyes are bigger than my wallet. 
I play significantly better in my mind than I do on the course. 
Need to know more…. Just ask. 

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On 9/30/2021 at 11:03 AM, cnosil said:

I have already been reading comments about people buying the low model once the hack is found.  Just like rooting a phone or Amazon fire stick 

I’m sure it may be possible for a hack to work, but I’ll still laugh at the people who post that they need help because they bricked their brand new $3000 launch monitor.

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The pre sale went fast. Both launch pro and gc3 were sold out by the time I woke up on the 4th. Being in Hawaii didn't help with the time zones. 

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FW Wood:     th.jpg.d6e2abdaeb04f007fd259c979f389de6.jpg Gen5 0311 7w  Fujikura Motore X F3

Irons:   :srixon-small: ZX7 PW-7i, ZX5 6i-5i

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Cart: image.png.5aa5e9b8c0d6e08a2b12be76a06a07ca.pngOnewheel XR+

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