Unofficial Review: Rapsodo MLM2Pro

[vandyland]

Final Summary Placeholder

[vandyland]

Well, I ordered the MLM2Pro based on the reviews on the official testing thread as I wanted a launch monitor/simulator that would keep me engaged during my nightly practice into my net. Accuracy is important but I can deal with odd spin numbers or launch angles but what I *really* care about is the shape and line of my shots and consistency of readings. If, say, my 7 iron is consistently reading 10 yds short on carry, I can adjust for that. I want it to still be able to distinguish between a flushed shot, an okay shot and a fat shot, etc. Also I want a good, smooth app experience and enough fun things to keep me engaged. My short list going into this included:

Original SkyTrak - ultimately decided against this due to the price AND it is older technology. Additionally, a lot of people seemed frustrated with the app and connectivity issues. I did like that you don't need nearly as much space for a camera based unit. 
Mevo+- ultimately decided against this item due to price. 
Garmin R10 - ultimately decided against this item due to potential accuracy issues and I just liked the improvements that Rapsodo seems to be pushing out more frequently than Garmin.

Links
Trackman Accuracy Post 

 

Impact Vision Example/Post

 

Unboxing
Received the MLM2Pro and found it to be sleek and well packaged. No frivolous pieces or difficult construction, fairly easy to keep everything in the carrying case provided. 

Setup/Firmware/Getting to Use (Disclaimer -- I am using my standard iPhone)
The initial charge-up of the unit felt like it took forever (about 3 hours and 30 minutes by my count) but that was mostly due to the fact that I had to wait through a FedEx weather delay of several days already. The suspense was killing me! Upon charging, it prompted me (in the app) to update the firmware which took another 5 minutes. The unit itself is very easy to attach to the tripod and then align via in-app tool. Once the firmware was installed, I followed the in-app prompts to connect the app to my unit and I was ready to hit balls in about 5 minutes. 

Initial Range Impressions
The Rapsodo Range (with the Singapore skyline) is pretty fun to use. You can set a circular target, similar to Foresight, and then the app will track how often you hit that target (it is a generous target). The delay from ball contact to shot showing up on the screen is maybe 2 seconds. Probably more like 1 second, very quick. It displays carry, total and avg carry in the top left of the screen and you can select 4 metrics to show in a summarized view at the bottom or you can expand the metrics to show everything which includes:

Ball Speed, Club Speed, Launch Angle, Smash Factor, Launch Direction, Spin Rate, Spin Axis, Apex, Descent Angle, Side Carry, Shot Type

Also on the far right it tracks your target distance, total shots, target hit percentage and average proximity to the center of the target. First shot is me intentionally hitting a pull draw (my specialty!)

This is more to show all the metrics and how it tracks your performance on hitting the target (on the right)

And this is more for me just to show off that I went 11/11 on my 3rd go round. 

So far I have had one disconnect between the DIRECT connection with the MLM2Pro and the iphone. It remedied itself within a minute and I resumed my session. 

Initial Perceived Accuracy (Disclaimer -- using RPT balls into a net but I am outside at night with floodlights -- see picture)
The good news is that the unit, so far, is consistent. Draws draw on the simulator and cuts cut. A bad strike comes up short and a good strike goes farther. I do think the unit is shorting me by about 5-7 yds on carry on a 7 iron. It is averaging me out at about 149 yds currently. I have at least 8 sessions on Trackman this year where I hit a large number of 7 irons and my carry numbers average out to 159.2 there (we are talking over 100 shots). It is about 40-50 degrees outside so maybe that accounts for a few yards but not 10 right? I can live with it though because, again, it is consistently short. I think I could adjust my elevation to eventually get it to carry around 160. This is one reason I wouldn't trust this that much for "gapping" purposes or dialing in your wedges. 

This is still very early so I will continue to update findings. See my setup below which is not "low light" but could certainly be brighter. 

GLAMOROUS I KNOW! 

Problem I need help solving (see picture above)
This is a problem I knew I was going to have and it is readily apparent. It is hard to find an outdoor net that is tall enough to handle 9 feet of ball flight from a wedge. With my current setup, I am lifting my net up by about 14 inches to get it taller. I went an got some coolers to make it another foot taller and that made it so it can handle a 54* wedge BUT now I have a huge gap under it so if I ever hit a REALLY thin shot (that will eventually happen) it could ricochet back at me or worse the house. So I am trying to decide if I want to try to build some contraption (MUST BE MOVEABLE) that is 11-12 feet tall or just deal with the fact that I am only going to be able to hit 9 iron or less into the net. 

SUPER NET (see below) which is supported by fireplace + chair + coolers (not sustainable, haha)

Edited February 8 by vandyland

[Josh Parker]

Great start on the review and talk about some accuracy!  

Here is the net I just got and doing an unofficial review on.  HERE

So far, I am really liking the net and it looks like you could probably fit it in your space.

[Preeway]

I might piggyback on here with you. Haven’t had a lot of time to use mine since I got it last fall but am starting to get more time now. Did you get the free dozen balls too?

[vandyland]

30 minutes ago, Preeway said:

Did you get the free dozen balls too?

A free dozen???? No, just 3 balls for me. I ordered it through 2ndSwing (new in box) where I had some credit. I did get the first year premium membership included which I think all the new Rapsodos come with. I also get E6 and Awesome Golf trials which I haven't started yet since I don't really have my setup quite dialed. 

 

57 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Here is the net I just got and doing an unofficial review on.  HERE

So far, I am really liking the net and it looks like you could probably fit it in your space.

Ha! I saw your thread a few days ago and loved the idea and I am jealous. My wife tolerates the net I have out there currently provided that I can move it when needed. So some kind of portability is required. I did find this net that is 9 feet tall

So I am going to measure my "redneck" setup and see how high that is. I am guessing 9 feet or so. If that is the case I might order this bad boy and beg for forgiveness later when she is like ANOTHER NET WTF. Unfortunately I cannot find many people that have ever used this net before so I am not sure of its durability. 

[Preeway]

Well, shoot. I think you have to order directly from Rapsodo to get the free dozen. You might try emailing them to see if buying through a third party during their promo still gets you the dozen. 

[barney_bogey]

Glad to see you enjoying it so far. The updates have continued to impress.

Regarding your 5-7 yard carry discrepancy, was it by chance a bit cold compared to the temp at which you've done gapping previously?

B

[Rob Person]

Great unofficial intro review!

Have you thought about adding a netted roof setup to avoid the high shot concerns? Redneck ingenuity can come into play to make it feasible. 

[vandyland]

16 hours ago, barney_bogey said:

Regarding your 5-7 yard carry discrepancy, was it by chance a bit cold compared to the temp at which you've done gapping previously?

Oh yes, it is like 40-50 degrees currently in Nashville. Trackman is indoor and probably closer to 70 degrees. So that definitely is part of it. I will, on this thread, take the Rapsodo MLM2Pro indoor to go against the Trackman. I am not expecting it to match a $25k unit but just curious where it is different. 

[Preeway]

30 minutes ago, vandyland said:

Oh yes, it is like 40-50 degrees currently in Nashville. Trackman is indoor and probably closer to 70 degrees. So that definitely is part of it. I will, on this thread, take the Rapsodo MLM2Pro indoor to go against the Trackman. I am not expecting it to match a $25k unit but just curious where it is different. 

I am looking to do the same thing over spring break when I have more time. I've heard the MLM2 is very close to what you get from the high end models.

[vandyland]

On 2/1/2024 at 10:27 AM, Preeway said:

I've heard the MLM2 is very close to what you get from the high end models.

The keys for me are (1) is the start line and shape correct and (2) are the readings consistent.

More on (1) In my limited experience, I am hitting a lot of fairly straight shots on MLM2Pro. I will be curious how that stacks up against Trackman. Granted, I am hitting short irons and I am not deliberately hitting shots offline. Maybe driver is a good test to pull out as I would expect the widest variance there. 

More on (2) If MLM2Pro is reading shots slightly longer or shorter than Trackman, I can adjust to that as long as those differences remain constant. 

[vandyland]

I am going to do a session again tonight but one thing I was struggling with is getting my Rapsodo MLM2Pro to connect to my Wifi in a stable manner. I am asking my wifi to project outside to my courtyard but it is only about 30 feet from my router. Whereas my wife's office is about 45 feet from the router and connects fine. I am not sure if I need to change the wifi band it operates in or if it is purely a function of the Rapsodo being outside. 

On interesting note is that I am upgrading to ATT Fiber internet this week which (supposedly) makes my internet speeds 20x faster. That may help. 

[vandyland]

Did my first combine last night which I found entertaining. Because my net is not high enough, I had to set custom distances instead of doing the standard 50 and 75 yd targets so I set 100 yds and 150 yds. I am still having trouble with the MLM reading the correct distances (in my opinion) so I was having to use a full PW for the 100 yd target (standard carry on PW is 125) and a 6 iron for 150 (standard carry on 6i is 165-175) which I have mostly adjusted for at this point. I did forget to change clubs for one target but my overall score was 67 which I think I can improve on. The only spot where I "beat" my hdcp was the driver so I have some work to do. In my mind, probably the best combine would be me hitting a normal SW (about 90 yds in real life but probably 75 yds on the MLM2Pro) and a full 7 iron (about 155-160 yds in real life but probably 140 yds on the MLM2Pro. The combine does add some pressure and forces you to hit certain shots so I think that is a good way to practice. 

There is also a lot of data on the consistency of launch angle, distance, smash factor, shot shape etc. It is a cool little tool once I can figure the distances out. I think maybe I need to push the elevation up to 2,000 - 3,000 ft to maybe get the numbers more in line with what I see on course. 
 

Edited February 6 by vandyland

[ejgaudette]

Keep the great information coming. Still working to get everything lined up so I can buy one of these.

[vandyland]

 **TRACKMAN COMPARISON POST** 

I popped into my trackman bay at my club and lined up the Rapsodo MLM2Pro just in front and to the side. Took me a second to get both target boxes and target lines in the same place but we did it. Three things to point out: (1) This was indoors into a simulator screen and (2) I used the Callaway RPT Ball instead of the RCT ball and (3) I set the elevation at 500 feet on the Rapsodo since Nashville is about 500 ft above sea level (4) The Trackman was registering low spin and spin was italicized so I did not include it in this test, it did not seem reliable.

I warmed up briefly and then decided to hit 3-5 shots with a 42* 9 iron (Ben Hogan PTxPro), a 32.5* 7 iron (TS1-IM) and my Mizuno ST-Z 230 Driver to see how the numbers, flight path, etc. lined up. Below, ORANGE is trackman and Red is Rapsodo MLM2Pro numbers...

Immediate thoughts: I was very impressed with the accuracy. I will post pictures below showing the most dramatic shot shapes and how close they were between the two. I think the RPT ball probably put the Trackman at a slight disadvantage but what I learned was something obvious LIGHTING MATTERS. I think the issues I am having at home at night, outdoors with short ball flights is probably due to low light. The yardages I am seeing here are more accurate (I wasn't really going all out at any of these). And I wasn't seeing any 145 yd carry 7 irons like I was previously. 

The Good: Ball Speed, Club Head Speed and Carry all impressed. They were within a few yards of each other every time. 
The Not as Good: Launch angle seemed to have a large delta between the two. If this is something you really care about it may be an issue. 
The N/A: Not being able to get real spin results off the trackman was frustrating/annoying. 

OKAY BUT SHOW ME THE SHOTS!

Two of my bigger outliers in terms of flight...

Pull Draw/Hook 9 iron:

A fade 7 iron:

Did not have any shots that went opposite directions of each other or are any more different than these posted above. Very impressed with ball flight accuracy of this unit in good lighting. 

Edited February 6 by vandyland

[vandyland]

Well the MLM2Pro has impressed me again. Today, I am talking about "Impact Vision" where you can see the club path coming into the ball and where you are striking the ball at impact (hence the name). I previously did not know where to access this but I started reviewing video last night and I noticed you could toggle between the full swing camera (not that useful to me since the view point is really low) and the impact vision. It revealed that I am hitting a lot of shots on the toe side which is probably the biggest reason why I am seeing so many shots coming up short. At the risk of embarrassing myself, here are a few examples...

Talk about a toe strike…wow…that almost missed the clubface. You can see how it twist the club massively after impact. Not great by me but excellent feedback!

And this one might be the worst! I think I probably missed all my grooves here it was so far out on the toe. Amazing insight. 

Edited February 8 by vandyland

[Rob Person]

With data like that, you can definitely change your impact, setup, or swing behaviors!

What will your solution be to fix the toe strikes?

[JonMUSC08]

Great unofficial review going! Love the "redneck" setup haha.

Let us know how the E6 and playing courses goes? Would be very interested in hearing. Been pondering a MLM2 as well. I have the original MLM but wanted more of a Sim setup.

[vandyland]

3 hours ago, Rob Person said:

What will your solution be to fix the toe strikes?

It's interesting, I didn't have this issue when I was comparing the MLM2Pro at the trackman bay or on the range. My assumption (warning, warning! that must be proven!) is that I am fearful of hitting a shank in my courtyard which is making me stray towards to the toe, which is insane to say but possibly akin to Indoor Swing Syndrome where people cannot swing fast inside. I am going to work with the swing vision more tonight and this week to see if I can stray towards the center/heel a bit more. Also, I think the swing vision gives you a little bit of insight into path and face to path even though it isn't displaying any numbers. 

 

 

Edited February 8 by vandyland

[vandyland]

3 hours ago, JonMUSC08 said:

Let us know how the E6 and playing courses goes? Would be very interested in hearing. Been pondering a MLM2 as well. I have the original MLM but wanted more of a Sim setup.

I am thinking I will fire up E6 next week after ATT upgrades me to Fiber internet this weekend. We will see if it is truly 20x faster. I need a more stable internet signal coming outdoors before I start burning my free trials. 

[vandyland]

A revelation tonight. It is not my lighting (the camera is infrared) but rather my strike. Upon warming up with the impact vision camera EVERYTHING was toe side. So I spent the next 30 minutes drilling a more centered contact through experimentation. The extreme toes I can feel but the slight toes are more subtle. Another good indicator beyond impact vision is smash factor. Basically any smash factor for me under 1.31 is probably fairly toe side. After getting more and more 1.36, 1.38 smash factor VOILA! My carry numbers looked much more reasonable. It wasn’t the unit…it was me. HAHA. 

This is about 40 shots with no deletes and I finally got up to 163 yd carry with *great* strikes carrying closer to 172 yds. I also hit some smoother shots as well but this is now a very important instructional tool for me. A very exciting night! Worth every penny so far!

And when I say toe shot, I mean TOE and look at that smash factor of 1.23, yuck:

Versus a really solid strike:

 

 

Edited February 9 by vandyland

[vandyland]

I will be back to updating this thread in a week, I have a pinched nerve so I am taking a body break here for 4-5 days.