Japanese Red Eyes PRGR Monitor - Best kept ebay secret?

[PrayingForPar]

Hello All,

I have recently been in the market for a simple launch monitor to tune in my distances with wedges and Irons when on the range and at the course. My budget was $200 which sadly kept me out of the killer deals currently on the Mevo and SC3. I saw a few reviews out there for the new version of the PRGR and thought it would be a great fit for me and it might even get me into speed training.

Something told me to search on Ebay for one, and I came across a Red Eyes PRGR Launch Monitor for $153. From the little research I did, it appears Red Eyes is the name in which these monitors are released in Japan, and the Red version should be the exact same thing. I have previously ordered "gray market" canon cameras in the past with great success, and this seemed to be the same opportunity with this launch monitor.

The Red PRGR should be delivered this week and I am looking forward to seeing if it could be the best kept secret or if I am about to download Japanese duolingo and convert my life to meters in order to use it...

Full Review to be posted soon...

[KurtActual]

How's it working out for you?

[n1texansfan]

Super interested in what you find. Would be huge if I could get one of these at the price.

[PrayingForPar]

Sorry for the delay, apparently things take more time than estimated coming from Japan.....

But I have received the Unit and took it to the range last week.

I hit a bucket of balls off grass at my local range going through all the clubs.

From what I can tell, it is exactly the same as the HS-130A other than being bright red and one HUMONGOUS caveat....Swing Speed and Ball speed are only in m/s. You can tell that the MPH option is on the screen, but I have tried every possible button combination to try and get the reading to change to MPH. I have scoured the internet and used every ai source I know of (other than Åberg), and still no solution to change the setting. If you have any ideas for changing the setting, please let me know.

That being said, the carry is still in yards.

From my perspective, The smash factor is still very useful as it has given me feedback on how poorly I am currently striking my long irons......But when it comes to swing speed, it would be nice to have it in MPH to be able to compare to what most publications have listed for "fast" or "slow" swing speeds. That being said, I am still going to keep it as I mostly care about swing speed as a reference marker to see gains. If I one day want to brag about my swing speed, I can just convert from m/s to mph.

If you can afford the extra $60 or so for the HS-130A, it would be a big difference. But at that price point I may look at some of the other offerings out right now...

[JackieMoon_LMS]

I have the non Japanese version of the PRGR. The biggest downfall of this is with dialing in wedges. The PRGR struggles with partial wedges and only gathers swing speed the majority of the time. I use this outdoors when hitting into my net as this is the only practice I get being a husband and father to a toddler. 

A fun game to play with it is to tell yourself “155 to clear the sand and 164 to the pin” then trying to hit numbers for carry and total. 

The distances across most clubs are also a bit “iffy.” I have brought my PRGR with me to compare against track man and it is usually off +/- 5 yards which is a huge difference. Swing speed and smash factor seem to be spot on though. 
 

PRGR is great for speed training, absolutely. When it comes to solid numbers for carry/total distances, it should be taken with a grain of salt. 

[Hacker60521]

18 hours ago, WilliamYates said:

Sorry for the delay, apparently things take more time than estimated coming from Japan.....

But I have received the Unit and took it to the range last week.

I hit a bucket of balls off grass at my local range going through all the clubs.

From what I can tell, it is exactly the same as the HS-130A other than being bright red and one HUMONGOUS caveat....Swing Speed and Ball speed are only in m/s. You can tell that the MPH option is on the screen, but I have tried every possible button combination to try and get the reading to change to MPH. I have scoured the internet and used every ai source I know of (other than Åberg), and still no solution to change the setting. If you have any ideas for changing the setting, please let me know.

That being said, the carry is still in yards.

From my perspective, The smash factor is still very useful as it has given me feedback on how poorly I am currently striking my long irons......But when it comes to swing speed, it would be nice to have it in MPH to be able to compare to what most publications have listed for "fast" or "slow" swing speeds. That being said, I am still going to keep it as I mostly care about swing speed as a reference marker to see gains. If I one day want to brag about my swing speed, I can just convert from m/s to mph.

If you can afford the extra $60 or so for the HS-130A, it would be a big difference. But at that price point I may look at some of the other offerings out right now...

Try this to switch units. Sorry I was just searching around. Not a user 

 

[03trdblack]

What's the difference between the Red and the Black?  They look like they measure the same things.

[PrayingForPar]

On 7/30/2024 at 6:10 AM, 03trdblack said:

What's the difference between the Red and the Black?  They look like they measure the same things.

They are exactly the same, but the Red version is only in Meters per second, Can't figure out how to change it to MPH.

On 7/30/2024 at 5:20 AM, JackieMoon_LMS said:

I have the non Japanese version of the PRGR. The biggest downfall of this is with dialing in wedges. The PRGR struggles with partial wedges and only gathers swing speed the majority of the time. I use this outdoors when hitting into my net as this is the only practice I get being a husband and father to a toddler. 

A fun game to play with it is to tell yourself “155 to clear the sand and 164 to the pin” then trying to hit numbers for carry and total. 

The distances across most clubs are also a bit “iffy.” I have brought my PRGR with me to compare against track man and it is usually off +/- 5 yards which is a huge difference. Swing speed and smash factor seem to be spot on though. 
 

PRGR is great for speed training, absolutely. When it comes to solid numbers for carry/total distances, it should be taken with a grain of salt. 

On yours do you have options for range balls vs on course? The red one can switch between the two and gives different yardages. I have yet to try it on course but on the range with the range ball setting it seemed super accurate