SkyTrak+ - 2024 Forum Review

[Medfloat]

On 9/17/2024 at 1:19 PM, TSauer said:

I should have noted that in all of those photos, the balls are traveling from right to left. I didn't think about that until now. OOPS!

So yeah, it is angled towards the back for me as a lefty. The dot should change when you switch from righty to lefty, so that it's always "behind" 

On 9/17/2024 at 11:48 PM, Swood1994 said:

Outdoor Range Session #1 (9/14/24)

I know a lot of people in this thread are curious about outdoor use for the Skytrak+. Well as I awaited the rest of my indoor materials to set up the sim, I decided to take the Skytrak+ out to my local range to see how it would perform. It was a 78-degree day barely a cloud in the sky (at least overhead) and around 1PM. The main reason I included the time is because of the position of the very bright sun to see how it would affect the unit and reading shots. Just a couple notes, I was hitting off the mats and using range balls, 2 factors that may have contributed to a couple misreads.

I decided to forgo the protective case on this session, so I was sure put it on the mat at the same level at the ball. I have to say I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to pick up the red dot in the bright sun. I used my iPhone 15 pro as the visual device. Unfortunately, because of that, the dot disappeared when I tried to take a photo using my phone. While having a larger tablet is definitely going to be the way to go for the larger visuals the phone worked just fine. The IOS app worked flawlessly for the hour and half or, so I was at the range as well. I was pleasantly surprised how easy the set up was. I should note it was a last-minute decision and I forgot to set up an account and it wouldn't let me create one off a network (might be user error here). Nonetheless I was able to use the app as a guest and have a full session.

The exports of all shots are really easy and provide all of the relevant information we come to expect from a premium launch monitor. Shots are easy to delete when you really mess one up, don't lie we all do! I appreciate that the data is clearly organized by club and gives averages for each grouping. The UI is very easy to flip between the practice mode and the summary charts as well.

Now I did have a couple misreads. I had a nasty low duck hook with my 3-wood and it registered as a slice. funny enough I recreated the same exact shot on the next one, totally on purpose too! (just kidding my 3-wood and I just don't get along currently).

Misread: ball went left:

Correct read (very next shot):

All in all, I am very impressed with how easy the Skytrak+ is to setup and use on the fly. Given all of the extra variables from an outdoor session only having 2-3 misreads or non-reads was better than I expected especially for my first use. I am very excited to get it setup indoors and really dive into all its features. Hopefully you made it this far for this very lengthy first test session, much more to come!

G

 

On 9/17/2024 at 11:48 PM, Swood1994 said:

Outdoor Range Session #1 (9/14/24)

I know a lot of people in this thread are curious about outdoor use for the Skytrak+. Well as I awaited the rest of my indoor materials to set up the sim, I decided to take the Skytrak+ out to my local range to see how it would perform. It was a 78-degree day barely a cloud in the sky (at least overhead) and around 1PM. The main reason I included the time is because of the position of the very bright sun to see how it would affect the unit and reading shots. Just a couple notes, I was hitting off the mats and using range balls, 2 factors that may have contributed to a couple misreads.

I decided to forgo the protective case on this session, so I was sure put it on the mat at the same level at the ball. I have to say I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to pick up the red dot in the bright sun. I used my iPhone 15 pro as the visual device. Unfortunately, because of that, the dot disappeared when I tried to take a photo using my phone. While having a larger tablet is definitely going to be the way to go for the larger visuals the phone worked just fine. The IOS app worked flawlessly for the hour and half or, so I was at the range as well. I was pleasantly surprised how easy the set up was. I should note it was a last-minute decision and I forgot to set up an account and it wouldn't let me create one off a network (might be user error here). Nonetheless I was able to use the app as a guest and have a full session.

The exports of all shots are really easy and provide all of the relevant information we come to expect from a premium launch monitor. Shots are easy to delete when you really mess one up, don't lie we all do! I appreciate that the data is clearly organized by club and gives averages for each grouping. The UI is very easy to flip between the practice mode and the summary charts as well.

Now I did have a couple misreads. I had a nasty low duck hook with my 3-wood and it registered as a slice. funny enough I recreated the same exact shot on the next one, totally on purpose too! (just kidding my 3-wood and I just don't get along currently).

Misread: ball went left:

Correct read (very next shot):

All in all, I am very impressed with how easy the Skytrak+ is to setup and use on the fly. Given all of the extra variables from an outdoor session only having 2-3 misreads or non-reads was better than I expected especially for my first use. I am very excited to get it setup indoors and really dive into all its features. Hopefully you made it this far for this very lengthy first test session, much more to 

On 9/18/2024 at 7:16 AM, Swood1994 said:

Absolutely! I think there are tiers where we’d expect a couple from time to time on the Trackmans and those alike. Then at the other end you expect more with lower level unit in the $500-$700 range. Nice to know that that the Skytrak is so far performing close to that top tier.

Skytrak is looking more and more like my retirement gift to me next year!

[Medfloat]

On 9/18/2024 at 11:07 PM, Swood1994 said:

Well, I finally got set up indoors with the net, mat, and PC. 
 

 

The indoor swing syndrome was in full effect and I couldn’t get confident to take a full swing with my 7 or 9 iron. With practice this will get better, though.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t my biggest problem of the night. I was having a little bit of trouble registering and setting up the account as well as some latency issues with the PC. Not sure if it was due to the wireless connection, the monitor, or the PC itself. I double checked all of the specs (which meet and exceed all of the recommendations from Skytrak) and everything runs as it should. I also tried the unit on all 3 connection types (direct, network, USB). I’m scratching my head a little bit but I am going to start the process of elimination by hard wiring the PC to the router for a better connection to see if that solves the issue. Hoping it’s something as simple as that and not a parts upgrade.

NOTE: I’m sure this is user error and in no way the Skytrak’s fault. Just something I am experiencing at the moment. 

 

I will say the IOS app runs flawlessly. I tried my phone again as well as an iPad my father in law let me borrow. I honestly think for the range feature the iPad is the way to go. As @TSauer has said previously the set up is super simple and fast. It does everything you need and has a nice picture, with only a slight second delay from shot to visual output. 

I am hopeful I can keep playing around with the PC setup to get it to work as well as the other visual devices I’ve tried. More to come in the coming days! 

Good info, wonder if the computer has too many programs running the the background…

Edited Friday at 01:50 PM by Medfloat

[Medfloat]

On 9/19/2024 at 7:44 AM, Swood1994 said:

Lol I am really hoping I don’t need to open it up Luckily I sit right behind the head of IT at work and have a couple of open favors from him if any upgrades are needed. I’ll start with the network hardwire and go from there. I really don’t think the monitor would be the issue and it’s a pretty standard monitor with a middle ground of 100hz refresh rate.

 

i tried to mess with the setting but the graphics were already on the lowest setting so i assumed bumping them up high would worsen the problem. Thanks for the recommendation though!

Cash in one of those favors and get that thing running like a racehorse.  

[Medfloat]

21 hours ago, Swood1994 said:

I currently have an RTX 3060 Ti. I think after talking with a couple folks I found the potential issues. The PC was reset, and I think the graphics card drivers need to be updated from Nvidia. I'm also going to move the application from the hard drive to the SSD just to be safe and double check the output slot for the monitor I was using was off the graphics card and not the motherboard.

I'll be the first to admit I am not a pro at the custom PC stuff, but I am learning as I go! The PC was also built by someone other than me, so I need to learn the ins and outs of it to make sure I'm not missing anything. I definitely think the issues I had last night were user error and not the PC or the Skytrak.

All this computer insight is great for a guy like me that has NOOOOOO idea about technical mumbo-jumbo

[Medfloat]

18 hours ago, TSauer said:

Oooh, now that's an idea! I'm down for that for sure. Once I get everything set back up after the bday, we'll get something scheduled. 

Now THAT would be very interesting!  Can’t wait for an update on the process, play, interaction of machines, and results.  Should be a barn-burner of a match as well!!!  Where can we place bets???

Edited Friday at 02:06 PM by Medfloat

[Swood1994]

Good news! I’m apparently PC illiterate and plugged the monitor into the wrong HDMI port that was for the native graphics card and not the Nvidia 3060. Once I plugged it in it ran flawlessly. Moving the application to the SSD helped, too.

Now once things were up and running I ran into an issue where i couldn’t log into the practice range. Finally I called Skytrak’s customer service line and was met with a real person who immediately knew the issue (clear the cache) and helped to remote in an do it for me. He even had some other tips and tricks for the connection modes which was great. Overall an A+ for customer service on my end so far!

[Medfloat]

1 hour ago, Swood1994 said:

Good news! I’m apparently PC illiterate and plugged the monitor into the wrong HDMI port that was for the native graphics card and not the Nvidia 3060. Once I plugged it in it ran flawlessly. Moving the application to the SSD helped, too.

Now once things were up and running I ran into an issue where i couldn’t log into the practice range. Finally I called Skytrak’s customer service line and was met with a real person who immediately knew the issue (clear the cache) and helped to remote in an do it for me. He even had some other tips and tricks for the connection modes which was great. Overall an A+ for customer service on my end so far!

Sweet!  Nothing beats talking to a human on the phone from the very company that made the product, not a phone bank from who knows where and then to get great customer service?  well, THAT'S a winner in my book.