A little background. I currently own a SkyTrak and have had it for nearly 2 years now. I would have purchased SkyTrak earlier but was in a house with a limited area for using a golf simulator. So we moved about 2 years ago and I immediately set my sites on buying a golf simulator for the new to me golf cave. By the way, the golf cave used to be a carport which had siding put on it by the previous owner. I need to run outside and figure out the dimensions. I can tell you it is only about 8’6″ tall but being a guy who is 5′ tall when he stretches, that isn’t an issue.
Initially Mevo was out on the market and from memory, Mevo+ had not yet made it to market. After some research in regards to Mevo+, I wasn’t sure if I would have the room necessary both to the hitting net and behind me. It was iffy so I stuck with SkyTrak and I’ve been happy with SkyTrak. Yes, I need to get the wrinkles out below. I have an impact screen and then a photographers background on top of the impact screen. Looks like the impact screen has moved after on of my ummm errrr monsterous hits.
Note to self: straighten the impact screen out.
Prior to SkyTrak I used a product called R-Motion. It attached to the golf club and I was able to play TGC. I signed up to the original TGC strictly due to the price along with the inability of being able to hit any clubs longer than say a 3 iron in my garage where ceilings were at about 7′ 8″ tall.
Ever long for that new shiny thing or something you believe is better?
Welcome SkyTrak+
GolfTec announced they would be coming out with a new product called SkyTrak+ and they were taking pre-orders. SkyTrak+ would offer both cameras and radar to capture ball data and some clubhead data. The price tag would be approximately $3000 and through a vendor offered a trade in promotion for those who currently had the original SkyTrak. That was me. That trade in amount for a used SkyTrak is a little over $500. Hmmmmm. I saw a shiny new object that offered additional data and would most likely have a more robust camera and now the addition of radar.
At the present time (May 14, 2023), a few influencers had received SkyTrak+ and showed their YouTube videos. This along with a few short videos by the company. Facebook and other forums offered their thoughts and rumors. Some absolutely made sense. ie Possibly GolfTec will offer lessons based on data coming out of SkyTrak+. Others were saying certain data should be available (ie Angle of Attack) and maybe it will be made available in the future.
I admit I am intrigued and I had credit card in hand. Still, I wonder what SkyTrak+ will offer versus the original SkyTrak which I own. I say that because I spend maybe 70% of the time playing TGC2019 and the number of courses they offer and only about 30% with a mixture of the practice range, target practice, bag mapping, long drive, etc…
Along Comes Bushnell Launch Pro
I’m not sure if it was a post on Facebook or one of the few Discord channels I follow but in late 2021 I first heard of Bushnell Launch Pro (BLP). It is a 3 camera setup which when fully unlocked would be the equivalent of purchasing a Foresight GC3. Accuracy is supposed to be its forte and in-so-far as amateurs go, it is said to be one of the top models on the market. You get ball data and then for club data you need to place a sticker on the clubhead. I watched videos with BLP alongside Trackman, etc…
Of course along with the mention of Bushnell Launch Pro, inevitably it is brought up that the price of BLP was at that time $1000 more than the original SkyTrak. So it was around $2999. Here is where the pricing gets murky. Without getting into too many details, there are yearly subscription fees. These yearly fees along with the amount of simulation or data to go along with the specific subscription ranged from $99 to $799. If you didn’t care for those subscription fees you could completely unlock the device for another $3999. So for $7,000 you could have a completely unlocked device. The Bushnell Launch Pro (when unlocked) is the equivalent of the GC3 but could be had for approx. $500 cheaper than the GC3 if purchased and unlocked. Hmmmm.
Remember where I said the pricing of the BLP is murky? At one point in August 2022 they changed the price of the device to $3999. The yearly subscription plans as well as unlock price were also adjusted. At this point in time it would make either buying a GC3 or getting a Bushnell Launch Pro and unlocking it at the same price level.
In January 2023 the price of the BLP was brought down to $3499. Most recently at the time of this writing (May 14, 2023) the price was further dropped to $2999. So that is where my head starts spinning because I’m looking to possibly upgrade and the price is matching that of the SkyTrak+. Still, truth be told I don’t care for the yearly subscription fees.
Golf Simulator Software
Folks on Discord talk about how GSPro (golf software to play simulated courses) is not supported but they’ve gotten it to work with BLP. SkyTrak is similar in this regard. I believe GSPro is around $250 off the top of my head. Could I continue to use TGC2019 if I upgraded? Folks with SkyTrak+ say yes at no cost to move from SkyTrak to SkyTrak+ if you already own the software. Bonus I’m getting strange answers from people on Discord with BLP. Anything from yes, you can use TGC2019 with a third party hookup to no it will not work. Hmmmm.
Bushnell Launch Pro offers the ability to play a small number of courses with their silver and gold subscriptions and with the option to purchase further courses. From what I’ve read, folks tend to use GSPro. They also say you need a gaming PC to use BLP but it looks like my laptop has the video card necessary to make this work. I might want to build a dedicated PC sometime down the road.
Golfer’s Journal
On top of that, when purchasing a subscription from Golfer’s Journal, it was said you could save 20% on Bushnell products when buying from their website. I didn’t know if this statement made by others was true and some were saying the terms and conditions wouldn’t apply towards the purchase of the Bushnell Launch Pro. However, I was seeing individual after individual say they purchased a subscription from Golfer’s Journal and then went ahead and bought BLP at that 20% discount by using a code found in their Member Locker. I’ve also heard since that the discount offered by Golfer’s Journal for the purchase of Bushnell Launch Pro was taken away.
I started to read about the Golfer’s Journal and said you know what, between the podcasts, films, content, Index Experiment, and connection to Discord, this looks like a very nice website. I might learn something. I see they offered a few different membership levels but me being the cheapie that I am, I chose the digital membership. I have to say it looks nice. I can listen to podcasts while I am at work or in the golf cave.
Decision Time
I waffled on what I wanted to do. Keep money in my pocket and stay with SkyTrak or move on to something else. My head said to keep my money. My head said that SkyTrak is a great product but then I am reminded that SkyTrak came out in late 2014. So I’m thinking older technology. I would think that GolfTec would want to take SkyTrak+ to the next level and the product could only be an improvement upon SkyTrak. I’m grabbing for my credit card. Still, very little info is out on this product because besides some influencers and the company themselves, no one as of yet has their hands on the product. Then I can’t seem to figure out what is measured and what is calculated. In the golf simulator world, you want measured rather than calculated. Come to think of it, if a ball flight isn’t followed from the moment it hits the clubface to the moment it stops rolling in the fairway (or rough), wouldn’t it be calculated?
Forums
Here is where I’ll make a remark where I probably should remain quiet. There are a lot of folks on Facebook who complain about their SkyTrak. It has no reads, misreads, worked fine before but doesn’t now. It must have been a software update. I’m not wearing white shoes. Maybe it is the background. Should I be using a white ball. Is there a reflection somewhere that is causing problems. Maybe it is the connection or possibly static. But for all those who complain about their SkyTrak, there is the silent majority who have very little to no issues.
You want to know what? If you take a look at the Bushnell Launch Pro users group on Facebook you will see people talk about their own set of issues. Software getting stuck. BLP reading but not making it to the software. So difficult to setup that returning is the best option. No longer see data. BLP shut off and will no longer turn on. Stuck at login screen. Bushnell sent me another unit and this one is doing the same thing. Why can this product only be purchased in the U.S., etc…
Heck, I guess I’ll complain about the lawn roller I bought from Home Depot where the drum was out of round. Replaced drum. Still out of round.
You Can’t Steal In Slow Motion
Back a dozen years or so ago when I was flipping houses, I had a friend who used the phrase, “you can’t steal in slow motion”. It basically meant to make a decision because if you don’t, someone else will and at least in the flipping homes business, they will take the house you are looking at right from under you. You can’t steal in motion applies to a lot of things.
So, with the purchase of the Golfer’s Journal subscription and code in hand, I headed over to the Bushnell website. I’m sweating now. If the discount code doesn’t work, is that a sign for me not to purchase BLP? I don’t want to give up my SkyTrak. I really like it. The data guy in me says I need more numbers to tell what my golf ball and club are doing. My head says you are a 16-18 handicap golfer so you shouldn’t be worrying about that info. Some say it is overkill and you can become overwhelmed by having too much data. Still… I added the Bushnell Launch Pro to my cart and then figured out where to put the coupon code from Golfer’s Journal. It worked. Holy cow! I purchased!!!
So what am I going to do with my current SkyTrak? For the time being, I will keep it and look to do a test against the Bushnell Launch Pro. I already have a PRGR launch monitor which I’ve been using to capture clubhead speed without using a golf ball. I don’t believe BLP is any different than SkyTrak so I’ll need to keep the PRGR. I may or may not sell the SkyTrak. I really like that community. We’ll see.
Now to find the ramen noodles for lunch.