Need to replace my Swing Speed Radar. Ended up with a Rapsodo and an interesting hitting mat.

[DLiver]

I need to replace my failing SSR unit. I would like to upgrade to something more versatile--ideal something that measures CHS, ball speed and spin. I would use this unit for swing speed workouts, and outdoors on the range to track drive launch parameters and maybe track some iron shots as well. I would like it to be reasonably accurate. I would never use this thing indoors. I'm thinking <$500.

I have done some reading about the various units out there, but frankly I can't keep up with, so if one of you knowledgable guys could point me in the right direction, it would save me hours of mind numbing reading. I'm thinking units like the little Mevo, SC300, etc--am I in the right ballpark?

Thanks!

EDIT: changed title, added info rather than starting a new thread.

[Hondabuff]

Mevo if your ok with also using your phone all the time. SC300 if you just want to toss it down behind you and go and not worried about measuring spin.

[DLiver]

Well I didn't get much response here right away (thanks Hondabuff for offering some helpful advice), so I read a bunch of reviews and other info, and ordered an SC300. The plan was to use it for swing speed workouts, hitting into a net, and some various things (including wedge work) at a grass range near here. Then I read a little more and ended up completely changing up my plans. First of all, while researching mats to make a backyard hitting net, I found--and bought--the Acu-strike hitting mat. (https://acustrikegolf.com) This mat and a device to measure CHS is all I need for my backyard hitting setup.

Then I did some looking into the Rapsodo MLM and found it had some unique features that would make it a very effective training tool at the range. So I cancelled the order for the SC300 and bought the Rapsodo. I had to get past the idea that more metrics were better in PLMs, and look at what I wanted to gain from range session. Once I did this, the Rapsodo was the clear winner for me. Since it is new to the market, I expect it will have some bugs, but I'm confident those will get ironed out.

I have no idea when this gear will get here, but I will report back once I have these things in hand.

[RSinSG]

I just ordered the Acustrike mat. It looks like it will be a pretty good training aid. Thanks for the tip. That Rapsodo looks pretty slick. Please do an evaluation once you get to use it a few times.

[DLiver]

Both items should be here by Wednesday or so. I can put the Acustrike to use right away. The Rapsodo is going to have wait until the ranges here open up. I'm sure I'm going to get antsy waiting for that to happen lol

[Hondabuff]

 

I have a bunch of training aids floating around the garage and I have the Accustrike Mat. It will not stay put on my CCE mat and just sets up clumsily off of grass. Its in the category for me as one of the worse training aids I have purchased. Hopefully you guys can find some sort of value out of it.

[RSinSG]

I got the outdoor version. It looked pretty secure with using tees to anchor it. Who knows.

[Hondabuff]

I have the outdoor version also and it would probably work better off of a fairway vs normal back yard grass. I had to find a bare spot in the yard to test it out since you use tees to anchor it down. I put it back in the package and have not messed with it since.

[DLiver]

I plan on using tent stakes or irrigation piping stakes. We'll see how it goes.

[golfinbrad]

Hey DLiver

Can you post your thoughts on the Rapsodo after a few sessions? I am looking at the Rapsodo and SC300 as well. Both have pros and cons, but the Rapsodo software seems impressive.

[DaveRawli1981]

I love the Rapsodo MLM - there is an indoor/net update due out soon which will further improve it. I went from the Garmin G80 which had some cool features but didnt record anything ; so was good for warming up pregame but for solid net practise it lacked the ability to monitor development without manually doing so.

The MLM instantly improved my game - i am not a good iron player but found myself grooving changes using the video and monitoring the improvements on the GPS map feature.

I am very happy with the MLM.

[DLiver]

Well the Rapsodo showed up yesterday, and it is all charged up sitting on my counter. But I have no place to hit it. Ranges are closed, parks are closed, and I'm not scheduled to play for almost a week. Maybe I could hit balls out of my back yard into the large pond out back...

[DLiver]

I got to hit some foam ballls off the Acustrike mat and it seems pretty cool. I didn't have any problems with it moving (I staked it down on bare pine straw), and I think it does what it says it will. Of course the real test will be when I hit real balls off of it.

The Rapsodo seems really cool, and I think it's going to do exactly what I got it to do. It has some crazy useful features for me.

[Dat_Dude]

Did you choose auto calibration or did you do the manual calibration? I wasn't sure if the manual would provide more accurate results.

[DLiver]

The unit auto-calibrated. I saw the manual option when checking out the app, but didn't see the point. Is there a benefit to manual calibration?

[DLiver]

I finally had a chance to take the MLM to the range, and I have to say I am very impressed. First of all, it picked up everything I hit, even some power shanks that left the range at warp speed. The distances seemed spot on for the most part. Well struck shots went the distances I am used to seeing for the most part (I wasn't using normal range balls--these were a collection of ball donated to the range. Some were premium balls, some were not. I sorted through and hit mostly premium balls only, although I'm sure some clunkers made their way into my pile.) The distance accuracy on my LW wasn't quite as good as I would like. I lasered the flag, and since I was the only one at the range, I was able to walk out and check the actual distance of my shots. Some were 5-6 yard off (on a 70 yard shot) and others were the exact distance. I was hitting off a mat, and it was windy, so I will get need to get some more time in with the MLM to see how accurate it is with the scoring wedges. It was pretty spot on with my PW though. One of the main reasons I got this was to work on wedge distance control, so I need to get this part figured out.

Clubhead speeds were right on the numbers I see when I hit in a Trackman or Flightscope.

The swing video/ball flight tracking is pretty cool. And the integration of all the data in the app is amazingly good. It will take some time to sort out.

As a novice user, I screwed up some things. First of all, I didn't get the device oriented to the direction of the range. That messed the GPS overlay onto the satellite map. The overlay of ball distribution was correct, it was just about 30º right of where it should have been.

I also got the setup wrong. Apparently you need to carefully align the MLM with your target line so it could determine whether your ball path was right, left or straight. I need to read up on this a little. I found the documentation for the device to be lacking. There is a downloadable guide, but it is pretty bare bones. The app has some instruction screens that I will have to review again.

FWIW, this thing does go through your phone battery pretty good. That's a known thing, and pretty easy to work around.

Here's the web site if you want more info about some of the features I mentioned: https://rapsodo.com/golf/mlm/

[jurgie54]

Can you use the MLM to measure just clubhead speed without a ball? I need to get a radar for SuperSpeed golf workouts and it would be nice to get one with a few more features like the MLM.

[DLiver]

I don't know, but I will check it out today.

[gdb99]

On 4/21/2020 at 9:03 AM, DLiver said:

I don't know, but I will check it out today.

Curious if you were able to use this unit with your SuperSpeed workouts.

Thanks.

[DLiver]

15 hours ago, gdb99 said:

Curious if you were able to use this unit with your SuperSpeed workouts.

Thanks.

I stopped doing SuperSpeed workouts, and never could figure out how to use the MLM for clubhead speed only.

[seancgmartin]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:24 PM, gdb99 said:

Curious if you were able to use this unit with your SuperSpeed workouts.

Thanks.

 

I know this is an old post, but just in case anyone looks it up - no, Rapsodo does not do this. The best I can find that does some basic metrics reasonably well and will work with what you're after is the SC200+.

 

S