The 100 dollar launch monitor - Yupiteru - updated with testing results

[hammersia]

I’ve been aware of the PRGR 200 dollar launch monitor for a while and was about to pull the trigger but in the UK it’s been out of stock for a while. Meanwhile another link came up for a similar looking device made by Yupiteru, with a couple of YouTube’s (“backyard golfer”) demonstrating it being used both into a net and for short pitches. It doesn’t seem to have had much discussion.

Theres no “Western” version of the Yupiteru, but translating the Japanese web pages I think I’ve sorted out in my head what is what - there’s several almost identical sounding models available. They all give ball speed (in m/s) club speed, carry distance, smash, none appear to give launch angle or spin rate. There is a model called “5 Arc” that has a full colour screen and records video, but that has been discontinued and I believe the Japanese reviews indicate it wasn’t great.

I also understand Japanese customers believe it to work better than the PRGR, although I’m a bit sceptical of that, at this price point I would assume the Doppler electronics to be very similar or identical.

The models that come up for sale are the GST-5 W and the GST-5 GL (Japanese writing on the buttons). The functionality and specs seem to be the same, I believe the difference is that the GL (which comes up a little cheaper) is a bit fatter as it uses AA batteries, and the W uses a rechargeable lithium cell.

I think they both have some sort of USB / memory card arrangement where you can download shots to a PC (onboard memory 200 shots).

I’ve got about three weeks to wait until mine is delivered, and will update the thread then, but I thought I’d start the discussion in case anyone else was about to pull the trigger on any of the multiple sub 500 dollar options that are now appearing. https://www.yupiteru.co.jp/golf/

[hammersia]

The monitor has arrived so I shoved some batteries in and scooted upto the club to do a quick review. All working pretty well once I put it the right way round.

First video below is a test of various short irons and wedges to known flags.

Then I thought a ladder drill would be interesting seeing as I really wanted it for wedges.

So this version does NOT appear to have a memory card or any socket for downloading data, unlike what I expected (post above) which is a minor inconvenience seeing as I like a good spreadsheet. As I mention at the end of the video, now I have some sort of baseline, I now want to test it into a net and try and form an opinion as to how much ball flight it needs to see.

[Daniel Eason]

This ones a good budget option here, I saw them when looking at what to buy.

Bit the bullet and went for an SC300 which I'm finding is worth the money.

Issue is it doesn't do swings without a ball.

Hope it works out for you.

PS I'd seriously lose some balls trying new swing moves on that range lol

 

[hammersia]

Ah but the trees are glorious this time of year. That’s our short iron range, we also have a much bigger flat range area.

The yupiteru does record swing speed without a ball. I’ve been trying it in various golf course nets and club and ball data works perfectly, but there’s usually then about 15ft of ball flight It can see which is more space than what I have at home. I’ve done a little bit of testing down to about 6 feet of flight and I think it tends to pick up only club data from there.

I’ve settled on elevating It about three inches on a head cover and the numbers look good, maybe one misread every twenty shots off a mat. As per the video, grass misreads were more frequent, but still very useable, I do take a bit of a divot so I suspect the issue is the same as all launch monitors, flying grass can disrupt things. It’s not fussy about distance from the ball or even alignment, I’ve never had to move it after starting a session to keep it aligned.

It also reads down to about 12 m/s swing speed (27mph swing, 20 yard carry) reliably, and it has a putting mode I haven’t used yet. Doing a ladder drill off a mat I can get good numbers in 1 m/s increments, ie start swinging a SW at 15m/s, then 16, then 17 etc.

For a hundred dollars, I’m laughing.

[hammersia]

Just a quick update, been using it quite a bit in the net and on the range. Works really well, two seconds to setup, not fussy at all on its positioning EXCEPT

I was struggling on course to get driver readings with my mates. Pretty sure this is due to the driver head covering so much of the Initial ball flight, easily solved it by moving the device 4 inches outside the line. Best value gadget I’ve ever purchased for golf, and I’ve brought a few.

[hammersia]

I’ve looked a little further into how it is measuring / calculating. I believe these comments apply equally to the PRGR and probably the early Ernest Sports devices -

 

It works the same as the swing speed radar, just that it is clever enough to measure both the club and the ball speed. All the calculations are done off these speed measurements, nothing else, not launch angle and obviously not spin. The algorithm takes a standard calculation of a typical club loft, say a six iron, and multiplies the ball speed by a set number to give predicted distance.

 

In other words, as per my video review, hitting it high or low won’t show in the carry numbers, it is calculating off ball speed and what club you have told it you are hitting ONLY. Yes I can wedge gap, down to as little as twenty yards, but that is not based on different trajectories.

 

I still use it frequently. 
 

Conclusion:

its 100 dollars. It’s brilliant. 

 

[DArnie]

On 6/26/2020 at 12:58 PM, hammersia said:

The monitor has arrived so I shoved some batteries in and scooted upto the club to do a quick review. All working pretty well once I put it the right way round.

First video below is a test of various short irons and wedges to known flags.

 

Then I thought a ladder drill would be interesting seeing as I really wanted it for wedges.

 

So this version does NOT appear to have a memory card or any socket for downloading data, unlike what I expected (post above) which is a minor inconvenience seeing as I like a good spreadsheet. As I mention at the end of the video, now I have some sort of baseline, I now want to test it into a net and try and form an opinion as to how much ball flight it needs to see.

Thanks for the reviews. You really have a good move at the ball. And you certainly are British!. (not a bad thing in anyway).LOL. Thanks again.

[Hook'n'Loop]

I just received my GST-5w yesterday and took it out to the range and it seems to work great.  It has a built-in battery and comes with a mini usb cord to charge it. (Haven't seen one of those in about ten years)  I tried to use Google to translate the manual but it doesn't do a good enough job to be understandable.  I have no idea what the button with the overlapping rectangles does, or what I can do with the memory card.  Is there software, or do you use a spreadsheet?  Is I find an old memory card lying around, I'll try it out.  But for now, I'll use it at the range and it will be perfect for speed training.

[hammersia]

On 11/21/2020 at 4:52 AM, Hook'n'Loop said:

I just received my GST-5w yesterday and took it out to the range and it seems to work great.  It has a built-in battery and comes with a mini usb cord to charge it. (Haven't seen one of those in about ten years)  I tried to use Google to translate the manual but it doesn't do a good enough job to be understandable.  I have no idea what the button with the overlapping rectangles does, or what I can do with the memory card.  Is there software, or do you use a spreadsheet?  Is I find an old memory card lying around, I'll try it out.  But for now, I'll use it at the range and it will be perfect for speed training.

I’ve got the GL version without the memory card so can’t help you with that. I did use the google translation for the manual on the phone and it worked great so not sure why yours doesn’t ? 
Your buttons are different, does not the overlapping rectangles button cycle through the shot memory?

 

 

[Solmors]

I've had my GST-5 W for a few months now, mostly using it at the range and for Superspeed practice. I've always found that it slightly underestimates carry by visually watching where balls land at the driving range and overestimates swing speed based on some of the too fast numbers it gives me (100+ on irons sometimes). Today I took it to my local golf shop while I was testing out my new Cobra Forged Tec irons and compared it to their GCHawk numbers. I was pleasantly surprised it was usually within 3% of the carry numbers, at 100 yards it was about 3 yards off on average, at 175 yards it was off by 5 yards or so on average. 

As for the memory card, I haven't yet got it to save to the memory card I've put in. The company has a software that I was able to sign up and download, but it gives me an install error when I try to run it. I'll let you guys know if I figure it out.

[idontnoh]

@Solmorswould you recommend this for superspeed protocols? I ordered a superspeed radar but it still hasn’t arrived. 

[Solmors]

On 12/14/2020 at 5:17 AM, idontnoh said:

@Solmorswould you recommend this for superspeed protocols? I ordered a superspeed radar but it still hasn’t arrived. 

It has worked out well for my superspeed training. Maybe 1 out of 10-15 swings is a misread with the sticks and gives a number too low, but other than that it seems fairly consistent. I keep a spreadsheet for my SS training where I record the fastest swing with each stick weight for both hands, the numbers are slowly going up and seem to match how I am feeling physically those days.

 

 

I recently built a little hitting range in my garage and set the GST-5 W behind my mat. It read both the head and the ball no problems, so it must be able to read ball speed within the first 10' or so after contact. Numbers felt accurate/consistent here as well where poorly struck shots would register a reasonable head speed with lower ball speed. 

 

Overall, I am fairly happy with the tool. If I could figure out how to save the swings to the SD card and use their software it would be perfect. 

[idontnoh]

This is an amazing spreadsheet and congrats on the progress! Very much considering returning my SuperSpeed Radar after seeing the accuracy in your trials.

[hammersia]

On 12/18/2020 at 5:41 PM, idontnoh said:

This is an amazing spreadsheet and congrats on the progress! Very much considering returning my SuperSpeed Radar after seeing the accuracy in your trials.

Just to summarise on that point, I tried very hard to get consistent readings with the swing speed radar and something was always throwing it off, although others have had more luck. 
With the Yupiteru, yes the data is limited but if you just work off the club and ball speed (ie smash) you will find it very consistent shot to shot. 

[jackoat67]

Does the Yupitero allow you to capture club head speed without actually striking a ball?

[whumber]

5 hours ago, jackoat67 said:

Does the Yupitero allow you to capture club head speed without actually striking a ball?

Yes.

[RCGA]

Any comments on the differences between the GST-7 BLE vs 5W vs 5GL

 

Don't really care about Bluetooth if it's all Japanese. Only really care about accuracy.  

[hammersia]

22 hours ago, RCGA said:

Any comments on the differences between the GST-7 BLE vs 5W vs 5GL

 

Don't really care about Bluetooth if it's all Japanese. Only really care about accuracy.  

Bizarrely I actually did look up Yupiteru for any new models just a couple of days ago, and saw the GST-7 BLE.

 

My opinion was that it looks identical in function to the 5GL, but with simplified buttons, so that you can read data off your phone via Bluetooth. Which wasn’t much of an upgrade to me, so I’m not bothering, even supposing you can find the GST-7 for purchase anywhere. 
 

The difference between the 5W and 5GL I described in my OP above.

Edited September 10, 2021 by hammersia

[RCGA]

Thanks - debating between this and the 2021 PRGR 

[623baller]

i tend to have an issue using this at an outdoor range. it will work for a bit then randomly stop picking up any readings (no swing speed, and no ball speed) anyone got a fix for that? i rarely have this issue when i hit into a net at home , when it happens at my home set up i just wipe the radar area and put it back and it starts picking up ball and club speed again but no luck when i do that in outdoor range. not sure if its a device issue or user error on my end

[hammersia]

11 hours ago, 623baller said:

i tend to have an issue using this at an outdoor range. it will work for a bit then randomly stop picking up any readings (no swing speed, and no ball speed) anyone got a fix for that? i rarely have this issue when i hit into a net at home , when it happens at my home set up i just wipe the radar area and put it back and it starts picking up ball and club speed again but no luck when i do that in outdoor range. not sure if its a device issue or user error on my end

No idea tbh, it is a radar so maybe susceptible to the same interference issues all radars have, metal stalls on the range etc. although the only time I ever need to change anything is for the driver I move it a few inches outside the line and put it on a head cover (big driver head covers too much of the ball otherwise, again a common issue with all radar units).

 

I tend to just throw it on the floor, but longer grass will definitely get in the way. New batteries?

[623baller]

On 3/13/2022 at 7:26 AM, hammersia said:

No idea tbh, it is a radar so maybe susceptible to the same interference issues all radars have, metal stalls on the range etc. although the only time I ever need to change anything is for the driver I move it a few inches outside the line and put it on a head cover (big driver head covers too much of the ball otherwise, again a common issue with all radar units).

 

I tend to just throw it on the floor, but longer grass will definitely get in the way. New batteries?

thanks, im actually at one of those open area grass ranges.  it's a hit or miss. half the time it would work for the full duration im there and half the time a few shots will register but if i move the unit by a few feet so i can adjust my ball to where fresh grass is, it would completely stop working .   

 

very frustrating, i am also suspecting that there's something that's interfering with the unit because sometimes it gives me some crazy club head reading before it stops working altogether.   i just dont know what it is because im literally at an open field

 

 

edit: im guessing the interference could be someone using a range finder that's also laser or radar based. also the other end of the range is a private member side for them to hit the ball, it's about 400 yards between both ends.  

 

edit 2:  i suspect the sun was causing issue since i noticed the issue happens more when the device is exposed under sun directly. i tested for the last two days with the device under shade and it seems to do the trick. less mis-reads (it used to only pick up club head speed for low flight balls) and picking up all reads now.  knock on wood

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by 623baller

[kleydejong]

I have had one for a while now, more than a year.  It is very reliable for clubhead speed.  Picks it up pretty much every time.  The numbers compare well to other more expensive launch monitors like Mevo + and Skytrak.  I use it for swing speed training measurement.  Ball speed is not very consistent with lots of misreads, but I don't really care.  Distance seems okay, but I don't put much stock into it either.

[BarfordGolf]

Anyone have the Yupiteru GST-7 BLE? I got tired of looking at the japanese characters and doing mental math to convert m/s to mph, so I wrote a little companion app. Would anybody be interested in testing?

[nkurz]

On 4/7/2023 at 12:10 AM, BarfordGolf said:

I wrote a little companion app. Would anybody be interested in testing?

 

Yes, I've got a Yupiteru GST-7 BLE, and yes, I'd love to try out your app.

 

Which leaves the big question:  Did you write it for Apple or Android?  

 

I've got Android.  

[BarfordGolf]

1 hour ago, nkurz said:

 

Yes, I've got a Yupiteru GST-7 BLE, and yes, I'd love to try out your app.

 

Which leaves the big question:  Did you write it for Apple or Android?  

 

I've got Android.  

Cross platform. Shoot me a DM.