Portable Launch Monitor ~$500.00

[K Lobster]

...so I have just been fitted for new irons/wedges, and the fitter recommended that I keep my current driver in play. Since I "have" about $500 that I don't have to spend for a new driver, looking for recommendations for a personal/portable launch monitor in that price range so I can best know the distances my new clubs will give me. I will most likely just use it on the range. 

I  understand that certain limitations are inherent as compared to the "pro," indoor/outdoor equipment, but distance accuracy(both carry and total)is(are) most important. Accurate readings for swing speed, ball speed(smash factor?), spin, height, launch angle, etc. would be great, but again, I realize there are limitations relative to my budget.

 

This is new territory for me, so any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

[golfpramparo]

If you truly want to know your distances and gaps, the best you can do is get you the Arccos Caddie set. When you play it will calculate your distances and give you very good insights on the real distances for your clubs. And it will be constantly updating this with real data every time you play. It is really useful.

 

And of course a Personal Launch Monitor is a nice toy to bring to the range anyways... 🙂

[mikewohlwend]

Flightscope Mevo is $499

[LBB]

I use my Rapsodo as a baseline for tracking how my range sessions are over time, especially as I tweak things.  There will always be limitations with using range balls, but overall if you make a change on the range where the PLM is showing you're hitting a 9i consistently four yards farther than before, you can expect your 9i on the course to go about 4 yards further on a similar strike.  The total distance might actually be different...but you can make some inferences.  I wouldn't obsess over the data shot to shot...but over time, it does help me to see trends build.

 

Same thing if you're trying to make changes to fight a pull/push or hook/fade.  You don't need a PLM to know if on any given shot the ball went left or right at the range.  Unless you're blind, just watch the ball.  But over time, you can track if your dispersion over several shots is generally different than it used to be.

 

When I first got my Rapsodo, I was thinking it was going to be this really cool thing I could use to make all types of tweaks and compare the differences between a shot that carries 141 yards and the next shot that carries 145 yards.  The truth is that it's just not that accurate on any given shot, and I'm using range balls.  But over the course of 5-10 shots within a session, and session to session, I do feel it captures enough data to show meaningful trends.

[Triple Lindy]

Similar to the Arccos recommendation above, I’d suggest the Garmin S62. Granted, it’s not a PLM but the club stat tracking is very helpful. It will even suggest a club, factoring wind, elevation and hole layout, based on your club data, and it’s a great GPS - all on your wrist. No messing around with your phone during the round. The downside, based on your original post, is it’s not a tool for the range, other than the swing tempo function.

 

Like you, I’d love to find a PLM in the $500 range, but I want to be able to hit into a net in my backyard. There’s nothing available in that range that will work for my setup, so I went with the Garmin watch. I actually bought a SkyTrack on a 30 day trial basis and it worked great. But I was having a hard time justifying $2200 plus annual fees, so I returned it.

[harpua728]

On 10/20/2021 at 1:32 AM, K Lobster said:

...so I have just been fitted for new irons/wedges, and the fitter recommended that I keep my current driver in play. Since I "have" about $500 that I don't have to spend for a new driver, looking for recommendations for a personal/portable launch monitor in that price range so I can best know the distances my new clubs will give me. I will most likely just use it on the range. 

I  understand that certain limitations are inherent as compared to the "pro," indoor/outdoor equipment, but distance accuracy(both carry and total)is(are) most important. Accurate readings for swing speed, ball speed(smash factor?), spin, height, launch angle, etc. would be great, but again, I realize there are limitations relative to my budget.

 

This is new territory for me, so any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.

 

FlightScope Mevo is your best bet.  It's $499 but you can get it for $449 with promo code 50OFFMEVO at www.flightscopemevo.com