Indoor vs Outdoor into a Net

[Triple Lindy]

Most info on launch monitors is based on 2 different environments: indoor into a net or screen and outdoor on the range with full ball flight. I’ve seen some evaluations that discuss indoor lighting as an issue, even for radar-based units.
 

When trying to decipher the info for an outdoor net setup, should I pay more attention to the indoor evaluations over the outdoor? 

[dh2o]

Outdoor into a net, there's two considerations:

1. Lighting. This probably isn't too much of an issue. Some photo-based units can have issues in very dim indoor areas. If you want to hit outdoors at night, you might need to add lighting for some units. But during the day, this won't be an issue.
2. Flight distance. How far the net is in front of you will matter. The radar-based units tend to need to see more of the ball flight than the photo based ones. If you're hitting into a close net, you'll likely want a photo-based unit. My outdoor net is just barely far enough away to clear my driver follow through, and my GC3 works great with it, but I don't know if that would be enough flight for something like a Trackman or R10 to work.

[Krt22]

It depends on which launch monitor you are using, mainly camera vs radar based. 

[Bubbtubbs]

Lighting only matters with radar if it's florescent, since it creates interference.

 

Units that offer a hybrid camera tracking system, like X3, Mevo+ or Trackman will have lighting requirements for those features but the radar tracking should be unaffected.

 

Ball flight distance is going to be the major deciding factor outdoors. If you have less than 10' and have the budget to do so, I'd go camera.

 

Edit: to elaborate, that's 10' of distance from the ball to the first netting it will impact. Trackman requires more than that, though I imagine if you had the budget for one of those units you'd probably get Quad instead and not be asking.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bubbtubbs

[Triple Lindy]

44 minutes ago, dh2o said:

How far the net is in front of you will matter

Yes, this is my primary concern. I have plenty of space, but I’ve read where the more distance between hitting surface and net, the better, with minimum being in the 8’-10’ range. My concern is hitting higher lofted clubs over the net, which I’ve done before with a SW. 

[T2WIN]

I have the Mevo plus. I use it in the garage and try to have the net at least 12 feet or so away. I'm not sure how it does on club head speed because it seems to be lacking on this. I know my speed should be higher not only because I know I swing around 114 or so with the driver but the carry distances the mevo plus says I'm getting there is no way I should be carrying the ball that far with the speed it says my club head is. Such most times with the mevo plus I get an avg of around 105 at most. I will get carry distances of 285 area which if you look that up on all the carry distance charts a swing speed of 105 area should only be carrying 255 tops. So something is off here. It could be I just don't have the net set far enough away for the driver for the mevo plus to get a true club head speed or it's something else. I've only had my mevo plus for a short time and have down research and looked at posts on here from others on such to learn the best set ups. As someone mentioned above it also could be the lighting as well as the net issue. 

[Triple Lindy]

1 hour ago, T2WIN said:

I use it in the garage and try to have the net at least 12 feet or so away.

Is that 12’ between ball and net or 12’ between Mevo+ and net? If the latter, is the ball position roughly in the middle, 6’ from both net and Mevo+? Thanks.

[T2WIN]

1 minute ago, Triple Lindy said:

Is that 12’ between ball and net or 12’ between Mevo+ and net? If the latter, is the ball position roughly in the middle, 6’ from both net and Mevo+? Thanks.

It's 12 feet from the ball to the net. The mevo plus has to be at least 7 ft or 8 from the ball to the mevo plus. 

[Bubbtubbs]

2 hours ago, Triple Lindy said:

Yes, this is my primary concern. I have plenty of space, but I’ve read where the more distance between hitting surface and net, the better, with minimum being in the 8’-10’ range. My concern is hitting higher lofted clubs over the net, which I’ve done before with a SW. 

You can get nets with a small "hat" overhang or angled extension that should take care of everything except for an extreme flop. You can also fabricate and extension yourself pretty easily from cheap Amazon golf netting, tie wraps and some PVC pipe. It doesn't have to be super reliable netting because you're only catching high wedge shots instead of fast ball speeds.

 

2 hours ago, T2WIN said:

I have the Mevo plus. I use it in the garage and try to have the net at least 12 feet or so away. I'm not sure how it does on club head speed because it seems to be lacking on this. I know my speed should be higher not only because I know I swing around 114 or so with the driver but the carry distances the mevo plus says I'm getting there is no way I should be carrying the ball that far with the speed it says my club head is. Such most times with the mevo plus I get an avg of around 105 at most. I will get carry distances of 285 area which if you look that up on all the carry distance charts a swing speed of 105 area should only be carrying 255 tops. So something is off here. It could be I just don't have the net set far enough away for the driver for the mevo plus to get a true club head speed or it's something else. I've only had my mevo plus for a short time and have down research and looked at posts on here from others on such to learn the best set ups. As someone mentioned above it also could be the lighting as well as the net issue. 

I have 112mph driver SS and 11.5' flight distance but haven't observed what you're describing. What does it report for smash factor in those cases? 

 

As far as I'm aware, the device measures CHS independently of the ball speed. Definitely interesting.

[T2WIN]

3 minutes ago, Bubbtubbs said:

You can get nets with a small "hat" overhang or angled extension that should take care of everything except for an extreme flop. You can also fabricate and extension yourself pretty easily from cheap Amazon golf netting, tie wraps and some PVC pipe. It doesn't have to be super reliable netting because you're only catching high wedge shots instead of fast ball speeds.

 

I have 112mph driver SS and 11.5' flight distance but haven't observed what you're describing. What does it report for smash factor in those cases? 

 

As far as I'm aware, the device measures CHS independently of the ball speed. Definitely interesting.

Smash is usually avg 148 and up. So it's not that I'm not hitting it sold. I truly have no idea what's up with the swing speed. Again, it could be because I don't have the net far enough from the ball which as stated I have it min. 12 feet from the ball now. I haven't used the Mevo plus outside yet on the range so can't compare it. I do have a question if you or anyone else who has the mevo plus. When you are outside say at a range, how do you get the mevo plus to connect to a wifi? I use the wifi I have here at the house when using it here but I'm sure there is no wifi out at the range. 

[Bubbtubbs]

5 minutes ago, T2WIN said:

Smash is usually avg 148 and up. So it's not that I'm not hitting it sold. I truly have no idea what's up with the swing speed. Again, it could be because I don't have the net far enough from the ball which as stated I have it min. 12 feet from the ball now. I haven't used the Mevo plus outside yet on the range so can't compare it. I do have a question if you or anyone else who has the mevo plus. When you are outside say at a range, how do you get the mevo plus to connect to a wifi? I use the wifi I have here at the house when using it here but I'm sure there is no wifi out at the range. 

Your phone or tablet connects to the Mevo+ directly through its own wi-fi.

 

I use the QR code on the back to connect because I'm lazy and don't want to input network settings so I do the same at the range.

 

You could check your tee height settings and make sure wind is disabled because sometimes it turns those things back on randomly.

 

I lose a couple dozen yards on driver, bit less on 4w and 2i, but the other clubs are bang on. Spin is generally the culprit on the big stick because at high speeds it has trouble getting a good reading indoors and I'll get numbers like 3600rpm with +1.2 AOA, which is similar spin to my 26* 4i.

 

 

[Triple Lindy]

1 hour ago, Bubbtubbs said:

You can get nets with a small "hat" overhang or angled extension that should take care of everything except for an extreme flop.

Yep, all part of my budget process. I have my eye on the Spornia SPG-7 for this exact reason. My current 10’ x 7’ net is functional, but sags a little in the center and isn’t even 7’ high at that point. I also need a new mat, so costs escalate quickly. My setup won’t be permanent, so I’ll be setting up mat, net and launch monitor each time, so I guess that’s also a factor. The highest priced units I’m considering are Skytrak and Mevo+, but given net and mat expenses, I’d prefer to spend even less. Full disclosure: I had a Skytrak for the 30 day trial period last year and it worked great, even in full sunlight. I returned it because I was facing shoulder surgery that put me on the sideline for more than 6 months. I’m expecting to be able to swing again in the next several weeks and am re-evaluating my options. I’d love to give the Garmin R10 a try, as I use the S62 watch and really like the Garmin ecosystem. R10s are elusive, though.

[Bubbtubbs]

45 minutes ago, Triple Lindy said:

Yep, all part of my budget process. I have my eye on the Spornia SPG-7 for this exact reason. My current 10’ x 7’ net is functional, but sags a little in the center and isn’t even 7’ high at that point. I also need a new mat, so costs escalate quickly. My setup won’t be permanent, so I’ll be setting up mat, net and launch monitor each time, so I guess that’s also a factor. The highest priced units I’m considering are Skytrak and Mevo+, but given net and mat expenses, I’d prefer to spend even less. Full disclosure: I had a Skytrak for the 30 day trial period last year and it worked great, even in full sunlight. I returned it because I was facing shoulder surgery that put me on the sideline for more than 6 months. I’m expecting to be able to swing again in the next several weeks and am re-evaluating my options. I’d love to give the Garmin R10 a try, as I use the S62 watch and really like the Garmin ecosystem. R10s are elusive, though.

The R10 is enough monitor for most people and the costs of getting started with the stance area, hitting area, net/screen and software are higher than people realize. 

 

Even if (more like when) you want to upgrade, most of the current generation launch monitors are holding their value quite well, so you shouldn't eat too much cost on depreciation.

 

I'm hoping to upgrade the Mevo+ to something like a GC3 or EXO before next winter hits but I won't be too upset if it doesn't happen until the following year. Indoors, it's great for mid-irons and approach shots so I can live with the longest clubs not having top shelf numbers in the short term.