Skytrak+ Launch Monitor Full Review : The best system for indoor practice and improvement

The 30 second summary

The original Skytrak defined the now growing category of Prosumer home launch monitors. The latest iteration, modernizes the hardware and easily provides clubhead data usually reserved for pro level launch monitors.

When the Skytrak+ is combined with the Game Improvement (or Play and Improve) plan, this becomes arguably the best platform to make practice fun and efficient at any price point. Because of this, its my go-to device for indoor practice in my home setup.

If you're looking at installing an indoor home practice solution, the Skytrak+ should make your consideration set, and if youre budget is 3k or less for a launch monitor, this should absolutely be at the top of your list.

Quick Review

What I love

• This newest generation unit has a bevy of upgrades, highlighted by the addition of dual doppler radar to provide measured clubhead data in combination with enhanced photometric technology to provide accurate ball data. The data set mirrors the functionality of "pro units" that cost 8-10x more, all without asking you to use special balls or adding stickers to your clubheads to gather the measurements.
• The setup is easier and more straightforward than the prior gen Skytrak and other competitor units.
• The usability and thoughtfulness of Skytrak's native software with the Game Improvement / Play and Improve plans is second to none. It not only provides pro level statistics but also the tools to translate that data into digestable and actionable intelligence that you can bring to the course to improve your game.
• That same software also comes packed with pre built (yet easy to customize) tools like the practice randomizer, wedge matrix, player skills assessment among others. Skytrak's software turns what would be mundane run throughs on a traditional range, to efficient and addictive practice sessions.
• There's a few add on software options that include simulation at some of the worlds best courses and virtual play with friends near and far.
• If you absolutely hate subscriptions, you can actually still get decent "range" time without a subscription, and access to all the metrics the unit has to offer. Many competitors lock down that info in their free tier.
• Top notch customer support, the few questions/issues I've had were answered and resolved quickly by friendly agents you can contact via, email, live chat or live on the phone.
• And what might be the most exciting is what's not listed. In 2022 the Skytrak brand and product was acquired by GolfTec, and rumor has it the company has major plans to expand the feature set and ecosystem of Skytrak+ to enhance the golfers experience of the product and ability to improve.

What could be better

• Offering official support for GS Pro sim software, which is quickly gaining traction among the hardcore sim folks, as the best sim program on the market. Though an unofficial connector does exist and seems to work fine for now, but an official supported integration would be nice.
• The play and improve plan includes E6 simulator software, but its a somewhat watered down version that doesnt include all the play and practice modes that give it an edge over some of its competitors. If you want those modes its better to get the Game improvement plan, then buy the subscription to e6 independently.
• There is still a tinge of shot delay compared to other units, once you take a couple swings it's pretty much unnoticeable. But if I were being picky, theres other units that seem to render the shot on the screen in more real time, but this is a very very minor gripe.
• With all the pro level data, there is one noticeable omission. Angle of Attack (AoA) would certainly be nice to have especially for us folks trying to hit more up on the ball on driver.

Who is it for

• Anyone looking to build an indoor home simulator/practice station
• It's especially good for people with tight or small spaces for their simulator
• Anyone looking for easy to use software that makes practice measurable, actionable and fun
• Anyone looking to spend 3k or less on a launch monitor
• Anyone looking to have super easy setup and software to use thats still powerful enough to give you pro level information
• Anyone looking to get clubhead and ball data without the need for special balls or stickers and doesnt have the space or budget for a Trackman

Who is it NOT for

I'm hard pressed for bullets on this one, because almost anyone can benefit by having one. But I guess I would say consider the alternatives if:

• You have both RH and LH golfers that will consistently and simultaneously use the launch monitor, and you have the space for an alternative.
• You're main reason to use this is hitting off of a grass driving range for practice. It works but you'll have to move this unit around your practice station a bit more than other units.

The full review

Tester/Test conditions

Besides being a golf gearhead, I formally worked in the golf equipment industry as both a direct employee and a consultant to multiple major OEMs in areas of clubfitting, customer service, sales, marketing and software development. I've also logged hundreds of hours across various launch monitors as both a clubfitter and an obsessed golfer.

I tested the Skytrak+ in my indoor home practice space, at a local indoor facility alongside Trackman, and at a local driving range for outdoor capabilities.

Some disclaimer here, prior to receiving my Skytrak+, I was an existing original Skytrak customer, purchased my original unit winter of 2017/2018. The next 2 years I went on to play the best golf of my life so far, and I give a lot of credit to the practice I did in my garage setup with the original Skytrak. So I have some bias here.

Unboxing

Not much to say here. Box and packaging are more than adequate, premium feeling, but not quite on the level of say a Sonos speaker or an iphone. But you're not buying this thing for the box. When unpacked its got all its essential cords for power, connection and a small cloth bag to hold your the included cords.

Setup

I'm not going to run through the full setup. If you want to see that, check out Garage Golfer on youtube at around the 7 min mark of his video.  I've only owned 1 competitor launch monitor and the Skytrak prior gen. So I havent had to run a full setup on too many units. So maybe I'm not the best judge of this. But based on my experience with this unit, setup is very easy.  Essentially its create an acct, connect the launch monitor to your device so you can pass it the wifi info, and then get it connected to the wifi. In a good way, it's a familiar procedure that you've probably done with other products you've had to connect to the internet. Then plop it down in your hitting area, open the software and go.

The unit also offers hardwire connections, and direct connections to your device via wifi for when you dont have a network available, like hitting outdoors.

Though I don't own any other competitor launch monitors currently, based on all the research I've done, which has been extensive. Skytrak+ has one of the easiest and hassle free setups of any of the systems. Every system has some quirks and with software setup, things can go wrong. But it seems like the other units have more quirks in the setup to get them to read accurately. So if easy setup is a high priority for you. This should put Skytrak+ higher up your consideration list.

Software and Usability

Dovetailing off ease of setup, the ease of use and functionality on this unit is second to none. The software experience is clear, thoughtful and in a very wonderful way more tailored to a golfer than a statistics analyst. You can still get to the spreadsheet style view and record of your shots should you desire, but a lot of the software design and UX is much more dashboard centric, for extremely easy consumption for the golfer and translation to on course strategy/performance. Also these tools are all available for use at the free tier.

The subscription packages really enhance practice sessions and are well worth the comparatively (to some other units) small annual fee. As I've said before, and I'll say it again, the game modes in this software for practice are industry leading, and in a lot of ways better than the professional grade units. It's very simple to navigate through the app into various practice modes and get up and running immediately.

There's a bevy of practice features and game modes included, and customizing them is very easy. That being said, I'll be posting some blogs and video short tutorials soon so you can get the most out of the unit in the least amount of time.

My favorite modes are the skills assessment and wedge matrix, both provide useful info I can bring to the course. The wedge matrix provides me a guideline for what shot to hit at a particular distance. This particular skills assessment pictured below, helps me understand that my best yardages are at 115 and 125, and closer isn't necessarily better for me. I can bring that to the course to help me have more confidence that Im choosing the right club off the tee to leave me with a number that statistically I perform better at.

Additionally your practice session info is available in the cloud by logging into the skytrak clubhouse website. So if you need to share info with an instructor or look at a wedge matrix online, you can do that via any device that accesses the web.

Accuracy/Mis Reads/No Reads

Accuracy

The accuracy of Skytrak+ is really impressive. It's so impressive that it actually had me questioning the accuracy of Trackman when I visited a local indoor facility and did a side by side, what I later found out is that if youre not using a specific type of golf ball or metalic stickers on your golf ball (which I wasn't), Trackman actually doesnt measure spin indoors, it only estimates it.

Additionally when I first started hitting balls the results were wildly off, and I knew that skytrak+ was def reading my shots more accurately. After about 5 min I said something to the employee at the facility and he had to recalibrate the trackman and then they reads started matching between the 2.

The takeaway here is Skytrak+ is really impressive and every unit has quirks, even the mighty 22 thousand dollar Trackman.

The only thing that seemed a little off was wild driver misses. Which lets be honest on a sim when I have a wild miss, I don't care nearly as much about the reading, A snap hook that carries 200 yards OB left or 240 yards OB left is pretty inconsequential for both practice and play.

Theres also some good reviews on youtube regarding Skytrak+ accuracy. I particularly like these segments from Mark Crossfield's and GolfBusters reviews.

Misreads

I know this is going to sound like hyperbole. By now I've hit thousands of shots with this unit. In my entire time using it, I can only remember questioning the results of maybe 5 swings. Five swings in thousands. Ie a ball I know I hit left that went right, or one that went high, but shows low, etc. This is one of the most impressive aspects of this kit. If the unit reads the shot, its got a great hit rate of being accurate.

No Reads

I had a minor issue that was quickly resolved by customer service. I would use the Skytrak+ and all would be fine and dandy for a good period of time. Then out of nowhere I would get stuck in a no read doom loop. Where consistently I would take a swing and it wouldn't read the flight. After an email to support, they told me to just reset the laser on the unit to LH setup and back to RH setup. Since then almost no issue. Every unit is going to have an occasional no read, even the top pro units in the top facilities. I've gone to some of the top fitting outfits and had some no reads occur. Whats impressive is how quickly Skytrak customer service was able to provide issue resolution.

Alternatives at each price point.

In my opinion, for the use case of indoor home use, the Skytrak+ at its price point is really hard to beat. But if you are looking for some alternatives, here's a quick list below of alternative products and their Pros and Cons.

Most comparable in price and functionality

FlightScope Mevo+ with Pro package add on - At the time of this writing the cost for both units is almost identical (~$2700 USD).

‍Biggest Pros compared to Skytrak+: Better configuration (setup behind) if you have RH  + LH golfers using the unit simultaneously. No subscription fees. Better designed for portability. Also has official support for GS Pro sim software. Speaking of software, there is some club data and for an additional fee, impact data, that feels very pro level.

‍Biggest Cons: More difficult to setup indoors. The unit requires a lot more space/depth for the radar to pickup the golf ball.

For ball flight accuracy indoors you need to add metallic dots to your golf ball or use the very expensive titleist RCT balls.

And Ive said this before and I'll probably say this with every simulator comparison, regarding the software, when it comes to making practice easy, purposeful, and fun, no one is as good as Skytrak+, that includes the pro grade devices.  

The cheapest option

In the sub $1k range its looking like the best option is the Rapsodo MLM 2 Pro.

‍Biggest Pros compared to Skytrak+: Price obviously, at $699 (USD), its a significantly cheaper unit will give you fairly accurate measurements (though it has some quirks and constraints that we'll review in the con section). This is the cheapest unit that I would consider recommending to a friend. Some of the other pros are similar to the Mevo+ pros. Like Mevo+, Its configured to sit behind the ball so its better for RH and LH simultaneous use. Like Mevo+ It has a bit more of a portable form factor.

‍Biggest Cons: This is a huge one and pretty much a non starter for me, to get accurate spin numbers you need to use one of their official Callaway RPT pattern golf balls, thats both indoor and out. That means a few things including:

• Expensive golf ball replacements
• Cant read spin at all with range balls
• Can't read spin with your gamer ball in the practice area or on the course
• Can't really test performance between different golf balls if you were ever evaluating a switch
• Testing any equipment has to be done with a specific ball which could affect your equipment choices.

This unit also doesn't measure any clubhead data besides clubhead speed, which is frustrating because it has this camera that shows a close up view of the club going through the impact zone, but gives you no numbers. Its annual subscription for the core functionality is $199 vs $129 on Skytrak.

And ill repeat, with the software, when it comes to making practice easy, purposeful, and fun, no one is as good as Skytrak+.

The higher end option

The Bushnell Launch Pro (BLP) is the most direct competitor optical based unit. Albeit higher priced, with a significantly higher total cost of ownership price. More on that in the cons.

‍Biggest Pros compared to Skytrak+: It feels ever so slightly more professional grade, though at the end of the day I would say the performance for the main use case of indoor golf in terms of accuracy is pretty much equal.  Also its got outdoor/transported use better designed into the product. Small things like a handle being designed into the exterior, and bigger things like a display on the unit that shows ball flight numbers so you dont have to have a secondary device on the range, and better ball reads off grass via a larger hitting area.

‍Biggest cons: Price, and I don't mean just the cost of the unit. But the total price of ownership is significantly higher than Skytrak+. How so? As of this writing there is only one subscription plan for the BLP... and it costs $500 (USD) per year, and thats only with its native base software which comes with 10 courses. Adding courses to their native software has hard cost of 250 to 500 per course for any of the big name courses you might want to add. If you decide to go third party with sim software, you still have to pay the $500 so for E6 basic with the BLP, the current annual cost is $500 for the base software sub + $300 for E6. Thats an annual cost of $800 compared to Skytrak's Play and Improve package which has E6 Connect included and all the amazing native Skytrak software for $250. So a 5 year cost of ownership on BLP with E6 would be $3500 + $800x5 = 7500. As opposed to Skytrak which in todays price would be $2700 + $250x5= $3950. The total cost of ownership is almost double!

And to broken record this, the Skytrak+ native software is superior when it comes to making practice easy, purposeful, and fun.

Other options I'd like to eventually evaluate

Uneekor Eye Mini, seems like a very similar unit to the Bushnell, but with better 3rd party software compatibility and lower annual subscription fees.

Golfzon Wave - Has a unique selling point of adding a specific piece of hardware for reading putts.

Full Swing Kit - Endorsed by Tiger, with a large display for reading numbers without a secondary device. But requires more room indoors.

Final Thoughts

I'll basically reiterate what I said at the beginning.

Skytrak+ is an impressive piece of kit. For the price point it's at, it delivers data and functionality normally reserved for launch monitors/simulators that are way more expensive.

It delivers on the sim golf experience, and for those looking for a piece of gear that truly can help them play better golf, this really is the unit that should go at the top of your consideration list.

For practice, the native software alone is best not only in class, but really in the industry. And you can bet that under the ownership of the largest golf instruction company in the world, that they will continue to improve the features, functionality and tools that actually help golfers play better.

For all these reasons and more, this is the go to kit for my in home practice setup.