I Tested A $200 Launch Monitor…

So this is the brand new LM-1 launch monitor from ShotScope, and it only costs $200. And naturally, the question on everyone's lips becomes, well, how accurate is it? How does it compare to the $2,000, $5,000, $20,000 launch monitors? And after a week of using this thing and testing it, I think that question fully misses the mark. The question you need to ask is, how can this $200 unit actually help me improve and become a better golfer? So that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go to the range. We're gonna test this thing. We're gonna see what it does well, what it doesn't do so well, and ultimately answer the question, who is this $200 launch monitor for? So the LM-1 is ShotScope's entry into the launch monitor space. ShotScope is known for their GPSs, their range finders, their watches. They make really great product, and now they've dabbled with a launch monitor for 200 bucks. It's small. You can fit this thing in your back pocket. It's got a nice little kickstand, carrying case. The form factor is fantastic. Tactile buttons to click through. No subscription fees. We've got five metrics that we're getting with this unit. It's a radar unit, sits four or five feet behind the ball. Ideally, it's best outside, but you can still use it inside, in the basement, in the garage, into a net, into an enclosure. No simulator capabilities, but if you are inside, it is radar, so if there's a lot of metal and electronics around, you might get interference, but we all know that when it comes to our radar launch monitors. So let's just address that elephant in the room, the accuracy comparisons, the accuracy tests. A lot of YouTube videos are gonna do that. They're gonna compare this unit to a Trackman, to a GC Quad, to a GC3, and I think that comparison fully misses the mark. They're going to be off. We know that. We're gonna see videos that go, oh, four yards off, five yards off. That's pretty good. That's within, they're just trying to spin a positive. That's not the comparison. That's not what you need. This thing needs to be reliable and consistent. If it's reliable and consistent, you can actually use that data in your practice sessions to improve. This is a $200 launch monitor meant to help you improve. This is not a $200 launch monitor meant to compete or replace a GC3. So we want this data to be reliable, to be consistent, and to be good enough that we understand it and we can use it to get better. So let's go to the range and see if it does exactly that. So I've got five balls here, eight iron. Let's see how consistent this reading and spread of shots is. I hit that one pretty solid, 160. That's what my eight iron should be. You can tell it's blowing today. So obviously it's not taking into consideration that this would be into the wind. So calm conditions, that's what that shot would have gone. Little on the thin side. I feel like that should be slightly under 160. 160, okay. Ooh, that was solid. That's a little high. 167, that's a little high. That was solid. That's a little high. I don't hit an eight iron, 169 in the air. I don't. It's consistent, but it's a little off for my tastes. Let's go on to our second test where this could be beneficial for you at home. So just a quick break from test number one to talk about another small but mighty machine, this noble MyoLite portable massage gun. I'm 41, I'm gonna be 42 in a couple of days. I understand how important recovery is and how important activation is. In my playing career, I tried to take great care of my body in spite of bad golf, but now at my age, being a dad, going to the gym every day, running twice a week, and still trying to maintain a decent golf game, I wanna take good care of my body. And recovery after certain workouts is very important. Like we squatted yesterday. My quads are on fire. This has helped so much. Super easy to turn on. You have three speeds. I mean, after the workout, it's helped. Even right now, it helps. But before hitting balls, it helps loosen up the muscles because muscle activation is arguably just as important as muscle recovery. And don't let its size sway you. It's strong. These three speeds are strong, but the thing that's great about this size is it fits so easily in your gym bag, so easily in your golf bag, because I've been using massage guns probably six, seven, eight years, and the size of them has not been convenient. I can't take it in my golf bag or gym bag. The charging is not convenient. We have USB-C charger. Easy to turn on, easy to turn off. You just saw me work through all three speeds. The portability of it and the size factor, I was skeptical that this price, $100 tiny little massage gun, would actually do what the big $500 ones can do, but it has. It's helped me post-workouts. It's helped me pre-absolute powerhouse the last few weeks. It's just been a tool that has added to my life rather than taking away from it or just collecting dust because it's too inconvenient to use or charge or take with you. So keep doing the things you love with the Myolite by Noble. It's linked down below. Now let's go back to testing this launch monitor. So a great use for this could be speed training, because if you are doing any type of speed training, rip sticks, super speed, stack, whatever it is, having a radar obviously is helpful, but having a radar that you can bring out to the golf course and hit golf balls with to give you some readings on your speed as you work on it, that's great. And I mean, all those radars are roughly this price point. We're gonna go just kind of a smooth driver here. So 115, that's pretty spot on there. But now let's do kind of the old two-step speed one. And we're not worried about where it goes. We're just worried about kind of ramping up our speed. About fell over. 119. All right, let's try to really kind of what we wanna do when we really wanna crank it. Let's see if we can max out our speed. 122. I mean, those seem pretty accurate for my taste, knowing what my swing speed is and what it does when I try to hit it hard. So you could be out here, you could do some of your speed work while hitting a golf ball and getting feedback. That's one use case and test that I think this is gonna be, could be very beneficial for a lot of golfers. Just working on speed, not so much dialing in the strike or the accuracy, but we're trying to hit it hard. So now we've done a couple of drills. Let's just hit this solid. Right off the toe, but speed was up. 119 for 200 bucks to get a really good radar that you could go out and hit shots out there. Full marks for this test. Now let's go to another test. So I've got it back in range setting and this is where we're gonna use the smash factor because yes, there's limitations. We don't have spin, we don't have launch, but the data that we do get, we can use to help us get better, practice smarter and all those things. So I wanna pay attention to smash factor and getting a little bit of awareness on smash factor is just telling us the quality of the strike that we put on the golf ball. You're not gonna see 1.5 smash, but at this speed, 1.2. So it makes you aware. Okay, I hit that solid, maybe a groove low. That was 1.2 smash. Now let's see what happens if I, I'm gonna hit this one a little heavy on purpose and we'll see what the smash tells us. Pure did. Didn't hit that one heavy on purpose. Let's try that again. Gotta hit it heavy, dude. So you see, compared to the pure one and the slightly heavy one, the smash is a little bit less, but you're learning. So that one that I thought I hit solid at 1.22, whatever it was, it did feel groove low. We see it. The next one, I compressed the crap out of that 1.3. 2.8. So we're learning, based on the strike, we're getting feedback. Let's try to really hit it on the forehead and see what that smash tells us. 0.72. I mean, that's pretty good. That really hurt my hands, but the smash factor, I think it's something that a lot of golfers only focus on with driver. Oh, you want 1.5 smash on driver, but with your irons, as you're gapping, as you're working, as you're warming up, as you're practicing, you learn what solid smash factor is with the eight iron, with the wedge. So then when you're practicing, you can get that feedback on, okay, well, that first one went 155. I thought I hit it maybe a groove low. The smash was down. Yeah, that's right. So now let's hit a solid one and see where all the metrics line up at. That was good. 1.3, 161 in the air. I mean, that's just a solid eight iron. And what I felt, I see in this launch monitor. Well, I'd be remiss to not hit some drivers and just see the reading. So how does it read driver? Let's hit a few and see. I mean, see, it's not gonna get the direction. I pulled that. Club head speed, that's pretty accurate. Ball speed, 171. That's pretty accurate. That one was good. A little off the toe, but I mean, this off them, so forgiving. That's pretty, pretty solid. One more. Let's really send it. Woo! Okay, so pretty consistent, pretty reliable. That's what I was looking for. Yeah, the carry yardage was a little high on the irons. With the driver, pretty good. I mean, the club head speed, the ball speed, and the smash were nice. And those are three metrics that a golfer can effectively use to get better. I would love the carry to be a little tighter, but maybe that was just the day I was hitting it and blowing 20 miles of wind. I'd like the carry to be a little bit tighter because a golfer could maybe get better gapping or understanding on how far a shot goes or how far a half shot goes. But if it's reading just a hair higher, you know that. I don't walk away from that session thinking I hit eight iron 170 now. I just walk away from it going, well, I'm just reading a little bit higher. But there's things it can't do. We know where there's no spin, so that's gonna basically make the total number kind of obsolete. I don't know why they included that because it doesn't need to be in there. There's no spin access. There's no shape. There's no face angle of attack. There's things that this isn't gonna do. There's gonna be more misreads than an expensive unit. But it's not meant to compare. If you want those things, you're looking at the expensive units. I did experience a bit of limitations with the wedges as well in my own practice with it. Felt about 40 yards and 40 miles per hour of club head speed is where it started to struggle not reading it or it would read it 219 miles of club head speed. So that was just something I learned, took into consideration. But 50, 60 to 100 yards, it was pretty awesome. So for a golfer that wants to get a little bit better, the wedge capabilities and data and practice for distance control, fantastic. Granted, if you start hitting the 30, 40 yard shots, your app data is gonna be super skewed because now I have 219 miles of club head speed in there. It's a $200 unit. And I think the question comes back to, a golfer's not considering this or a $3,000 unit. I've already got comments, I wish it had spin. You gotta look at the more expensive units to get those things. This is for a golfer that is considering this or nothing. Like a golfer that just wants to practice a little bit, maintain their practice as is. Or pay 200 bucks, get something that elevates that practice by giving you pretty consistent, pretty reliable data that you can learn from to get a little bit better. So if you do get to the range once a week and all you get is range balls, this is gonna really help your range sessions. Or if you have a garage net, a backyard net, and you wanna learn a little bit more without fully breaking the bank, this is for you, it's gonna help you. Or if you're doing a speed training program and you want to see how that speed can translate out on the golf course, you can bring this out and work on the speed but also see your strike efficiency, your ball speed, as it pertains to your club speed increasing. Because just the generic radars that are 100 to 150 bucks, you're not hitting a golf ball, you're just getting your club speed. Whereas the fact that you can kind of do your speed training and get ball speed and strike efficiency, that's awesome for 200 bucks. So it's for the golfer that was like, do I need it, do I need nothing, or should I get something to help my practice? This is not for someone that wants simulator, that wants robust data, complete accuracy. You gotta look at the two, three, $5,000 launch monitors for that, not a $200 launch monitor. Because ShotScope's not trying to make the most advanced launch monitor in the game at such a wildly low price tag. They're trying to make data more accessible for more golfers because the price point is so inviting and what you get for that price point is so solid. Because for a lot of golfers, the best practice tool is the one that you can afford. And for $200, a lot of golfers can afford that. And what they get with that price tag will allow them to become a better golfer, to improve with more efficient practice, to learn more about what happens when they practice, and take that to the golf course. Win, win, win across the board. We know there's limitations. There was always going to be, but for 200 bucks, what a great start into the launch monitor space for ShotScope. Let me know in those comments below, have you got this already? Are you gonna get it? Sound off what your experience is and we'll see you in the next video, peace.