---
title: "Trackman 4 review: the 2015 radar is still the reference, and it pays for coaches, putting and the range"
url: "https://ifrothgolf.com/read/trackman-4-review"
type: "spotlight"
topic: "launch-monitors"
author: "Ben Marsden"
published: "2026-10-05T10:00"
publisher: "ifrothgolf"
---


# Trackman 4 review: the 2015 radar is still the reference, and it pays for coaches, putting and the range

> Trackman's dual-radar unit is more than ten years old and every other launch monitor is still checked against it. That age is part of the case for it. The room it needs, the putting data it has and the iO doesn't, and who should spend the money.

## In short

- **Verdict: 8.7/10.** The benchmark launch monitor, and the right buy for coaches, fitters and anyone who will use it outdoors and on a green; an indoor-only room is better served by the Trackman iO.
- Pro: Still the reference instrument a decade on, so its numbers match what coaches and fitters everywhere are using
- Pro: Dual radar plus synchronised camera, 40-plus parameters, and Performance Putting that the iO does not offer
- Con: Indoors it needs a long room: Trackman asks for 18 feet or more from screen to unit

Walk down any tour range on a Tuesday and count the flat square boxes sitting a few paces behind the players. A good share of them are the [Trackman 4](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/trackman-4), and it has been there, in one generation of firmware or another, since Trackman introduced it in 2015. In consumer electronics a ten-year-old design is a discontinued one. In launch monitors this one is still the box the rest of the market gets measured against, and it still costs $26,000.

That age is the first thing worth understanding about it, because it is an argument for the unit, not against it.

## Why a ten-year-old design is still the benchmark

Trackman's lineage runs Trackman 2 in 2006, Trackman 3 in 2011 and Trackman 4 in 2015, and the jump to the fourth generation was the move to two radars. One is tuned to the club, watching everything it does before, during and after impact. The other is tuned to the ball, from launch to landing. On top of that sits a high-speed camera synchronised to the radar, which Trackman calls Optically Enhanced Radar Tracking, so impact detail that radar is weakest at gets filled in by an image. Trackman's spec sheet breaks the output into 17 club measurements and 13 ball measurements, with a separate set of putting data on top; the headline figure is more than 40 parameters per shot.

Here is why the age helps. A reference instrument is only useful if everyone is using the same reference. Tour coaches, fitters, club builders and most of the published data on what a 7-iron should do at a given speed have been working off this machine for a decade. When a coach in Florida and a fitter in Surrey both say a player's attack angle is minus four, the number means the same thing because it came off the same box. Replace the hardware every three years and that shared language breaks. Trackman has kept it intact by improving the software around a radar that already worked.

## The putting data is the part nobody prices in

Most people shortlist this unit on full-swing numbers. The feature I would weigh more heavily, if you coach or fit, is Performance Putting. On the Trackman 4 it reads club delivery on the green: face angle, path, loft and speed at impact, plus ball launch, break analysis and synchronised video, on any putting surface. That is the same box doing the job a dedicated putting lab does, on a practice green as well as in a studio.

It matters for this decision because it is one of the clearest things separating the Trackman 4 from the [Trackman iO](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/trackman-io). Trackman's own technical comparison lists the iO with simulator putting only. The iO will let you hole out on a virtual green. It will not tell you your face was two degrees open at impact. For a teaching professional that is not a detail; the putting stroke is where a lot of lessons are actually won.

## The room, in Trackman's own numbers

We have already made the long argument about radar needing depth in [the QuadMAX comparison](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/foresight-quadmax-vs-trackman-4), so here are just the figures, from Trackman's own room guide. For a Trackman 4 simulator it asks for a ceiling of 3 metres or more, a room 4.6 metres wide, and 5.5 metres (18 feet) or more from the screen back to the unit. Its spec sheet puts the absolute floor at 4.7 metres between the unit and the net. Trackman describes the space behind the ball as not optional if accuracy is the priority.

Set that against the same guide's figures for the iO: the same ceiling and width, but 3 metres from screen to ball and only enough room behind you to swing comfortably. That is the whole difference in one line: the Trackman 4 needs the unit 5.5 metres back from the screen, the iO needs the ball 3 metres from it and a swing's worth of room behind you. If your space is a single garage, the measuring tape has made this decision already, and our [Sim Room Architect](https://ifrothgolf.com/tools/sim-build-planner) will tell you which side of the line you are on.

## What the box does not include

PlayBetter's listing is clear that the price buys the launch monitor unit only. For indoor simulator use, the minimum PC specification Trackman publishes for its Virtual Golf software is a serious gaming machine: Windows 11, 32GB of RAM, a 3.4GHz Intel i7 and an Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti, with a 1TB SSD. That is a meaningful second purchase for anyone who does not already own one, and it sits before the screen, enclosure, mat and projector. Outdoors none of that applies, which is one more way the Trackman 4 rewards the buyer who uses it on grass.

Away from the bay, the hardware is portable in a way fitting carts are not. It is 300mm square and 45mm deep, runs four hours-plus on its 10,400mAh battery, auto-levels, and works in rain and wind. It connects over dual-band Wi-Fi or Ethernet. None of that is glamorous. All of it is why it lives in coaches' cars.

## Who it is for

**The coach who works outdoors and indoors.** This is the purchase the Trackman 4 was built for. One box on the range in May, on the practice green in the afternoon, in the studio in January, with the same numbers in all three places. At this price that continuity is what you are paying for, and nothing else at the top of the market offers all three.

**The fitter or club that wants the reference.** If your customers will compare your numbers with what they were told somewhere else, being on the same instrument as everyone else is commercially useful. The badge is part of what you sell.

**The benchmark-seeker with a range.** There is a small group of very serious amateurs who practise on grass, keep their own data and want the number that ends the argument. If you have access to a range and you will take it there, I would not talk you out of it.

## Who should buy the Trackman iO instead

Anyone whose golf is all indoors. The [iO](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/trackman-io-review) costs a little over half as much at $14,000, hangs from the ceiling so the floor stays clear, swaps left- and right-handers without moving anything, and was designed for exactly the room the Trackman 4 struggles in. Its dual high-speed cameras measure 3D spin directly. What you give up is the outdoors, the portability and Performance Putting. If none of those three would get used, they are not worth roughly twice the money.

And anyone building a home room mainly to play courses with friends should probably stop well below either Trackman. That is not a knock on the hardware. It is that the extra precision is a coaching input, and if nobody in the room acts on it you have paid for a laboratory to answer a question you were never going to ask. Our [launch monitor price ladder](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/launch-monitor-price-ladder) shows where most home rooms land, and the [launch monitor finder](https://ifrothgolf.com/tools/launch-monitor-finder) will narrow it to a handful in a few questions.

## The verdict

The Trackman 4 is still the reference, more than a decade after launch, and the age is part of the reason: everyone's numbers mean the same thing because they come off the same box. It earns its price when it gets used in more than one place, on the range, on the practice green and in the bay. Used in one garage it is the wrong Trackman. I would buy it to coach, to fit or to practise outdoors, and I would buy the iO, or something much cheaper, for everything else.

## Verdict: 8.7/10

**Bottom line:** The benchmark launch monitor, and the right buy for coaches, fitters and anyone who will use it outdoors and on a green; an indoor-only room is better served by the Trackman iO.

**Pros**
- Still the reference instrument a decade on, so its numbers match what coaches and fitters everywhere are using
- Dual radar plus synchronised camera, 40-plus parameters, and Performance Putting that the iO does not offer
- Portable and weatherproof: the same unit works on the range, on the practice green and in the bay

**Cons**
- Indoors it needs a long room: Trackman asks for 18 feet or more from screen to unit
- The price buys the unit only, and indoor simulator use needs a high-end gaming PC on top
- For an indoor-only buyer, the iO does the job at a little over half the price

## The takeaway

The Trackman 4 dates from 2015 and is still the launch monitor everything else is checked against: dual Doppler radar, one radar on the club and one on the ball, plus a synchronised camera, 17 club and 13 ball measurements and Performance Putting on top. At $26,000 for the unit alone, it pays back for coaches, fitters and anyone who will use it outdoors and on a putting green. Indoors only, Trackman's own figures ask for 18 feet from screen to unit and a serious gaming PC, and the iO at $14,000 is the better Trackman.

## FAQ

### When did the Trackman 4 come out?

Trackman introduced the Trackman 4 in 2015, following the Trackman 2 in 2006 and the Trackman 3 in 2011. The fourth generation added a second radar, so one radar tracks the club and the other tracks the ball, alongside a synchronised high-speed camera. It is still Trackman's flagship portable launch monitor and the reference most other units are compared against.

### How much room does a Trackman 4 need indoors?

Trackman's own room guide asks for a ceiling of 3 metres (10 feet) or more, a room width of 4.6 metres (15 feet) or more, and 5.5 metres (18 feet) or more from the screen back to the unit. Its spec sheet sets 4.7 metres as the minimum from unit to net. The ceiling-mounted Trackman iO needs only about 3 metres from screen to ball, which is why Trackman sells it for smaller rooms.

### Does the Trackman 4 measure putting?

Yes. Trackman 4 offers Performance Putting, which reads face angle, path, loft and speed at impact, ball launch and break, with synchronised video, on any putting surface. Trackman's technical comparison lists the Trackman iO with simulator putting only, so detailed putting-stroke data is one of the main differences between the two.

### Should I buy a Trackman 4 or a Trackman iO?

Buy the Trackman 4 if you will use it outdoors, move it between locations or coach putting, because it is portable, weatherproof and has Performance Putting. Buy the Trackman iO if your golf is entirely indoors: it costs a little over half as much, mounts on the ceiling, needs far less depth and swaps between left- and right-handers without moving the unit.

## Products mentioned

- [Trackman 4 Launch Monitor](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/trackman-4) · $26,000 approx
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at PlayBetter](https://www.playbetter.com/products/trackman-4-golf-launch-monitor?ghref=2301%3A1337342) (affiliate link)

---

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