Tech
Rangefinders, GPS, launch monitors and home simulators — the tech that measures your game and hands you real numbers.
Garmin Approach S72 vs S70: sapphire, titanium and an ECG come in the box, the new green reading needs a Garmin Golf membership
Garmin's new flagship is lighter and tougher, and adds a speaker, a flashlight and swing metrics. The 47mm screen and the battery rating aren't any different from the S70's, and its two headline golf features, green reading and aerial imagery, sit behind the subscription.
By Jordan Hale
Rapsodo MLM2XPRO vs MLM2PRO: the same 15 metrics, so the extra money buys tracked putting and speed
Rapsodo's new launch monitor measures exactly what the old one does. What it adds is putting in simulation, a faster connection and an easier set-up, while the MLM2PRO drops in price. The membership bill is identical on both.
By Marcus Bell
Foresight GC3 vs Uneekor EYE MINI: Foresight's 43% cut now makes the GC3 the better box, and the EYE MINI still the cheaper GSPro room
Foresight has marked its three-camera GC3 down by more than 40 per cent on its own US store and at PlayBetter, leaving it a short step above Uneekor's portable two-camera unit. The hardware case now favours the GC3. The software bill still favours the EYE MINI, by almost exactly the size of the discount.
By Marcus Bell
Garmin Approach R50 vs TruGolf APOGEE: a portable all-in-one sim against a ceiling unit that keeps the floor clear
Two premium camera units with their own software, and one of them is bolted to the ceiling. The R50 needs nothing else to run a round. The APOGEE needs a PC, a permanent room and a commitment to E6.
By Marcus Bell
Garmin Approach S70 vs S44: the extra money buys Virtual Caddie and a health watch, not better yardages
Same course database, same AMOLED idea, same front-middle-back numbers. The S70 costs more than double, and almost everything it adds happens either off the course or inside a club suggestion.
By Dan Mercer
FlightScope Mevo Gen2 vs SkyTrak ST MAX: one sells you the club data, the other rents you the courses
Two units within reach of each other on price, from opposite ends of the room. The Mevo Gen2 owns its courses and charges once for club-face numbers. The ST MAX includes club path and face angle and charges every year for golf.
By Jordan Hale
TruGolf LaunchBox vs Full Swing KIT: one price includes the courses, the other includes the club data
Two portable launch monitors below the premium tier, sold on opposite promises. TruGolf bundles 27 courses you keep and no annual bill. Full Swing bundles all sixteen data points and a camera, then leaves the golf courses to you.
By Marcus Bell
Garmin Approach G82 vs Shot Scope H50: the built-in launch monitor only earns its price if you practise on a range
Two big-screen handhelds, more than twice apart on price. The difference is a radar launch monitor in the Garmin, and whether you need one comes down to how often you hit balls away from the course.
By Tom Whitaker
BenQ AK700ST vs LK936ST: the extra 1,100 lumens only pay where daylight reaches the screen
BenQ's two golf-sim lasers share a resolution, a light source and a golf picture mode. The dearer one buys brightness and lens shift. The cheaper one throws shorter and weighs half as much, and for most sim rooms that matters more.
By Marcus Bell
Uneekor EYE XR vs Foresight Falcon: the Falcon buys a far bigger hitting zone, the EYE XR keeps stickers off your clubs
Both hang from the ceiling and both leave the floor empty. One costs nearly three times the other, and the money buys space to miss the spot, four cameras and no software fee. It does not buy sticker-free club data. The cheaper unit has that.
By Marcus Bell
Uneekor EYE MINI vs Bushnell Launch Pro: both boxes now cost the same, and GSPro decides it
Uneekor has taken a four-figure cut out of the EYE MINI and Bushnell has trimmed the Launch Pro Circle B, and the two units have landed within a dollar of each other at US retail. That removes the hardware gap that used to settle this, and leaves the subscription ladder holding the entire decision.
By Marcus Bell
Garmin Z82 vs Bushnell Tour V7 Shift: one puts the hole in the viewfinder, the other puts your own carry numbers in it
Both fold a second layer of information into a laser, and both sit in the same bracket. One layer is 41,000 mapped courses laid over the hole you are standing on. The other is your own launch monitor carry numbers, and it is the one the Rules of Golf switch off in anything played to a card.
By Jordan Hale
Mileseey GenePro G1 vs Bushnell Tour Hybrid: the screen or the viewfinder decides it
Two devices, one idea: put the laser and the GPS in the same hand. One hangs a touchscreen off the side of the barrel, the other hides the yardages inside the eyepiece. They cost about the same, which means this comes down to where you want to be looking.
By Ben Marsden
Carl's Place Curved vs Pro enclosure: the curve buys peripheral vision and spends it on projector geometry
Carl's curved kit wraps the impact screen around the hitting area so the image carries into peripheral vision. That changes the surface your projector has to focus on, which makes this a screen decision and a projector decision at the same time.
By Marcus Bell
Uneekor EYE XR vs EYE XO2: the cheaper overhead keeps the sticker-free club tracking and gives up the hitting zone
Same brand, same ceiling mount, and one of them costs a little over 1.8 times the other. Before either is a decision, measure the room — then the gap comes down to a third camera and how much ball-position drift it forgives.
By Marcus Bell
Foresight QuadMAX vs Trackman 4: cameras beside the ball, radar that needs the room
The two machines every other launch monitor gets benchmarked against, about 30 per cent apart on the shelf. The number that decides between them is not on either spec sheet — it is the distance from where the ball sits to the wall behind you.
By Marcus Bell
Garmin Approach S44 vs Instinct Crossover Solar: hole maps against a battery measured in months
Same maker, same course database, same phone app. One draws the hole for you and charges every four rounds. The other survives anything, runs on sunlight and shows you three numbers.
By Jordan Hale
Foresight Falcon vs Trackman iO: one charges you at installation, the other every year after
Two ceiling-mounted launch monitors at the very top of the market, roughly 21 per cent apart on the shelf. Both carry a second cost the sticker never mentions, and they carry it at opposite ends of the ownership.
By Marcus Bell
Blue Tees Captain Pro vs SkyCaddie LX5: the subscription brand is the one with nothing to pay for three years
A challenger laser that also does GPS against the watch from the brand everyone associates with annual fees. Run both bills to year three and the labels swap over.
By Jordan Hale
SportScreen Vanish vs Carl's Place Pro: the retractable one is cheaper, and the room's other job decides it
One rolls up into a ceiling housing so the garage goes back to being a garage. The other is a fixed, framed room you can order to the exact size of your wall. As we list them, the retractable is the cheaper of the two, and the pipes are not in the Carl's box.
By Marcus Bell
Fiberbuilt Player Preferred vs Studio Grass: two different turfs, and the price gap depends on your layout
Fiberbuilt's two simulator mats stand on different hitting surfaces and come in the same single-, centre- and double-hitting layouts. The extra money buys Pure Impact Turf and a vibration layer rated at 94.7 per cent, and how much extra depends on which layout your household needs.
By Marcus Bell
BenQ LK936ST vs Optoma GT2100HDR: the projector decision is about your room, not your budget
Two short-throw laser projectors for a golf simulator, separated by roughly threefold on price. The right answer is set by the light in your room and the distance you actually have, not by the lumen number.
By Marcus Bell
Uneekor EYE MINI vs Bushnell Launch Pro: which is cheaper over three years now turns on the EYE MINI's sale price
Two photometric units, two completely different bargains. The Launch Pro rents its club data through Foresight+ and the EYE MINI includes it. With the EYE MINI marked down to Launch Pro money, three years of ownership favours the Uneekor; at its list price, the Bushnell.
By Marcus Bell
ProTee VX vs Trackman iO: the iO costs 77 per cent more, and that gap only pays if the bay earns money
Two ceiling-mounted launch monitors, one clear hitting bay, and a price gap of roughly 77 per cent. The decision is less about accuracy than most buyers assume.
By Marcus Bell
Most of an enclosure's price is the screen. Most buyers don't realise that, and it settles this argument
The SIG10 arrives at well under half the Carl's Place Pro's ask with a screen that has already beaten the category favourite in independent testing. The Pro is answering a different question, and it is a question about your walls.
By Marcus Bell
Trackman iO vs Uneekor EYE XO2: the year-one trap
Both mount overhead, both want ten feet of ceiling, and about $3,000 separates them on the shelf. Then Trackman's included first year runs out, and the gap starts growing by $1,100 a year.
By Marcus Bell
Uneekor EYE XO2 vs Foresight GC3: ceiling or floor?
At least $4,000 separates them, but they're not really rivals — one lives in your ceiling forever, the other sits on the floor and travels. Both now charge a yearly fee for the software most home builders want.
By Marcus Bell
Launch Pro vs SkyTrak ST MAX: the subscription decides it
Two of the most-recommended home-sim units, about $1,000 apart on the sticker. Run the software costs for three years and the gap gets much wider — in one specific direction.
By Marcus Bell
Carl's Place DIY vs Pro enclosure: you build the frame either way, so the real question is your room's light
The $2,900 gap between the two Carl's Place kits does not buy you out of the frame: both need steel conduit, cut to Carl's sheet or bought as a pre-cut pipe kit. It buys a darker, light-blocking surround and a screen chosen for your room. Here's the honest test for which side of it you belong on.
By Marcus Bell
Launch Pro vs Foresight GC3: I did the subscription maths and it says the opposite of what everyone tells you
Same measurement technology, and now the same Foresight+ memberships too. The received wisdom is that the GC3 wins over time because it never bills you. Run today's numbers and the hardware gap is almost the whole story.
By Marcus Bell
Nikon Coolshot Pro II vs Precision Pro NX10: how much rangefinder do you need?
One buys you the best optics and a gyro-stabilised picture; the other gives you most of the experience for a little over half the outlay. Which is the smarter buy?
By Jordan Hale
GoGoGo Vpro vs Bushnell Tour V7 Shift: do you really need to spend 5x?
A budget-laser icon against the tour-caddie standard — one costs roughly five times the other, and only one specific golfer actually needs the expensive one.
By Jordan Hale
Garmin Approach S50 vs Shot Scope V5: slick watch or free game data?
Two very different GPS watches at two very different prices — one is the polished all-rounder, the other quietly tells you where you actually lose shots.
By Jordan Hale
SkyTrak+ vs FlightScope Mevo+: your room decides this one, not your budget
Both are now outgoing models on run-out prices, which makes this more useful rather than less — the successors inherit the same trade-off. And it isn't the spec sheet. It's how much space you actually have.
By Marcus Bell
Rapsodo MLM2 Pro vs Shot Scope LM1: measured spin and sim golf, or just the number?
Two launch monitors golfers cross-shop constantly, sitting either side of the same question — how much do you actually need? One films your swing, measures spin and plays sim courses all winter. The other strips the whole idea down to a carry number on a screen.
By Jordan Hale
Radar vs camera launch monitors: the home-sim decision nobody explains
Two completely different technologies hide behind the words launch monitor, and picking the wrong one for your room is the most expensive mistake in home golf.
By Jordan Hale
The only three projectors worth buying for a golf simulator
Forget the spec-sheet rabbit hole. For a golf sim the projector decision comes down to two things — your room's light and your budget — and it lands on one of three.
By Marcus Bell
Bushnell Tour V6 Shift vs Shot Scope Pro L2: do you really need the badge?
Two of the best value lasers in golf, from opposite ends of the value argument. The Shot Scope is the giant-killer on pure accuracy-per-pound; the Bushnell sells trust, optics and that famous pin-lock. Here's which one actually deserves your money.
By Jordan Hale
Garmin R50 vs SkyTrak+: which premium home-sim brain should you buy?
The big home-simulator decision. One does everything in a single box; the other gives you sharper numbers for far less. Here's how to choose.
By Tom Whitaker
Bushnell Pro X3+ vs Garmin Z82: which premium rangefinder wins?
Two flagship lasers, two philosophies — the purist's tool versus the do-everything device. Here's who should buy which.
By Jordan Hale
GPS watch vs laser rangefinder: which should you buy first?
They solve the distance problem in opposite ways. Most golfers only need one to start — here's how to choose.
By Jordan Hale
Garmin R10 vs Shot Scope LM1: the budget launch-monitor face-off
Two ways to get real numbers without remortgaging — which one fits how you'll actually use it.
By Jordan Hale
Garmin R10 vs Rapsodo MLM2 Pro: which budget launch monitor wins?
The two devices most home-data golfers agonise over. They're closer than the spec sheets suggest — here's how to choose.
By Tom Whitaker