I'm not sure man. It's not the numbers it's the consistency that's an issue. If you really need a launch monitor, then investing in one of the affordable ones that give consistent readings would make more sense
@@Dunkinblownutzz_1 At least you know which general range you're in. It's one thing if it's telling you 150 yards, when you know you typically smoke 250-270
This was brilliant thanks Rick. Did not expect to see this today but here we are! Love that you put us up against the GC and we found the accuracy on your wedges and irons very positive. We were a bit gutted that you based your conclusion on the Driver as we are working on improving dispersion and data accuracy in this area with guys like you hitting absolute bombs! Nonetheless, you have done us a solid and we appreciate you sharing the app with your viewers. Have a good one!
Please keep working on this app guys i love it but of course its not perfect, keep doing what you guys are doing and especilly with the new iphone having a new radar or detector of some sort it could possibly make this app a game changer!!
Keep up the great work Shot Vision. It looks like you’re getting very close. Hopefully the better cameras on the newer phone will help too. I’m sure there’s a huge prize for any app the can get get consistently within +/- 3% accuracy.
@@ederv the tutorial is on their app I saw the notification of Ricks video on my phone so I checked it out and it pretty fun might have to spend $7 for the pro, have a great👍
it's been 3 years and they have in fact updated the app, it works on iPhone XRs and later (so it's more backwards compatible than it was) and the phone now sits in front of you instead of behind your left heel. club head and ball speed are still free as are spin and launch - I haven't paid for it and I haven't taken it on course yet but from my first impressions I think they've done a good job incorporating feedback from various reviewers.
I'll be honest, when something is £19,995 cheaper than the alternative, even if it's 20 yards out, that's not a huge deal breaker. For an amateur golfer like me, a few yards here and there don't make a difference. I can see how Pros, who are the true pinnacle of their game will need a GCQ, but for the bumpkins like me who go round a course in 130 shots every week, the app is fine and tech will only get better.
@@terimartin1466 But if you are playing very poor beginner golf, knowing how fast/far you hit each club will help you select the proper clubs to work with in various situations. You can then work on consistency.
@@terimartin1466 I will have to agree. As a very poor golfer, distance for each club is far from my biggest issue. Consistency is by far my biggest issue.
I just wanted to say thank you Rick Shiels . My dad has been sick for a few years now and your videos give us a lot to talk about. We sent the video’s back and forth to each other. He loved your videos, always talking about your tips on the course. He passed away yesterday in peace. He loved watching you and now your videos will be something that always brings me joy to watch and think about my dad. Keep up the great work sir.
First of all deepest thoughts to you and your family aswell. Secon this kind of gentlemanship is one of the things that got me instantaneously hooked to start playing golf. Relly glad to have found your channel
Rick you are being ridiculously picky! The distances were within 1-2%! That is absolutely amazing for something that has no special hardware and costs literally less than 1% of your main system. Unbelievable technology!
Rick, agree with you in almost all your vids, but I think your missing that 99.999% of golfers are not playing on tour, 9:24, I don't think a $7/mth app will ever be meant for the tour. For the avg golfer to get some indication of swing metrics can be a good learning and entertainment tool making range sessions more fun, I use a swing caddie sc300 myself, not 100% accurate but a lot of fun at the range or in a net and has helped with gapping and distance control, an app at $7/mth that gives you a glimpse, I think it's good value and worthwhile for enjoyment or to learn your own game....
Rick that was a good comparison but you didn’t, and couldn’t, measure the actual shots to the spots where the balls actually carried. So you are assuming the GC Quad was correct and not believing the cheap app. Maybe they were both out by a few yards? Not very scientific mate ... just saying like 😜
I'd like to see you walk down the fairway and get a actual range of the shots you hit as well. Then you could compare the accuracy of them both. Just because the quad is 20k doesn't mean its correct.
tons of people have done this, specifically with the GC Quad. Because it's 20k does mean its accurate in this case lol its in the single digit percents in terms of margin of error
I was thinking this the entire time also. Granted the 20k version most has more/better sensors, camera, and developmental testing, and all of it is hardware is controlled ( many different phones, and cameras could effect the measurement). I would have loved a spotter, measuring impact to verify the distance, as the 20k version may be wrong also unless it is full tracking the ball in flight, it is also just using a calculation like the phone.
There is a reason why GC quad and trackman are more accurate indoors. Let's say you hit a drive outside with them into the wind. Well the launch monitor will give it a carry and total distance much different based souly on weather and range conditions. They give you ideal numbers which is what everyone wants.
Correct - it might not be correct. I also think the shops selling clubs set these things up when you whang a ball in to a net so it appears you have hit further than you think. The readings I got on my last set of clubs were 20 yards longer than real life. 7 iron was 175 to 179 in the shop but reality is 155 to 160...
You're almost literally comparing a Ford Fiesta with a Lamborghini Aventador... Of course they're not the same. The app appears to do a job, it gives you some numbers to play with. It probably makes the range more fun. $7 vs $20,000... Chalk and cheese springs to mind
Yeah, but the whole point of getting swing and launch data is to see what you are doing right or wrong....if the app just churns out such variable numbers then it’s not that useful. Certainly not worth nearly £100 a year!
You can't say that when the point of buying a launch monitor is to figure out your numbers, what's the point of using a launch monitor if it is going to give you false numbers? At that point it is obsolete.
@@sonny2480 it did ok, but that’s only because Rick hits thousands of shots with that GC Quad and knows his yardages etc very accurately and he had a known comparison. If Joe average went in blind with it, what would you compare it to? You’d be guessing at best. I know my yardages (roughly), I don’t think this app would help me out!
Great video; as always. However, I thought it would have been nice to compare the irons (e.g. pitching and 7) against the GC Quad as well. I would imagine the numbers would much closer together in iron play with much slower swing speeds.
I’m more interested on how this compares to something like the garmin product or other launch monitors that cost 200-400, that’s clearly the competition and not a 20k launch monitor. Kind of obvious which is better.
Not really. The GC quad is more expensive because of the club head data. Degress of club face at impact, club path etc. Whether it’s £20k or £2 the distance needs to be right, as no information is better than incorrect information.
@@Bonio84 Comparing the app to GC quad for overall accuracy makes sense but I've never seen a launch monitor that costs less then 500 that can compete with GC quad on distance information. I would be willing to bet the app reviewed might be better then some of the less expensive launch monitors out there and that would potentially save some of us money.
Its not a comparison between the gcq and the app. The gcq is for checking out if the numbers the app gave him are correct ore not. Thats all. it's not about whether the gcq is better than the app or not.
@@dixotv5586 I said I’d like to see it compared to budget launch monitors. I’d like to see how close the app is to the budget monitors that I know aren’t as accurate as GC quad as well but allot less expensive.
it's pretty much as accurate as the G80 based on the other reviews i've seen and my own personal experience. makes the G80 look like a total ripoff at $700 where i live (in Canada).
As with all of the lower end launch monitors, it tends to be the extremes where they struggle ie sand wedge (high spin) and driver (distance & ball speed). It would have been nice to see how the distances compared on the mid irons etc.
The question I have is, since it uses the camera for the feature, would it be more accurate with a newer version phone, for example iPhone 12 vs iPhone X/8 since manufacturers claim better camera performance each product?
Unless the camera can record more frames I don't see how a better picture would make the app more accurate. This is assuming without any evidence all apple devices are good enough to take pictures where the ball isn't a foggy mess.
Not entirely, however the iPhone 12 will have a LiDar sensor, which could be incorporated into an app like this and be wayyy more accurate than the camera on an iphone 11
In the video it looks like the sun is in front of you and your phone is behind you, pointing at the sun. If you were to put the sun behind the phone I bet the numbers would be more accurate and you would have less non read shots. Because the exposure for the camera would be more ideal.
That’s the difference of £6.99 and £20k there’s obviously going to be a few flaws but then that’s to be expected... as everyone knows an app can be updated with new softwares which could potentially make it that little bit more accurate... If I had a choice of spending £6.99pm or £20k for some thing that does very similar things? I’d rather pay £6.99... let the haters hate 🤘😂
I have used the app in the past and I think that it is accurate enough for gapping for the average player. The gapping mode has you hit 30 shots, if you drop your three highest and three lowest (which you should be doing anyway when you gap), then average the rest your results will be very close. Great video but would have liked to see your results with the 7 iron and wedge as well.
Great video. Ive been wondering this for so long, very helpful. Personally for me as a beginner, 5-20yds wrong, thats forgivable for £7. Definitely more forgivable than me justifying £20,000 to the misses 😂
was thinking this too, as a beginner and a total noob, that low of a cost should still be ok. It's in the "general ball park" of what we as noobs need. "Didi I hit it almost the same every time?" is my main question :)
@@jorwul yep your only looking for consistency, and if you see your club and swing speed are generally consistent then the distance is not extremely important especiaaly for the smaall 7 dollar ammount ur paying
Unless you’re willing to drop some major coin, this is about as good as it gets. I had a Flightscope Mevo, and it was approx as accurate as this app, would miss shots and overall seemed short to what a trackman would give, and that was a $500 monitor. So for $7 a month, I can’t see this being a horrible investment.
the thing is, with it measuring 1000rpm+ the GCQ its basically useless.. I mean it might be fun for a high handicap hitting into a net at home tho.. Since they should be glad getting within 10y of their target i guess
I’ve noticed my missed shots are due to me hitting the ball off the camera line. That actually helps me focus on my swing path to make sure I get a good read. The app is not bad.
Hmm, I think this review is a bit unfair. You compare a £20k reference tool, a £400 Garmin (which wasn't tested for accuracy) against something free or £7? I used it at the weekend and found it really useful. It was consistent enough across the irons, and for the driver I was able to get decent results that correlated with how I felt I hit it. There may be odd variations but as a free/£7 training aid, this is pretty hard to beat.
Seems as though a 20 thousand pound purchase is trying to be justified in this video because the app is off by 20 yards once even though it is mostly accurate
Most of the budget launch monitors struggle catching spin with wedges and distance with drivers. I would be interested in seeing how accurate it was with typical irons that people use on the range. Pw and 7 iron.
Close but not close enough. But does it beg the question. If it's as close as it is and only an App for a phone, are GC Quad and Trackman ripping us off.
This was brilliant thanks Rick. Did not expect to see this today but here we are! Love that you put us up against the GC and we found the accuracy on your wedges and irons very positive. We were a bit gutted that you based your conclusion on the Driver as we are working on improving dispersion and data accuracy in this area with guys like you hitting absolute bombs! Nonetheless, you have done us a solid and we appreciate you sharing the app with your viewers. Have a good one! 100%!
I was really hoping to see more comparisons using the irons. A driver is going to be the hardest to calculate a good result, being the fastest and longest club. But if an app could somewhat achieve a decent result in irons 9-6/5 and wedges, it would definitely be interesting. And since you have a one of the best launch monitors money can buy, you would be able to show it.
I have this app and for a beginner hitting into a net, it makes all the difference. Even not being perfect, I can get feedback on what I am doing well and not. For $50/year US, it is a valuable tool for using at the house and learning my swing. As I progress I could see the inaccuracy becoming an issue, but hard to justify $500 on a portable launch monitor while learning to hit my clubs.
Hi Rick would love to hear your thoughts on the flightscope mevo I think its a nice bit of kit for the money would be good to see it against the GCQuad... Keep up the great work thanks man
Rick, I think you blinded the phone with the sunset straight in to your phone lens, it would only see a black ball flying past. For me you need to do the test again at mid day🏌🏻♂️😎
Is there a Garmin G80 V’s GC quad video? I bought a G80 but I don’t fully trust it. I think it calls my shots too long. I’ve hit 200+ yard 6 irons on the G80 and I don’t know if I have that in me.
Thanks Rick for the great video! Would have been good if you'd sent one of your team on the fairway to measure the true carry distance (maybe the GC Quad is wrong sometimes?)
I just saw this video two years later and i cant believe you compared an iphone app to a $20,000 launch monitor. Us poor people will just have to live with the discrepancies. i don't think you realize how out of touch this made you sound.
I'd really love to see you review some other semi-budget launch monitors like the Flightscope MEVO and the Rapsodo MLM for golfers that are looking for a lot of data in the same price range as the Garmin!
Yeah 20000 pounds is absurd for a golf launch monitor. I am an electrical engineer and I design products for a company and I would bet it cost them less then $200 US dollars cost for them to manufacture one of those GC Quad units.
I have the app and I have done some gapping sessions with it and it will average out your shots and I’ve found that it actually comes pretty close to what i expected. Very surprising and helped me work on my inside 100yd game
@@vtonak7929 if that’s all you can do? Yes I recommend because it’s something as opposed to nothing. For example I got really into this when the courses were closed and I couldn’t go to the range. I would be careful if you struggle with large hooks or slices because it doesn’t tell you how offline you are so it could reinforce bad swings for consistent distance. Also I would only recommend it if you are looking on tightening up your short to mid sticks. Long irons and up get very iffy. But it is also way fun. There are little games like randomized distances and target modes.
Hey Rick - can we get an update on this? Lots of tech improvements on new iPhones, etc. Very interested to know if the newer phones and apps are more accurate. Also, can a phone with monitor app be combined or also used as a projectable simulator? Thanks for the contenct!
I found it accurate on all the wedges and irons. Rather than focusing on individual shots, you need to hit 20+ shots then delete the mis hits and results that are way off the average and the resulting figures and graph are pretty much bob on. Excellent app.
Hey Rick, it's a few months later, any thoughts on reviewing a few more of these Free/Cheap apps that's affordable to us weekend golfers? It would be great to know a bit more about the different apps out there and maybe seeing if one is more consistent than the others. Thank you!
I would say the performance of the app varies greatly, depending on the phone and/or the camera options it has. Maybe iPhone 12 will do better with its new lidar sensors. Either way. Good video Rick.
I might have a question however.... there is 2 type of trackman : one for an outside use and one for an indoor use only... you tested the app outside which required a much more sophisticated device... what about using this app indoor ? Is it making it more accurate ? Could be a good thing to know. Great video as always mate !! 😉
Rich I downloaded this at the weekend... I started hitting foam balls in the garden into a net... what I found was that you could work on your swing and instantly see speed and distant improvements. I think it’s fairly stable up to a 7 iron (150 yards) and then errors creep with greater distances... Amazing bit of tech using a phone.... it can only get better....
Is an issue if the field of view of the camera and Iphone's frames per second. That is why driver numbers were so off in this video. if phones ever get 1000 frames per second this will work!
I wonder if it would be any better for a different level golfer? I feel it has potential since the club head speed was fairly accurate every time, but the spin was the thing that was off. I think that likely was the part of the equation causing it to be so inaccurate for you... I think that it likely has potential, but needs to be tweaked a bit to fit since it only is using the phone’s camera to analyze the swing data. I wonder if it’s the technology that needs to improve, or the distance equation/calculation from the data it collects? Likely a little of both, but it is a bit strange that the speed was right on and the spin was off. Makes me think it’s more accurate than we think
I'd love to see a more comprehensive test on this. Instead of just hitting a few balls, hit at least 500 balls using multiple clubs and compare the numbers to the GC Quad. Try indoors and outdoors. Also, the developer has said that inaccuracies can be caused by vibration and that putting a towel under the tripod helps so it would interesting to see if that helps or if putting a reflective dot on the ball helps.
Can you do a review on lower cost launch monitors? There are a couple between 50-250usd, or what would be an easier/better way to get your clubs distances and improvements based on your videos
Testing data should have also been considered on an overcast day to be fair. The glare from the sun and you throwing the ball on the GC quad's shadow was like beating a red headed stepchild because she is a stepchild and has red hair.
The app relies on the frame rates on the camera which is currently 240 on iPhones so that’s why it struggles with driver. And because the golf ball is white it also needs a background that is contrasted so when you use it outside it’s best to not have the sky in shot (clouds) hence it may struggle with ur higher lofted clubs. Indoors is also no good as most people have white walls.
How do absolutely know that GCQuad is so accurate other than it costs a lot of money? How else have you measured these metrics to give some sort of baseline?
GC quad has made a name for themselves being one of the better shot trackers. Your fitter at the golf shop uses them, pros use them. I wouldn't doubt the numbers that GC Quad spits out. The other thing too is that GC quad works for both Average Joes like us and Pros as well. The app seems to only work more reliably with slower swing speeds. Also generally when you hit a ball 200 yards, you know where the 200 yard mark is, especially if you're consistent. But the app spitting out inconsistent numbers doesn't help. But yes, if you have other tools, such as a chronograph, I would use it to check that GC quad is accurately calibrated as well.
Would have loved to see a comparison on some different clubs. For example PW-7i-4i-D. I guess the precision will be the lowest on the most "extreme" shots, i.e wedge and driver shots. For most players I don't think the exact distance of the driver will be the most interesting thing to know. Where at least I would like to get a better understanding is how far I am actually hitting my irons, as these are the clubs I will use to get onto the green. Love your channel! Keep up the good work and stay safe. Greetings from Sweden.
Agree. I'm most interested in knowing if this is accurate for shorter distances. If I could spend the winter hitting into a net dialing in distances of 30-150 yards I would improve my game a lot. But since I'd be working on hitting exact distances vs just hitting a driver as far as possible, the accuracy of the launch monitor becomes more important to me. I know the distances of my clubs, so the value in a launch monitor to me is improving my accuracy and learning to hit specific distances. I don't even care if the app works with a driver. It's my irons and the approach game where I see the most potential here.
