mevo+ first impressions

[schurlette]

Hi everyone,

I received my mevo+ yesterday and played around with it since then. I'd like to share my first impressions and hopefully get some feedback from other users concerning the issues I saw.

My setup: 7 feet to ball - 12.5 feet ball flight - mevo+ at 12 degrees incline - indoor mode - fiberbuilt mat - prov1 with metallic sticker - mevo+ at exactly the same height as ball and camera positioned exactly as suggested - everything on TGC2019 because I can not connect to FS skills (don't know why - phone just does not connect to mevo+). Playing mostly on my self-built home course in TGC2019 (LiDAR with a resolution of 1x1 meters - bought the data from my municipality), so I know quite well where I hit my balls.

I focus here on the things that seem odd to me, as I expect the unit to work as it should - hence no praise for good results with respect to wedge play. My HCP is -2.3 so I know far more often than not what my ball does after I felt the impact. I am not saying that the unit is faulty or bad or anything, it might also be down to environtmental issues in my set up. So really would appreciate ideas, experiences and comments addressing the things I have seen.

Observations:

Unboxing:
USB cable really is amazingly short.
The charging unit came with a US-plug - so initially I couldn't plug it in - had to get an adapter for Europe.

Driver:

I seem to get very high launch angle (18-20 degrees even if the ball hits the lower parts of the net) compared to what I normally do - I normally have a very low trajectory (generally negative AOA with driver as measured on my Pro's Trackman). However this might also be part of TGC2019 as the shots seem very high on the simulation software. My overall distance is OK, however my carry seems to be too high - I carry bunkers that I normally don't.

The ball in TGC2019 seems to go too long. E.g. a driver shot on the TGC 2019 range had a carry distance that was 20 yards too long as compared to plugging the numbers into the trajectory optimizer.


Irons:

I very often (actually most of the time) get a reading of push fades with my irons 4, 5, 6 & 7. Especially off the tee. It is a shot I am not able to make in real life - my golfing friends joke that I would break my hands if I intended to hit a fade - I am a bit of a draw biased golfer . I understand/believe the inside/out swing path that is displayed, as that is my natural shot, but instead of coming back to the left the ball turns further to the right. I really have this very often and even in shots when I know from the impact that I hit it well with a nice draw. So it seems to me that there might be a spin axis issue.

Long irons also go too far on occasion. I don't think I can hit a 6 iron with a smash factor of 1.44. There is a hole where one can hit over the trees (dogleg left). I have been playing that hole for decades, but with the simulation I seem to be unable to land the ball where I normally do (hooking a 6 iron onto the fairway)

Putting:

It seems that the unit is not able to read putts with a speed of below 5mph.

In TGC2019 uphill putts seem to need exceptionally more speed than in real life.


TGC2019:

Uphill shots seem to have a too large distance penalty - I need 1-2 irons more than in real life at an elevation of less than 10 yards (Par 3 -140 yards).

First bounce really is high.


Summary:
Drivers too high
Long/mid irons too far right
Putter too short


I'd appreciate any help the community has to offer!

Thanks

[andygg1986]

I don't have a Mevo+ but I have a few comments.
Regarding your driver launch angle, 18-20 degrees should be hitting the net between 4 and 4.5 feet high. I would start by measuring where the ball is actually hitting the net and then calculating the real launch angle. Maybe you will see a pattern there, like it is always 5 degrees high or something.
What sort of launch numbers are you seeing with your driver? 20 yards difference between trajectory optimizer and TGC2019 seems like a lot, so I'm wondering if you have very high spin or something
Putts in TGC2019 play about a foot farther for every inch uphill and a foot shorter for every inch downhill. Whether or not that translates to the course is debatable, but that's how I adjust in the game.
Iron shots play about a yard longer for every yard uphill in TGC.
Also make sure that you have wind turned off.
The first bounce being high has been a known issue for a while, and just is what it is.

[schurlette]

@andygg: Thanks for your input. I sohuld have mentioned: This is my first experience with TGC2019 & mevo+. I used to play a lot on an E6 simulator (TruTrak) with E6 1.6) - so I have some expectations/experiences.

Looking at the impact screen now, I have see high launch angle at an impact 3 to 3.5 high. But this is anecdotal as I have not measured it. Will do in the future and see if there is a pattern.

Launch patterns: spin is mostly around 3000 rpm - in the case above it was 2704.

Thanks for the putting advice, I will try that. My impression was that uphill really needs a lot of speed.

Iron play: that is my rough calculation in real life as well - but it seems to me that in TGC2019 I even need a club more.

Wind is turned off.

Thanks.

[GungHoGolf]

Here's a launch angle calculator - put in your exact ball to screen distance, then watch where your ball hits the screen and measure from floor to impact spot to get exact angle. Compare with Mevo+. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

I too get high VLA reads with driver and Mevo+, especially with 9' of ball flight. When I tee up at 10' of flight, the VLA comes down to about normal most of the time, but still some very high (and wrong) reads.

Fade spin axis bias has been mentioned before with Mevo+ users. At least one guy sent his unit back because of it. Try tilting it a bit to the left or the right to change any spin axis bias, or contact FlightScope if you believe it to be a real problem. I haven't experienced that one.

Short putt no-reads are definitely an issue. Firmware v0.9 is in beta which improves it, but it's not yet released.

[Gresh12]

I have my Mevo+ and admittedly I've spent more time in the practice apps than either E6 or TGC.

In my limited TGC play I found setting the angle at the full open setting (i.e., not the simulation setting) helped with my launch angles. I was getting high launch reads using the simulation setting. I also didn't see anywhere in the TGC setting to tell it the angle or where it asked for it to be lower so I assumed my approach was fine. It reads all my chips just fine but I don't putt so this may cause even further issues with putting.

When I had my SkyTrak I always found that TGC was a bit more generous with carry distances (particularly full wedges) than the SkyTrak range or my on course experience. I haven't played enough in TGC with Mevo+ to get that feeling but from LW to 9I with my SkyTrak in TGC they always went 10 yards farther than on the course (carry).

I can't swing my 3w or driver indoors but once I got my unit directly level with mat I have found all my iron (including a 17* driving iron) launches to be accurate. My only issues on launch angle have been with unit not directly level with mat or not in full open setting (although E6 at the 12* seems to work ok for me).

In the FS Golf and FS Skills apps I am not getting questionable reads almost ever (I get the very occasional no read where it gives me all blanks and a few zeros that I haven't figured out yet but this is probably 1% of shots). I get the ball going both directions in mine although the pull cut and the push draw are definitely not super pronounced (I generally start the ball pretty straight though and can fight a small two way miss so I'd say this is likely me not the machine). It's curious to me why you can't get your phone to connect to the device though, are you relying on the bar code method or have you tried to manually connect? Mine won't grab the barcode but manually connected through the Settings Wifi area of iOS no problem.

I should add that I'm about a 4-5 handicap but have a bad short game so my feels are usually pretty accurate of where the ball is going. I can play night golf really well and with my Mevo+ I'm batting almost perfect on the feeling versus direction produced after dialing in my setup. I only have 9' to screen but I'm hitting irons.

[Aapo]

Just a note: most hitting mats give less spin than off the grass (7000 rpm vs 12000 rpm with 56 for me). That's why the wedge distances are off. Same happens for irons.

[Gresh12]

Thanks. I don't know my off grass spin numbers well as basically all my launch monitor time has been off mats. That said I do get 10k spin on my 56* off my mat so I don't think I'm hitting total fliers. Possibly a difference of 10 yards on spin but once COVID ends I think I need to figure out spin differences on grass versus mat as either I spin it a lot of grass or I'm not losing much off my mat (my irons spin fairly close to 1k x iron number on well struck shots off my mat).

[Dax]

Sorry I don’t have a Mevo+, but had thought for short indoor mode (less than 13 feet tee to screen) the Mevo+ needed to be 8 feet behind the ball. Noting that I had also read somewhere that sim mode was 7 feet. I see you are at 7 feet, but wonder if going 8 feet makes a difference? Suspect it makes no difference (or at least it should note, but jus throw that out there).

[DS12]

Mevo+ to ball can be between 7 and 9 feet

But I do believe indoor mode needs a minimum of 13 feet ball to screen/net. Try the setup in short indoor mode and see if you get any different results.


There are YouTube videos from Jay a98cr125 where he is setup at 7ft Mevo+ to ball and 10 feet ball to screen in short indoor mode with excellent results

[pwade3]

You mention a spin axis bias (Fade) with your long irons. I had something similar but it was with woods and driver. Driver would have a very large right spin axis all the time. Also some high launch angles. I compared it to my ST and to actual flight outdoors at a driving range. At the range the M+ performed fantastic in outdoor mode. When I switched it to indoor mode (Ball flight of 40 yards) it would immediately show a strong right spin axis even when the ball was on a slight draw flight. Indoors, same thing. There is another member here that had the exact same thing which also included some high launch angles. We both sent ours back at the request of Flightscope. The other fellow has had his tested and repaired. He can explain better, but it was some type of calibration change. Mine is being tested tomorrow. I”m sure he will chime in. You will need to compare it to a reliable LM to be sure. Hopefully you don’t have the same issue.

[schurlette]

Thanks for all your comments.

GungHoGolf : thanks for the file, I will use it to check the real VLA. When you say tilting it, do you mean turning it so that the front is no longer parallel to the screen or do you mean raising the left or right side so that it is no longer parallel to the floor?

Gresh12 : the incline is shown in the Flightscope TGC Interface. I used a spirit level to ensure the unit is on the same height as the hitting mat, so I can exclude that. I will try setting it to a different incline as you suggested. I am an android user and do not know why I can't connect FS Skills to the mevo+ - phone doesn't accept the wifi - maybe my phone is not compatible.

Dax : thanks, will try that as well, but assumed that given a lot of the guys are on 7 feet, it should not be the issue.

DS12 : I did watch a lot (if not all) of Jay's videos and that is the reason why I went with 7 feet. I tried both modes and didn't see any difference. But I will try again on a more analytical basis. I am confused by now what flightscope means with the various modes. Outdoor, Indoor, Short Indoor and now they refer to a simulator mode.

pwade3 : I am well aware of your issues (and you do have my sympathy) as I read your thread. What I found interesting in my situation compared to yours is that the issue is not with the driver, but the longer irons, where you had no issues. My set up is in living area of a loft style flat, so there might be environmental issues wht respect to electronic noise / interference.

Generally:

Do people have some experience with electronic noise? I really would like to know at what distance various appliances / metal structures ect. do not cause any problems. E.g. can the projector 8-9 feet directly above the unit be an issue? If a refrigerator is 10 feet to the left of the edge of the screen, can that be an issue? If there is a metal screw lying around in the path, can that be an issue? I just do not know - and FS are not very good at communicating that - what level we are talking about (screw vs. steel beams vs. golf clubs close to hitting area).

I guess I'll spend the next few days figuring out what might cause the problems.

Thanks everyone.

[tonybrown32]

Hey there.. sorry to hear about your issues. pwade3 and I have had similar experiences... I won't get into my details, you can read a good summary of my issues in post #38 here: https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum...ge3#post253257

My unit, like yours, had right spin axis bias indoors. I predominantly play a draw, much like you.. a solid push draw, starting around 2 degrees right of center, and draws back to center.. more often than not crossing back over centerline.. It was HARD work to get Mevo to show this shot shape for any strikes starting right of center line. Start the ball 1-2 degrees left, and left spin was no problem. Start the ball right of center though.. would have to play what I felt like a 20 yard draw just to get a straight ball or something with a few degrees of left spin axis.

I had strange reads with launch angle too.. 95% of my iron shots showed exactly 20.0 degrees when the unit was at the standard 16 degree tilt. Put the Mevo+ at simulator angles of 12 degrees, it would show 28.3 VLA often instead.. the weird VLA was either 20.0 or 28.3 depending on the angle of the Mevo+.

Based on those readings, Flightscope engineers determined I must have an issue with my unit. I sent it back late March.. then the Orlando office went into lockdown and they haven't been abel to assess it until just this week... they let me know yesterday, it has been repaired and they mentioned it had a parameter calibration that needed to be re-written. They let me know it should be shipped out back to me today so just waiting on my shipping confirmation to show up this afternoon.. fingers crossed.

I tried to rule out my environment... I re-arranged just about my entire garage one day, just to rule out the metal shelving unit behind my screen, my refrigerator that was behind and slightly to the right of my screen... changed orientation of my hitting area.. everything. Nothing in my environment seemed to make any difference, so I'm confident that my fridge, and some minimal metal in the vicinity should not cause much of an issue. I would expect if there was significant interference, I would see more no-reads.. but to be honest, I think out of hundreds and hundreds of shots, I maybe had 1-2 no reads... and those strikes were horrible.. usually super thin ones hitting bottom of my screen..

So.. my advice, rule out environment as much as you can, and start reporting your issues to Flightscope support to get the ball rolling. Many users here have no issues, but the VLA and spin axis issue seems to be a theme for a few folks in this forum, so there may be a known issue cropping up... that was one of the responses I got back early on from Flightscope reporting my right spin axis bias (which was more concerning to me than the VLA). They did admit, they are aware of some right spin axis bias on indoor mode, and are looking into it... On a positive note, it seems fixable by re-writing some of the calibration parameters.. which is good.

I'll report back obviously once I get my Mevo+ back, do a little testing, and be able to see if the issues are resolved. With any luck, that should be late next week if it gets shipped back today as planned.

Good luck!

[Gresh12]

@tonybrown 32 - I'm not a techy but curious they re-wrote "calibration" on your unit. I'm curious if that's something they need to do broadly via firmware in the future or it was fixing something specific to yours. Seems odd to me that a coding fix would be the answer for one unit unless it applies to all units. I don't see any push draws either that is your stock shot. My decent strikes are almost all pretty neutral start line and fall one way or the other and my misses are pull draws (with the occasional block which is the shot that kills me on the course) so I'm not sure I'd know super well if I had the same calibration issue. I definitely don't have the launch angle issues in the apps as long as I have Mevo+ at the right height.

I have a fridge in my hitting space about 4-5' right and 9' in front of my hitting area. I added it weeks after getting my Mevo+ and didn't notice any changes to results. I also added a 52" TV last week to the area that's probably in the "X" zone according to the diagram in the manual but didn't notice any impact when I did that either (I could move it further out of the way if I wanted it will just become less convenient to look at). Obviously my one experience isn't definitive though.

[tonybrown32]

Gresh12 right, I'm not exactly sure what "parameter calibration re-write" means... but that was all the detail I could obtain from the support reps.. if I were to speculate, perhaps its something that may be coming in a future firmware update more globally... but for not ready for widespread release yet? possible I supposed.. and fixed for me while they had my unit...

Sounds like your fridge is in a similar place to where mine was... I moved my fridge across the garage for a while to test the theory, and noticed no differences either... I continue to hear from my support questions that I've asked, and from other responses i've read from Flightscope reps, or the webinars I've watched, the rotating metal objects like fans etc are more likely to cause issues than solid objects...

[schurlette]

Hi everyone and thanks for your suggestions - here some intermediate results:

I played around with my setup today (turning off refrigerator, projector, getting potentially influencial things out of the way, ...) and I didn't see any changes.

I then tried several set-ups 8 feet, 7 feet, inddor, short indoor, changing the incline and so on, and not much change either.

Because my memory foam mattress fell off - see other post - I had to start my setup from scratch - repositioning and measuring everything again including positioning of the mevo+. After that I hit a few shots and things seemed to improve - I still get the occasional mis-read but things look better.

I don't know how many changes I made in my positioning but I did note a difference in the set-up:

Initially I set up the mevo+ so that the camera of the unit is exactly behind my target line (as described in the user manual). I then did the carmera calibration so that everything lined up. In my setup now I positioned the center of the unit along the target line and I then calibrated the camera (this is somewhat suggested in a leaflet that came with the unit - see attachment: here the center of the set up is at the center of the hitting area - is is debateable if the camera is supposed to be behind the hitting strip - not sure if one uses a different setup, e.g. where the putting mat is closer to the golfer than the hitting strip - that would mean that the putting area is outside the mevo+). Things look a lot better.

There is one more thing that might influence the whole thing but I need to test that and it takes a while. I have an automated wood burning oven in that room a few meters away from the mevo+. As it was getting cold I turned it on when starting a round. I hit some practise shots on the first tee with my 6 iron and everything seemed fine (as opposed to other times when exactly that shot frustrated me). Somewhere in the middle of the round I started to see the push fade again. It was then that I realised that the time delay of turning on the oven, and it becoming warm might be the reason why I haven't identified it as an issue yet - as I had bad results with it beeing on and off (however it might still have been warm) and today good results with it being on (and still cold) and off.

So I will experiment a bit further with the oven. Has anyone made similar observations?

tonybrown32 : I still feel that the unit has a fade bias and it is difficult to get a ball that is starting right of the target line back to the left. Also intentional draws/hooks go a very very long (unreal) distance. Additional comment: so far I had only one 28.3 VLA drive - so that gives me hope that it is not the unit, but my setup (although I am not sure if that is a good thing as the oven can't be moved).

Thanks for all your input!

[tonybrown32]

Gresh12 agree, I've wondered that myself, if I should try to keep the camera or the center of the device on my center line... I can align it either way, but was never sure which was "optimal", and looking at this photo, seems like it won't matter too much.. It also gave me another idea of how to set up my hitting strip and putting strip, as I plan to keep my flightscope performance hitting mat, and add a seperate "runway" for putting since the mat system is about 1-3/4" in height..

Would also like to know where this graphic came from, and any other context provided with it..

[pwade3]

DS12, I believe that is a minimum suggest clearance to the back wall. I’ve seen lots of vid with a unit tight to the wall and it works flawlessly. I had mine several feet from the back wall.

[schurlette]

The attached diagram was in the box with the mevo+.

[Dax]

Hi everyone and thanks for your suggestions - here some intermediate results:

I played around with my setup today (turning off refrigerator, projector, getting potentially influencial things out of the way, ...) and I didn't see any changes.

I then tried several set-ups 8 feet, 7 feet, inddor, short indoor, changing the incline and so on, and not much change either.

Because my memory foam mattress fell off - see other post - I had to start my setup from scratch - repositioning and measuring everything again including positioning of the mevo+. After that I hit a few shots and things seemed to improve - I still get the occasional mis-read but things look better.

I don't know how many changes I made in my positioning but I did note a difference in the set-up:

Initially I set up the mevo+ so that the camera of the unit is exactly behind my target line (as described in the user manual). I then did the carmera calibration so that everything lined up. In my setup now I positioned the center of the unit along the target line and I then calibrated the camera (this is somewhat suggested in a leaflet that came with the unit - see attachment: here the center of the set up is at the center of the hitting area - is is debateable if the camera is supposed to be behind the hitting strip - not sure if one uses a different setup, e.g. where the putting mat is closer to the golfer than the hitting strip - that would mean that the putting area is outside the mevo+). Things look a lot better.

There is one more thing that might influence the whole thing but I need to test that and it takes a while. I have an automated wood burning oven in that room a few meters away from the mevo+. As it was getting cold I turned it on when starting a round. I hit some practise shots on the first tee with my 6 iron and everything seemed fine (as opposed to other times when exactly that shot frustrated me). Somewhere in the middle of the round I started to see the push fade again. It was then that I realised that the time delay of turning on the oven, and it becoming warm might be the reason why I haven't identified it as an issue yet - as I had bad results with it beeing on and off (however it might still have been warm) and today good results with it being on (and still cold) and off.

So I will experiment a bit further with the oven. Has anyone made similar observations?

tonybrown32 : I still feel that the unit has a fade bias and it is difficult to get a ball that is starting right of the target line back to the left. Also intentional draws/hooks go a very very long (unreal) distance. Additional comment: so far I had only one 28.3 VLA drive - so that gives me hope that it is not the unit, but my setup (although I am not sure if that is a good thing as the oven can't be moved).

Thanks for all your input!

Happy to hear you have seen some improvement! @leomode mentioned he would be getting a unit to do some testing and definitely think some of the issues you are describing about not being able to get certain shots will be one of the things he tests (will be very interesting to see his results -his tests are very thorough).

[schurlette]

Hi,

attached both sides of the leaflet that apparently now comes with the mevo+ .

[frackh]

That's interesting... is setup diagram for both right and lefty regarding the putt placement?

[Dax]

That's interesting... is setup diagram for both right and lefty regarding the putt placement?

I suspect it is and is based on the location of the camera? I also find it interesting that they are calling for 1 foot of space from the back wall. This could be a limit for a lot of people who are pushing the limits. Wonder if different types of material matters (for instance just drywall ok, but concrete and metal bad)?

[pwade3]

It probably is material related for the back wall as a98cr125 has his tight to the back wall and it works flawlessly.

[a98cr125]

PWade is correct mine is flush to the wall which is wood covered concrete.

[Gresh12]

Mine is about 8" from my metal garage door. I haven't noticed issues as a result. I could move it a foot closer and be ok for space though.