ES16 Tour

[Jdent83]

Recently I scored a hell of a deal on a used ES16 tour for $1,000. At first, I was not happy as when I setup the unit it would turn on but not recognize any shots as the light would not turn green and stay red with the word Battery in the left corner on top of the unit.

I made a call to Ernest Sports who were very generous over the phone and answered all my questions. As we were hanging up, the tech asked me to look at the battery in the back of the unit as it sounded like the unit was either not plugged in or had a bad battery...

Behold tonight as I got home from work I opened the battery and noticed it was unplugged from the terminal. As soon as I plugged it in, the green light appeared and the unit did not miss a shot in about 50 balls...

I know there was a lot of complaints on this unit, and I have not tried simulation, but I know my yardages and average speeds and this was spot on. I was also impressed with the app as you can get a lot of data and I hooked in via USB and noticed my delay was less after my shot...

I was also impressed with the service at Ernest Sports and they have a good deal on upgrades from the ES16’s to the ES Tour Plus units which I will take advantage of after the holidays.

I will update more once I get more involved with unit and simulation but just wanted to say my experience so far has been very good with Ernest Sports and for those on the fence or suffering from long lead times on other units this is an accurate unit of you follow the instructions and recommendations (Srixon balls facing unit etc...)

My simulator was built on a very tight budget which I was able to keep at reasonable costs and I have attached my layout for those interested. Spornia net (highly recommend) was $260, Vankyo projector $180, Acer Nitro 5 open box gaming PC $600, 3 real feel Golf mats that accept tees $500 total, ES16 Tour $1,000...

[Brettster]

Congratulations. Very tidy setup for $2,500? Amazing what you can do with a little ingenuity and creativity. The only thing I don't particularly like is the Spornia net having that lip up front meaning you'll have to scoop out balls every time you hit them, and the size of the projected screen looks a little small (what size is that?).

You deserve a space in the < $2,500 Full Simulator setup that's for sure!

[Ed54]

Nice setup!
Is your projector ceiling or tripod mounted?

[Jdent83]

Thanks, I have the projector off to the side on a laptop/ projector cart I got off Amazon for $50.

[Ed54]

Thanks!
I'm thinking of doing what you have done. I have a net setup with a large 46" TV hooked up to my PC which is fine but after seeing what you did got me thinking.

[Jdent83]

Yeah I really tried to make it affordable and as less hassle as possible and I love the Spornia net. For $260 you get a net and impact screen all in one... One piece of advice, I got a 3rd hitting mat and put it under the net to keep the balls landing soft and not bouncing high off the concrete. I also angled my net over to the side of my garage lever opener so it does not catch when opening or closing which allows me to leave the net up full time. I would also advise on getting the added attached overhead net that really helps for lob wedges and high flops and avoids hitting the ceiling.

[tigeroutlaw]

I had a bad experience with the ES 16 and ended up returning it after many calls with the techs. I found them to be super-helpful, but the machine was designed poorly. Today Ernest Sports will admit that it was poorly designed. I really want an ES2020, but I can't convince myself to spend the money. I found placing the ball and logo correctly to be very annoying (the ES16) and the delay on their app was also unnerving. I may spring for the ES Tour at some point, if I can't locate an ES2020. I really want to see Ernest Sports succeed because I think that Foresight while having great machines, are ripping people off. Anyway, I am glad that you like your machine and apparently aren't bothered by ball placement,

[Jdent83]

I had a bad experience with the ES 16 and ended up returning it after many calls with the techs. I found them to be super-helpful, but the machine was designed poorly. Today Ernest Sports will admit that it was poorly designed. I really want an ES2020, but I can't convince myself to spend the money. I found placing the ball and logo correctly to be very annoying (the ES16) and the delay on their app was also unnerving. I may spring for the ES Tour at some point, if I can't locate an ES2020. I really want to see Ernest Sports succeed because I think that Foresight while having great machines, are ripping people off. Anyway, I am glad that you like your machine and apparently aren't bothered by ball placement,

The ball placement really doesn’t bother me and I saw a review that even on Skytrak you need to face the logo toward the unit as well so maybe it’s just needed on units in this range?

[Chuck]

Well, my real-life experience with the ES Tour Plus (ES16 with a makeover) was today, I got on E6 Connect, played 18 holes, tried 3 different drivers, muffed a chip shot, bladed another, and everything was exactly like you would expect. I hit 3 FAT shots that were (where the club brushes the ground before it hits the ball) no-reads. I saw one oddball shot where the unit missed club data and it injected a straight ball flight for radar-based ball speed. All and all though, very realistic values (for indoor sim).

[Jdent83]

One thing I’ll also add about the ES16 unit is it works really well with Srixon balls. As I’m a bargain hunter, I found these refurbished Srixon balls at Walmart $9.88 for 15 balls and they’re the tour Z Stars version in very good shape.

I normally play refurbished Pro V1s and the unit would not read them but has read the Srixons.

For those wondering, Rick Shiels did an excellent video comparing refurbished pro v1s to new ones and there was no difference in performance just slight more wear from bunker shots...

[Chuck]

I have to agree, the Srixon label is picked up very well with this unit. That is what I did as well; Picked up some used Srixon balls from the "golfballhut.com" website. I played 18 on Copperhead today with Bob today and everything was working pretty well. I was trying to put into practice some youtube tips to get the yardage I need with the irons. I have to say they helped a lot and I gained about 30 yards on drives and just a bit more on irons. I had two no-reads due to the E6 Autocaddy bug, 2 really bizarre right angle shots on hard 80yrd SW that impacted the screen dead center (It was something I've never seen before) and the unit really misread swing and impact. I had 4 no-read swings from fat shots. Other than that, all was nominal. So 4 or so mis-swings for 18 holes. So I had some really nice baby draws with my long irons. Had a line drive grounder on a topped shot. I have to say the Tour is doing a good job with all the crap I throw at it. Good stuff.

We need to meet up sometime and do around on Discord. ES vs ES matchup.

[Jdent83]

That’s great Chuck. I ended up getting TGC 19 and am getting used to it so far. Everything is working well for the most part but I’ve noticed the chip mode on the unit activates when only the Lob Wedge is selected in TGC? Not sure if this is true in E6 or not but unless you have LW selected it won’t read a chip from any other club... I plan on sending the unit back to ES once the holidays are over so I can get the upgrade to the Tour plus so maybe that fixes the issue...

[BrewsLee]

Since the latest firmware update it doesn’t seem like my device likes to switch to chip mode for any club automatically anymore. When I know I am taking anything less than a half a swing, I manual toggle over to chip mode. This is in E6 connect btw. And I am on firmware 173 on the ES Tour plus.

[Bubba22]

That’s great Chuck. I ended up getting TGC 19 and am getting used to it so far. Everything is working well for the most part but I’ve noticed the chip mode on the unit activates when only the Lob Wedge is selected in TGC? Not sure if this is true in E6 or not but unless you have LW selected it won’t read a chip from any other club... I plan on sending the unit back to ES once the holidays are over so I can get the upgrade to the Tour plus so maybe that fixes the issue...

Chip mode is activated with LW is selected. Chipping with other clubs is possible but hit and miss.