Ernest Sports ES16 - New Camera Based LM

[Csarran]

[Joko]

Spoke to their support - really great by the way. They are releasing a new firmware (131) today. I'm going to apply that this weekend and try to recalibrate. Hopefully I get some good results! Very impressed with their support.

[Bubba22]

Solid new firmware. Lots of improvements.

[MainStGolf]

Did it help with ball placement? That's really what's holding me back as I use this as a side business and I have found people like to come in and just throw a ball down without having to think much about where it goes. So if it has to be accurately placed constantly that is going to be a drawback for customers.

[Joko]

I put the new firmware on and recalibrated the unit. Hit a lot of shots with 8 and 9i. No reads were very minimal, so that was a positive. I still felt like some shots had way too much spin axis on them. Direction at times felt off (left and right).

I pushed the unit back to 9' and initially thought I was getting better results, but I'll have to do more testing. To be honest I'm not sure I want to use it anymore. I might consider trying a different unit if they replaced it, which they said is possible.

I don't know. It just feels really inconsistent. I hope it's just my unit, or maybe just perception. The only way at this point I will be able to trust it is if I can see the ball flight outdoors. Sigh.

[Baller]

I'm feeling the same way. I'm hoping the new unit feel more consistent. I can fell my shots and usually know where they are going to go and what they are going to do, and with the unit I have, I feel that some days it is spot on and other day it's the flip of a coin.

New unit arrives on Tuesday. Man, I hope it's spot on, otherwise I may be done.

[Joko]

As many have said before, I'm optimistic about their product. But I worry it will take awhile longer for them to really hone in on it. They seem like a great company with great people. Unfortunately without consistency a product in the 5-6k range is a tough sell.

Again, my unit may be faulty so maybe all of my analysis is wrong.

[Joko]

I setup the tgc trial since I didn't want to transfer my license from skytrak just yet. It worked very smoothly as far as setup with tgc. It was also very interesting as I played 2 rounds today of the tgc tour on the skytrak then afterwords setup the es16 tgc config.

I am still in the same boat however. It was nice to see the shots in TGC since I'm more use to that view point instead of the Es app. I know I'm not a great golfer but the ES16 is making me doubt every shot. I couldn't get more then 135 yards with a clean 6 iron and that just doesn't seem right. Just way too many inconsistencies all over the board. Wicked spin on some shots that hardly seemed possible after the previous 2 rounds on skytrak.

Like I said before, might be a bad unit. So let's all see what others say before making too many judgements.

[mthunt]

Joko, I'm not seeing that. My swing is consistent. I'm hitting 135 on both ES16 and GC2 with 9. The ball seems to be going where I think it should. I'll hit some more tomorrow. I'm a little obsessed with my latest course. I spent 11 hours at the PC today.

[Bubba22]

I can't wait to play your course once it's done.

[Baller]

I'm not seeing that either. Even when I disagree with the direction, the distance seems pretty accurate most of the time. For some reason, the ball flight when using TGC seems more accurate. Not really sure why. Maybe the data is the same, but the sptwo software platforms show it differently and more realistic on the TGC.

[mthunt]

The ball seems like a wild miss hit in the app but shows a direction of 4 sometimes. I think the rendering in the app is more of an issue.

[Baller]

I received my new unit today and it's night and day. Shots are recognized right away, or most of them, and putting works great. Hopefully this continues.

[Joko]

Please let us know if you have any further reviews/updates. Does it feel more consistent to you as far as direction and shot shape? I putted a few times when I was playing around on TGC and that appeared fine w/limited testing.

I will be taking off early again from work tomorrow so I can spend some more time testing. I think I'm going to setup my phone and record a bit.

[Baller]

So far it seems spot on. I hope it stays that way! I haven't had a chance to play some holes, but am anxious. Won't get a chance until next week.

[Joko]

So I'm still unsure of my units accuracy. I do see some reads that look dead on, and others I'm just not sure of. I've decided the only way I can be for sure is to do a lesson with my guy and we can judge the unit in a heated indoor/outdoor bay.

[Baller]

I think the main problem with the confidence of shots is that the simulated flight of the ball is not accurate even though the readings and the ending ball location are. If I hook the ball, the ball starts righ and ends up on spot X. The ES16 app may show the ball starting left and staying left to still land on spot X, but not fly exactly the way it really got there.

Bottom line is that the data in the ES16 seems accurate but the simulation not as much.

Works much better and much more confidence inspiring on TGC.

[Joko]

I agree, I have only been testing with TGC lately. In my testing I'm not seeing anything close to what I see with Skytrak. I can shoot around 85 with skytrak. If I played a full round with the es16 I'm looking at 100.

I also get quite a few no spin reads. And the ball just goes straight. With no spin outputs. Just comparing, if I was to use this on a TGC tourny I would want to give up golf. That being said, I'm comparing skytrak to es16, not gc2 vs es16.

This is why I feel I have to have my pro take a look at it in a lesson. It would be me using my surface pro and the Es app. But he will take video and we can really get down to the nitty gritty.

5k isn't chump change. This needs to be right. Maybe I'm worse at golf than I thought and the es16 is totally right.

[TinCup]

Hi guys long time lurker here.

any update on this? I've been following the es16 waiting for it to sound like a bulletproof sound system but it still seems to be hit and miss.

anyone able to pair it up next to a gc2?

[mthunt]

Keep reading TinCup. I posted side by sides with a GC2 here plus a recent review.

[TinCup]

Oh crap my bad ill look over it again.
Cheers.

[ryanoneill1]

Curious was Earnest Sports giving you guys discounts on the ES16 since you all have been having so many issues and functionality is still missing?

[Alex1975]

Any update on this, does anyone have a working unit that feels like this may become a viable product?

[TorchRedRob]

I was wondering what was going on here, too. It has a ton of potential it seems, but these guys are at a glacial pace even for this market. With what they have now, I bet they could sell quite a few of them at $2000-$3000, with the potential for more functionality in the future for the early adopters. Go ahead and sell it as a long term Beta testing unit at a reduced price (seems like that is exactly what this is at this point), recoup some of their costs, then raise the price and launch again whenever they have the bugs worked out and it's a true GC2/HMT competitor. Right now, a purchaser is paying for a promise of what it might do, instead of what the unit currently does.

[Brandon]

Please keep us up to date on how the Es16 is performing. I read through all this and it sounds like there's been some improvement.

[Bubba22]

Will do. Awaiting new update.

[Alex1975]

Will do. Awaiting new update.

Your waiting for another software update? At this point its not in good shape?