Playing sim courses without yearly fees

[landrynorth]

I want to build a sim that some friends and I can play some courses on for fun during the winter months and during get togethers. My question is once i have purshased sim software once can I continue to play the courses at home not online with out sending a fee every year. thanks for the info

[Tonysmjc]

I think that depends on the sim and the software

skyttack I believe has two options one you pay per year and not sure but think they have packages you buy

i only renter my software when I had skytrack

my uneekor sim I purchased their software upgrade and that gave me 6 or 12 courses I own
and I bought tgc2019 with a ton of courses that carry no yearly fee

The others available I’m not familiar with enough to provide any info

[Anansi]

If you want to avoid yearly fees, you’ll need to choose your hardware carefully. Some manufacturers require annual fees to use certain features of their monitors, while others offer software updates or support on an annual fee basis.

With yearly fees, there are two components to consider: Launch Monitor Fees and Simulation Software Fees.

Example: Skytrak requires that you purchase, at minimum, their $100/yr Game Improvement Plan in order to use their launch monitor with simulation software. Think of this fee like paying for Xbox Live, or for PSN. This fee is the cost to access the ability to play simulation on Skytrak and is entirely independent from any additional fee the software manufacturer may charge.

Other launch monitors do not require this sort of annual access fee. For example, Foresight, Uneekor, and Flightscope do not have annual access fees to use their monitors with simulation software.

In addition to any access fee you may need to pay, you will have to choose software to connect to your chosen launch monitor. Not every LM is integrated with every software suite, and some software is proprietary to a certain manufacturer’s LM. Example: FSX 2018 Is only compatible with Foresight monitors. Additionally, some software requires a gaming PC to run, while other software can be run off certain iOS devices.

Some software can be purchased outright, with no need for a subscription. Uneekor’s Ignite, FSX 2018, TGC2019, E6 Connect, and Creative Golf are all available for outright purchase. Keep in mind that an outright purchase can be very expensive. (Example: E6 Connect is $2500 for an outright PC license purchase, and $1500 for an outright iOS license purchase) An alternative option is to purchase an annual subscription. Annual subscriptions are sometimes much less expensive than paying for an outright license. (Example: an E6 Connect “Basic” subscription is $300/year).

I hope that helps. Once you determine what features are most important to you, you can likely find a monitor/software combination that fits your budget.

[BHogge]

Consider Fitness golf with skytrak. Graphics are a little dated but suits my needs. it can be expensive to try to create a real golf experience in a simulator. For an inexpensive one time purchase, fitness golf is good. I also use it in fitness mode with a bike. Good exercise during the winter.

[TimUSA]

How many friends you have over to golf needs to be taken into account as well in determining which Simulator software to get. We have 6-8 guys so we use E6 mostly.