Skytrak + Optishot 2 + Flightscope Xi Tour (for a while)

[Binggy Lopez]

Hi guys. I've been pretty much on lurking and learning mode here for quite a while now but the buying and building phase of the adventure will be done in a few days. The golf simulator room will hopefully be finished in a day or two.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the Optishot 2 for a few weeks now and will take delivery of a Skytrak in 3 days.

My friend/coach will be going away for 2 weeks and will leave with me his brand new Flightscope Xi Tour. How do you guys think I can maximize the opportunity of having these 3 devices simultaneously?

[penrose]

The fightscope inside needs a lot of room. The plus side is it stands behind you. So if you have the room inside you can compaIre the two - that would be fun an I am sure we would all be interested in the results. Also, the flightscope has skills challenge mode - I would check that out as welI

I do not think the tour version captures club data. I know nothing about the optishot.

[mthunt]

The optishot is a low end device. If you have skytrak, the only thing optishot will show you is club path. You will tire of optishot after about 3 shots on skytrak. The skytrak will show everything the ball does but nothing the club does. The Flightscope is much better than both. The xitour DOES show everything. It'll show path, face angle, AOA, club head speed,, ect and all ball metrics. There's no point in using an optishot with either. There's no point using a skytrak with Flightscope. I suggest you take the Flightscope to the range. It shines best there. The new firmware on the Flightscope only requires 15 feet indoors.

[goatbarn]

I'd like to see a comparison of the measured data between the Xi Tour and the Skytrak. I'd be interested to see how far off CHS calc is for Skytrak.

I agree with mthunt that the Optishot really doesn't matter. I think everyone that uses the Optishot knows that it's pretty inaccurate...maybe CHS is meaningful.

[wbond]

If you have the room inside, would definitely like to see the comparison between skytrak and FS

[FaultyClubs]

If you have the optishot setup well with real balls and properly taped clubs in a good environment I'd be interested in club head speed, club path and face angle comparison if you do an average of ten shots throwing out any obvious outliers . Use the optishot range and spreadsheet function for the test. That's the only way I've thought the optishot would be useable but no-one has done that test against a FS.

[Binggy Lopez]

Thanks for the input. It might look funny but i'll set up and run all 3 devices at the range. It'll be interesting to see how accurate/inaccurate the Optishot is on capturing club data. I find it accurate enough so far.

Personally, i consider Swing Path and Face Angle important and would prefer to have that data made available on each shot so i won't have to make inferences based on ball data. I'm crossing my fingers that the variance will fall within an acceptable range when the Optishot is tested against the Flightscope.

I'm even more hopeful that the Skytrak will fare well against the Flightscope.

One potential problem might be the opposite lighting requirements between the 3 devices as the Skytrak and Optishot need florescent lighting while the Flightscope needs incandescent or halogen. I'm pretty busy during the day and am constrained to doing the comparison test at night.

Anyway, this is going to be a crazy and fun experience! Will post updates in this thread in the coming days.

[goatbarn]

Do it in the pitch black. I had an Optishot and it worked great in the dark.

That will satisfy all 3 lighting.

Also, I do believe that Skytrak has stated lighting does not affect results, since it emits it's own flash strong enough to capture required image clarity. Just like the GC2 (although yes, GC2's flash is more robust).

[Binggy Lopez]

Do it in the pitch black. I had an Optishot and it worked great in the dark.

That will satisfy all 3 lighting.

Also, I do believe that Skytrak has stated lighting does not affect results, since it emits it's own flash strong enough to capture required image clarity. Just like the GC2 (although yes, GC2's flash is more robust).

Not sure how i'll do this though since I don't have control over the lights in the driving range. The range owner is a good friend of mine. Maybe i can interest him in joining me for the tests

[FaultyClubs]

The Optishot won't work well at the range during the day, I've done it with poor results. It would need to be at night and any lights would have to have limited IR. If you could turn off lights in your hitting area and just leave them on out in the range it might be OK.

I know people say the Optishot works with the Skytrak, however I question how accurately it works. I know the Optishot doesn't work at all with the GC2. It may work with the Skytrak but be degraded. However the comparison is really with the FS for club data so perhaps it doesn't matter if you just turn off the Skytrak for those tests.

Also does the FS really need halogen or incandescent lighting? What for? I don't pay attention to the FS so no idea the requirements.

[Ironstrokes]

Not sure how i'll do this though since I don't have control over the lights in the driving range. The range owner is a good friend of mine. Maybe i can interest him in joining me for the tests

Just go there after the range closes down, it just has to be a range that has the automatic ball dispensers that you can pay cash right at the machine. When I first got the skytrak I know the range near me said it was open 24/7 (as long as you have cash and get balls at the machine) and when I went there after work it was like 1145 at night and no one was there at all (workers and all). The lights were still on, so I bought a bucket at the machine got my skytrak and ipad all set up, hit like 4 shots and then boom, all the light went off. Proceeded to hit the rest of the bucket with only my cell phone flashlight as light haha. To my surprise the skytrak continued to read perfectly (was before I realized it would even work at all in the dark). Was a bit annoying because I brought the skytrak there to test the accuracy of it, but had to save that for another day. Long story all to just say that maybe a range near you would be fine to go to after closing even though no lights are on haha

[Binggy Lopez]

The driving range owned by a friend is converted into an open parking lot after 9pm so no go on that one. I'll see if I can persuade the manager of the other range i frequent if we can shut off the lights in my section (light switches there control 10 bays at a time)

On the FS needing halogen or incandescent lighting, i just read it on their website. We got to test the Flightscope on the fairway last week and the other day on the range (both during the day) That thing is awesome!!! The huge downer for me is it needs more space than I have at home.

I'll take the machines to the range this saturday. Woohoo!!!

[FaultyClubs]

What kind of lighting does it use? If it's not daylight at all or incandescent or halogen then probably OK. Sodium lighting is fine. Metal halide is probably OK. Regular florescent is OK. You might not have a problem with lights depending what they are.

[Binggy Lopez]

What kind of lighting does it use? If it's not daylight at all or incandescent or halogen then probably OK. Sodium lighting is fine. Metal halide is probably OK. Regular florescent is OK. You might not have a problem with lights depending what they are.

Not sure what lighting they have since i never really took notice. Probably safe to assume regular florescent tubes?

Taking the Skytrak on its maiden voyage will be "stressfulI' enough and i'm now doing more research on the flightscope so i don't waste too much time figuring out how to operate both devices at the range. Man, the anxiety is approaching debilitating levels! I feel like a kid in a huge candy store that just opened



Lighting at driving range #2

[Binggy Lopez]

Sorry, how do i delete this post?