HI from Melbourne, Australia

[frankiepap39]

Hi everyone, just thought id try pick some of your brains about some simulator questions i have.

we don't have the luxury of having many sim options here (can buy skytrak etc but not from aussie sellers) so i have a few questions...

1) will the optishot 2 be suffice for my golf sim needs? who has one, how do you compare it to protee? i know the graphics don't compare to the TGC etc sims

2) if you had a choice between skytrak, proteee & p3, which would you choose? reason i ask is they are the ones i am most interested in buying, i like the TGC graphics & course selection - the only drawback of the optishot is lack of courses... if it had TGC game or similar, i think that would make for an ultra affordable home sim setup...

i think i am caught between getting an optishot 2 for a $$ standpoint, but wanting the better setups for graphics, and data readings

[JV17]

Hey Frankie. Optishot is the equivalent of a PlayStation golf game using the motion controller. Ok, it's a step above that, but not much more. As it relates to most of these systems, you get what you pay for. If you want a great golf gaming experience, Optishot and P3 are great choices. If you're looking for more accurate simulation that can actually help improve your golf game, then they aren't good choices. There are many discussions on the choice between Skytrak, ProTee and GC2, as these are the better entry level simulators. There's another one I'm not as familiar with, but there seems to be way fewer people with it, so that alone would give me pause. It all comes down to what you think is important to you, and what are your golfing sim expectations. For me, it came down to accuracy, mobility and club head data options. I only compared GC2 and ProTee, and opted for GC2 in the end. I just had to save a little longer for it, and man was it worth it. If I hadn't wanted to take the GC2 down to the range, I would have gone with ProTee. Many guys have bought Skytrak only to sell it 6 months later to buy ProTee or GC2. I don't know of anyone who sold GC2 or ProTee to move to anything but Trackman or away from sim altogether.

I'm not going to cover all of the differences here because it's been done 100 times here. Take the 30-60 mins to read up, and then think about what's most important to you. You probably already have, and you already know the differences. You mention data readings, so that tells me you're thinking sim, so let me help you by ruling out P3 and Optishot. You'll be disappointed and selling those in a month at a loss. Be patient, and buy right for you and your needs only once. Personally, I highly recommend the GC2, but there are plenty of guys who love their Skytrak or ProTee because what's most important to them is covered.

I also recommend talking to Corey from Par 2 Pro. He sells them all and is very helpful in making decisions. Most importantly, he's a honest and genuine guy... He's not going to just sell you to make a sale.

Good luck!!!

[BGCurtis2nd]

I started out with a P3 Pro Swing and found it to be nothing but aggravation. I was told it was due to my lighting but nothing I did seem to change anything. I went from that to the Golf Achiever which for me worked out well and I did get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but they do not have any online gaming software and it is a bit of choir to switch from right handed to left handed players with the A-frame. I have just ordered a ES16 not sure if I made the best choice or not but I liked the fact it has 4 Doppler radar units along with 2 cameras to do it's job. I took out a loan to get mine and am hoping it is well worth it, unit will not be here till Monday so have to wait till then to find out. I do know the P3 Pro Swing is just a game and the Xbox 360 with the Kinect works just as well to play golf, as for me the Xbox worked better than the P3. Don't know if this is much help but hope it is.
Best of luck.

[aeroburner]

I own a protee with a camera base a GC2 and skytrak I can tell you the one that gets used the least is the GC2 it is a nice paper weight though, pro tee is a great option for a permanent application the upside is it can work well with left and right handed players as I have in my household with good customer support, the Skytrak is very portable. Skytrak is also growing in all aspects of the data that is given and is competing with or exceeded a lot of launch monitors that are 6000 + and is very accurate and the software for simulation play is outstanding which is one of the reasons to put the money out that is needed to enjoy simulation. I hope that helps.

[Bubba22]

As others have said, Optishot and P3Pro are starter systems. Very limited accuracy but fun. For more serious systems look a a ProTee, ST or GC2. There is plenty of information here on the pros, cons etc of each system. Good luck and enjoy which ever system you eventually get.

[frankiepap39]

ok, so we can rule out optishot, and i see the P3 also... i thought maybe the P3 could be used with WGT or TGC but no....
i would like the skytrak but this sounds like a first world problem, the delay would be annoying... the portable nature is appealing. looks like it is down to protee OR GC2. i used the true golf at the local golf store, was impressive but as always... out of budget. JV17 this corey you talk about, is he on this forum? i dont know how i would go about ordering from overseas to australia... if you ask any golf outlet here, they generally double the price before they even look into it.

[BGCurtis2nd]

I don't know if you would even be interested or not but I dealt with "Jim Arendt (jarendt@ernestsports.com)" at Ernest Sports on the ES16 I got and he really worked hard to get me setup with what I wanted and needed. Might be worth a try, he could sure tell you what all they could do and what it would cost.

[Bubba22]

ProTee is as accurate as the Trugolf ( maybe even more accurate). Why not buy direct from ProTee?

[frankiepap39]

i think the exchange rates will kill most of the funds sending it / converting it to aus... i am in the process of looking at that now.
has anyone got the skytrak delay down to 1 second?

[Igor-247-golf]

Hey Frank, fellow member from Melbourne here. I have Trackman + TGC but have used just about every golf sim on the market. Happy to help.

[frankiepap39]

where about in melb are you located? I'm a westie - caroline springs area

[frankiepap39]

do you need to use tape on the bottom of clubs for most / all infrared floor mounted sims? protee, optishot, p3 etc...

[Bubba22]

Infrared technology different for ProTee vs Optishot/P3Pro. ProTee uses shadow based technology and doesn't require taping of th club. Optishot and P3Pro are reflective technology and require taping. ProTee also. Night and day difference in accuracy as well.

[frankiepap39]

so realistically you are better off saving for a protee or a trackman... benefit in the long run. the only issue is we dont get support for trackman in aus, no local seller & i cant seem to find the app in the app store... so that means will need to purchase a pc for download to pc use. and ongoing costs...

[Igor-247-golf]

Frankie, Aus does have a Trackman local person and support is great. There is an App in the Apple store... no Android version yet tho.

[Bubba22]

There is a big price difference between ProTee and Trackman. Online support from ProTee is really all you need. What is the exchange rate to order a unit to Australia?