GSA golf releases Vistrak (Alpha testing)

[keither5150]

My initial plan was to wait until my unit arrives next week. But honestly, I can't stand it any longer.

GSA has released a brand golf sim call Vistrak. Pricing from $995 to $2795. $995 is for current GSA users looking to upgrade. For new users, the price is $1495. Vistrak measures club speed, club face angle, club path, deviation from sweet spot (horizontal). Ball data includes spin, spin axis, ball speed, HA, LA. Vistrak does all this with one camera. Please note that LA will not be as accurate as GSA’s multi camera systems. While this may be acceptable for many, those of us who want better accuracy can add a floor mounted Vcam for $690.

$2795 will get you a nice case with integrated IR lighting along with a Vcam. As volumes increase, the cased version should go down in price.

Vistrak is not your usual GSA product. Vistrak doesn’t require a triggering system for the camera. It does not require a sensor mat for club data. The camera has an AOI (Area of Interest) and will trigger once the ball is struck, similar to the GC2 or Uneekor. User defined hitting area is massive. As large as 30x12 inches can be used. Please note that marked balls or balls with a clear black logo need to be used for spin measurement. The logo will need to be facing the camera. This is a small price to pay to be able to use premium balls. Currently clubs need to be marked but GSA is working on a solution for that.

Vistrak can get clear images for spin measurement without the need for an annoying and expensive IR flash. Vistrak can measure ball speed from 2mph up to 200 mph. HA should be within normal GSA tolerances of less than +/- ½ degree. LA tolerances will be tested with and without the optional Vcam. Please note that Vistrak can be added to any GSA sim.

And…. Vistrak will give club data to any sim. This will be tested during Alpha and Beta testing

My Alpha testing unit will be shipped on Monday. Beta testing will be open to the public once Alpha testing is complete. Beta units will sell for $750. Beta testing quantities will be limited ( probably less than 10) so act quickly. Production will be limited at first so don’t expect the unit to ship the next day. More information can be found on the website https://www.golf-simulators.com/vistrak.html

Contact GSA or me for ETA’s. Martin from GSA will not be monitoring the forum for questions. All questions about Vistrak can be directed to me. Some of you might remember a buzz about Vistrak a few years back. Since then camera tech has improved and come down in price. Originally a two camera version was going to be released. But as testing continued it was discovered that a single camera can provide the data required. Videos and reviews will follow once I am up and running. Only 2 Alpha units will be out there so we expect Alpha testing to last at least a month. Integration with 3rd party software will be immediate.

[Brettster]

Wow - that looks amazing, would like to see that compared head-to-head with Uneekor. Also, I had a look and it does not include TGC, but a 15 course TGC version can be purchased for $299, and later upgraded to full TGC for another $699.

Just wondering Keither, do you know if TGC 2019 is supported? If not, when will they add it?

Looking forward to seeing a video review, from you soon.

Thanks,
-Brett

[keither5150]

All 3rd party software that is available now, will be available at beta release. TGC, TGC 2019, JNPG, E6, and even the old Red Chain... ( my copy can RIP ) Pricing for 3rd party software will be adjusted for the beta release. Pricing will be in line with the current market. No additional fees or upcharges will be added.

[keither5150]

Not sure If I will be able to go side by side with a Uneekor. I don't have that kind of money man! Side by Side with a GC2 will be done during beta testing. We also need a couple of GC2 and ST users for the upcoming beta testing. Currently Alpha testing will start without any flash for club or ball data...…. we will see how that goes.

[keither5150]

I have really enjoyed my GSA sim. At first I had a CX2 which only gave me ball flight. So shot shaping was not possible and spin was calculated. Then I added a sensor mat to the mix. With the added club data, I quickly learned how to fade and draw the ball. When the occasional hook came into play, finding the cause for such poor shots was not that difficult. So as good as the PX5 is (was) it still lacked measured spin. One could easily add a spin camera to the PX5 and have it all. But at the cost of $2500 for the spin camera, it was a hard pill to swallow especially when the GSA spin calculations ( IMO ) are incredible. Last year I had a GC2 and did a video side by side.... not just 2 or 3 shots that somehow looked similar. I hit about 40+ pitches and then about 40 nine irons. I think that we worked out that the ball's resting place on the pitches was within 2 yards on average.

Systems without measured spin are considered by the masses to be less accurate. Even though systems like the PX5 perform very well, They aren’t considered in the same league as systems that measure spin. Martin has assured me that nothing was given up with the addition of spin measurement. GSA users can be confident that their HA will be incredibly accurate ( check out my putting videos) LA, speed will be business as usual. Club data needs testing, but in the lab the new camera performs incredibly well. Spin measurement has been tested in the lab up to 10000 rpm. Field testing starts next week.

Some big improvements over the current GSA systems. No more sensors. No triggering systems of any kind. Large hitting area 12x30 inches. Spin measurement and club data from the same camera. Video playback of swing (club moving through the ball) Deviation of sweet spot (horizontal).

[keither5150]

Here is a short putting video from Vistrak's single camera. Video was taken in GSA's lab during putting tests.

[gunserotti]

Boy was I close to ordering the Uneekor. I'm glad I found this post. I will follow to see reviews, comparisons, pros and cons. Thanks. for sharing.

[frankiepap39]

so this is a complete stand alone system... no base mat needed. and looks like a competitor to uneekor at a smaller price?

[keither5150]

By base mat, do you mean sensor mat? If so, yes, no sensor mat. Vistrak can be used as a stand alone system. Or it can be used to give club data to any other sim.

[keither5150]

Last night, I had a deer in the headlights moment. What if this doesn't work. Maybe I should have waited. Well, the more I think about it..... Worse case scenario, you need two of these things mounted in stereo. ( no vcam needed at this point) The price still beats everything on market
. My current GSAstereo system is nothing short of fantastic. Putting HA is within 1/10 of one degree.
LA and HA are within about 1/2 of one degree. Once calibrated, speed is bang on.

[keither5150]

I might add...... We still might need a flash. I hope not. In the lab,tests shots have excellent images of the ball without the flash.

[Igor-247-golf]

Last night, I had a deer in the headlights moment. What if this doesn't work. Maybe I should have waited. Well, the more I think about it..... Worse case scenario, you need two of these things mounted in stereo. ( no vcam needed at this point) The price still beats everything on market
. My current GSAstereo system is nothing short of fantastic. Putting HA is within 1/10 of one degree.
LA and HA are within about 1/2 of one degree. Once calibrated, speed is bang on.

Check your PM

[WadeH]

600 fps on the camera.

Uneekor has two 1500 fps cameras.

just sayin.

[Brettster]

andygg1986 - how are you certain a picture every 3 inches is sufficient for ball data? I see, you say club data - that's sparse. I would think it's sparse for both, but I don't have any hard data on that. keither5150 maybe you've studied the differences in spin rate, launch angle and club face impact with 600 FPS versus 1500 FPS as I'm sure there must be some differences.

That's why I was looking for Uneekor vs. GSA/Vis Track head-to-head comparison data? Anyone with that capability it would be a nice to see.

[keither5150]

During the alpha testing the resolution and FPS will be adjusted to see if we can truly do this with one camera. Like I said, maybe two cameras. Martin seems to think that club data and ball data can be pulled from one camera. We will be dropping the res to increase FPS if needed. This is the whole point of Alpha testing. The unit that I start with might not be the same as the Beta unit. Club face images will all be before impact.
The gear effect messes things up. Who knows there may be a single camera and a duel camera version. Hopefully it can all be done with one camera. Even if we have to go with a duel camera version, we will still be around 1/2 the price of the competition.

[keither5150]

andygg1986 @ Brettster. You both bring up good points. There is no point speculating until we start testing. Martin says that in the lab the camera can easily pick up spin data and club data at the same time. I can tell you that ball data will be the easy one. As long as the images are not too far apart. You can't have the logo or the ball markings go completely out of view between frames. That is usually never an issue because your driver will have low spin while the images are farther apart. Your wedges will have higher spin while your images are closer together. As long as the image is clear enough to pick up the spin rate and axis every time you will have no issues. Club data will be the interesting one. What would you two say that an acceptable +/- would be for face angle for a unit at this price? Assuming that all other data is within a fraction of a degree or mph.

[keither5150]

FPS explained a little better...… A high speed camera is rated at a certain FPS at a certain resolution. Cut the resolution in half and see the FPS roughly double. So a close up image at low res could be viewed at 4 or 5 times the rated speed ofthe camera. For example a camera that is rated at 1000 FPS at 1080p would be way better than 3000 FPS at 336x96. What is needed? A few clear images of the ball, that's all. The fact that the system captures 32 images of the swing through the ball is just for the video, it has no impact on the data or quality of the data. I personally like the video playback. We will see if the novelty wears off.

[keither5150]

And, who knows, Alpha testing may prove that we need to have two of these cameras in Stereo to work properly. That still puts the price at $3750 with TGC 2019.

[Brettster]

Here is a short putting video from Vistrak's single camera. Video was taken in GSA's lab during putting tests.

Nice, I really like that there is no 'ok', 'ok', 'ok' as with Uneekor, would like to see you hit some longer shots though, driver, etc. Also great to see there is no delay, after hitting to see the ball on the screen.

Thanks for posting,
-Brett

[keither5150]

GSA typically doesn't have much of a delay. I have mentioned to Martin that a lady saying ok, ok, ok will not fly with this group. This is a easy thing for Uneekor to change.

[Brettster]

Keither, could you show us some video of your full setup, and tell us the dimensions of your Sim room? How easy was mounting the Vistrack, etc?

Thanks,
-Brett

[keither5150]

Yeah, no problem. It will be interesting to see if Martin can pull off the one camera sim. If he can, it will shake up the market, that's for sure. I am currently running a GSA converging stereo set up. Other than ball spin, the system is crazy accurate. So that will be the key. What kind of club data accuracy can we get and still pick up spin. We need to hit a ton of shots to figure this out. The current camera has quite nice images at 600 FPS. Maybe we need to tweak it a little to obtain more accurate face angles. Dropping the res will increase the FPS. Maybe adding a flash may be cheaper and better than a second camera. I will be posting again once I have the unit installed.

[Smudge7204]

Very interested in this unit, going to pick something up at the end of summer, it was for sure going to be skytrak and then i have been following uneekor but that's getting into pretty big $'s for me; if this could be the middle ground it would be amazing. Look forward to the progress updates.

[Jwheels9876]

For 750 It may be worth the gamble to test with the GC2.... who knows, maybe it will actually work and be a steal.

[Jwheels9876]

On the GSA site In the tech news section a week or 2 back I read that you need a separate PC to run the vistrak and another to run your sim software? Did Martin mention this to you keither5150 or has that changed?

[keither5150]

This is one of the things that we will be testing during beta. Worst case scenario, you will need a second PC. Best case scenario. You run an extended desktop on the same PC. I know that the current 64 bit control panel ( GSA's interface) uses next to nothing for resources when playing TGC. Once I get the Vistrak up and running, I can check what kind of resources it needs. The camera that we are using has it's own buffer, so I expect that it will be more efficient than what I am used to. The current control panel runs just fine in an extended desktop. The control panel will have all of the club data listed and video replay of the club going through the ball. If by chance, a second PC is needed, you won't need a very powerful one. It will have to have a USB 3.0 interface though.