SkyTrak and Swing Caddie SC200

[TheGriftKings]

I don’t own the SC200 so my experience was brief, but here it goes: was at the indoor range with my Skytrak this week and a guy came over with his SC200 to compare numbers. Given that we were both hitting into an inflatable dome, we had no way to verify which unit was right, however here were the consistent differences:
- Skytrak was 10 yards longer carry on driver
- Skytrak was 10 yards shorter carry on 7 and 9 iron

any thoughts? I set my altitude at 500, it was level, 70 degrees, otherwise standard settings. Also my Skytrak is updated to the newest version. Not sure about the guys SC200.

Which do do you think is accurate? I could care less about driver distance (real life 260-270 carry), but the irons being ten yards off between the two distances is huge. Oh yeah, we also set the loft on his sc200 to match actual club lofts of my irons.

[Gresh12]

I have had a SC200 for a little over a year. My club fitter raved about the accuracy so I picked one up. I received my Skytrak about 2 weeks ago so it's pretty new to me.

I don't have the ceiling height to hit more than 4 iron so I can't comment on driver but all my irons are within +/-3 carry yards between the units with my Skytrak set to appropriate altitude (I am basically at sea level) and I would say a difference of 3 yards was rare. I have hit maybe 50 balls with both setup but other than awful strikes they were always close and one wasn't consistently longer than the other.

I am hitting at home with premium balls so I am wondering if you are hitting range balls at your dome which is causing problems. I won't profess to know how either of the flight algorithms work in detail (i.e., this is a guess and I'm guessing others will know better) but the SC200 is using ball speed and assumed launch angle from the loft you enter on the unit whereas the Skytrak is using ball speed, measured launch angle and spin so the latter two could be different between range balls impacting your results. Did you happen to look how close the captured ball speeds were? I never really looked at that as I was just checking carry distance but I can test later.

[cmckelvmi]

I have both devices and I have seen very similar numbers. I was using the SC200 to basically count my shots and for swing speed. However, the SC200 doesn't seem to last very long as far as battery level, no matter what battery brand I put in it. Therefore, I don't use the SC200 as much anymore to compare it to the newest ST software update.

[TheGriftKings]

That’s interesting and hopefully it will help me understand better how each unit operates. Unfortunately, I don’t recall exact ball speed differences but I don’t think they were as significant as the carry difference.

That said, why would one unit be longer on driver, yet shorter on irons? I would’ve expected that regardless of whether it was the Skytrak or sc200, that it would either be longer on all clubs or shorter on all clubs - not long on one (driver) and shorter on the others (iron). Any suggestions or explanations as to what would cause that?

[Morini]

I think this one is a no brainer. The skytrak measures ball speed, launch angle, spin and spin axis. The SC measures ball speed and assumes launch angle and spin based on club. Now if the SC measured ball speed more accurately, that might compensate for lack of measured launch angle and spin. But the ST is very accurate on ball speed, so the SC has no chance. Assuming normal flight balls of course.

That said, why would one unit be longer on driver, yet shorter on irons? Don't know for sure, but the SC has to assume launch angle based on club. Perhaps the driver has a different loft than that assumed by SC. Perhaps the golfer's iron attack angle resulted in lower or higher dynamic loft resulting in different spin and VLA numbers than SC assumes.

Purely speculating, if extensively tested with a large number of golfers, I'd guess that ST would average 2 yards carry distance error on 7 iron swing under ideal conditions (no wind etc). I'd put the SC at at least triple that.

There is ample anecdotal evidence that the ST under reads for very high ball speeds, so possible that SC could have more accurate ball speed for those golfers.

[grant2145]

There is a cheaper alternative to the Swing Caddie from Japan called PRGR GM009 14 Pocket Red Eyes. It can be purchased for under $100 from EBay. Testing ball speed against my GC2 and SkyTrak the unit is very accurate, either spot on or +/- 1 or 2 MPH. It also measures swing speed and calculates distance based on what club is selected. I keep it in my bag and use it at the range all the time. The distance calculations are pretty good but not nearly as accurate as the GC2 or SkyTrak.

[FaultyClubs]

Another one is the YUPITERU ATLAS Golf Swing Trainer GST-5 GL also under $100 on ebay. Same device as the Swing Caddie or Ernest Sports overpriced units. Good for measuring BS/CHS (gives smash factor also). Of course all the other info on these devices is made up so should be ignored. They aren't any more accurate than the Skytrak but essentially do add measured club head speed.

[Clevited]

Swing Caddie carry numbers should never be relied upon as accurate They are guesses based on ball speed and what club you are using. Accurate launch angle and spin make a huge difference in the real carry of a ball and Skytrak is going to do a better and more consistent job at calculating that because it measures all of the needed data. Only flight algorithm is going to cause any issues when compared to reality. There are situations where Skytrak will be wrong by a significant ammount (for me high spin shots with irons and high ball speeds with driver 170+ mph) but its still much better than sc. I own a SC and it is great to verify Skytrak ball speed and its guesses on swing speed. I pay no attention at all to carry.

[N54TT]

I have both. While I do get similar distances, the only thing that you can be certain should be equal are ball speeds. SkyTrak is measuring launch angle/ball spin/ball speed. Where as sc200 is only measuring ball speed and guessing launch angle based on preset lofts for each club. If you’re lofts are stronger/weaker than preset lofts or if you dynamically loft/deloft the club...all can have an impact on total distances. And cause differences in distance between the two. The only common....being ball speed.