This has been an agonizing week. Trying to Decide between the SkyTrak and the ProTee

[ADPhillips13]

I have somewhat decided to stick with the SkyTrak.
My Biggest Concern with Skytrak were :
1. Device being so close to ball at address
2. Lack of Multi player on WGT
3. Annual fees like a time share
4. No club data

I liked the Pro Tee for:
1. Not having the unit in danger of the ball
2. Club Data
3. ProTee 2.o and The Golf Club bundle

After coming to grips with the fact I'll need to buy a gaming computer regardless and that the Sky Trak annual fee would only be $100 a year $200 if I want to keep the WGT.
The fact that I'm pretty comfortable with my club path and there are many devices ( pretty cheap also) that can give me club data. I think I'm going to just stick with the Sky Trak and purchase the Golf Club. I wanted to teach my daughters how to play so I'll just buy a optishot for $300 bucks and let them use that and once they have improved i'll let them use the Sky Trak. The Skytrak's ability to be used indoors and out was a major plus.

Lastly, is the ProTee just a more powerful Optishot, the addition of the Cameras is a nice feature. I'm 80% sure i'm going with Sky Trak but would love to hear from you guys being I am just a newbie that has little to no simulator experience.

[ADPhillips13]

I want to thank everyone, once again. I have committed to the Protee then I gone back to the Skytrak. I started the build of the room. 10x10x10 cage is complete in my family room. ( That took some serious negotiations with my wife, but deal is done... I am purchasing the ProTee with the Golf Club and ProTee 2.0. I'll be purchasing the Cameras but not the putting sensor. I want to thank everyone for all the help, but the idea of spending so much time trying to build my own protection case and Skytrak's so so customer service just confirmed that I think the Pro Tee is the best purchase for me. I have been trying to contact someone from Par2Pro and Golfsimulatorsite.com whoever I get on the phone first i'll be placing my order. I don't know anyone else that sells the Protee if you have someone please pass it on.

[inorkuo]

I have a protee system with putting sensor and have hit on a skytrak several times. i have a 3 year old, 1 year old and another boy due late october. my boys love playing golf in the garage. the little one mostly just likes the ball dispenser and throws balls around but my 3 year old always asks to turn the projector on and hits balls off the tee. no way I'd let him play on the sim with a skytrak but with protee he can hit balls as much as he likes.

another big pro for protee is there's almost no delay from when you hit the ball to when it's displayed on the screen. with skytrak 5 seconds is about what most people see I tgc and 3 seconds in the skytrak app. tgc might improve the delay in the future but with the current skytrak hardware 3 seconds might be as good as it gets.

pros for skytrak. it measures spin where protee calculates spin. it is less prone to misreads than protee. it is easier to set up and portable.

if I had to do it all over again I would go protee over skytrak. if I didn't have kids I'd go with a gc2 but that's more money.

[Craig118]

The last point made above by inorkuo will keep me from ever changing to ST from Protee. The 5 sec delay would drive me crazy after playing 3 years with the near instant results the Protee system provides.

[ADPhillips13]

You guys have no idea how helpful you have been with making my Final Decision. Majority of the people I have come into contact with on this site all have the Protee not that many with the Skytrak and that is good enough for me.

[GmanJeff]

You guys have no idea how helpful you have been with making my Final Decision. Majority of the people I have come into contact with on this site all have the Protee not that many with the Skytrak and that is good enough for me.

It may be true that there are more ProTee users here, and the consensus seems to be that their customer service is really good and that the product works well. But, it's also true that ST is a newer product and the installed base is smaller, so it would be a mistake to infer qualitative differences between the products based largely on the size of each user population. The systems each have their pros and cons, and ST users seem generally quite happy with their units now that the product has matured somewhat from what it was when first introduced. There remains room for improvement, especially with occasional mis-reads where shots are not recorded, with the USB connection which can be finicky on some machines, and with the protective case. On the other hand, set-up is a breeze, the unit works great 95% of the time, and the price point is very competitive. I'd buy another one if anything happened to mine.

[inorkuo]

no doubt that there are many happpy skytrak users here. I would even argue that skytrak is more accurate than protee because it does measure spin but as long as you don't do anything crazy (like come from the inside by more than 10 degrees) protee will be very close to reality as well. also skytrak has that recurring fee for simulator play.

[mthunt]

I think this discussion comes down to floor sensors vs a launch monitor and solid surface. Base your decision on that IMO. If you don't mind floor sensors ProTee will give great results with some effort to get it set up. If you dig deep you'll find a thread from a guy that went from a Tru Golf technique to ProTee to GC2. Either route will make you happy.

[ADPhillips13]

Really appreciate all the info.. I have gone back and forth so much, but it is amazing how sometimes your decision can be made for you... For the record, I was not trying to say anything bad against ST. I have had it since Father's day and due to work, travel and playing as much Golf as possible I have been dragging my feet with setting it up. My room is near completion and yesterday after doing the math I took the following into consideration.

- 5 years the Membership will cost me $500 doubt i'll purchase WGT again.
- Purchased the unit for under $2600 and that included Game Improvement and WGT $200, Case $129 and Net Return with Side Panels and 6x6 Mat $ 1000. So with all things taken into consideration I actually only paid $1300 for ST which is an excellent Value. Considering on a nice fall/spring day I could take the unit out on the patio and play a round.

- The deal breaker for the Protee came yesterday when I learned I'd need to pay nearly $300 in shipping and restocking fees for the iPad (I bought only for ST), the Net Return, and the 6x6 Mat. So I'm going to just stick with ST and if I don't like it i'll put it on Ebay for sale I'm sure it won't last with the price I list.

- The only issue I had with ST was its location at address, but DAVRay's protection design addressed that and until my kids and wife have a reliable swing Optishot will be their simulator (found one on eBay for $199).

- Lastly, I have seen and liked Jack Nicolas Perfect Golf would love to hear what you guys think of it. Also, can anyone recommend a Gaming PC. Assumed i'd have to have one built vs. going to a best buy. Golf simulator Site told me they would build and load the software for me so I may even go that route just to get it done.

* Question does anyone play online via Wifi or are all units hardwired for a more stable internet connection? Concerned that my family room is off from the Kitchen and I know Microwaves can interfere with Streaming of videos.

[aja]

Duh! Sell the items separately... sounds like a half-hearted reason for your decision...

Thanks for getting us all to chip in for something that turns out to be a foregone conclusion....

Sorry for the grief but my background is in systems analysis and business analysis.... You stated the problem/decision that you had to make, and turns out... it was it bit of a red herring...

Sorry for my contribution....

Now can you all help me decide between Lamborghini and Ferrari....

[mthunt]

JNPG is great software. It's very realistic and accurate. You pay annually and pay extra for courses. They are releasing more all the time. Some have it, some have TGC. TGC courses are free.

[doublebogey]

Purchased the unit for under $2600 and that included Game Improvement and WGT $200, Case $129 and Net Return with Side Panels and 6x6 Mat $ 1000. So with all things taken into consideration I actually only paid $1300 for ST which is an excellent Value.

How did you buy the SkyTrak so cheaply? Was it used?

[ADPhillips13]

How did you buy the SkyTrak so cheaply? Was it used?

https://www.playbetter.com had a Father's day weekend bundle. Since my daughters play softball, lacrosse and soccer I had been eye balling the Net Return because I hate chasing balls and I wanted them to be able to kick and throw at a target, but mostly because I hated chasing balls. That Price has since gone back up to $3200, which still isn't bad considering the Net return retails at $1000 , Case $129 and Skytrak GI plus WGT. They made me an offer I could not refuse.

[ADPhillips13]

As I go back and read my back and forth and all the input on this forum and in my inbox all I can say is... I'm not proud of my indecision... LOL I never knew buying a golf simulator would be so time consuming and stressful. But I do appreciate everyone's input and I will be teeing off on Skytrak this evening. Buying Gaming CPU will be much easier...

"Now can you all help me decide between Lamborghini and Ferrari.... "

If you are in that kinda market... why choose... Buy Both Sir!

[goatbarn]

I saw it mentioned once, but measured spin vs calculated (probably more accurate to say estimated) is a huge deal.

Not only is it necessary for accurate ball flight (need ball speed, horizontal and verical azimuths, and spin) but it makes short game 200x more realistic and intuitive. Of course the software used has a huge part in that.

But for me, all launch monitors can be split by those that measure spin, and those that estimate it. Usually the more accurate and expensive units are on the side of measured spin.

[gene438]

No worries....I give advice and doesn't hurt my feelings if it is not taken. The main thing is that you have joined the simulator world....so welcome and have fun. You will quickly come to your own decision as to stay with the ST or move up to a ProTee. I can promise you that I certainly don't have the exact same equipment I started out with....I am constantly looking for the next best thing, etc.

Good luck and see you on the tour......

[penrose]

No worries....I give advice and doesn't hurt my feelings if it is not taken. The main thing is that you have joined the simulator world....so welcome and have fun. You will quickly come to your own decision as to stay with the ST or move up to a ProTee. I can promise you that I certainly don't have the exact same equipment I started out with....I am constantly looking for the next best thing, etc.

Good luck and see you on the tour......

Could not agree more with "the main thing is you the joined the simulator world"