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

[SDL]

I'm sure you'll enjoy the Skytrak, especially after you get JNPG or TGC to provide on-course sim play. I also want to reinforce what Goatbarn said about the importance of measuring ball spin rather than estimating it. I have used my ST to compare golf balls that spin more or less with specific clubs as well as club heads that achieve extra distance by creating the ideal blend of launch and spin. You can't make these comparisons if you don't measure spin.

And JNPG is great! In addition to new courses that have a small fee, all the user-created courses on JNPG are free, and there are already great versions of Augusta, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and others. All of the courses in TGC are free and TGC has thousands of courses, but the proportion of really badly designed courses is dramatically higher in TGC than in JNPG.

[FaultyClubs]

... I would even argue that skytrak is more accurate than protee because it does measure spin...

It's apples and oranges IMHO.

Measured spin is critical in a LM since they measure only ball information and without spin there is precious little to go on.

The Protee works completely differently. It measures a wide range of BOTH ball and club data. So it doesn't need to measure spin they way a LM does in order to be accurate. It's calculated spin values could easily be better than a LM that measures spin. The issue becomes how accurate is the calculation versus how accurate is the measurement.

Without a good test against a gold standard it is hard to know how accurate either the Protee or Skytrak really is on spin. Based on end results they both seem good enough for us mere mortals.

[coz]

Can't help with a decision comparing ProTee to ST because I have no experience with ProTee, but I can tell you from personal experience that the ST is indeed in danger from shanked balls. The suggestion above, to use Almost Golf or another less-than-"real" ball, is a good one. The ST protective case is helpful, but is made of what seems to be relatively brittle plastic and can be damaged from the impact from a real golf ball. I took a big chunk out of mine, and while it did indeed protect the ST unit inside, I was disappointed that it didn't itself survive the impact intact.

The image you posted looks like a wooden "surround" for the ST, rather than an enclosure which also protects the front of the unit. I wouldn't think that would be terribly helpful as, in my experience, badly struck balls have struck the face/edge of the protective case by the hinge, while the wooden enclosure you show appears to leave that area mostly open and vulnerable. An enclosure which covers most of the front of the ST unit, apart from the lens/laser area or which also covers that area with clear Lexan or another transparent but protective material, would be better, especially if lined with a shock absorbing foam.

Wooden enclosure just keeps balls from bouncing into it after hitting the net. It has the protective case on it too. I don't like anything touching it even if they are returning from the net slowly.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[ste1]

The Skytrak is cheap plastic and will not take much wear and tear befor it's broken.i used a Optishot for years and took all sorts of a hammering with problems.
The Skytrak sits to close to the ball and club and for me sooner or later is going to take a direct hit.

[m3w]

Unfortunately, this is what you get when you want a consumer product that tears down cost barriers. I've had countless rounds with Optishot that had zero missed shots or dropped connections. But I don't think I've had single round yet with Skytrak, that didn't end in a dropped connection.