SkyTrak - Issues at the range?

[Andre Liloc]

Hi guys,

I just recently purchased a SkyTrak and I love it. I took it to the range for the first time last week and saw some weird things, so wanted to see if anyone else has seen this. I am using the FMJ and it was an outdoor range where the mats were about 2 inches high. I raised the ST using the adjustable bolts to what looked like 2 inches, I believe it was pretty close. It was a cloudy day, not raining, not sunny. So here is what I saw:

- Trajectory with all irons were good, distance seemed a little off, short about 10% on ST
- With 3W and Driver, I had a few shots that IRL were slicing pretty dramatically, but on the ST hooked pretty severely, I've never had this issue at home, I don't believe
- I took out the bolts and placed the ST on the Mat itself and the distance was much better, more accurate.

So my questions are the following:
- If the height of the ST is off, is that normal that the distance would be impacted by about 10% or so? I feel like I've read that, but just want to make sure.
- can hitting outside on a cloudy day impact ST accuracy?
- Anyone else with FMJ see weird readings like this?

Just trying to diagnose and see where the potential issues could be. Gonna try again hopefully this week at the range, so I'll give another update, especially if I get suggestions from this group.

Thanks!

[awisnia]

“It is not the critic who counts.....”
― Theodore Roosevelt

[Miura Mario]

I have extensively tested the skytrak at the range with the fmj on atleast 5 2 bucket sessions now and can confidently say it causes misreads - when it messes up it messes up launch direction and flight sometimes along with ball speed for me.

Flight gives over hooks and slices sometimes and rarely totally oposite flight - i noticed this almost right away because the range was the only place i could use it. When I would take it outta the case all issues are gone. You cannot test the skytrak in an fmj hitting into a net as the issues are not noticeable enough in 8 feet of flight. I told my findings to the owner.

i now use the case for when ppl come over - which is what I wanted it for anyhow - ill probably cut out the grill cuz it is a great case ( I have the original version with the messed up screw) theres a reason the skytrak case has a huge open box

Also to add to this this is withe the skytrak perfectlt centered and touching flush up against the metal with everything level 100%

The starting direction misreads are most prevelant on 50 ish yard shots/ low launching shots

I know my ball speeds very well and know instinctually based on impact what ball speed its going to spit out - with the case off my 8 iron is always 112 -114 mph when I nut it.
With the case on the highest ive gotten it is 109. Driver is more pronounced. I believe there is metal or something in the way of the cameras ability to pick up the full ball.

Once again all of these issues dissapear once its removed from the case.

[DirtyGarry24]

The amount of spin and deflection in this thread is very telling. Miura Mario has hit the nail on the head with his research. This is exactly the issues that I experienced with my case when I had similar material infringing on the middle LED flash area of the ST. It distorts the pictures and gives out bad data. He is also correct that it would be hard to tell when hitting in a sim room with limited flight. It took me a week to realize this through playing TGC and I made the final determination by checking my shot recordings. I was getting 6 degrees variance from one putt to the next and this is simply impossible to do.

I hope we can stop the bickering, deflection, spin, and smart remarks (Dan Frost) and let the OP do his further testing. I'm confident there are many people out there experiencing similar issues and simply not knowing. That is sad. The game is hard enough without the ST giving bad flight because of a protective case.

I'm curious what "the owner" had to say when Miura Mario told him of the issues that he was experiencing?

[DirtyGarry24]

Ken Robie - I apologize 1,000,000 times sir. I called out the wrong guy. I've edited and made note of my ridiculous error. Please accept my apology for my bone headed mistake.

[Ken Robie]

Thank you Gary!

[awisnia]

awisnia posted a Visitor Message for mariov 01-07-2017, 07:17 PM

Hi - can you describe a bit more? The folks that were having issues have said they went away once they centered the unit in the shield. Can you correlate the issues to club selected and describe what you mean by "shot shape".

Also, when something happens on a particular shot, it can be no-capture, no-read and wacky-read - which are you seeing.

lastly, if you move the skytrak closer to the shield, pressing against the back of the steel, what do you get?

thanks!
Adam
awisnia

2 posts Flag Like 0

mariov
mariov commented
01-08-2017, 07:16 AM
Hey Pal,

Did all of the above - it seemed to work ok with full swings but ball speed was lower about 2-3 mph average on good strikes.

It misread flight when i was trying to hit lower stinger/punchy type shots - id either get no reads or completely wrong flight shape and initial start direction a few times- thats all with unit centered up against the steel.

After taking it out everythings back to normal...

Im thinking the issues are with the outer edges of the cameras - how much more do you think I should open up the holes?

Other than this the case is fantastic.

[Miura Mario]

Im not here to stir the pot between this case feud just want everyone to know whats going on. I posted it in a public thread and he pmd me.

The differences are very subtle and to be honest most guys arent good enough to notice - the same goes for these lexan home made cases - you would literally have to be a scratch golfer to know you dont hit it like its displayed or you would have to be outside perfectly laid out - knowing what the unit is pointing at - this way you can easily figure out your start lines and physically see the difference in flight. Its a few degrees but with some extra sidespin and your in the bushes.

With me I chalked it up to being tired or not on or whatever - and it doesnt effect every shot but it does to many of them - the ball speed is always affected imo.

[awisnia]

Miura Mario Don't worry about it. Your feedback is appreciated, I've been sharing all designs, testing and feedback with the forum. To better understand when you're getting issues, did you break down in any sort of organized way the shots that had issues versus those that did not? I've pasted our messages above - you had suggested that the issue correlated to lower trajectory punch shots, is that still the case? As in Andre Liloc 's situation, and per your comments, I think the beta fmj may be a bit too touchy at the lower-edge of the field of vision. I really don't think it's due to things in front of the IR flash, rather, as you suggest, interference at the edge of the camera's FOV.

You can message me if you prefer. A few weeks ago the moderator deleted a pretty abusive personal attack by one of the forum members here. Unfortunately, my 12-year-old discovered it first and I've promised him , and the mods that I would do my best to avoid having it happen again.

[Andre Liloc]

All of the feedback here is greatly appreciated! Miura Mario, awesome research. If I get the balls to remove my protective case, I will post results, but at this point, I'll go with the understanding that with at the very least my 3W-5W, I may have a few "bad reads". I'll gladly take a bad read here and there if it means my investment is protected.

[Bubba22]

At the end of the day, your happy Andre? In my hands the reads with the FMJ are very good. No launch monitor is perfect but remember not every swing is perfect.

[Andre Liloc]

Totally Bubba22! Variance between each round and each swing is so high for me, I'm just happy to be able to swing on a consistent basis. Hit em straight my friend!

[Bubba22]

Good to hear my friend. That's the name of the game.

[awisnia]

Bubba22 Just posted the cad file for the FMJ for anybody who wants to tinker or DIY.

http://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/skytrak/90780-skytrack-full-metal-jacket-protection-shield?p=101886#post101886

[awisnia]

James James I sorted and graphed the data in the columns that seemed to have an obvious difference between them. The sample set is too small I think to make any real conclusions, but...

In the first - it seems that the offline magnitude is increased when the skytrak is above the the ball - not sure if "-" is left or right, but it's off - pretty convincing.

Is it enough to conclude height does effect shot shape??? Probably not...hit some more ??




In the SIDE Deg - the range and deviation seem larger, but it's not as compelling (i.e. remove the high and low and there's little difference)...not even sure what metric that is.

[James James]

awisnia I reran the test:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AtooZYq7lKxzf9c8YXgxyJjHEcs

First set was level, second +30mm

[awisnia]

James James - Were any of the conditions different this time?

[James James]

awisnia best guess would be me! Everything else was the same...

[awisnia]

James James - It would be fun to get to test one an Iron Byron or similar machine. We know how much golf is in the head and "knowing" what to look for before the test may indeed creep into the swing. This is obviously all for fun. One would have to guess that the engineers at Rapsodo looked at thousands of camera captures while developing the unit and optimized a balance between accuracy and trigger/capture percentage. Again guessing, if an image of the ball nears the edge of the field of vision, that the image becomes less useful for accuracy. Maybe there's a reject zone for ball location within the image, outside of which the app will no-read and ask for another shot - makes sense.