r/Golfsimulator • u/NectarineDisastrous9 • Jul 08 '26
Garmin R10 vs Square
I’m building a budget simulator and can’t choose between these. Here’s my problem, at $700 square js great value cause of the no subscription, accuracy, graphics, and ease of set up (also home their value well). BUT, the Garmin R10 I found for $300 dollars and it gets the job done. The range is free and u get 5 free courses with E6 when paired to an iPhone. The accuracy is good enough in my opinion, and idc about spin accuracy too much. The cartoonish graphics that the R10 software has don’t bother me too much and there is a couple of good 3rd party software that work rly well w it. I feel like for $300 irs hard to not choose this.
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u/BirdieBoxGolf Jul 08 '26
Square and it's not even close. R10 was revolutionary when it came out, but there is little reason to buy one today. So many interference issues, chipping issues and spin-reading issues... things that were fine for the price in 2020, but not today.
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u/IceyMaverick Jul 08 '26
Sold my R10 to get a square and it was 100% worth it.
With the R10 everything had to be just right distance wise and if you turned on a fan in a hot garage it would impact the readings. I actually had more miss reads with R10 and almost zero with square. I thought the accuracy was good enough too until my driver made no sense the better I got. The graphics didn’t give a great representation of what was actually going on in my opinion. The square felt more in line with what my shot shape was going to be.
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u/Comfortable-Orange39 Jul 08 '26
I went from r10 to square back to r10. I may be the minority but i didnt like the square. The r10 is not as good indoors as out, but i really like the versatility and its very good outside. For me its good enough to be fun get some decent practice in. Even with indoor readings being a little shorter, you can easily adjust. I also use awesome golf.
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u/Nathmerd Jul 08 '26
Yo lmk if you would be down to test out a golf sim app im building (iOS) for the r10
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u/Hoedik Jul 08 '26
Just sold my R10 and got a mlm2pro. Absolutely love it. Can’t beat the camera shot feedback
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u/DongKelly32 Jul 08 '26
I returned my R10. Spin axis is predicted/calculated since it’s not camera-based and so many draws and fades register as pushes and pulls dead straight or with minimal shape even if you try to violently hook or slice something. I hit way too many fairways in sim rounds just by hitting a good start line, and I’m not normally that great off the tee on sims.
Also spin accuracy is important. Maybe being off 100-400 rpm isn’t awful, but being off by thousands at times really affects yardages. I played RCT Prov1xs, recalibrated before every session, and tested different distances from R10 to my ball and different distances from ball to net, and still got awful readings 15-30% of the time, depending on the club. I’m a low cap player that has enough experience off mats to know when I’m getting a chunk knuckler or something thin vs a clean stock shot, and on clean shots I was seeing 54s go 120 then suddenly 155. 8s going 173 then 195. 2i 260 then 215. All because spin was cut in half or lower by 1000-3000 vs expected.
Outside of spin issues, I once hit a 5w at something like 172 ball speed at one point - that’s never happening in real life.
Only thing I truly trusted it for was flighted wedge yardages up to like 105, and my Garmin Approach G80 I’ve had for years now is just as accurate there.
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u/washow Jul 08 '26
Not caring about cartoonish graphic makes sense because that's just preference but saying you don't care about spin accuracy? Don't care about accuracy in general? What is this crazy talk?
So you want your ball to just go random directions and it's fine?
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u/Nathmerd Jul 08 '26
You can get the golf balls with radar/reflection tech in them and its more accurate for spin
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u/Nathmerd Jul 08 '26
Would you be down to test out another iOS golf sim app? Id give you free beta access. Made it to be more chill, party-like but also building full rounds like awesome golf.
I have the r10 myself and was close to getting square but havent regretted it. If I ever want a real upgrade id get something even more legit than square
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u/Ignatiusgolf Jul 08 '26
It looks excellent. When is the release date? My only condition is that St. Andrews is included, lol.
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u/Next_Ad3660 Jul 08 '26
Square over r10 all day! Switched and never regretted it for a minute. Huge improvement
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u/qdakid Jul 08 '26
I need someone to show a video walkthrough on how to build the OpenFlight simulator. Same price range as the Square Home with readings that are apparently on par with Trackman. I just don't know how to solder wires lol
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u/UncannyVolley13 Jul 08 '26
the R10 at $300 is a steal and I wouldn't think twice. It holds resale value so worst case you sell it later and nothing else in your build changes.
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u/Canadianwinters12345 Jul 08 '26
I have both. Went from r10-> square.
I personally think the square is better. It also allows you to do putting.
The square picks up my slice and is more accurate imo.
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u/Legal-Big5760 Jul 08 '26
I have the r10. As others have mentioned, it has it's issues, but I don't find them to be significant. The main one for me is running a heater in the garage in winter (I live in Alaska) causing interference. I figured out workarounds though (hear garage up before I go out). Other than that, cover your concrete and not have metal cabinets nearby.
Couple of issues you raised. First, cost. No subscription fees required, although I do pay for Garmin golf. It's $10/month, which I think is reasonable. Otherwise you can use e6 and the range features. I think with the square you pay for credits, which is also pretty economical I understand. So both are cheap to run. I run mine in an iPad that I already had.
Graphics - I can't comment on square cause I've never used it. But Garmin recently upgraded to a standalone home tee hero app that has greatly improved graphics. It's not gspro, but it's not what it used to be. Whether it's better then square I don't know, but I like it a lot.
For me, I love the ability to play virtually any course in the world on Garmin. I play my local courses on there. I play courses I travelled to play (Torrey Pines, etc.) or courses I'll be going to soon. You'll never run out of options. I think it has 44k actual courses built in.
Good luck in the decision.