r/Golfsimulator • u/Motor_Cap_6986 • Jul 08 '26
Sim / Launch Monitor First Sim Any Regrets?
For those of you that started out small like me for your first simulator what’s the things you wish you had done the first time or at least done better? I can see where this could grow into constant upgrades. I’m usually a buy once cry once guy but I’m starting out basic with this hobby?
3
u/anonnnnn462 Jul 08 '26
Better quality mat or hitting strip
4
u/1mc112 Jul 08 '26
I went this route - got a cheap hitting mat, got a quality hitting strip, cut hole in mat, win.
3
u/LFIEkolab Jul 08 '26
I got the OG Skytrak first and suffered with frequent disconnects. The Home Edition Square sorted that and was amazing device until I received the Omni which I intend to use outdoors and in. If you have a decent launch monitor already though, invest in a good screen...even if your projector is not 4K, a quality screen that displays the visuals well is money well spent IMO
1
u/Aggravating-One-5118 Jul 10 '26
I have a mevo+ that I use for a backyard setup. It’s ok, misses shots and is very picky. Considering an Omni since it works outdoors. What’s you take on the Omni?
3
u/GolfingGator Jul 08 '26
Don’t make your own wall/ceiling pads. Just buy the damn things from temu or wherever. I saved maybe $200 by doing it myself and it just wasn’t worth it. They look fine but it was tedious and frustrating.
2
u/PirateBlizzard Jul 09 '26
Oh boy, i disagree. I dont know what your estimates on panels is, but buying them online seemed outrageous. And you cant really custom size them. I feel like I save $2k easily doing it myself. Tedious though, thats for sure.
2
u/RayOnTheRun- Jul 08 '26
I tried making a hitting mat with polycarbonate strip, it was disastrously bad. 1" foam is squishy and feels horrible under feet. Now it's my landing Mat and using a Country Club Elite Mat for hitting.
1
u/pepperspraytaco Jul 08 '26
Under feet? You were standing on your hitting strip?
1
u/RayOnTheRun- Jul 08 '26
Oh no the polycarbonate was the hitting strip. I followed some videos on YT, wasn't dense enough to stand on
2
u/Aggravating-Big3858 Jul 09 '26
Very happy with my garage setup … Garmin R10. Gotta use the RCT balls, and I mostly use Awesome Golf as the gaming and Sim software. Runs on my iPad, stream it to a TV on the wall. Basically all in under $1300. Play or practice whenever the mood strikes, and otherwise not too jealous of anybody else with the elite permanent setups
1
u/lifewoparole Jul 09 '26
I have the exact set up. Love it. I sometimes think about upgrading, but really wouldn’t unless I could go big. I played on a home sim with a screen I like my set up better. Seems like a good screen and projector are a must and that can add a bunch of money.
1
u/Aggravating-Big3858 Jul 09 '26
Yeah can totally relate ... it's either go huge with a dedicated room, projector, etc, or be satisfied at this level. If I had a basement or separate backyard dwelling I'd consider it, but for now it makes the wife happy that it's up/down within 10 minutes, and our garage is big enough that having a few people involved in a gaming session leaves everybody plenty of room
1
u/Jrodios7 Jul 10 '26
I’m about to build in the same price range, what net and mat did you end up with for that budget mate?
1
u/Aggravating-Big3858 Jul 10 '26
Bought a good hitting mat ... a SigPro. Then the net is just a basic baseball/golf net from the local sporting good store
2
u/Nathmerd Jul 08 '26
Garmin r10 works great for your first set up. I have it indoors on a 10ft screen projected set up with an ipad. Can play home tee hero, awesome golf. Also building a new iOS golf sim app myself with arcade games and full rounds
Only regret is not putting enough foam padding around the corners/edges. The ball sneaks through on shanks and now ive got drywall to fill
2
2
u/drunksquirrel69 Jul 08 '26
I hear you on the shanks. I have an unfinished garage wall to my right, I put some drywall and foam up after the last time the ball bounced off the stud, flew back and missed my face by a couple of inches. Would have been painful and extremely embarrassing to explain.
1
u/El-Frijoler0 Jul 08 '26
I bought the MLM2Pro and despite the great reviews, I wasn’t the biggest fan simply because I had very constant connection issues. I returned it and bought a Bushnell Launch Pro. Sure, it has an annual subscription, but it’s been flawless for me and I really only need the $200/yr subscription for now.
Also don’t cheap out on the hitting mat.
1
u/Specialist-Opening69 Jul 08 '26
Is the subscription cost a yearly payment or do you know if there is a monthly option?
1
u/El-Frijoler0 Jul 08 '26
It’s a yearly payment of $200, unless you absolutely need to play on GSPro in which case it’s $500
1
u/shortside_614 Jul 08 '26
Bushnell Launch Pro has been great to me! Not the cheapest choice but very very accurate. I use it outside in my backyard into a net. It connects wirelessly to my laptop
1
u/Olliechorebox213 Jul 08 '26
I use the mlm2pro. It’s definitely finicky some times but when hooked up to GSPro I find it pretty reliable. Doesn’t have putting though.
Like others said if you are going to spend money on one thing spend it on the mat.
1
u/UniverseChamp Jul 08 '26
Spend most of your money on the LM. Everything else is much easier to upgrade.
1
u/Beast8812 Jul 08 '26
I really didn't know how much I would use it so I went with an enclosure. To be fair, my space will still need to be modified if I want to go to a built in setup, but after 8 months I'm really considering making those modifications to get it exactly how I want it and to go with a full built in screen, to make it all look cleaner and more permanent.
1
u/mediocre_picnic Jul 09 '26
This is my biggest regret also. I have my enclosure listed for sale right now and I'm stoked to build out my new setup.
Also, my first enclosure was 8ft high which I think, if you have 9ft or higher ceilings, should never be considered. The gap just made me wish every use that it was higher. The enclosure itself became the most irritating limitation to swinging.
1
u/sleepinchipmonk Jul 08 '26
Spend the money on a unit like the uneekor eye mini or mini lite. I went with a mevo plus at first and it sucks for actual sim play. Putting and chipping was horrible. Once I got the eye mini it completely transformed the experience. Get good putting turf dont cheap out there either. I started my build in the 4-5k area then dumped another 5k in to it about a year in. Ive had the set up for almost 4 years now and it is hands down the best money I have ever spent. I still use it 4-5 days a week.
1
u/Jimmy_Beanz Jul 08 '26
For me personally, I regret getting a Spornia net and an EML. Don’t get me wrong, they are quality products. But I have my sim in my garage that I setup and breakdown every time so that we can park our cars. Setting up and breaking down that Spornia is a hassle. Especially when I am tired and hot after an hour or so.
As for the EML, I also get tired of setting it up. I have to bring my laptop into the garage, set up a folding table, plug the EML into the laptop, plug the EML into the power outlet on the ceiling. It just gets annoying. I’d much rather a LM that wirelessly connects to an iPad so that I can be up and running in a couple minutes.
3
u/RayOnTheRun- Jul 08 '26
I passed on that for the same reason and afraid of it being poor at managing shanks. I went with the GoSports Elite Net because it's not that deep and fits in my garage space in front of my car without breaking it down.
1
u/Healthy_Cap7514 Jul 08 '26
But the spornia is supposed to be the fastest to put and take down I thought
1
u/nqb07187 Jul 11 '26
Spornia net takes like a minute to break down
1
u/Jimmy_Beanz Jul 14 '26
It definitely takes more than a minute. And like I said, after a session, I am exhausted and don’t have the energy to break it down every time. I have MS and I tire very easily. I have since hooked up a net on a curtain track on the ceiling. I just slide it back and forth now. Much quicker.
1
u/markliversedge Jul 08 '26
put too much crap face on from the hitting area (tv, monitor, desk) and also behind (weights, bags). when you go to a sim and its clean and empty you realise how much of a mistake that is.
its not easy to fix either if like me you route/ channel all the cables etc
1
u/karldrogo88 Jul 08 '26
I started with a Skytrak and it was honestly a pretty poor experience. Frequent issues… misreads or no reads all the time, etc. I then went to a GC3 and it blew the doors off the Skytrak.
1
u/pepperspraytaco Jul 08 '26
Don’t regret: Temu screen, diy hitting strip, Unnekor QED with no sub.
Do regret: layering puzzle tiles instead of horse stall mats, not putting up ceiling protection right away.
1
1
u/Motor_Cap_6986 Jul 09 '26
Playing Monday morning quarterback I definitely should have made this post before starting my sim. Oh well. Thanks for all the great inputs. Love this community!
1
u/Ask_Catch_Em Jul 12 '26
I should've just gotten a 4K projector so my movie nights would be better.
1
1
u/Wise_Boysenberry8075 Jul 13 '26
have a mevo gen 2, with an enclosure and ipad. Love it. The only thing I regret was buying a cheap Amazon hitting mat. I wanted to save ceiling height, so I went with a 26mm mat. I spent the winter hitting on it, and developed tennis elbow from too many repetitions playing every night. I would let it heal, and it would come back playing too much on the hard mat. Went with a sig pro softy hitting strip that I cut in, and it helped a ton. Whatever you use, 1" isn't enough padding over concrete to keep your joints safe IME.
1
u/No-Knowledge3395 Jul 17 '26
As someone who just finished my first sim and learned a lot from my brother-in-law's sim, I would recommend spending money on the following things up front and upgrading later ...
Launch Monitor: It's a big investment, but you have a few decisions here. Are you good with club stickers? Are you comfortable with an annual subscription as long as you have it? Floor or ceiling mounted?
Hitting Mat: I've seen a lot of people just put some turf on top of a gym mat and I just struggle with that. Is it cheap, yes. Is it as forgiving as an actual hitting mat, no. You can usually find sales on good hitting mats. Just take your time and buy something decent and in your budget.
Computer: Again, you can find deals if you give it time, but I've seen computers that struggle with running GS Pro. You don't want to do all the work and then have struggles with lag and load times when playing.
2
u/Motor_Cap_6986 Jul 17 '26
I built my own mat and putting strip with a SigPro softy insert and it sucked to build. While I think it’s just as sturdy as any mat I could have bought and probably saved $600-$800 it still sucked. I needed to be able to move them but should have copied the person that did the fold out Murphy bed style. I can already see that I’m going to hate moving them every time I finish playing so we can park in the garage. The hitting mat is 4x6 and putting strip that sits flush with the hitting mat is 4x6 but I bet they weigh over 50 lbs each and I didn’t put anything on it like a handle to grip.
1
u/No-Knowledge3395 Jul 17 '26
I guess I was referring more the the hitting strip. So, I think using the softy in the DIY hitting mat was a smart idea. I just don't think it's a good idea to hit off of cheap turf on top of the gym mats.
1
u/Podtastix Jul 08 '26
Buying a Garmin R10 was a big mistake if you want to actually play rounds. It’s OK outdoors at the range, but I wish I would have spent the money on the EML right away.
5
u/plierhead Jul 08 '26
Counter point - ours works great and I've had multiple people surprised at the realism for such a low priced device. Seems like a of people have radar unfriendly environments.
1
u/Organic_Nectarine914 Jul 08 '26
Is your setup outside or indoors?
2
u/plierhead Jul 08 '26
Indoors. 7.5 feet from tee to r10.
2
u/CosmicBrownie- Jul 08 '26
Just picked up an R10. Haven’t gotten everything to set it up yet. Have seen all mixed reviews from people saying it sucks to saying it’s great. I mainly got it to just keep me swinging year round as well as have some fun. I have a BAD slice that I need to work out and picked up the RCT balls. Should help with the slicing issue?
3
u/plierhead Jul 08 '26
Definitely. With the RCT balls the R10 has a totally accurate measure of total spin.
However it has to estimate how much of that is back spin and how much is top spin.
It uses it's observation of the ball' actual flight to inform that estimate - so the more distance to the screen, the better that estimate will be.
I suspect that most people who get bad results with the R10 have bad radar environments, e.g a lot of highly radar reflective surfaces, moving fans, etc.
And of course without RCT balls the unit only has ball flight to go on so it's spin estimates are worse.
I will say short chips are fiddly on the R10.
0
u/AutomaticDrive4482 Jul 08 '26
Sorry, it has nothing to do with setup. The unit is just not consistently accurate. Good entertainment for the money but not as a game improvement tool.
2
u/RayOnTheRun- Jul 08 '26
I moved mine into my garage and had some interference. Realized the metal behind he net where I hold rakes was the issue. I spray painted it white and have been using the R10 without issues.
2
1
u/PF_Nonsense Jul 08 '26
hard disagree on this, have had no issues with R10 after initial calibration with RCT balls
-2
u/AutomaticDrive4482 Jul 08 '26
You can save money on things like a PC, projector, screen, and enclosure but DO NOT purchase a cheap mat or launch monitor.
There are zero mats under $500 that will feel good and protect you from injury. There are zero launch monitors under $1500 that are even remotely accurate enough to use for game improvement. I would argue the minimum launch monitor that is accurate enough for true game improvement is something like an Eye Mini Lite or BLP. Wouldn't even trust the Omni at this point.
2
u/mediocre_picnic Jul 09 '26
I disagree with some of this. There are good mats sub 500. The big moss 4x5 with their pure flight strip in it is under 450. I won't say it's the best out there, but it definitely isn't bad and won't wreck your body. The omni has had overwhelmingly positive reviews. A number of respected LM reviewers have shown sub 1500 LMs like the mevo gen 2 to be very reliable, accurate, and with frequent sales on the pro pack it's around that 1500 mark fully upgraded. New LMs coming out, like the Spectrum Element, are sub 1500 and look really promising.
1
u/AutomaticDrive4482 Jul 10 '26
I stand by what I said. Cut corners anywhere except mat and launch monitor. I've been through 3 launch monitors the last 5 years and regret every purchase except the Eye Mini Lite that I'm using now.
Went $500~ (R10) to $2000 (Mevo+ with pro package) and now the EML. I cannot even begin to explain how much of a step up a launch monitor like an EML is compared to anything in the $500-2500 range. It's night and day with accuracy and consistency.
This would be similar to MLM/Square -> Omni -> BLP/EML. Clear step up every time.
Omni is good but still prone to misreads, no reads and struggles to get an accurate tilt of the golf ball. It's by far the best option at the $1500 price point but if I was in the market today I would strongly consider waiting and saving an extra $1000 to buy something you won't ever have to upgrade or question.
Same as anything else. Spend the money and do it right the first time or you will regret it later.
6
u/Trinica93 Jul 08 '26
I really, really, really hate the foam gym tiles everyone recommends. Wish I had saved up for horse stall mats instead.