For those that are not conversant with the golf tech industry, you may be wondering what is a golf launch monitor and how you can identify the best for your budget and usage intent. In this article, we are going to review and compare the best launch monitor under 500 USD. However, we will also recommend you read our comprehensive review on Best Golf Launch Monitors across all prices and values.
WHAT IS A GOLF LAUNCH MONITOR?
In a simple definition, a golf launch monitor is a device that you set on the side or behind you either at the golf range or in a simulator cave or garage, to give you different information or data about your golf swings, club speed, spin rate and how far you hit the ball. This golf device will give you all sorts of data points that hopefully are going to help you become a better golfer.
A golf launch monitor will do this using either the Doppler radar technology or high-speed cameras technology which can also be called Photometric technology. Although, some launch monitors can adopt both techs to capture and deliver the best accurate golf data for you.
Also, it can be difficult to compare one launch monitor device to another because oftentimes they have wildly different feature sets, some will capture some data like spin rate, missing shots, or ball speed, while some won’t. Some might accurately calculate the simulation statistics, while some might just give roughly estimated information based on their programming.
Important Things To Consider Before You Buy Your Launch Monitor.
A few things you should keep in mind while you’re trying to figure out the best golf launch monitor under 500 for you are listed below but to have a better understanding you may as well read our article on the 13 Comparative features of Garmin R10 and SkyTRAK launch monitors.
1. ACCURACY: It’s important to know how accurate is the launch monitor you want to spend your hard-earned money on, is the accuracy down to the yard or down to half a yard? Inaccurate launch monitors will defeat the purpose of your golf training.
Please note, you don’t need it to be that precisely accurate, it must be very close for it to be effective.
2. PORTABILITY or FLEXIBILITY: Your launch monitor must comply with both portability and flexibility in other for you to enjoy it. How flexible is it? Can it be used at home and also be useful for you on the range? Is it mobile and transportable? and how fast can u set it up?
3. COMPATIBILITY: A good launch monitor must be compatible with other devices like Laptops and Phones so as to give you maximum experience.
4. ENTERTAINMENT: It’s also important for a launch monitor to have means of adding social entertainment to its offering, these will encourage a long time duration of practice without getting tired.
Having considered all these important features of the best launch monitors under 500, we have carefully picked the most accurate and the most effective launch monitors within this price range for your buying pleasure.
Our Recommended Best Launch Monitors Under $500.
- Rapsodo Mobile Golf Launch Monitor,
- FlightScope Mevo Portable Personal Launch Monitor,
- Ernest Sports ES14 Pro Golf Launch Monitor,
- Swing Caddie SC300i PLUS Portable Launch Monitor,
- Swing Caddie SC300 Portable Launch Monitor,
- Garmin Approach G80 Handheld Golf GPS & Launch Monitor,
- Swing Caddie SC200 Plus,
Let’s start with the best budget launch monitor category that can as well be likened to the best cheap launch monitor that is affordable and accurate to a certain level. You may also be interested in one of our review articles on the best golf simulators under $1000.
1. Swing Caddie SC200 Plus – Most Affordable Best Launch Monitor.
When looking for the best budget launch monitor with a price range of $200 – 350 dollars, we strongly recommend Swing Caddie SC 200 plus. This device is actually an older model that doesn’t have a fancy app but if you set it up right behind you, it will definitely give you more value for the money paid for it.
If all you’re trying to do is get pretty good numbers as easily and as quickly as possible, Swing Caddie SC200 plus is one of the best affordable golf launch monitor devices out there.
TEMPO FEATURE
One of the most unique features built into this device is the tempo feature, which will track you as you are swinging the club and it’ll tell you what your Tempo is. So the goal is generally to get to the ratio between your backswing to your downswing. So if you struggle with Tempo and you’ve been looking for a device to help you with that then you may have to give the Swing Caddie SC200 plus a shot.
The device feature is pretty awesome because you can do it at home, you don’t need to be hitting balls. And as far as I know, it’s the only launch monitor that has that built-in.
SWING CADDIE SC200 SET UP
This launch monitor is literally one of the easiest to set up because there’s no app to pair it to.
Set up distance is 6-8feet behind the ball and as you hit the ball it will tell you how far you hit it. And also, there are a couple of built-in games in it, which is also pretty cool.
2. Voice Caddie Golf Swing Caddie SC300 Portable Launch Monitor.
As one of the most iconic launch monitors under $500, Voice Swing Caddie SC300i is an advanced version of the SC200 plus mentioned above. The price range starts from $280 – $350 on Amazon and it always delivers beyond its value. It has an amazing practice mode and tempo swing features like the SC200 but took it to a new level.
Swing Caddie SC300i Set Up
SC300 connects directly to a personal phone or tablet via Bluetooth allowing golfers to track their real-time, integrated data. Voice output of distance and remote control provides the highest levels of user convenience.
3. FlightScope Mevo Portable Personal Launch Monitor.
If you just need to know how far you are hitting your balls, this launch monitor under 500 dollars is the most accurate out there.
Funny enough the Flightscope Mevo won the award for the smallest and most portable launch monitor. This device is so small that it can fit perfectly into your trousers pocket.
This is where I trust the results the most and compare them to my Rangefinder distances on the Range. The Flightscope Mevo has got me the closest on the most consistent basis. The flight scope app also pairs with an Apple Watch and works perfectly well. So one thing you’ll notice is there is no display on the device. So you have to find a place to put your phone to look at it. But if you’re using an Apple Watch, you can literally just look down after you hit it, to see all the statistics that you want to know.
So just like all the other launch monitors under $500, this is a Doppler radar-based device. It measures eight different parameters, including; carry distance, Ball Speed, Vertical Launch, Smash Factor, Apex Height, Flight Time, spin rate, and Club head speed. If you’re really going for quality of information rather than quantity of information and features the Flightscope Mevo is a good idea.
4. Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor
If you’re looking for the best launch monitor under $500 that has the most feature and bulky launch monitor, then I would go with Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor.
This monitor has a good application with a good enough user experience that you will definitely enjoy playing the game at home. There are a ton of features packed into this app, specifically lateral data. Not every launch monitor under 500 bucks will tell you if you’re slicing it or hooking it, but this Rapsodo MLM does.
Rapsodo MLM Unique Features
One of the most inspiring features of this launch monitor is the ball tracking function; when you’re on the range, you can see an overview of where all your shots fall in the range, not just the distance and not just how far they’re going, but you can see it pinpointed all around the range.
This is the least expensive device that I would actually recommend that provides this kind of amazing feature. Also notes, that Rapsodo MLM design is very unique when compared with its contemporaries in the same price range.
Another cool thing about it is that you can use your phone’s camera and it will record a bunch of your shots, but because the phone has to sit in here, you can’t really adjust where you put the camera.
Rapsodo MLM SET UP
If you want to set up this device all you have to do is put it behind you and then you put your phone in there and your phone will serve as the display. So you can look back and you can see exactly how far your shots are. You can customize the data that it gives you. And generally, it works pretty well.
OUR EXPERT VERDICT
One thing we, unfortunately, found with this device is that we haven’t found it to be as accurate as some of the other launch monitors, but It tends to work really well although it’s usually missed a few shots for me. And I don’t always completely trust the data that’s coming from it.
5. Garmin Approach G80 – GPS & Launch Monitor Integrated
The best budget launch monitor for most people is going to be the GARMIN Approach G8. This palm-held device is awesome. It’s a little bit more expensive than the other that we reviewed earlier in this article but it does pretty much everything.
This device can be used as a simulator. In fact, it comes with a license to E6, which means you can use the E6 simulator software on your phone, or your iPad and legit just play a full round of golf.
One of the cool things about this device also includes band and dunes in that, so you can play in January in your garage and Kansas or wherever you live.
You play a full round of golf abandoned Wins and that’s pretty cool. One thing about this is, it has a ton of different metrics that provides, including a bunch that is only usually available on much more expensive launch monitors. The caveat to that is that most of them are algorithm based. So I think this only measures like five or six things directly and then from there uses its algorithm to make its best guess on things like, you know, lie angle and spin rate and things like that, that may be an issue for the scratch golfer. That’s really looking for accuracy, but my experience is if you’re literally just Trying to set something up and start hitting balls as quickly as possible.
FINAL VERDICT ON BEST LAUNCH MONITOR UNDER 500
Our final verdict as regards the best affordable launch monitor under 500 is we highly recommend all of the devices listed above. However, it depends on what your needs are. What are you looking for in your desired launch monitor, be it accuracy, budget, and fun simulator, depending on what you want and what combination of those things you want?
Hopefully one of those is the right fit for you.
Kindly drop a comment below to share your experience with the launch monitor you once used that was below $500.