Garmin Approach R50. All-in-one optical LM @ $5K.

[CPT_LHR_ATL]

It's not small. Might tick a lot of boxes for someone who just has a mat and a net at home?

 

 

https://www.playbetter.com/products/garmin-approach-r50-golf-launch-monitor-simulator

 

Edited November 12, 2024 by CPT_LHR_ATL

[ConstantineJr79]

I take this over anything in the $5k range. No need for a gaming CPU. Only $99 a year for 43k plus courses on an improved Home Tee Hero and club data. Customizable data tiles. Indoor and outdoor use. On screen display. No need to be connected to internet to play courses or practice. Only drawback is no mirror imaging and you need to be connected via HDMI to a projector or a TV which really blows my mind that they couldn't offer that. 

[this_is_golf]

I like it. Does it provide club data or just ball data?

[RCGA]

I don't see the point of the 10" screen. It's too small to actually play sim golf off of, and makes the unit too large to be mobile (plus it's 9lbs!). I guess maybe you could take this to your local muni range to play sim golf outdoors, but that'll only appeal to a very very small market. I mean, come on, $5k to play sim golf off a 10" floor level screen using range balls? 

 

An Eye Mini with a gaming PC is still cheaper, and the gaming PC would stomp all over the Garmin in terms of performance. 

[CPT_LHR_ATL]

I would think the screen is primarily for data display? Almost anyone using this for sim golf in a fixed setup is just going to run an HDMI cable to an external monitor.  

[Velcade]

28 minutes ago, this_is_golf said:

I like it. Does it provide club data or just ball data?

 

I kind of appreciate you didn't even bother to look at the link provided. 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2024 by Velcade

[RCGA]

12 minutes ago, Velcade said:

 

I kind of appreciate you didn't even bother to look at the link provided. 

 

 

 

 

After 30 minutes of squinting down looking at the club data, you're going to say to hell with it and hook up a monitor/TV/projector. At which point you could have just bought an EML for $2,100.  

[ConstantineJr79]

59 minutes ago, RCGA said:

I don't see the point of the 10" screen. It's too small to actually play sim golf off of, and makes the unit too large to be mobile (plus it's 9lbs!). I guess maybe you could take this to your local muni range to play sim golf outdoors, but that'll only appeal to a very very small market. I mean, come on, $5k to play sim golf off a 10" floor level screen using range balls? 

 

An Eye Mini with a gaming PC is still cheaper, and the gaming PC would stomp all over the Garmin in terms of performance. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, RCGA said:

 

After 30 minutes of squinting down looking at the club data, you're going to say to hell with it and hook up a monitor/TV/projector. At which point you could have just bought an EML for $2,100.  

 

EML has to have a constant power source and a gaming PC. I don't think the value is in the screen of the R50. The value is in not having to buy a gaming computer for $1500 plus, having ball and club data, and a very reasonable $99 yearly fee for an updated, albeit not as graphic, 43k courses with Home Tee Hero. I do think $3999 would have been the right price for this if they wanted to sway more people. I am more than content with my $650 Square Launch Monitor. 

Edited November 12, 2024 by ConstantineJr79

[RCGA]

5 minutes ago, ConstantineJr79 said:

 

 

 

EML has to have a constant power source and a gaming PC. I don't think the value is in the screen of the R50. The value is in not having to buy a gaming computer for $1500 plus, having ball and club data, and a very reasonable $99 yearly fee for an updated, albeit not as graphic, 43k courses with Home Tee Hero. I do think $3999 would have been the right price for this if they wanted to sway more people. 

 

You allocated the space in your home for a golf sim and went through the buying process of a screen, mat, projector, etc. But somehow you draw the line at requiring a pc with a mid-range graphics card?  

[ConstantineJr79]

12 minutes ago, RCGA said:

 

You allocated the space in your home for a golf sim and went through the buying process of a screen, mat, projector, etc. But somehow you draw the line at requiring a pc with a mid-range graphics card?  

That’s not what I’m saying. I’m not trying to argue and say this is better than other setups or options. I have a build that suits me for $1100 all in. Square golf launch monitor with no subscription that gives me ball annd club data, a go golf sports net, and a mat. I’m sure others wouldn’t want this setup and would prefer something different. 
 

What I’m saying is some people may just want an all in one shot instead of messing with a separate computer and software build. I think there’s a market for this but I also think they missed the boat by about $1k in their pricing. I’m just making a case that this could work for some and if it were me and I had the desire to spend $5k on just a unit/software and taking into account ongoing subscription costs I’d prob go this route for the simplicity. I’m already subscribed to the $99 yearly Garmin community with my S62 watch so the subscription is already being paid. 

Edited November 12, 2024 by ConstantineJr79

[FenderSpots]

It is pretty much everything I could possibly want in an LM. It is a bit on the big side, but still! 

[Streuner]

A complete New product, I will continue to follow the first real world impressions and experiences. I will definetely not be the first user. 

[JTwee]

Definitely see how this will help the overall LM market. However, still requiring a PC for GSPro and other 3rd party connectors defeats the purpose of the screen for me. I'd prefer to see a cheaper screenless/ lower spec'd option available in the future.

[brent]

I'd be very interested in how accurate this thing is outside.  

[yinzerniner]

As others have stated the screen will definitely be nice and the interface/ux looks quite slick/intuitive/well designed. Not needing a separate PC is a great selling point, and I can totally see it being a kind of trojan horse to get new customers to purchase more into the whole Garmin ecosystem

 

Advanced club and ball data is a bit lacking (no actual club lie, ball strike/impact location, etc) however the shot camera should alleviate some of that missing data. Wonder if they're still working out the kinks on how to gather that information and package/sell it, maybe as a full training/fitting/pro add on on top of the home tee hero. With the amount of cameras and the fact that you can connect anything via HDMI and USB-C it should be ready for a full indoor training/fitting setup which would include swing camera syncing especially since that functionality is already there (albeit pretty rough quality) in the R10.

 

Overall a welcome shot across the bow of the established players, especially if you compare it to a GC Quad which charges almost as much for the club data alone ($4k) vs the whole R50 ($5k)

Edited November 12, 2024 by yinzerniner
it DOES have side spin, my bad

[tocino]

3 hours ago, ConstantineJr79 said:

 

 

 

EML has to have a constant power source and a gaming PC. I don't think the value is in the screen of the R50. The value is in not having to buy a gaming computer for $1500 plus, having ball and club data, and a very reasonable $99 yearly fee for an updated, albeit not as graphic, 43k courses with Home Tee Hero. I do think $3999 would have been the right price for this if they wanted to sway more people. I am more than content with my $650 Square Launch Monitor. 

It's definitely interesting and I'd love to try it out but I agree about the cost could be a $1000 less, especially if you're still including an annual subscription fee. A setup like this would probably work for someone who can't have a permanent hitting area and don't want the extra step of connecting a PC/Laptop, too

[txbadger]

very nice package imo.... but club stickers needed so meh.   

[GolfingIcon]

Many of you are missing some keep points trying to compare this to the Eye Mini Lite or anything like that.  Forget the on unit display and All n 1 capabilities.  It shows all club data and has cameras.  There is no other device at this price point that I am aware of anywhere close to this price point.  So, just as a launch monitor it is a great deal.  I was in the market for the Protee VX but will likely get this unit instead as it saves me nearly $1500. 

[kilword]

 

[vanderputts]

Ordered one for my garage golf sim build. I was stuck in the "I don't really want to pay $10k for the Uneekor Eye XO2 but want something better than the Bushnell with less subscription costs" area.

 

This was a welcome surprise as I was deciding between this and the Uneekor Eye Mini Lite.

 

Happy to be the guinea pig

 

1. I'm already in the Garmin ecosystem. G Watch and I use my R10 pretty regularly at the range
2. All the right data points I was looking for plus the impact camera
3. Home Tee has all of my local PNW courses that aren’t available on GS Pro yet - this is actually a big deal to me. I want to play all of my regular courses and most are not on GS Pro.
4. For the 4K, it can be used with GS Pro and I already have a Gaming PC ready to go
5. Price point is right to me - I look at it as a discounted GC3 with 2024 features
6. Low subscription fees compared to pretty much everything else
7. Portable though we'll see how much I use it that way
8. Easy, quick setup. If I just want to get some quick swings in no need to fire up the PC. Just turn it on and go.
9. The GC3 was released 3 years ago. This might have better optics and should see a few SW upgrades that might even bring more/better data
10. Quick games for the kids in Awesome Golf

 

Friends have:

• GC3 & Quad
• Uneekor Eye XO
• Uneekor QED
• Rapsodo MLM2PRo

 

Will provide a "I actually paid for this" write up and comparison once I get it setup.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2024 by vanderputts

[kiwihacker]

4 hours ago, vanderputts said:

Ordered one for my garage golf sim build. I was stuck in the "I don't really want to pay $10k for the Uneekor Eye XO2 but want something better than the Bushnell with less subscription costs" area.

 

This was a welcome surprise as I was deciding between this and the Uneekor Eye Mini Lite.

 

Happy to be the guinea pig

 

1. I'm already in the Garmin ecosystem. G Watch and I use my R10 pretty regularly at the range
2. All the right data points I was looking for plus the impact camera
3. Home Tee has all of my local PNW courses that aren’t available on GS Pro yet - this is actually a big deal to me. I want to play all of my regular courses and most are not on GS Pro.
4. For the 4K, it can be used with GS Pro and I already have a Gaming PC ready to go
5. Price point is right to me - I look at it as a discounted GC3 with 2024 features
6. Low subscription fees compared to pretty much everything else
7. Portable though we'll see how much I use it that way
8. Easy, quick setup. If I just want to get some quick swings in no need to fire up the PC. Just turn it on and go.
9. The GC3 was released 3 years ago. This might have better optics and should see a few SW upgrades that might even bring more/better data
10. Quick games for the kids in Awesome Golf

 

Friends have:

• GC3 & Quad
• Uneekor Eye XO
• Uneekor QED
• Rapsodo MLM2PRo

 

Will provide a "I actually paid for this" write up and comparison once I get it setup.

 

 

Congratulations, enjoy. Will look forward to your write up. 

[Golfcrzy]

Following VERY closely. 

[GloriousGlory]

I think the R50 makes a lot of sense for people who are looking to get into the simulator space but don't want to deal with all the hassle of setting up a computer or having any extra hardware to connect to.  It does everything by itself if you're content with using their proprietary software.

 

That being said, if you want to use it for any third party simulator software, you would certainly still need a PC to connect to.  Data needs to be tested as well, but I'm sure they're within acceptable margins of anything foresight or uneekor offers.  I trust that Garmin has gone through rigorous testing.

Edited November 13, 2024 by GloriousGlory

[vanderputts]

I happened to be shopping for a great LM for my build - I feel kind of lucky this was launched when it did.

 

Coming from a tech background, I think what might be missing for some people is that this does have some level of onboard computing ability. To what degree I'm not sure and the information about connecting this to 3P software i.e. E6/GS PRO is lacking as its only been released today.

 

The benefit of this is it might actually be some what faster to calibrate shots accurately WITH the PC. The graphics/memory/compute requirements for running these 3P applications and all of the course data is pretty substantial. As an example, for 4K the current specs for GS Pro require a Nvidia 4060 or better, which is no slouch, and 32GB of DDR5 with the latest Intel 5/7/9 series equivalent or better - thats a pretty high bar just for rendering.

 

For anyone wondering why this cannot run those 3P applications exclusively, the graphics card I just mentioned is $1000 alone before everything else, would take up a huge amount of space, wouldn't look good on a 10" screen alone, wouldn't last long on battery at all, and is purely mated to only Intel or AMD boards - which are another $300 before we add in storage ($100+), memory ($100+), etc.

 

What they've accomplished here is actually pretty incredible if you look at its capabilities. Its likely this entire system is made up of off the shelf parts but only to Garmin standards and does not share many common components with the full Golf Sim rigs we're accustomed to.

 

The fact that this can run as a complete standalone, albeit without the highest end graphics, for 43k courses through Home Tee that already has all of data on is pretty incredible.

 

Here in Seattle, the top courses I play most are only available on one 3P software( E6 or GS Pro) and its very inconsistent. Some of might surprise you in that you would have to choose which software you want based on what courses you play including some former PGA Championship/LPGA (Sahalee), newly built (Alderra), US Open (Chambers Bay), or just incredible tracks (Gold Mountain, Gamble Sands, Home Course, etc.)

 

If they've been able to offset some of the graphic/processing stress for each shot and have a reasonable amount of high communication to the PC - this could actually be setting a high bar for speed and accuracy for LMs.  

 

We'll see - I'll test both with & without PC scenarios once I've got it set up as soon as it arrives.

Edited November 13, 2024 by vanderputts

[Streuner]

I like the possibility to split screen into the data fields on the device and the simulation to the projector or TV. This makes the indoor training more enjoyable. Only for this opportunity you would need a high end gaming PC for any other device in addition, so more cables, more devices that need energy and more things involved that can be demaged or can have Software issues or …… 

with the R50 it is the device and a projector or TV, thats all. 
 

my mevo plus is connected to a iPad Pro and this was the cheapest of all solutions. If I add pro Package and impact location I am very close to 4.999

Edited November 13, 2024 by Streuner

[MattC555]

The ease of installation might get me to finally bite the bullet on a LM.  Quickly turning the unit on and a tv to play or practice seems very enticing. 

[5underdouble]

15 hours ago, vanderputts said:

Ordered one for my garage golf sim build. I was stuck in the "I don't really want to pay $10k for the Uneekor Eye XO2 but want something better than the Bushnell with less subscription costs" area.

 

This was a welcome surprise as I was deciding between this and the Uneekor Eye Mini Lite.

 

Happy to be the guinea pig

 

1. I'm already in the Garmin ecosystem. G Watch and I use my R10 pretty regularly at the range
2. All the right data points I was looking for plus the impact camera
3. Home Tee has all of my local PNW courses that aren’t available on GS Pro yet - this is actually a big deal to me. I want to play all of my regular courses and most are not on GS Pro.
4. For the 4K, it can be used with GS Pro and I already have a Gaming PC ready to go
5. Price point is right to me - I look at it as a discounted GC3 with 2024 features
6. Low subscription fees compared to pretty much everything else
7. Portable though we'll see how much I use it that way
8. Easy, quick setup. If I just want to get some quick swings in no need to fire up the PC. Just turn it on and go.
9. The GC3 was released 3 years ago. This might have better optics and should see a few SW upgrades that might even bring more/better data
10. Quick games for the kids in Awesome Golf

 

Friends have:

• GC3 & Quad
• Uneekor Eye XO
• Uneekor QED
• Rapsodo MLM2PRo

 

Will provide a "I actually paid for this" write up and comparison once I get it setup.

 

 

Looking forward to hearing your feedback. I saw this pop up the other day and thought it would be perfect for my setup; net and mat in my garage but no screen or computer. 

[vanderputts]

R50 is on the way...

 

Edited November 14, 2024 by vanderputts

[swoosh21]

You might want to scratch out that order number

[j0nesy]

....

Edited November 14, 2024 by j0nesy
Cannot find the delete button