Launch monitors: what they measure vs. what they calculate

Compare launch monitors side by side

Pick two or three launch monitors. Each column shows a launch monitor indoors with regular balls, using the club stickers or markers its maker calls for. Measured means the radar or cameras read the number directly; calculated means the software works it out from those readings.

	Garmin R10Blue Tees RainmakerBushnell Launch ProBushnell Launch Pro IndoorFlightScope MevoFlightScope Mevo Gen 2FlightScope Mevo+FlightScope X3CForesight FalconForesight GC3Foresight GC3SForesight GCQuadForesight QuadMAXFull Swing KITGarmin G82Garmin R10Garmin R50GolfBuddy Shot MateGolfIn IDRA IIGolfJoy GDS ProGolfJoy Rigel 2GolfJoy Rigel 3GolfJoy Rigel 3 ProGolfJoy Spica 3Izzo Launch MasterIzzo Launch Master LiteIzzo Launch Master ProIzzo Launch MateIzzo Launch Mate MiniIzzo Launch Mate TourNVISAGE N1NVISAGE NEO-EPRGR HS-130AProTee VXRapsodo MLMRapsodo MLM2PROShot Scope LM1SkyTrakSkyTrak ST MAXSkyTrak+Square Golf Home EditionSquare Golf OmniStack RadarTrackman 4Trackman iOTruGolf APOGEETruGolf LaunchBoxUneekor Eye MiniUneekor Eye Mini CoreUneekor Eye Mini LiteUneekor Eye XOUneekor Eye XO2Uneekor Eye XRVoice Caddie SC200 PlusVoice Caddie SC300iVoice Caddie SC4Voice Caddie SC4 Pro	Rapsodo MLM2PROBlue Tees RainmakerBushnell Launch ProBushnell Launch Pro IndoorFlightScope MevoFlightScope Mevo Gen 2FlightScope Mevo+FlightScope X3CForesight FalconForesight GC3Foresight GC3SForesight GCQuadForesight QuadMAXFull Swing KITGarmin G82Garmin R10Garmin R50GolfBuddy Shot MateGolfIn IDRA IIGolfJoy GDS ProGolfJoy Rigel 2GolfJoy Rigel 3GolfJoy Rigel 3 ProGolfJoy Spica 3Izzo Launch MasterIzzo Launch Master LiteIzzo Launch Master ProIzzo Launch MateIzzo Launch Mate MiniIzzo Launch Mate TourNVISAGE N1NVISAGE NEO-EPRGR HS-130AProTee VXRapsodo MLMRapsodo MLM2PROShot Scope LM1SkyTrakSkyTrak ST MAXSkyTrak+Square Golf Home EditionSquare Golf OmniStack RadarTrackman 4Trackman iOTruGolf APOGEETruGolf LaunchBoxUneekor Eye MiniUneekor Eye Mini CoreUneekor Eye Mini LiteUneekor Eye XOUneekor Eye XO2Uneekor Eye XRVoice Caddie SC200 PlusVoice Caddie SC300iVoice Caddie SC4Voice Caddie SC4 Pro
Ball data
Ball speed	●Measured	●Measured
Launch angle	●Measured	●Measured
Launch direction	●Measured	●Measured
Spin rate	◐Calculated	×Not supported
Spin axis	◐Calculated	×Not supported
Carry distance	◐Calculated	◐Calculated
Total distance	◐Calculated	◐Calculated
Peak height	◐Calculated	◐Calculated
Descent angle	×Not supported	◐Calculated
Club data
Club speed	●Measured	●Measured
Smash factor	●Measured	●Measured
Attack angle	?Unconfirmed	●Measuredneeds a Premium membership
Club path	●Measured	●Measuredneeds a Premium membership
Face angle	◐Calculated	×Not supported
Face to path	◐Calculated	×Not supported
Dynamic loft	×Not supported	×Not supported
Impact location	×Not supported	×Not supported

• ●Measured
• ◐Calculated
• !Needs ball stickers or special balls for accurate spinNeeds stickers
• ?Unconfirmed
• ×Not supported
• ●Measuredneeds a paid tier

Compared in

• Garmin R10 vs Rapsodo MLM2PRO
• Garmin R10 vs Rapsodo MLM2PRO vs Square Golf

Garmin R10

With Titleist RCT balls, which carry a mark the radar reads, and at least 8 feet between the ball and the net, the R10 measures spin rate.

Rapsodo MLM2PRO

The MLM2PRO measures spin rate and spin axis only with RPT balls, which carry a printed pattern the MLM2PRO's cameras read, and a Premium membership.

What each ball and club metric means

How do launch monitors measure and calculate ball and club data?

Camera units photograph the ball and club in a small zone around impact. Radar units use Doppler radar, which reads speed from the change in frequency of a signal bounced off the ball or club. A radar follows the ball farther than a camera, but indoors only until the ball hits the net, which the radar makers here place 6.5 to 14 feet in front of the ball. The launch monitor's software simulates the rest of the shot from what the sensors captured.

A radar unit, or a camera unit that also uses radar such as the Rapsodo MLM2PRO, sits behind the ball and needs 6.5 to 14 feet of ball flight before the net, and a camera-only unit sits beside the ball or above it. Our comparison of radar vs camera launch monitors gives the room each needs and which units use each.

Indoors, carry, total distance, peak height and descent angle come from a simulated flight

The software takes the ball's launch conditions, meaning its speed, launch angle, launch direction, spin rate and spin axis as it leaves the club, and works out its path through the air step by step. Each launch condition shapes the flight in its own way:

• Ball speed: does most to decide how far the ball carries. A faster ball flies farther.
• Launch angle: decides how steeply the ball climbs. A launch that is too low brings the ball down early, and a launch that is too high sends the ball more up than forward, so the ball lands short.
• Spin rate: together with ball speed, sets how much lift the ball gets. More backspin raises the peak height and adds carry, until too much makes the ball climb steeply and land short.
• Launch direction and spin axis: decide where the ball starts and how far it curves left or right.

Besides gravity, two forces act on the ball in the air. Drag, the air resisting the ball, slows the ball down. Lift, created by backspin, pushes the ball upward. The amount of each depends on the ball's speed and spin, on how dense the air is, and on the ball's size and dimple pattern. Thinner air, at altitude or on a hot day, gives less of both, and the ball carries farther. The software uses standard air conditions and a standard golf ball, unless the app lets you set the altitude and temperature.

The software reports where the simulated ball lands as carry distance, its highest point as peak height and the angle it lands at as descent angle. The software then adds an estimated roll to give total distance.

Indoors, every launch monitor here calculates carry: a camera unit sees the ball only in a zone around impact, and a radar unit loses the ball at the net. FlightScope lists carry as measured on the Mevo Gen 2, Mevo+ and X3C even indoors, but FlightScope's own indoor setups give the ball only 8 to 13 feet of flight before the net, so the radar never sees the ball land, and this page marks carry on all three as calculated. Bushnell, Foresight, GolfBuddy, GolfJoy, Izzo, Shot Scope, Trackman and Voice Caddie also list carry as measured on some of their pages.

What happens when spin is calculated instead of measured

Because spin rate helps set the ball's lift, a calculated spin rate that is off gives the simulated ball the wrong amount of lift. Carry, peak height and descent angle then come out wrong, even when ball speed and launch angle were measured exactly.

On the Garmin R10, for example, spin is calculated indoors with regular balls, using a machine-learned model: software that has learned how spin relates to the numbers the R10's radar measures. The model gives the spin that a typical shot with those numbers would have. A shot struck differently from a typical one, for example low on the club face, can spin more or less than that, and with a regular ball the R10 has no spin reading to correct the estimate. With Titleist RCT balls and at least 8 feet to the net, the R10 measures spin.

Spin axis, which curves the ball, comes mostly from face to path: the difference between where the club face points and the direction the club travels. Indoors, the R10 works out spin axis from launch direction, which mostly follows the club face, and club path.

Smash factor and face to path are measured only when both of their inputs are

Smash factor is ball speed divided by club speed, and face to path is face angle minus club path. The table marks each one measured when both numbers it comes from are measured, and calculated when either is calculated. On the Garmin R10, the Square Golf Home Edition and the Square Golf Omni, face angle is calculated, so face to path is calculated too.

For the launch monitors we recommend, with how each one reads spin, see our best golf launch monitors. The default comparison on this page, the Garmin R10 and the Rapsodo MLM2PRO, has its own page: Garmin R10 vs Rapsodo MLM2PRO.

Measured and calculated data for all 56 launch monitors

Select a launch monitor's name, or the small number in a cell, to read that launch monitor's conditions and exceptions.

Conditions and exceptions for each launch monitor