If you have been following our blogs for a while, you will know that we are huge fans of the original PRGR pocket golf launch monitor. We felt that the product really resonated with our own ethos which is to deliver a great quality product for the everyday golfer at an affordable price point. If you haven't read our long term review of the original unit, you can find it here.
Riding the wave of success from the original unit, PRGR brought out a new and improved unit for 2021 which offered a number of improvements.
So can they make an already fantastic little unit even better? We recently got our hands on a 2021 model and have put it through its paces - read on to see our thoughts.
New Features & Improvements
On paper, the updated PRGR Golf Launch Monitor offers a number of improvements which would definitely take it to the next level and make it easier to use, some of the highlights include:
- Improved radar - whilst the doppler radar in the original unit was really good and offered good tolerance in terms of space/distance requirements, it did suffer from the occasional no-read when it came to higher lofted wedges. This is a common limitation with small radar based launch monitors given the size and capacity of the radar. PRGR has claimed that the radar unit has been significantly improved in the 2021 version which would improve the product's ability to pick up wedge shots. If these claims were true, then it would definitely represent a big step forward.
- Metric readings - one of the inconveniences of the original unit was the fact that the distance readings only came in yards. Given we play golf here in Australia in metres, I've had to stick a 'yards to metres' conversion chart on the wall when using the launch monitor. This is no longer an issue in the 2021 version where you've now got the option of toggling between yards and metres (nice!). One thing to note though, once you change to metres, all speed readings will also be changed to 'km/h' from 'mph'. Mph is still more common when it comes to club head and ball speed.
- Bigger and better screen & less buttons - the new unit now has a bigger screen which allows it to display 4 metrics instead of 3 - so now you get smash factor upfront without the need to press a button. So with that, the PRGR was able to also take away another button, so the unit now has only 4 physical buttons instead of 5 on the original. Like it.
No new measurements are included in the new unit - so it essentially still only measures club head speed and ball speed and will provide an estimated carry/total distance based on the club selected. But we actually really like the 'no frills' nature of it. Oh and we are very glad that it's kept its party trick - the ability to measure clubhead speed without the need to hit a golf ball.
In terms of price, the new unit retails at around $330 which is just slightly higher than the original unit, but still very affordable.
Putting It To The Test
So everything looks pretty good on paper, but we needed to get hitting balls to find out if PRGR has actually produced a better product. So we hit some 50m wedge shots, some mid irons and finished off with the driver. We can honestly say that we were very pleased with the results.
The Test Set Up
Before going through the results, let's quickly cover the set up.
- Setting - indoor set up hitting into our archery baffle impact screen. I chose to test in an indoor setting as it is typically where radar based launch monitors struggle due to the limited ball flight.
- Distance from unit to ball - 4 feet. I had the unit propped up on a tripod as I tend to get better results this way with the old unit.
- Distance ball to screen - 9 feet
- Accuracy Benchmarking - shots were also measured in parallel with the Skytrak launch monitor as a benchmark for accuracy
Wedge Shots
For 50m wedge shots, I wanted to test 2 things - the level of mis-reads/no-reads as well as accuracy.
Firstly, to test out how well the 2021 version picks up wedge shots, I hit 20 sand wedge shots with the the old unit and then hit another 20s with the new unit. I also measured the shots with my Skytrak launch monitor to find out how it stacked up against the much more expensive launch monitor.
So in terms of the new unit's ability to pick up wedge shots - whilst the original unit picked up 15 out of 20 shots with the sand wedge, the new unit achieved a very impressive 20/20 reads! This is very impressive for a product in this price point, especially given it's size.
In terms of accuracy, again the PRGR produced essentially the same readings as the Skytrak across ball speed and carry distance. There was a discrepancy in the club head speed figures but I would say that the PRGR unit is more accurate with clubhead speed as it's actually measured whereas the metric is estimated by the Skytrak.
Iron Shots
In terms of the 7iron, again the PRGR and Skytrak units effectively produced the same readings as far as ball speed was concerned. Even clubhead speeds were pretty close for the 7 iron.
There PRGR did seem to produce slightly lower carry distance estimates but we are talking about a margin of error of less than 5%.
The Driver
Once again solid performance from the PRGR in terms of the driver where the results closely matched with those produced by the Skytrak across clubhead speed, ball speed as well as estimated carry distance.
Final Thoughts
So after putting the 2021 PRGR Golf Launch Monitor through its paces, here are my final thoughts on this product. Note that we do not sell this product so we are trying to be as objective as possible.
- The unit is more user friendly - having the bigger screen, less buttons as well as being able to have carry distances in metres are all thoughtful additions.
- Better radar - wow, this was the most impressive part, we were very pleasantly surprised by how well the new unit picked up those 50m sand wedge shots.
- Great accuracy - the 2021 unit is still very accurate.
- And of course, you can still measure swing speed without actually hitting a ball!
- So if you are working on getting a bit longer off the tee, or want to know your carry distances throughout the bag, or want to improve on your distance control with your wedges, at a cost of $330, the new unit still represents exceptional value and should definitely be considered.
- Should you upgrade from the original unit? Unless you are really bothered about the occasional no read from your wedges, I personally do not think that here's an need to get the 2021 version as the original unit is still more than capable.
Hope you have found this article informative, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, we would love to to hear from you!