Posted May 21
On 5/1/2023 at 8:32 PM, Fongle said:
Voice Caddie SC300i Launch Monitor – MGS Forum Member Review by Fongle
Intro
G’day all!
After making a snap decision 6 months ago to purchase a launch monitor, I figured I might offer some insights, and thoughts about the model I picked up, the Voice Caddie SC300i.
I’m a single handicap player, from South East QLD, Australia, trying to ease back into the game after a near decade break due to a severe knee issue. Finally had surgery and got it sorted, and I’ve been playing again for the last 17 months or so now, and WOW, there is a lot of new golf tech out there. Rangefinders, shot sensors, GPS watches, and launch monitors are everywhere now, and honestly, I think they’re brilliant. Long gone are the days of looking for a fairway marker and trying to figure out if it means 100 or 150 left in, or looking at the map on the hole sign and trying to guess what distance the hazards are at.
I’d decided my swing was getting consistent enough to try dialling my numbers in, and was tossing up getting a membership at a local Toptracer range, and then I saw a clearance deal on the Voice Caddie SC300i and from the limited information I could see about it online, it looked like a great option.
It promised to use “High Performance Doppler Radar Technology” to be able to give all the stats I was looking for, total and carry distance, swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, apex, smash factor, as well as giving spin numbers through the connected app, and would allow me to record matching swing videos with the swing numbers linked to them.
I’ve used it pretty steadily over the last 6 months, and while it has been good, it’s also been needlessly frustrating when it doesn’t need to be.
First Impressions (3 out of 5)
The first thing that jumped out at me when I’d ordered the SC300i was that it didn’t come with a case included, and the official case sold as an optional extra was obscenely overpriced for what it is ($89 AUD). Thankfully it fits fine into an AmazonBasics case, but it definitely started me off on the wrong foot with that.The actual unit came with almost nothing, just the remote, basic instructions, and a too-small-to-be-useful USB charging cable. The instructions were pretty easy to follow, and it included a QR code to easily scan and find the connected app, and setting that up and linking it were thankfully very easy to do.
The screen is very easy to read at a glance, and the units of measurement for distance, speed and height can be changed between yards/metres, mph/metres/s, and feet/metres respectively. Finding the data per club in the app is easy enough, but not being able to make the swing data full page, or switch it to landscape mode is frustrating, with it being stuck in a small table you need to swipe through to see all the information.
When entering my club data into the app, which then loads onto the unit when connected, I started running into some strange issues. I wasn’t able to enter a 2 iron as an option (it’s currently under Utility 3), and not being able to set the proper lie angle of some clubs, with loft being able to be entered by 0.5° increments, and lie angle locked to whole numbers only. Certainly not massive issues, but bizarre nonetheless.
Aesthetics (3 out of 5)
The SC300i is a very compact little unit, about 6.5”x4.7”x1.1” and weighing just 15.4oz, with a very orange screen, and good contrast which helps in reading the swing numbers. I just don’t like orange that much. Sue me, I’m not Rickie Fowler.
The Numbers (3 out of 5 points)
As mentioned previously, the SC300i captures data for total and carry distance, swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, apex, smash factor, and spin data separately through the app.
When it captures strikes, the actual data provided seems to be quite accurate, with distance, ball speed and spin numbers being extremely similar to higher end launch monitors. I had an opportunity to set the unit up behind me while hitting with a GCQuad a few months ago, and for the most part the data was within about a +/- 2% margin, and the spin data within a couple hundred RPM.
The issue is when it either randomly just doesn’t pick up strikes at all, which can sometimes mean some adjusting to make sure it’s on level with a tall tee peg coming through a range mat, and more frustratingly, when it just won’t register high spin numbers at all. Before I bought the unit I didn’t see any mention of this at all, but it seems for me the SC300i just won’t reliably register spin numbers on anything from my 9i up, with the highest recorded RPM it’s recorded being 8670.
Actually reviewing the data has recently become harder too. Previously, within a set of data, which could be sorted by a date range, year, or total, there was options to view all clubs at a time with multiple options to get details at a glance, like average carry, average total, highest carry, average spin etc, but as of the most recent app update when viewing all clubs together it just shows average carry, and you now need to click into each clubs data to see the rest of the data.
On The Course (4 out of 5 points)
Setting up and using the unit is very straightforward, and thankfully pretty simple. I typically just take the unit out, set it up on top of the case about 5 feet away, and open and connect the app, which takes roughly 10 seconds.
Using the video recording function is also pretty easy to do, I use a small basic tripod, and I just sit this behind the unit with it lined up to capture all of me in the frame. The only issue I have here is that when I’m hitting through balls pretty fast, it will sometimes capture the swing data, but won’t capture the accompanying video.
Switching between different clubs is super easy as well, with the included remote able to do this virtually instantly.
The Good, the bad, the inbetween (2 out of 5 points)
Getting instant feedback on trying something new with a swing, or even just seeing big club or ball speeds when going hell for leather on a speed training session is fantastic, and the positive reinforcement of seeing actual tangible evidence cannot be understated.
My single biggest issue is actually accessing the numbers from the app. A big selling factor for me was the ability to export swing data as a CSV, which I could then plug into a custom spreadsheet and see my data and review different swing changes and trends in my swing, but actually doing this is a nightmare in poor design. Instead of being able to highlight all the data to export, you need to do this one at a time for Every. Single. Club. Oh, and it doesn’t like being exported directly to Google Drive or Sheets, as that can corrupt the data, you need to export to email, and then download the attachments one at a time. I have contacted Voice Caddie about this, and they’ve said they’ll pass the suggestion for a bulk export along, but as of the last update nothing has changed.
The video recording function is also good, but not great. It captures video in 30fps 720p, and there’s zero options for changing frame rate or resolution, which is a huge disappointment. Seeing a good swing in slow motion is nice, but watching it in 30fps HD video when my Note 20 can manage UHD 60fps is incredibly frustrating.
Play it or Trade it? (2 out of 5 points)
I do use the SC300i regularly, but less than I originally imagined I would. With the frustration of the software, and the strange choices Voice Caddie has made with recent software updates, I’ve been considering selling it and finding something a bit more user friendly. It’s nice to have, but there’s definitely better options out there.
Conclusion
The SC300i is a solid unit, let down by frustrating and confusing software. It seems like a huge missed opportunity, because the hardware works well, and gives good, accurate data, especially for a unit with such a small form factor, and for something that’s quite a bit cheaper than any other options I could see available. Ultimately the negative user experience overweighs the benefits to me as a golfer.
Final Score (17 out of 30 points)
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thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this.
- Fongle and tony@CIC
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