Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor Review
We recently got our hands on the Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor, which retails at £549 - a snip compared to many other launch monitors out there like the Foresight Sports GCQuad and SkyTrak. So how did it perform in practice and does it represent good value for golfers looking to get the perfect home golf set up? We took it to the range to see what it had to offer.
Watch Joel Tadman test the Rapsodo MLM up against the Foresight Sports GC2
The Rapsodo MLM works in unison with the free Rapsodo app on your iOS smartphone indoors or outdoors.
Once you have set up an account and logged in, rest your phone in the front slot of the unit and position it approx. six feet behind the ball. The lines on the screen and the GPS overhead view will help you align it correctly and select your hitting direction for optimal accuracy.
The Rapsodo MLM has a clever feature where you hold the club in front of your phone's camera and it will automatically record the club you're hitting.
I would be lying if I said this feature worked 100% of the time, but it certainly picked up the majority of my clubs. Even if it does miss the odd reading, you can input it manually very easily.
Once you’ve selected your club and started hitting shots, the Rapsodo MLM captures video of you hitting and displays shot tracer-style graphics on the screen, which we found to be accurate most of the time, as well as certain key data points like ball speed, launch angle and carry distance.
Although navigating through the app on a small screen is a little bit fiddly, the graphics are genuinely impressive and the data matched up very well with what we were accustomed to, with subtle differences in strike creating corresponding changes in launch and carry distance.
The shot library feature displays your completed session in a very easy-to-digest grid format, which includes an overhead dispersion graph. There were a few anomalies that were easily discounted, and it would be nice to able to see our spin numbers, but the information on offer is more than enough to form valid opinions about your club and swing performance.
The Rapsodo MLM is only compatible with the iPhone 7 and beyond and the iPad 2017 and up in outdoor mode, and iPhone 8 and up and iPad pro in net mode, which will leave Android users left wanting. It should be noted, that the new Rapsodo MLM II device is now compatible with android, so there are now options if you're not an Apple convert!
It’s compact size and lightweight design make it easily portable in the carry case. It fits easily inside any compartment of my golf bag and the case even has a handy clip to be able to attach to your golf bag.
The Rapsodo MLM is a really good option in the portable launch monitor category at this price point. Whilst more expensive units may remove some of the anomaly readings, the level and accuracy of data received was more than sufficient to improve the quality of our practice.
