Garmin R50 vs SkyTrak+ (UK): Built-In Screen or Tablet App, and Which Suits Your Room

Both are camera units that sit beside the ball and fit our 4.2 m minimum room. The Garmin R50 runs a simulator on its own touchscreen and plugs straight into a projector; the SkyTrak+ runs from a phone or tablet app, with course play on a SkyTrak membership. For most UK rooms I'd pick the R50, and here's why.

Garmin R50 vs SkyTrak is a comparison I get asked about more each month, partly because SkyTrak has been around long enough that plenty of people know the name. They're closer on paper than you might think: same placement, same room length, both read club data. The gaps are in what you need to add to play, what the software costs each year, and what the two makers will and won't confirm. I'll take them in that order.

Two camera units, one big difference

A launch monitor is the box that measures each shot. Both of these are camera (photometric) units: they photograph the ball, and the club, in the instant after impact, which is why they sit beside the ball rather than behind you. The SkyTrak+ adds a radar alongside its cameras; the R50 uses three cameras.

The big difference is the screen. The Garmin Approach R50 has a touchscreen built in, runs Garmin's Home Tee Hero simulator on it, and has an HDMI port, so one cable sends the picture to a projector. Nothing else is needed to start. The SkyTrak+ has no screen of its own: it connects to the SkyTrak app on a phone or tablet, and you mirror or cable that to a projector if you want a big picture. SkyTrak's own FAQ lists most modern iOS and Android tablets and phones as compatible devices.

Where each sits and the room it needs

Garmin's manual places the R50 about 0.5 m to the side of the tee, facing it, at roughly tee height, and says it compensates for uneven surfaces so it needs no levelling. SkyTrak's alignment guide has the SkyTrak+ next to the ball with the ball on its red laser dot, the bottom of the unit level with the top of the hitting surface and the unit parallel to the target line. Neither needs space behind you.

That means both fit our minimum room: 3.0 m wide, 2.7 m high and 4.2 m long, with a ceiling of 3 m or more ideal. SkyTrak's FAQ recommends a minimum 10 ft by 10 ft indoors with enough ceiling to swing your longest club, which is about 3 m by 3 m and sits inside our figures. If your room is short, this is the lane to be in; radar units need 5.2 m or more. Our Sim Buyer Docs page on the UK launch monitor ladder lines every unit up by room length.

What each measures

Ball numbers…