Swing Caddie SC300i Launch Monitor Review

Swing Caddie SC300i Launch Monitor Review

If you're considering a launch monitor, you're probably a serious golfer. You want to know more than just how far you hit the ball; you want to get immediate feedback on each swing - clubhead and ball speed, smash factor and launch angles, for example - so you can make adjustments in your practice and technique. The best golf launch monitors, of course, can be expensive, but thankfully technology just keeps getting better and better, and now golfers have many different options in more affordable portable launch monitors.

A great example of an affordable launch monitor with a lot of features is the Swing Caddie 300i from Voice Caddie, the same company that also produces personal GPS devices for figuring out distances to different points on the golf course. The SC300i is quite sophisticated, especially when you compare it Voice Caddie's original SC100 and SC200 that it introduced a few years ago. The 300 series are larger and heavier, are rechargeable and have a few more features. They are also more technologically advanced.

The SC300i improves upon the SC300 in a couple of ways. First of all, it has all new hardware, including its Doppler Radar system and electronics, making it even more accurate and certainly among the most accurate among all the portable launch monitors under $600, which includes the likes of the Flightscope Mevo, Rapsodo, Garmin Approach R10, Ernst Sports ESB1, and PRGR personal launch monitor, for example. We found that the SC300i was pretty much dead on, especially outdoors, in terms of distance, swing speed and clubhead speed, even compared with launch monitors that cost thousands of dollars. The unit is also equipped with a barometric sensor, which makes the readings even more accurate. Indoors, the data was pretty close to a much more expensive simulator we used in conjunction with it. 

Secondly, the newer SC300i has a 20-hour battery life as opposed to the 12-hour battery life the SC300 had before. That means you can use it for several sessions without having to recharge, and unless you just let it run to zero, it should always make it though a session. And thirdly, it has a video component with the app now, which means you can overlay the stats over swings. 

For $500, the SC300i measures ball speed, clubhead speed, launch, angle, carry distance, apex height, spin rate and smash factor (how close is contact to the sweet spot of the club?). It does not measure clubhead path or even calculate it, which very few inexpensive launch monitors can do. Still, the rest of this information can help golfers dial in their swing or equipment preferences certainly. 

The big screen of the unit is another feature that makes the SC300i stand out. The screen displays almost all the data points and is easy to see as you're hitting balls. There's also a good speaker in the unit that calls out distances almost immediately after you've struck a shot. There's also a remote control, which is very handy in that you can make quick club selections from the remote (if you don't select the right club, the readings will not be accurate.) 

As mentioned before, the SC300i also comes with an app that you can pair with the unit. You do not, however, have to use the app to use the SC300i. It's just a really nice bonus feature.