Swing Caddie SC 300 Product Review

[ChetlovesMer]

Okay, I’ve been using the Swing Caddie SC300 for about a week now. I feel like I’m ready to do a full review.

First: The price.

              I had about $300 of store credit (gift cards, points, etc…) at Rock Bottom Golf. When Rock Bottom had it’s 20% off any item, the SC 300 went from $550 to $440, with free shipping. So, I purchased it. Even without my $300 worth of store credit, $440 felt like a good price.

 

Second: The box.

              This thing comes in a super nice cardboard box. They really spent some time designing a really nice and fancy protective cardboard box. Having said that, I would have preferred a carry pouch or something similar to protect the thing when you toss it in your golf bag.

 

Third: The accuracy.

              I’ve found this thing to be extremely accurate. I compared it with the launch monitor they have at Golf Galaxy (yes, I brought my SC 300 to golf galaxy) and I got almost identical numbers…. Except for peak height. Peak height with the SC 300 seems to continuously be a little generous. I also measured the distance out on the course and the range and it seems to bullseye carry distance every time. Even on short pitch shots. So, I am more than happy with the accuracy.

 

Forth: The voice.

              I can’t stand it. I had to turn it off. I’m happy just to look at the screen.

 

Fifth: The remote control.

              Very useful. It’s super easy to use and I am surprised how often I use it. Yeah, you can bend down and push buttons… but why? The remote control is uber handy.

 

Fifth: The app.

              This is where the SC 300 falls flat on its face. In my opinion. Just a little bit more effort and/or thought on Swing Caddie’s part could have made this a great unit. Okay I did have install it twice. So, that put me off right from jump street. Once I got it reinstalled and working. I found it was “almost” great. My issue with it is, you can NOT edit any data. You can NOT break out any data. Here’s an example. I tried hitting 10 shots with my driver playing all fades, then 10 shots trying to hit all draws. You cannot separate them in the data. I even had one shot in which the ball literally fell off the tee as I was swinging. I could NOT eliminate that shot.

              I would have loved a way to data dump the shots onto my computer. The thing comes with a USB cord and my computer recognizes the unit and even finds the files. Just can’t open them. Uploading the data to a PC would have allowed putting the data into XL spread sheets and separate it out into useful chunks. In that way you could even use it to test your driver in different configurations. The way it is now, you it just keeps lumping shot after shot into your averages. Obviously, you can manually pull out data, but how cumbersome is that? Might as well just jot it down everytime you hit a ball. At the minimum it should have had a “remove shot” button. In case the ball falls off the tee or something.

              In my opinion, the unit is 99% as useful without downloading the app at all. Yeah, there’s a cool little picture thing that will chart the different distances you hit. But again, there’s no way to remove or separate any of the shots. … Kinda neat looking, but almost worthless.

 

Overall:

Great product. The unit itself is reliable, easy to use and accurate. I would have liked a carry case, even one that was sold aftermarket. I also think the app could be a whole lot better. In lieu of that, being able to download data directly to a PC would also have been great.

[dennyjones]

thanks for the review.   👍

[ChetlovesMer]

I need to update this review. I DID find that you can delete swings from the data set. That is really helpful in keeping the outliers out of your data set. It also improves the usefulness of the app quite a bit. 

Still no way to segment out chunks of data, that I know of yet, but I'll keep after it and let you know. 

[Zippo]

Thanks for the review. Did you happen to contact support to see if there is any way to work with the data?

[ChetlovesMer]

20 hours ago, Zippo said:

Thanks for the review. Did you happen to contact support to see if there is any way to work with the data?

Yes I did, via email. Apparently I didn't phrase my question the best, cus all they replied with was that it is  not possible to upload data to a PC. They didn't say anything about manipulating the data on the app. 

 

I'll keep after it and let you know what I find. 

[Zippo]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Yes I did, via email. Apparently I didn't phrase my question the best, cus all they replied with was that it is  not possible to upload data to a PC. They didn't say anything about manipulating the data on the app. 

 

I'll keep after it and let you know what I find. 

Thanks. It's a bummer that the data can't be uploaded and converted to some useable form but I don't think it's a show stopper for me. I'm used to manually entering the data from my SC200. At least it sounds like you can remove the outliers with the SC300 which I can't do with the SC200.

[ChetlovesMer]

On 8/17/2019 at 10:49 PM, Zippo said:

Thanks. It's a bummer that the data can't be uploaded and converted to some useable form but I don't think it's a show stopper for me. I'm used to manually entering the data from my SC200. At least it sounds like you can remove the outliers with the SC300 which I can't do with the SC200.

Yeah, it took me a little while to figure that out. But I'm happy I found it. The removing of outliers really helps make the data more useful. Over all, I'm very impressed with the accuracy and repeatability of the data. I got this because I plan to use SuperSpeed Golf in the off season to raise my swing speed. The swing speed and smash factor data were dead nuts for what I showed at Golf Galaxy. 

[Zippo]

10 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Yeah, it took me a little while to figure that out. But I'm happy I found it. The removing of outliers really helps make the data more useful. Over all, I'm very impressed with the accuracy and repeatability of the data. I got this because I plan to use SuperSpeed Golf in the off season to raise my swing speed. The swing speed and smash factor data were dead nuts for what I showed at Golf Galaxy. 

Thanks again for the great review and info. Much appreciated.

[ChetlovesMer]

I really wanted to update this thread because Swing Caddie has updated their ap. This is the second update they've done since I have owed the device. The first one added a calculated spin rate to the numbers you can collect. (Just know that it only calculates spin rate for 8-iron through driver... You don't get to check spin rate off your wedges yet.) 

Firstly, for about 2 weeks the ap didn't work. It may have been working for I-phone folks, but us Android folks had to wait. It was worth the wait. It is way better than the old ap. 

They added some nicer graphics, making the whole thing look snazzier. And they added four new features. One feature I like. Two features which I really like. And the fourth one I haven't tried yet.  

The feature they added that I like is the new home-screen makes it much easier to search for stats, stats by target, stats by club, go to standard practice or go to target practice. It's a lot more intuitive and easier to navigate. They've also made it simply easier to read, those of us getting older can appreciate it. I don't need to pull out my cheaters to see the numbers now. 

The two features that they added that I really like are:

1. They added the ability to upload your data from your phone to a PC in Excel format! - In my opinion this is a game changer and way overdue. This is super convenient if you want to use your data to do some analysis. Having Excel spreadsheet that show Club selection, date, shot number, Carry Yards, Total Yards, Swing Speed, Ball Speed, Launch Angle, Smash Factor, Apex Hight, and Spin Rate is really handy for analyzing if you are improving. 
2. The other feature they added that I really like is the ability to "nickname" a club. This kind of dovetails in with being able to upload data. For example you could nickname your club "Driver with KuroKage Shaft", then nickname another club "Driver with Ventus Shaft". Then you can gather data on them and compare them. Or you could do the same with Weights forward vs Weights backward. Or Standard 5-iron vs 5-iron hitting a knockdown... What ever you want to nickname it you can.  

The feature I haven't tried yet allows you to record video of your swing and have it linked to the numbers you are getting for that particular swing. It looks pretty cool. I haven't tried it yet. 

Over all the ap is much improved. 

I've started using the "Target" portion of the ap way more lately than ever before. I used to only use the "Practice" portion. The target portion lets you select a distance from 15 to 200 yards and then hit a club at it. The device gives you a score based on your proximity to the distance you've selected. I've been using this more lately because my range sessions are flipping now. I'm doing less and less "how" and more and more "where" type of practice. 

Back when I first reviewed this device the ap was very literally the weak link of the device. Not so anymore. It's way way better. 

[dennyjones]

I guess we can color you impressed.   thanks for the review update.