TST Explores the ShotScope H4 (Stats Tracking Device) and Pro LX Rangefinder

[iacas]

@billchao and @boogielicious will be testing out the H4, a small shot tracking/GPS unit that clips to your belt and which offers Strokes Gained stats and more:

H4 Handheld Golf GPS with Shot Tracking | Shot Scope

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The H4 handheld golf GPS device packs Shot Scope's leading performance tracking technology and distance display into a neat and compact unit. Read more & buy online!

I have an H4 also, and will be reviewing it (briefly) as well as the Pro LX rangefinder, which has a magnetic area for the H4 to "dock":

PRO LX | Laser Rangefinder with Slope Technology

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Hit the right yardage with the PRO LX laser rangefinder. With slope technology & red and black optics for crystal clear and accurate distances to the flag.

The three of us (and many others here) view this as a replacement for the GAME Golf, which if not dead, appears nearly so.

[dennyjones]

I purchased an H4.   I'm playing today.   I haven't done a deep dive into the stats yet since I've only used it for 3 rounds.   The round I played yesterday is useless because they have the course GPS completely wrong.   I've emailed support for a change.  I've heard good things about their tech support.

The editing is different but familiar to GG.   Just remember to assign your tags to the clubs like GG and tag each club.  I'm still recording first putt distance so I can edit easier after the round.  

[NM Golf]

So I came across and ordered the H4 yesterday because I was looking for something to use to track shots now that GG is a continued nightmare. I didn't want the continued expense of a subscription service like Arccos, but I would really like to get back to the kinds of stats I had with GG. Mine should be here tomorrow, I look forward to seeing how our experiences match up. 

[billchao]

I’m pretty excited to review this. I liked Game Golf and I was disappointed to have to abandon it last year.

Just some quick thoughts:

1. I like the magnet back of the unit. I wonder if I can attach it to something else as I play if I didn’t want to use the belt clip for some reason.
2. The belt clip is metal. I know people have had problems with the Game Golf one breaking because it’s plastic.
3. It came with a cord but not an actual power adapter. It’s 5v usb so I plugged it into my Garmin charger and it worked fine.
4. It was a bit tedious to set up my bag on the app. There’s an extensive list of clubs and manufacturers available that you have to scroll through. A search function would have been nice.

I’ll share more after I actually use it to play. Curious to see what others think, as well.

[NM Golf]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

1. I like the magnet back of the unit. I wonder if I can attach it to something else as I play if I didn’t want to use the belt clip for some reason.

I attached mine to a metal plate I installed on my push cart. When I used it like that yesterday and it worked very well. I really don't want to wear it on my belt. Don't know what I am going to do when I have to take a cart.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, NM Golf said:

I attached mine to a metal plate I installed on my push cart. When I used it like that yesterday and it worked very well. I really don't want to wear it on my belt. Don't know what I am going to do when I have to take a cart.

Good idea. I want to move away from the watch while staying in the shotscope ecosystem since I am several years into it now, but I am not sure if I want to wear something on my belt or use a cheap carabiner to hang it off my bag. Seems like this could be an accessory from shotscope at somepoint (push cart mount).

16 hours ago, billchao said:

It was a bit tedious to set up my bag on the app.

Yeah, the shotscope club management system needs to be improved. It gets worse over time as you add new clubs to the bag but can't delete the old ones without erasing their history in your data. I have four drivers, four fairway woods, four hybrids, three sets of irons, two sets of wedges, and three putters in my bag.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, NM Golf said:

I attached mine to a metal plate I installed on my push cart. When I used it like that yesterday and it worked very well. I really don't want to wear it on my belt. Don't know what I am going to do when I have to take a cart.

Yea I was thinking something along those lines, but how would you tag putts?

It was honestly just a passing thought. It gives the option to attach it to something else other than my belt, but I’m used to wearing things on my belt so I’m probably just going to do that.

1 hour ago, Darkfrog said:

Yeah, the shotscope club management system needs to be improved. It gets worse over time as you add new clubs to the bag but can't delete the old ones without erasing their history in your data. I have four drivers, four fairway woods, four hybrids, three sets of irons, two sets of wedges, and three putters in my bag.

You can just leave the old clubs in your database, right? On Game Golf you could delete the club from the bag but it kept the data. The only thing is if you went back to look at an old round, it wouldn’t know what club you hit.

[NM Golf]

24 minutes ago, billchao said:

Yea I was thinking something along those lines, but how would you tag putts?

It was honestly just a passing thought. It gives the option to attach it to something else other than my belt, but I’m used to wearing things on my belt so I’m probably just going to do that.

Good point, I just messed around with it yesterday, I haven't played a round with it yet. I guess I am just going to have to get used to having it on my belt. I suppose I could leave the clip on my belt and transfer it back on forth at the green, but I'm afraid thats going to get old in a hurry.

[jlbos83]

I'll be interested in your experiences.  I used Game Golf Live until the battery blew up, and support fell apart.  I have been using a ShotScope V3 for a year or so now, I like it but I don't like not having feedback on exactly where my shot is tagged.  (I don't worry too much given the margin of error for GPS).  The other "problem", which is a me problem, is that if I hit a true duff, and my next shot is too close (like the dreaded lack of bunker escape), it only picks one.  The H4 intrigues me.  I have seen comments about the belt clip not being "great", so I would like to hear about that.  If I get the H4, I'll likely keep the V3 on my wrist for yardages.  I like that the distances are relative to where you are, and not arbitrary points.

[Darkfrog]

59 minutes ago, billchao said:

You can just leave the old clubs in your database, right? On Game Golf you could delete the club from the bag but it kept the data. The only thing is if you went back to look at an old round, it wouldn’t know what club you hit.

Yes, you can move clubs into the "unassigned" bin, but it won't let you delete a club that has been used, so everything added to the "my bag" stays there. The system used to let you delete a club but would give a disclaimer message saying something like deleting this club will also delete all of the data associated with it.

What is annoying about this is that in post-round editing, all of the clubs, assigned or not come up in editor. So if a shot was registered with the wrong club, it's not intuitive to pick from the list which is color coded rather than providing a description. This is rare - it would happen in cases where you put a new club in the bag but didn't update the "my bag" section so shots were registered on the old club. Or possibly a scenario where you took some practice swings with a 8-iron and it registered a shot, but then you actually hit the shot with a 9-iron. For example, below, this is what I see if I wanted to change the driver I used for this tee shot:

[Shindig]

While GG has seemingly resurrected for me (I've been able to post the last few rounds and get stats), I'm interested to find out how this proceeds.   I'm curious how the tags work with my grips -- do I need to glue them in like I did with GG, and how do I remove the GG ones?

9 hours ago, NM Golf said:

I attached mine to a metal plate I installed on my push cart. When I used it like that yesterday and it worked very well. I really don't want to wear it on my belt. Don't know what I am going to do when I have to take a cart.

How did you handle GG?  I also initially didn't like having it on my belt (I generally don't like even having much of anything in my pockets when I play), but I was able to get used to that one quickly.  But this one looks (at least in pictures) a bit bulkier. 

[iacas]

28 minutes ago, Shindig said:

But this one looks (at least in pictures) a bit bulkier.

It’s not. It’s a pretty small display.

[billchao]

5 hours ago, jlbos83 said:

I have seen comments about the belt clip not being "great", so I would like to hear about that.

Not great as in people don’t want the device on a belt clip? I can’t imagine Game Golf users saying the clip isn’t good. I think it’s going to be more durable than the GG one.

49 minutes ago, Shindig said:

I'm curious how the tags work with my grips -- do I need to glue them in like I did with GG

The Shot Scope tags have a slightly longer screw than the Game Golf ones. I’m hoping they’ll stay in the PURE grips better because of that.

51 minutes ago, Shindig said:

how do I remove the GG ones?

Did you use silicone? You can just unscrew the tags with a bit of force and remove any residual silicone on your grip (though it seems to adhere more to the plastic tags if anything IME).

If you used super glue, it’s going to take more force and you’ll probably tear off chunks of the grip in the process.

53 minutes ago, Shindig said:

But this one looks (at least in pictures) a bit bulkier. 

Negative. 

They’re about the same thickness with the belt clip on the Shot Scope. Without the clip, the unit itself is about the size of two Apple Watches stacked together.

[boogielicious]

I’ve set it up and will play with it tomorrow. I’ll give my preliminary review after that.

[iacas]

I used the Pro LX rangefinder today in the US Senior Open Qualifier. I'll use the H4 on Friday when I play.

[dennyjones]

4 hours ago, Shindig said:

But this one looks (at least in pictures) a bit bulkier. 

The unit w/o the clip is only about 1 1/4 x 1 1/2".   The magnet is strong enough to stay in the clip.   I wore mine on my belt last round and it worked for me as easy as GG.  I'm still learning but I believe this unit has potential.  

On another note.   We played a course Monday that wasn't mapped correctly.  Today, Wednesday, they responded via email and had updated the course.   Call me impressed.

[NM Golf]

5 hours ago, Shindig said:

How did you handle GG?  I also initially didn't like having it on my belt (I generally don't like even having much of anything in my pockets when I play), but I was able to get used to that one quickly.  But this one looks (at least in pictures) a bit bulkier. 

I tagged my clubs using my phone. 

[Shindig]

18 hours ago, billchao said:

Not great as in people don’t want the device on a belt clip? I can’t imagine Game Golf users saying the clip isn’t good. I think it’s going to be more durable than the GG one.

The Shot Scope tags have a slightly longer screw than the Game Golf ones. I’m hoping they’ll stay in the PURE grips better because of that.

Did you use silicone? You can just unscrew the tags with a bit of force and remove any residual silicone on your grip (though it seems to adhere more to the plastic tags if anything IME).

If you used super glue, it’s going to take more force and you’ll probably tear off chunks of the grip in the process.

They’re about the same thickness with the belt clip on the Shot Scope. Without the clip, the unit itself is about the size of two Apple Watches stacked together.

That all sounds good.  I used Gorilla Glue for my PURE grips / GG tag connection.  The tags have come out on occasion (I have only 15 GG tags remaining -- if GG were still around, I'd probably buy more).

I've never held an apple watch, but your picture with it next to the GameGolf helps a lot.  I was imagining having my old garage door opener on my belt when I first saw the unit.  

15 hours ago, dennyjones said:

The unit w/o the clip is only about 1 1/4 x 1 1/2".   The magnet is strong enough to stay in the clip.   I wore mine on my belt last round and it worked for me as easy as GG.  I'm still learning but I believe this unit has potential.  

On another note.   We played a course Monday that wasn't mapped correctly.  Today, Wednesday, they responded via email and had updated the course.   Call me impressed.

Yeah.  GG still has the occasional issues with courses I've told them they need to correct... that they did and reverted for some reason.  It doesn't help that my home course has multiple multi-green holes.   

If these reviews come out well, I might switch units.  Or just the next time I get fed up with GG.  Which might be today, who knows.