Full in depth review of the Accusport Vectorx from an avid golfer
On to my experience. I received the launch monitor in a box packed just as if I had purchased the unit. I had no special instructions or advice from the guys at Accusport. It felt a lot like Christmas, except for the small thought that in the back of my head I had to send it back (sorry- it’s NOT going to be the next Addict giveaway). Normally with a new electronic I’d start by plugging it in or messing with it before reading any instructions. Accusport advertises the fact that you can get going out of the box in about 2 minutes. I decided to avoid disappointment to read a couple instructions before heading out to the range. As I found out- I really wouldn’t have needed to- because it was charged and ready to go and really didn’t take any setup. Because the computer is built into the unit- as long as you have juice- it’s instantly usable. Any settings you may need to adjust are handled on-board.
Learning about the single line versus the multiple line or bar markings on the practice balls made things easier to understand. The machine shoots images in microseconds so a 2cm bar versus a line a couple mm wide makes a big difference and confuses the machine easily. The problem is- I’m not going to use my own balls at a driving range, especially not the kind of balls I want the machine to test. That fact probably caused 90% of my pains. The other 10% was caused by hitting off grass instead of a mat. The ball needs to be about 18 inches away from the camera every shot. When hitting off of grass you move the ball 2-6 inches all the time just moving around your divots. Unless you want to move the VectorX each shot you’re fighting an uphill battle.
While the VectorX launch monitor does work indoors and outdoors one of the biggest advantages of a photo based launch monitor over the Doppler systems is that it doesn’t need space to operate. In short- it’s perfect for an in-house hitting bay where you can setup your VectorX beside a mat and you can hit each club from the same spot every time with your own balls that you mark and don’t lose downrange. In fact- in that scenario not only do you get to learn about your swing, but you can actually learn about the balls and other equipment because the rest of the variables (other than your faulty swing) are identical. You can actually see if you create more spin with a ProV1 or a Bridgestone B330.
