Verdict: $300 device offers a ton of data
Nothing is more frustrating than flushing an iron only to airmail the green. Ask J.J. Spaun who saw his playoff hopes at The Players drowned off the backside of No. 17 green. For the mortals among us, a quality launch monitor can help you know just how far you typically hit each club. So, allow me to introduce you to the Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor.
After following the development of affordable launch monitors for a few years now, I recently pulled the trigger on one – the Rapsodo MLM (for Mobile Launch Monitor). At $299.99, the entry-level Rapsodo is an amazing piece of technology that works via Bluetooth connection with your iPhone (7 or newer) or your iPad (2017 or newer with a resolution of 1080p). As of right now, it’s not compatible with Android devices.
I had started looking at mobile launch monitors during the pandemic. I was eying Voice Caddie’s then-latest entry-level model priced at $249.99, but was waved off by a friend who had one. He had been reporting to work in an otherwise-empty office. To kill time between Zoom calls, he set up a net and hit balls. He reported that he found his indoor numbers were wildly different from his on-course distances.
Fast-forward to earlier this year. In late January I made a mental note of the buzz around the Rapsodo booth at the 2025 PGA Show in Orlando. When I got home, I waded through a tsunami of mostly unhelpful YouTube reviews of the Rapsodo MLM, the less expensive of the two models that Rapsodo makes.
Eventually, I found this data-rich, hype-free Golficity review posted late last year using a beta release of the Rapsodo’s latest firmware. The review offered a side-by-side comparison of the Rapsodo MLM and a $7,000 Foresight GC3 launch monitor, and the MLM acquitted itself admirably.
The Raposo MLM is amazingly compact
When the Rapsodo I bought online arrived, I was struck by its compact size, just 5-by-3-by-1-7/16ths inches. It’s about the size of a Bushnell rangefinder and comes in a remarkably similar zippered case. You charge it via a USB-A-to-Micro-B cable.
While downloading the Rapsodo app and pairing the device with your iPhone is easy, the Rapsodo MLM Quick Start Guide is woefully short on detail and the Rapsodo website isn’t much help either. I found the device’s menu system less than intuitive and, in fact, I mostly stumbled on the MLM’s various features largely by accident while using it. Additionally, navigating through the array of graphs and videos after a practice session, when the MLM and your iPhone are no longer paired can be a bit of a pain.
Because the sun is especially bright in Albuquerque, where I live, I found setting up the device for each range session was best done in the shade so as to better see the screen. I noted that in a FAQ about iPhones overheating in the sun the company suggests positioning your golf bag to shade the device.
To use the Rapsodo, you set it up so its doppler radar unit faces downrange, positioned six feet behind your hitting position. Your iPhone is then propped up on top of it, its camera app activated so you can see yourself onscreen while addressing the ball.
A green LED signals it’s ready to record your shot. After each shot, the light turns blue as the Rapsodo processes the data and the green light returns when it’s ready for the next shot. After each shot, a female voice announces the stats. In my case, because I wear hearing aids paired to my iPhone, the voice announcing each shot’s results came through the hearing aids, which was a nice surprise.
The Rapsodo can be set for range use or with a net, and you’re asked to input whether you’re using range balls or premium balls, which affect distances calculations. The device needs good light to see the ball as it leaves your club, and there have been issues reported while using the Rapsodo at a lighted night range.
If you’re using a net, you’re encouraged to use a radar-reflective ball. Several manufacturers make them. Titleist makes the RCT, a version of the Pro V1 that sells for $69.99 a dozen.
In personalizing the Rapsodo’s measurements, you load the clubs in your bag into the device. At the start of a practice session, you select one of those clubs and four of the following metrics to record for each shot. (The device displays only three of the metrics but uses all four of them to generate customized graphs of all shots hit during your practice session for later review).
Multiple data points are captured for each swing
The metrics the Rapsodo measures are:
- Carry distance
- Total distance
- Launch angle
- Ball sped
- Clubhead speed
- Smash factor
- Launch direction (expressed in degrees off the 0.00-degree target line)
- Ball spin rate
- Side carry (distance off centerline, measured in yards)
The device doesn’t take into account local conditions. “We normalize our data which means the MLM does not take wind, weather, slope, or elevation into consideration; it assumes you are at sea level, using a premium ball, 70 degrees, no humidity,” Rapsodo Tech Support replied to an email inquiry from Alabama Golf News.
However, extrapolating to account for the effect of altitude is fairly straightforward. For instance, a quick Google search shows that in Albuquerque, at a mile above sea level, the thin dry air adds 10 percent to the distance of any well-struck shot. Further precision can be obtained by factoring in temperature and humidity, but for most amateur golfers not playing in extremely cold or heat, adjusting for altitude is enough.
After your range session, in the comfort of your living room, you can scroll through your phone to itemize how far you hit each club. While the Rapsodo produces an average of shots using a given club in a practice session, it includes all shots, including shanks and tops, Instead, I used the best four or five shots for each club, then calculated an average.
You can also explore your shot dispersion and see whether you pull or push certain clubs.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention a great feature: The app allows you to replay swings on your phone and see the shot trajectory highlighted by a thick red line, just like TopTracer or TrackMan on TV.
Rapsodo’s app is free but the company offers a $99.99 annual premium subscription that offers what the company says offers “more data visualization and insights, progress reports, and tools to help improve your game.” Premium benefits include cloud storage for slow-motion swing analysis videos from your practice sessions, video replays, shot apex, and video storage for 10,000 shots.
For me, the chief takeaways after several sessions with my new Rapsodo are: I don’t hit the ball as far as I thought I did; my swing speed is far slower than I thought it was; my go-to 4-hybrid, oddly, has a distance variation of more than 20 yards between OK swings and flushed strikes; and that for some reason that I haven’t yet figured out, I have two clubs in my bag (a Ping 3-wood and a older Burner 5-wood) that travel virtually the same distance.
Maybe over time, the Rapsodo MLM will help me solve this mystery.
Dan Vukelich is the Online Editor of Alabama Golf News.
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Featured image by Dan Vukelich
