Electric Spin Golf Launchpad simulator

[Pa Jayhawk]

Well, since the iGolf GPS only comes with a 90 day warranty, I thought I would wait until I had a chance to test it out prior to the warranty running out, plus my birthday is in March, so I am waiting on it. I have been eyeing cheap simulators for a couple years now but am yet to find someone to be the guinea pig, or anyone who has tried one. So I guess I will be the Guinea Pig for you guys. Seeing as how I can't use the iGolf indoors with 3 feet of snow on the ground during the winter, I thought I would find something reasonable that I could. And here it is...
http://www.electricspin.com/
my wife is picking it up on her way home from work. I think it comes with Tiger Woods 2006, but should work with 2007. More importantly for me, it is supposed to work with Links 2003, so I already have a couple hundred courses to work with.

I'll post an initial review, and then a followup down the line. I like that you do not have to use the ball, and can use regular balls, so I can probably extend the life by picking up some of those foam balls to terrify my dog with in the living room or garage. I'll try to keep my 7i away from him.

Going in, I am not expecting it to be the most accurate thing in the world for $200, but at least I can swing a club this winter and see a ball fly down the fairway (or in the woods if it is in fact accurate ), should work great for parties as well. Can blame any inaccuracies in the alcohol consumed. Hopefully I can keep the 7i away from my friends during those.

 

[DaveE]

I saw one of those at Comp USA while we were Christmas shopping. It looks like it might be fun to use. Looking forward to report.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I saw one of those at Comp USA while we were Christmas shopping. It looks like it might be fun to use. Looking forward to report.

That is where she is picking it up for $200. They have them at some of the Circuit City's for $250 as well if you can't find them or order them from Compusa. FYI, they also have an adapter you can buy for a Playstation 2, but I have an Xbox and not the Playstation 2. Furthermore, they sell kits with the ball, matt and other parts should the others wear out. You can order just the Playstation one from Wal-mart for $158. From what I saw from reviews and research, I liked the features of this one over the Qmotion model. My wife is a lefty, so thankfully you can do both and alternate on both models.

 

[ezra76]

Looks pretty neat and reasonably priced. Is there a warranty? How bout if the ball breaks loose on a drive and goes through your TV screen?

It's gotta break loose eventually.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Looks pretty neat and reasonably priced. Is there a warranty? How bout if the ball breaks loose on a drive and goes through your TV screen?

It's gotta break loose eventually.

I will be using it with my Laptop to the side in the garage initially. Will let you know. It appears to be mounted on a metal spindle, and again, I like the idea you don't have to use the ball if you don't want. So I will be picking up some soft foam balls to use. I was eyeing an $800 model which appeared to be the next reasonable step up, but didn't want to shell out $800, so hopefully this works out.

edit 1 - I think I'll also use my old clubs as well at first.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

If it works out, maybe we can get a Shottalk winter league going. I know Sling already mentioned maybe trying something with Links 2003. I reloaded 2003 on my PC today.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Initial observations. The thing really seems to interface well. Setup was a piece of cake, plug it in and go to town. I would say it reads just as well as any simulator I have played on in the past, so what I expected. It may even be more accurate from what I can see and tells you the position of the face, your tempo, and where on the face you hit the ball. It came with Tiger Woods 06, and works extemely well. It also works on Links 2003, unfortunately with Links, because of the game it reads O.K., but it will not read the angle of the club face at impact. It will tell were it struck the ball on the face, but because of the nature of Links it will not read the face angle at impact. I prefer Links as it is more of golf simulator, where Tiger Woods is more of a game or toy. I really wish Tiger Woods would allow you to enter your own Club distances. This is something I liked about Links so I could play as myself. So being faced with either accurate distance, or accurate swing characteristics I will likely opt for Tiger Woods and just get used to the distances of the player I choose. It appears Tiger Woods also has a ton of courses to download, although I have not done so yet. The ball seems fine, although it is loud inside, and concerns me should it ever give way. I works fine with no ball, as well as the foam ones I bought. I only played a few holes so far, as it was warm enough to do the real thing today. I will post a more thorough review in the next week. All in all, my wife and I feel it will provide a fun time over the course of the winter. I will add that with the 20 or so shots I hit on the analyzer software from the site, the swings speeds seemed rather inflated and read my 6i as 115 mph, which is more like in the 90mph range, I will check it out more as well.