Flight Scope Mevo Plus Review – Another Giant Leap Forward For FlightScope
The Personal Golf Launch Monitor Market is one that has grown rapidly over the past decade and the technology and equipment that we have available today to every player would have made the great golfers of yesterday drool with excitement.
Flightscope have been a part of this Launch Monitor market with their initial Mevo model which offered a Dopplar Radar for 500 bucks and was hugely popular. It connected to your phone for it’s display, called out your distances and measured your performance overtime, but it lacked many of the advanced features we saw in the more expensive devices.
The Mevo Plus has taken another giant step forward with the Mevo Plus with a host of new features and functionalities. To start the Mevo Plus now tracks a whole host of new stats like total distance, roll distance, horizontal launch angle, spin loft, spin apex to give you a much more complete picture of your golf performance. The Unit is much larger now and features and external camera that allows us to align the unit more effectively. More impressive than all of this is that the Mevo Plus now comes with the E6 Golf Simulator software and 5 courses that you can play for free, bringing the Plus into direction competition with units like the Skytrak.
What Does It Keep From The Original
As we see the Golf Launch Monitor and simulator market explode with new options, we have to note that not all of these options are equal and our job as reviewers is to separate the weeds from the flowers, so to speak.
The Original Mevo is still a big hit in the golf industry today with exceptional accuracy, portability and ease of use, even if it does rely on you having your phone, laptop or tablet nearby to use as the screen.
MEVO itself stands for:
M: Measure
E: Evaluate
V: Visualize
O: Optimize
There is plenty of features that the plus keeps from the original device including:
Doplar Radar
The Mevo and the plus both have a doplar radar system which means it is collecting its data by shooting lasers against the ball and club before during and after impact to make an accurate assessment of how far the ball went.
The opposite of a doplar radar would be a photometric option which takes a series of pictures and calculates the data based off of those images.
Portable Size
Another winning feature that the Mevo Plus carries forward from the original is in it’s portable size. While the Mevo Plus is a little bit bigger it can still fit in your golf bag or jacket pocket easily to be pulled out and used and the range.
The App
The Plus and The Original both still hook up to the Flightscope App on your mobile phone or tablet to instantaneously bring you the data from your most recent shot and it tracks this data over time to give you a realistic impression of how you are performing with each club and each type of shot.
It will also clearly show you whether you are improving or getting worse. These devices are so effective that almost every professional is using them at the driving range for every ball they hit.
The Stats
The Mevo Plus still tracks plenty of the same stats from the Original like:
• Carry Distance
• Clubhead Speed
• Smash Factor
• Apex Height
• Ball Speed
• Flight Time
• Spin Rate
• Vertical Launch Angle
New Features Of The Mevo Plus:
When looking at the new features that the Mevo Plus Brings to the table, the best place to start is with the stats that it tracks, specifically:
- Horizontal Launch Angle
- Lateral Landing
- Angle Of Attack
- Total Distance
- Roll Distance
- Spin Axis
- Spin Loft
- Shot Shape
What the new stats mean is that the accuracy is improved and we found this to be true.
Some excellent additions are the Roll Distance and Total Distance which will give us a more realistic idea of how far our shots are actually travelling although we will have to adjust for the weather conditions and the slop of the fairway or green we are hitting too.
The Internal Camera
One of the flaws of the original Flightscope Mevo was there was no way to know whether you aligned it probably for maximum accuracy and consistency.
That has all changed with the Flightscope Mevo Plus with the addition of an internal camera that helps you to get the alignment perfect every time with no second guessing.
The Simulator Software
The biggest upgrade and the reason for the big increase in price up to almost $2,000 comes with the addition of the E6 golf software that allows you to play 17 different driving ranges and 5 leading courses for free whether you are at home or at the range.
The courses that come with the Mevo Plus Are:
• Stone Canyon
• Sanctuary
• Wade Hampton
• Aviara
• The Belfry
These are the courses that come for free but there are plenty more if you are willing to spend a few additional bucks on the E6 Complete Package and it is also compatible with the Golf Club 2019 which is only available on PC.
The entertainment factor that the simulator brings is a huge advantage for us and it no doubt will be for plenty more improving golfers around the world for the simple fact that it can turn a room in your house, the garage or the back garden into a golfing theatre that you would have thought impossible even 10 years ago.
For the winter especially it provides an awesome way to keep improving your game when the weather is bad and also makes the range a lot more fun.
The Mevo Plus even has functionality for putting but we have yet to see a simulator that hits the mark when it comes to the short game.
Accuracy
Another huge factor when deciding a launch monitor/simulator is going to be worth is in the accuracy. The Original Mevo was well known for it’s high levels of accuracy and the Mevo Plus has taken this to the next level offering accuracy that is on par with the most expensive launch monitors include the GCQuad.
Take a look at these numbers when comparing the driver. Keep in mind that the Mevo Plus costs $2,000 while the GCQuad costs $14,000
Figures taken from ND Golf:
Shot | Device | Ball Speed (mph) | Club Speed (mph) | Carry (yds) | Spin (rpm) |
1 | Mevo+ | 150 | 101.9 | 201.4 | 2,513 |
GC Quad | 151 | 108 | 211.2 | 2,479 | |
2 | Mevo+ | 147.5 | 103.5 | 196.1 | 3,488 |
GC Quad | 148 | 108 | 199.3 | 3,490 | |
3 | Mevo+ | 150.8 | 104.2 | 203.9 | 2,964 |
GC Quad | 152 | 107 | 210.3 | 3,079 | |
4 | Mevo+ | 152.4 | 105.5 | 204.6 | 3,083 |
GC Quad | 153 | 105 | 209.4 | 3,137 | |
5 | Mevo+ | 152.9 | 104.5 | 205.3 | 3,257 |
GC Quad | 153 | 107 | 208.5 | 3,263 |
As you can see we are getting stunning accuracy and it also much more accurate than the original Mevo.
Apps And Software
So the Mevo Plus is compatible with IPhone and iPad but it is not yet available on Android (Disappointingly)
There are a few free Aps you need to download and this is a very straight forward device to pick up and start using immediately.
Flightscope Golf App – Now features a customizable display on your phone or tablet to show you the data you want to see and trac your progress over time.
The Flightscope Skills App – This is the place to assess your skills and improvement and you can also challenge other players online.
E6 Connect – One of the worlds leading golf software’s is a huge selling point for the Mevo plus but you will need a pretty new apple mobile device for this to work fully as intended and that means having the Apple Watch 5 or the IPhone 8 but again this is some of the best software around for golf.
On Its Own Or As Part Of The Complete Package
You can buy the unit on it’s own for $2,000 or you can get the complete home golf package which comes with an Elite Country Club Mat, A Hitting Net and a tech bundle including a laptop, a projector and a laptop stand for around $4,900.
You can also chose to take as much or as little of the bundle as you wish or you can source the items separately.
The Skytrak vs The Mevo Plus
The Skytrak is going to be the big competition for the Mevo + in our opinion because they offer similar launch monitor/simulator functionality and they come at a similar price. If you are looking for a device that doesn’t rely on IOS, the Skytrak might be for you.
It is a photometric launch monitor that is also highly accurate and covers a wide range of stats and is even goo with putting.
It is bigger and bulkier than the Mevo + and will fit in a backpack but not a bag. You also need to be an extra $99 per year for the extras with Skytrak and the protective metal case is a must to give you height for your tee shots.
The SKytrak requires less space in your home as well and the Mevo Plus Needs to 8 feet behind and needs to see the ball for 8ft while the Skytrak only needs around half of that.
This devices are both excellent and as a simulator I would go with the Sytrak but as a launch monitor I would probably go with the Mevp + because it works in all lighting conditions.
Overall Conclusion
There are a number of reasons you would choose to go with the Mevo Plus although it is not cheap.
Unrivalled Accuracy
If you want to get accuracy like this from another device, you are talking about spending over $10k which won’t be realistic for a lot of golfers. The Mevo Plus has really brought the Launch Monitor/Simulator market forward in terms of the value and accuracy that you get for a substantially lower price than its competitors.
Turn Practice Into Fun
While whacking a ball into a net and hearing you figures read on might be a great way to improve, it can quickly get boring. When you are playing virtual rounds using one of the best golf softwares available on the market today, it makes things a lot more interesting and it gets even better when you learn that you can play online against friends or strangers for added excitement.
Advanced Alignment
You set the Mevo + up 4 – 7 feet behind you just like the original Mevo but this time you can use the internal camera and your smart phone to make sure that the device is lined up perfectly every time for maximum accuracy.
Don’t get me wrong, the Mevo does what it is supposed to do and is an excellent buy for $500 but for the extra features and accuracy you get with the Mevo +, we would be recommending to anybody who can afford it, to go with the Plus for added extras that come as standard.