Choosing Between SkyTrak+ and ProTee VX for a Home Bay

SkyTrak+ and ProTee VX both measure your shots for a home simulator, but they solve different room problems. The SkyTrak+ is a floor unit that sits beside the ball, so it works in a low room, a rented space or a garage you also use for other things. The ProTee VX is a pair of high-speed cameras mounted on the ceiling that look down on the hitting area. It needs real height and a permanent spot to live.

If your room has at least 9 to 10 ft of ceiling and you plan to stay put, the VX is the more interesting machine. It reports face impact location, and its core data needs no subscription. If the ceiling is lower, you rent, or you want to move the unit between rooms or take it outdoors, the SkyTrak+ is the practical choice. Neither is objectively better. The right answer depends on the room and the data you want.

Five-year cost is where the sticker price stops telling the story. The SkyTrak+ is cheaper to buy, but its plans add a yearly cost. The VX costs more up front and has no required data plan. Both need a sim software licence if you want to play courses, and the VX needs a Windows PC.

How we put this together: we compared published manufacturer specs, retailer listings and owner reports, then applied the criteria below. Links on this page may earn us a commission.

The verdict and a one-glance decision table

Factor	SkyTrak+	ProTee VX
Mounting position	Floor, beside the ball	Ceiling, overhead
Price at time of writing	Listed at $2,495, dealer price seen near $1,995 (check current pricing)	About $6,500 (check current pricing)
Required subscription	Not for basic practice data; plans add features and third-party play	None for core data
Hitting zone	Small spot marked by a laser dot, roughly 2 x 2 in	About 21 x 25 in
Face impact location	Not shown	Shown
Devices	Windows, macOS, iOS and Android	Windows PC only
Ceiling and depth	Ceiling only has to clear your swing	About 9 to 10 ft of ceiling and around 16 ft of depth, per dealer guidance
Outdoor use	Works on a hitting mat outdoors	Indoor and fixed
Left-handed player	Unit moves to the other side	No change needed

Choose SkyTrak+ if you rent or may move, your ceiling is under 9 ft, you want to run it from an iPad or Mac, you want range sessions outdoors, or your budget is under about $3,000.

Choose ProTee VX if you own the room, have 9 to 10 ft of ceiling and around 16 ft of depth, share the bay with left- and right-handed players, want strike location on the face, and already have or will buy a Windows PC with a gaming-class GPU.

Neither is objectively better. They solve different room problems. We weighted the decision across five criteria: room fit and installation (30%), five-year cost of ownership (25%), club and strike data (20%), software and device flexibility (15%) and portability with outdoor use (10%). Room fit ranks first because it can rule a unit out before anything else matters.

For product-level detail, read the full ProTee VX review and the SkyTrak+ review.

Check SkyTrak+ price on Amazon ↗

Can your room take a ceiling-mounted unit?

The VX needs a ceiling mount. Dealers cite about 9 to 10 ft of ceiling and around 16 ft of room depth as the working guidance. The SkyTrak+ sits on the floor beside the ball, so its ceiling only has to clear your swing. Height is the first question to settle, and it is worth doing before you compare anything else, because a unit that does not fit cannot be fixed by a better feature list.

Two worked examples show how this plays out:

• An 8.5 ft garage ceiling rules out the VX on that guidance. It falls about half a foot short of the bottom of the 9 to 10 ft range. The SkyTrak+ still fits, provided your driver swing clears the ceiling.
• A 10 ft basement that is 16 ft deep sits inside the VX guidance on both measurements. In that room, the deciding factors become budget and the data you want, not room fit.

For full clearance math, see the ceiling height guide and room size planning.

Height and depth checks for the VX

Measure the finished ceiling height, from the finished floor to the finished ceiling. Joist height overstates what you have, and a drywall ceiling can drop the usable height by several inches. Look for ducts, light fixtures and beams where the unit would hang above the hitting area, because any of them can push the mount into a bad spot.

Consider who installs it. The mounting hardware is one cost. If you need a ceiling outlet, you may also need an electrician. That cost varies by house, so get a quote before you order.

Floor and screen distance for SkyTrak+

The unit sits beside the ball with the golfer facing it. It needs a clear line between the camera window and the ball, so keep furniture, posts and cables out of that line. Leave room to move the unit to the other side of the ball when a left-handed player takes over.

Five years of running costs, worked out

Sticker price is only the start. Fees, extras and the PC you run it on can shift the comparison by thousands over five years. Here is the math at list prices, using the figures we could source. Each number is our arithmetic on the published or quoted prices.

• SkyTrak+ at list: $2,495 plus Play & Improve at about $249 a year. $2,495 + (5 x $249) = $2,495 + $1,245 = about $3,740.
• SkyTrak+ at the $1,995 dealer price seen: $1,995 + $1,245 = about $3,240 on the same plan.
• Add GSPro at about $250 a year: 5 x $250 = $1,250 more. The SkyTrak+ at list with GSPro comes to about $4,990.
• ProTee VX at about $6,500: no required subscription for core data, so the purchase price is the running total for core use. Add GSPro for the same five years and it is $6,500 + $1,250 = about $7,750.
• The gap: $7,750 - $3,740 = about $4,010 over five years at list prices, before installation and any PC costs.

The gap narrows if you buy the SkyTrak+ at the dealer price seen and skip the software plan. It widens if you choose the VX and need a GPU upgrade or ceiling electrical work. Neither extra is priced here, because the sources we compared do not give a figure for them.

If you want to see how plans compare across other units, read the simulator subscription models and launch monitors without a subscription.

Check ProTee VX price ↗

How each one reads the strike

The two units watch the shot from opposite directions. The SkyTrak+ looks at the ball from the side and uses radar on the club. The VX looks down from above with two cameras. Each approach trades a few things against the others, and the right one depends on which numbers you care about.

SkyTrak+: radar on the club, camera on the ball

Doppler radar tracks club movement for speed, path and face angle. A high-speed photometric camera captures the ball's launch and spin. Nothing needs to be stuck to the club or painted on the ball, so you can hit your own balls without special markings.

The trade-off is the hitting spot. A laser dot marks a small target, roughly 2 x 2 in, and the ball has to sit on it for the best read. That is simple to set up, but it asks the golfer to be consistent about where the ball goes.

What the SkyTrak+ setup asks of you

You need to line the ball up with the laser dot each time, and you need to keep the camera window clear. Once that habit is set, the setup is quick. Moving the unit between a left-handed and a right-handed player is the real chore, and that is covered in the handedness section below.

ProTee VX: two cameras overhead plus AI processing

Two high-speed cameras capture the impact from above. ProTee says AI fills in values such as attack angle and lie, which the cameras do not directly show. ProTee describes a "virtual sticker" approach, meaning there are no physical markers on the ball or the club.

Because the cameras see the face from above, the VX can report where on the face the strike landed, which is the main reason players choose it. The full product page covers the rest of the feature set in detail.

What the VX setup asks of you

The mount has to be right before the unit does anything useful. Once it is set and calibrated, the daily routine is simple: you hit into the zone and the cameras do the rest. Moving it means taking it down and calibrating again in the new room.

Hitting area, alignment and switching handedness

Handedness is where the two units differ most day to day, so it is worth a close look if more than one person will use the bay.

Question	SkyTrak+	ProTee VX
Where the ball can go	A small target spot marked by a laser dot	Anywhere in the roughly 21 x 25 in hitting zone
Left-handed player	Unit must be physically moved to the other side	No change needed
Floor space	Unit sits on the floor beside the ball	Nothing on the floor to kick or knock
Alignment	Re-aim the unit after each move	Mounted once and left alone

The SkyTrak+ has to move every time the handedness changes, and each move means checking the line between camera window and ball again. The VX does not care who is swinging, because the hitting zone is large and the cameras are fixed overhead. For a household that mixes left- and right-handed players, the VX removes a chore that would otherwise happen every session.

If you want the layout details, see setups for left- and right-handed players and SkyTrak ball placement.

Club detail and strike feedback

The numbers each unit shows are the real split between them. Here is what each one lists.

Data point	SkyTrak+	ProTee VX
Club path	Yes, via radar	Yes
Face angle	Yes, via radar	Yes
Attack angle	Not listed for this unit	Yes, AI-filled
Lie	Not listed for this unit	Yes, AI-filled
Face impact location	Not shown	Yes (heel, toe, high, low)
Impact video	Not listed for this unit	Yes

The VX's face impact location is the feature that matters most to players working on centred contact or gear effect. A heel strike and a toe strike can produce similar carry numbers while behaving very differently, and only the face data shows the difference. Players who mainly track carry distance and dispersion may never need it, and the SkyTrak+ gives them what they need for that job.

Some published side-by-side comparisons by reviewers report the VX showing face-to-path and strike location on shots where the SkyTrak+ showed only side spin. Treat the individual shot numbers in those reports as anecdotes, not measured tolerances. Neither maker's accuracy should be read as a tolerance unless the maker states one, and the maker does not publish a tolerance for the sources we compared.

Response time and dropped reads

Speed and reliability shape how a session feels, more than any spec sheet does.

ProTee states that shot results appear in under 0.3 s. The SkyTrak+ is quicker than the original SkyTrak, but any pause you notice depends on the software and the device running it. A slow laptop or a weak wireless link can add more delay than the unit itself.

High, soft wedge shots have been hard for side-mounted camera units. Some owner and reviewer reports say the VX reads them reliably, while the SkyTrak+ sometimes shows zero side spin on wedges. These are reports from people using the units, not lab results. Check recent owner feedback before you give them much weight, because firmware and software updates change how each unit behaves.

Lighting matters for both. The VX prefers even bay lighting and a matte hitting strip, so a bright spot on the mat or a glossy surface can confuse the read. The SkyTrak+ is more tolerant, but a lamp should never be aimed into its camera window. For fixes, see lighting and camera accuracy and fixing ProTee missed reads.

Software you can play, and what it needs

Both units are only as useful as the software behind them, and that is where the costs hide.

Item	SkyTrak+	ProTee VX
Own app	Practice range and course play	ProTee's own software
Third-party titles	E6 CONNECT, TGC 2019, Creative Golf 3D, ProTee Play, and GSPro through a connector	GSPro, TGC 2019 and E6 (check the current list)
Subscription	Most third-party play needs an active SkyTrak plan	None required for core data
Sim licence such as GSPro	Separate purchase	Separate purchase

The SkyTrak+ route is the more layered of the two. Its own app covers practice and course play, but most third-party play sits behind an active SkyTrak plan. GSPro can connect through a connector, and it is worth checking whether that route is the official one today, since connectors have changed hands before. Plan names and prices also change, so confirm the current tiers before you commit to a bundle.

The VX works with GSPro, TGC 2019 and E6, and it needs no subscription for core data. The licence for any sim software is still a separate purchase on either unit. For the SkyTrak+ side of this, see the SkyTrak+ software setup guide.

PC and device requirements

A missing computer is the surprise that derails more budgets than any other item here.

• SkyTrak+: its app runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, so an existing Mac, iPad or phone can drive it.
• SkyTrak+ at 1080p: a mid-range GPU such as a GTX 1650 or RX 580 class card is cited as enough for sim graphics. Higher resolutions need more graphics power.
• ProTee VX: Windows only. A Mac or tablet cannot run it.
• VX at higher resolutions: an RTX 3060 to 3080 class GPU is suggested.
• If you do not own a suitable Windows PC, add its cost to the total budget before you compare the two units on price.
• Plan the desk or stand that holds the computer. See the computer stand guide.

Check the requirements of the specific sim title you plan to run, because they vary.

Portability, outdoor sessions and moving house

The two units suit different lives after the install is done.

The SkyTrak+ fits in a backpack and works indoors or outdoors on a hitting mat. That makes it useful for range-style sessions in the garden, or for taking it to a friend's place. Check the outdoor usage guide for the details before you plan outdoor sessions.

The VX is indoor and fixed. Moving house means unmounting, remounting and recalibrating in the new room, and you need to find a room that meets the same height and depth guidance. Renters may not be allowed to drill a ceiling at all, so check the lease before you plan around a VX.

Resale is the last point. A floor unit is easier to ship and sell. A ceiling unit tends to sell best as part of a room, since the buyer is often buying the whole bay as well as the unit.

Who should skip each one

Every buyer has a deal breaker. These lists are meant to save you from the wrong purchase.

• Skip the SkyTrak+ if you switch between left- and right-handed players every session, you want strike location on the face, or you dislike paying yearly plan fees.
• Skip the ProTee VX if your ceiling is under about 9 ft, you rent, you want to practise at a range, you only own a Mac or a tablet, or your total budget including a PC is under about $8,000.
• If neither fits, look at other overhead launch monitors or Square Golf or the original SkyTrak.
• If you are also weighing a Trackman, read SkyTrak+ against Trackman before you decide.

Pre-purchase checklist

Run through these steps before you order. Most of them take an afternoon and can save you a return.

• Measure the finished ceiling height and the room depth, and write both numbers down.
• Confirm who will swing: all right-handed, or a mix.
• List every device you will run the unit from, including the PC if you do not already own one.
• Decide which sim software you want and price its licence on top of the unit.
• Ask the dealer about installation, returns and how warranty claims are handled.
• Check whether a bundle with a screen, enclosure or mat saves money over buying the parts separately.
• If you are also weighing the original SkyTrak, read the SkyTrak launch monitor review.

See current SkyTrak+ bundles ↗

Questions to settle before you order

These are the questions buyers ask most after the main comparison. Each has its own heading so you can jump straight to the one you need.

Can a ProTee VX come with me if I move?

Yes, but it has to be taken down, mounted in the new room and recalibrated. Check that the new room has about 9 to 10 ft of ceiling and around 16 ft of depth, which is the guidance dealers cite. Budget for the install effort as well as the unit.

Does SkyTrak+ show basic numbers without a paid plan?

Yes. Basic practice range data works without a plan. Paid plans add game-improvement tools and third-party simulator play, with Game Improvement listed at about $129 a year and Play & Improve at about $249 a year at time of writing. Check current tiers with SkyTrak before you buy.

Do I need a computer at all to run the VX?

Yes. The ProTee VX runs on Windows only, so there is no tablet-only route. For higher-resolution simulator graphics, an RTX 3060 to 3080 class GPU is suggested. Check the requirements of the specific sim title you plan to run.

Can one GSPro licence follow me if I switch from SkyTrak+ to the VX?

GSPro is sold by GSPro, separately from either monitor, and both units can connect to it. Whether a licence moves between devices depends on GSPro's current terms, so read its licence and device rules before you assume you can carry it over. Check with GSPro directly.

What happens to SkyTrak+ features if a plan lapses?

Plan-based features and third-party simulator access stop until you renew. Basic practice data stays available. Plan terms can change, so confirm the current details with SkyTrak.