Foresight GC2

The GC2 from Foresight is the professional quality launch monitor for business and home simulator enthusiasts.

It is ideal for indoor golf simulators using a ground based launch monitor. The GC2 is the launch monitor that we use here at the OTG golf simulator.

It takes the first spot in our mid-priced priced launch monitors ($5000-$10,000). It allows integration with 3rd party software (GSPro) for full simulator play.

*As of last update in 2022 – the GC2 is no longer produced and is available on a healthy resale market. Foresight now offers the GC3). Prices are coming down and the timing could be fantastic to pick up this workhorse launch monitor for your simulator. I’ve had mine in use since January of 2020 and it works as good today as the day I turned it on. No issues, very few misreads and continued accuracy and reliability.

GC2 Launch Monitor Overview

The Foresight GC2 and it’s ‘big brother’ the GCQuad set the bar for quality when it comes to indoor launch monitors.

They are extremely accurate, super fast and very reliable.

Let’s take a closer look at what made us choose the GC2 for our simulator here in the OGT golf shop.

• New sells for around $6500 – Only available on the resale market in mid 2022.
• Around $5000 certified pre-owned
• Considered the gold standard for indoor photometric launch monitors
• Accurate measurement of the ball
• Easy to setup and use
• Ground based launch monitor
• Large hitting zone
• Fast – less than half a second for results
• Easy to know if the system is ready for a shot or not (green light vs a blinking red light)
• Able to be integrated with some 3rd party software (in this case, TGC2019 and GSPro)
• Foresight official software and courses are extra – starts at $3000 and each course is $150-$500 additional per course.
• The launch monitor I chose for my simulator here at the OTG golf sim.

GC2 Fresh Out of The Box

Here are some pictures of our GC2 and shield directly out of the box.

Why GC2 for our Golf Simulator Launch Monitor?

There are a lot of factors that went into the reason that I chose the GC2 for our launch monitor. Your needs and wants will likely be drastically different than the simulator that we wanted.

I’m going to go over the reasons why we chose the GC2 over some of the big competitors like the Skytrak. Some of my reasons might fit in with the same needs or wants as you have and some might now.

Reason 1: Ground Based Launch Monitor Was Fine – No Lefty’s.

All of my close golfing friends are right handed and that meant we could set in place the GC2 and not move it. Lefty’s were not an issue due to my golf buddy group who would be playing over here.

The GC2 sits on the ground off to the right and slightly in front of where you place your ball to hit from. If I had a lefty then the GC2 would have to be moved back and forth on opposite sides of the hitting strip whenever a lefty stepped up to take his shot. If this was the case then I would have looked really hard into the overhead units (Uneekor) as well as the Flightscope systems (especially now the Mevo+) that sat on the ground but back behind the golfer.

Being fine with a ground based system pointed me towards the Skytrak for the best price point the GC2 for the best overall and today I would include the Mevo+ as another entry level priced system. When I began my research the Mevo+ was not on the market.

I looked briefly at some others like the GCQuad (a higher end GC2 essentially), Flightscope and the Trackman systems but they were the high end launch monitors. Prices with them were well over $10k and up near $20k, which blew our budget out of the water.

Reason 2: It’s Lightning Fast!

I wanted a fast reaction time from time the ball was hit until the time it displayed the shot on the screen.

The GC2 was way faster with reading shots and displaying them on the screen. You hit a shot with the GC2 and it takes .4 seconds to register and then be delivered to the system. The shot displays on the screen super fast. I know this is partly due to the robustness of the gaming PC we have employed to run the simulator but a speedy system was a high priority for us.

Speed was the first big reason I began leaning towards GC2 over Skytrak.

I watched a lot of videos with people playing on a Skytrak and the person would hit the shot and you could get a 3-5 second delay before the ball would show up on the screen. Hit the shot… count to 4 Mississippi and then the shot shows up on the screen.

It just seemed like the delay would to take a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Skytrak users are minimizing the delay as much as possible with USB direct connection and powering it with a killer gaming PC, but there is at least a two and a half second lag that the Skytrak will always have.

There are plenty of people who do not mind the shot delay from Skytrak in the slightest. This was a personal thing.

Reason 3: I wanted a large hitting zone.

The GC2 has a large area to place your ball and hit from. You do not have to be precise with your ball placement to get the device to read. Watch my video up there to see just how large of a space you have to place your ball when hitting.

The Skytrak uses a laser pointer thing that shows you where to place your ball, and the overall area is quite small. Even more awkward is the ideal placement of the ball in relation to the laser changes from club to club, especially from a driver to your lofted wedges. Best practices also include the logo of the ball facing the launch monitor.

With GC2 you just roll a ball into your hitting zone and whenever the light turns green you are good to go. If it’s red and blinking don’t start swinging.

Reason 5: I wanted fewer misreads and to avoid not trusting results

I wanted to know that I could trust my launch monitor to deliver accurate results. Good and bad shots should be recorded accurately. If I hit my 8 iron 145 in real life I should hit it 145 in the sim with the GC2.

A lot of the golf data geeks (and I say that with love) have very throughly tested the accuracy of Skytrak vs GC2 vs Trackman. The results are that they are all really darn accurate and all pretty close with one another in data.

For Skytrak, one of the complaints that I did read from some users claimed that high club head speeds gave the Skytrak trouble. It could be inaccurate with high club head speeds and smashing drives.

Since smashing drives is one of the most enjoyable parts of golf we had to make sure that was dead on accurate.

Not that I am personally out crushing bombs, as you’ll see if you check out some of the videos of us playing on the simulator, but some of the guys we play golf with can smash it.

I wanted something accurate for all the clubs including the driver if we are making this kind of investment in a system.

The accuracy of the Skytrak and the GC2 seems to be really really close and not enough of a factor to justify the price difference. If the Skytrak was as fast as the GC2 I would probably have gotten the Skytrak and saved four grand.

Reason 6: I did not want to be forced to use special marked balls.

Some of the other systems required you to use balls with metallic reflective dots, or special balls with patterns on them in order to get accurate readings. With the GC2, you can use your regular balls. It’s more of a nuisance than anything but since the GC2 used any ball you want it was good to go for me.

Reason 7: There Is a Protective Shield, The Shank Tank Provides Piece of Mind

Without a protective shield I would to be nervous that a bad shank off to the right would send a golf ball smashing into the launch monitor and possibly destroying this very expensive piece of equipment. No chance I was going to let that be a constant worry. There is an official protective case that our GC2 has been in since the day we turned it on. THANK GOODNESS

The shank tank has earned it’s cost just in piece of mind. It has been hit once by my 9-year old with a super soft mishit off the toe. If you see the pictures of where the GC2 sits, , it is about 4-5 inches in front of where you can place your ball and off to the right a good 16″ or so.

Psychologically it’s made me really not worry about the system getting hit. It seems many others do not mind so much either. My local Dicks Sporting Goods uses the GC2 in their club practice area and they don’t even have a case on theirs and the general public uses it. The chances of hitting the GC2 with an errant shot are slim but not impossible and with this much money on the line, I wanted the protection.

Reason 9: I read the experience of others who used both systems.

The GC2 was praised by people whom had started with a Skytrak and upgraded to the GC2 later. Most all of them saying if you know you are an avid golfer just go with the GC2 and do not look back. So, that’s what I did. Even if they loved their Skytrak, the GC2 was worth the investment to them.

GC2 vs Skytrak Price Comparison

The GC2 is way more expensive. Coming in at $6500 new vs $1995 new for Skytrak.

You can find a certified pre-owned GC2 for $5400. New ones will run you somewhere around $6000+ without software. I purchased mine new from Foresight directly on a “Black Friday” special in 2019 for just under $6000.

Official FSX software is another very hefty charge (four figure) charge. New courses are around $150 each and premium courses are $500 or so. You do not have to use the FSX software with the GC2. I opted not to do so, instead going with the TGC2019.

My system of the GC2($5850) + TGC2019 software(around $900 as it was 850 euros ) put me at $6750 for launch monitor and software.

At the time of this review you can buy a brand new Skytrak from the official company for $1995.00 + $100 / year for a simulation plan. There are some other subscription charges and plans that you pay each month with Skytrak but you can also use it with TGC2019.

Used Skytrak’s on the secondary market can sometimes be found for a decent discount, depending on the device and the market when you are buying. During the Corona quarantine the prices were elevated due to a market shortage. A used one sold on ebay for $3100. So your mileage may vary on what kind of price you can get.

What I Think About Making The Investment Into the GC2?

Truthfully, I think the GC2 is worth it. If you are really wanting a quality piece of equipment it is hard to go wrong with the GC2. It has proven itself over the years to be the indoor launch monitor to beat when it comes to performance.

It maintains it’s value over time as well.

There is a very active buyers and sellers market going on across the facebook groups, simulator forum and discord channels. If I needed to sell this device I could get a big chunk of my money back in little to no time flat. Since I bought this thing in 2019, I could have resold it for a profit during the quarantine. It is an investment, but if you take care of it you should get a big chunk of your money back out when and if you go to sell it.

What I Might Do Differently?

I might give the Uneekor EyeXO a closer look. I love the fact that the EyeXO sits above the hitting zone. It makes having any lefty’s over much easier. Now when our lefty friend comes over, he has to be extra cautious to swing over the launch monitor or we have to move it back and forth.

With the 2021 requirement that the FSX software has to be sold with the unit is another huge charge that I was lucky enough to purchase before was a requirement. Especially when you consider the fact that the software I am using has so far only been around $60. The software I’m using (GSPro) is still in beta (GSPro is live and awesome – and all I now play)and will eventually cost more but for now this price is crazy low.

The Uneekor eyeXO sits above the hitting zone, making it easy for lefty’s and it is out of the danger zone from shanked balls. The price is comparable and it would be something I would love to try out at some point.

All in all, I am super satisfied with my GC2 and thankful I bought it when I did.

Keep Researching More on the GC2

• Official Foresight GC2 Link
• Golf Sim Forum’s Foresight Section
• Price of the GC2 from licensed vendor
• How to set up the GC2 with TGC2019
• See all launch monitors
• See the GC3 Review
• Buy A GC2 From Ebay