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If you have righty and lefty’s playing, or just prefer a clean and clear hitting area then and overhead launch monitor might be the best choice for you.

A clean look for your hitting zone with no ground based launch monitors

Here are the top three overhead golf simulator launch monitors that I am most familiar with. (I own a GC2, a ground based system as my unit and am familiar with the latest launch monitors on the market in 2024).

  1. Uneekor QED
  2. ProTee VX
  3. Uneekor EyeXO
  4. Uneekor EyeXO2 – Wider hitting area
  5. Trackman IO – NEW (does not work with GSPRO)
  6. GC Falcon – NEW Foresight Overhead LM
  7. GC Hawk – Multi-Sport

**My top 3 list expanded with new editions to the overhead LM offers!

These units all mount above the hitting area and away from any low shanked golf balls right into the most expensive part of the golf simulator. It keeps the hitting area clean. It looks nice, it is easy to drop your golf ball into the hitting zone and swing worry free.

Let’s look at these three launch monitors a bit closer.

Uneekor QED Ignite

Screenshot from Uneekor.com of the QED Ignite
  • $7000 (at time of publication, buy now at ShopIndoorGolf)
  • Software upgrades and packages built for game improvement / play for $1000 or $2000 more
  • Captures Ball Data (requires special marked balls)
  • Captures Club Data (requires QED Club stickers)
  • This is the first overhead unit from Uneekor
  • Works with multiple simulator software (GSPro is my top choice)
  • Mounts on the ceiling

ProTee VX

Protee VX – $6500
  • Dual high speed cameras
  • Club and Ball Data
  • Use any balls / gear you want
  • Works with GSPro
  • Video replay of club and ball at impact
  • Right and Left Handed Golfer detection

Uneekor Eye XO

The Uneekor Eye XO – Screenshot from Uneekor.com
  • $10,000 retail price (buy now)
  • Software upgrades for $1000 or $2000
  • Ball Data collected
  • Use any golf ball of your choice – You do not need special marked balls.
  • Club Data *Eye XO stickers required
  • Works with multiple simulator software packages – again GS Pro is my choice
  • *Carls place offers a custom ‘Eye XO Protection Shield‘

GC Falcon (New)

  • $15,000 (includes FSX Play & 2020, see more at Foresight)
  • Club Data
  • Large Hitting Zones
  • 2 year Warranty
  • Officially integrated with GSPro (additional $250 subscription).
  • Other sports like soccer, baseball, softball, tennis are available are only available on the Multi-Sport capabilities of the GCHawk

Positives and Negatives to Overhead Launch Monitors

  • Right and left handers easily play
  • Clean, clear and open hitting area
  • No stress for errant low line drive shots damaging the system
  • Fairly large hitting zone
  • Can be used in tighter spaces (as long as uneekors are hung 9-10′ above hitting zone)
  • Once installed and dialed in they are set and forget
  • Very accurate
  • Does add in potential sky hit shots from hitting the system (happened from a 6 index RL player who skyed one into his EyeXO *he built a shield out of Lexan to protect the EyeXO – pwade3 you the man! *if you go back to february 27th, 2021 you can see him talk about details of the shield he built). Others have built wire cages that also have worked as protective devices. *12/9/2022 update – Carls place now offers a custom built EyeXO protective case.
  • These are more expensive than some of the ground based options like the GC2, Skytrak and Mevo+

The units are deadly accurate. And once they are dialed in they stay that way. No worries of realignment or having the system slightly off line or out of center.

If you have right and left handers it’s damn near a requirement to have an overhead golf sim. – or use a radar based system that sits behind the hitting zone.

Unit’s like the Skytrak and GC3/BLP sit on the ground off to the side of the hitting zone and are in the way of a left handed golfers swing unless you move it across to the other side of the hitting zone (and vice versa) . It is challenging moving the unit back and forth and placing it precisely aligned.

Another option you could consider is a launch monitor that sits behind the golfer and uses radar like the Mevo+, R10, and the 2023 launch of the Rapsodo MLM2PRO. These use radar and have a few of their own drawbacks, but are the lowest cost launch monitor class on the market.

For overhead users that want to go the Uneekor route, you can utilize this channelg on discord to find a ton of answers: Uneekor launch monitors on the discord for SimGolfTour. It looks like to me that while there are occasional issues getting things dialed in, once set up you are good to go. Here’s a recommended Uneekor Calibration How To Video

Software improvements from Uneekor are steady and there are a good group of people willing to help you set yours up if you go the GSPro route for your software (which I recommend as well).

Overhead Launch Monitors vs Ground Based LM’s

I built my golf simulator in the second half of 2019 and had it ready to play in January of 2020.

While I timed my simulator build perfectly for lockdown back in January of 2020, I missed out on the new Uneekor overhead launch monitors.
Today I would take a very close look at the overhead units – and I have loved owning my GC2.

At that time (2019), the only viable overhead launch monitor I knew of was the GC Hawk. It was also $20,000. The ground based systems like Skytrak ($2,000) or the GC2 ($5400 CPO) were way more in my price range. Today there are way more launch monitor options that would have saved me serious $$ when building my simulator.

The cost is higher for the entry level overhead unit than the entry level ground based launch monitors. If you are considering a $7,000-12,000 launch monitor then the overhead units start to make sense to look at. Your are probably looking at either the GC2, the Quad, or the Uneekor QED or Eye XO.

If I had it to do over again I would really look closely at the Eye XO.

For one reason, the GC2 is now more expensive as the GC3. And unless you can buy one with out FSX software. This may not be possible now? And mostly since the price would be very close to the same, the fact that lefty’s can join in without issue would be sweet.

Finally, with a little bit of protective shielding put in place, the unit is totally safe from errant shots and sky hit balls. Even though I have a shield on my GC2 I still fear a line drive smash hit off the toe and into the launch monitor.

I would also like the simple look of a clean, open and clear hitting zone. I have my kids and their friends playing, as well as some of my friends who are not always the strongest golfers swinging away. A clear hitting zone is ideal.

They are dialed in once during installation and then they do not move. With the GC2 it can get slightly out of alignment when plugged in or unplugged. Or if someone accidentally touches it or pushes on it.

The accuracy seems really good, virtually the same as what the other launch monitors report in comparison tests.

I would pick the XO over the QED mainly because having to use special balls or put special stickers on your balls to use them would be a major turn off for me.

I like that you can add swing cameras that will show replays of your club face at impact. This is a feature that I would love to add to my system some how.

There have been a few shared issues that the Uneekor channel from the Simulator Golf Tour I have read that have hit more than one. Things like certain Ping drivers having multiple mis-reads. Sometimes a ‘shiny’ wedge shot will not read correctly. Sometimes a large amount of spin on drivers when there shouldn’t have been compared against other launch monitors.

If you are at the super serious inquiry phase I would highly recommend spending a few hours and reading back as far as you can on the Uneekor channel on the SGT Discord (you may need to join SGT prior to getting access to the channel, I’m not sure but you can ask nicely there on the welcome channel for access).

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