Personal launch monitors have become genuinely affordable in recent years, but the right choice depends heavily on where you'll actually use it.
Outdoor range use: radar-based units
If you'll mainly use it at a range or outdoors where the ball travels its full flight, a radar-based unit generally provides more accurate carry and total distance numbers, since it's tracking the real ball flight rather than modeling it from impact data alone. See our launch monitors equipment guide for the radar-vs-camera breakdown in full.
Indoor net practice: camera-based units
If you're hitting into a net in a garage or basement, a camera-based unit that measures club and ball data at the moment of impact is the more practical choice, since a radar unit has no real ball flight to track in a confined indoor space.
What to trust — and what to double-check
Treat relative changes (is my new setup increasing ball speed or improving my angle of attack?) as more reliable than absolute distance numbers, especially for wedges and short irons on budget units. If exact yardages matter for club-gapping decisions, validate them against an outdoor range session with visible ball flight — our club gapping tool can help you spot inconsistencies once you have real numbers.