Ernest Sports ES12 Portable Launch Monitor

I made the decision to purchase this unit based on the feedback from a friend you has used his for the past 2 years and swears by its accuracy. y unit was delivered mid April and I eagerly went straight to my home range to try it out. I was grossly disappointed.After multiple attempts of adjusting distance and angles from the ball, even using a tape measure to calibrate the suggested 14" out, 14" forward position, the distance measurements have been significantly inconsistent and flat out wrong. Regardless of solid or mishits, measurements were all over the place. An example.....a well struck 4 iron showed less distance than my gap wedge.Also, the bluetooth capability does not work well at all.....I have not been able to get the unit to record and hold the swing measurement data effectively after multiple attempts and repeated add/delete of the device on my Samsung Note 5.I suspect that the quality assurance process for the building of these units has high variability. That would explain why some people swear by it, while others think it does not work as advertised.I will be reaching out to the company to see if there is anything that can be done.....will provide more feedback on the customer service then..*******Post Customer Support feedback**************A few days after posting my initial feedback, I received an email from the Tech Support Director. He offered to connect with me to walk thru the issues to determine the problem and recommend a fix. Prior to receiving his email, I spent some time reviewing a number of YouTube videos of people using the product and noted that they all appeared to have the monitor positioned further forward than the 14" recommended in the material. I told him that I would try that first before connecting with him on resolving. He indicated that what may have been happening with me previously, was the monitor was picking up my clubhead vs. the ball, hence the spurious results.It took me a few weeks, but I was able to try the monitor again hitting into a net, and after placing it further away (at least 2 ft out and up), the results were significantly better and more consistent. My next step is to take it to an open driving range to confirm distances, but at this point, I can more assuredly say that the monitor is at least 3 stars. I will upgrade after I get the opportunity to use it at an open driving range and confirm its accuracy.*******Additional feedback, post connecting with Tech Support Director*****We connected via Skype while I was on the grass range at my golf club. As it turned out, the device worked well for the most part. There was no significant adjustment that was made, other than angling the product just slightly to the left of face on. My typical shot shape is a draw, with my miss being a hook. This was an inadvertent adjustment that seemed to allow for more consistency with the data capture and accuracy. The bluetooth connection worked fine and the phone would call out the distances after each shot. There were a few of my LW-SW shots that were not captured,due to high trajectory and unit positioning (I had it too far from me when hitting those clubs), but I must say, that I have more faith in the product now, compared to my previous experience. I have used it 4 times since and I am comfortable with how it is working. The only issue that I've run into at this point is that it seems to drain the battery pretty fast. I estimate that one gets about 6hrs of use out of a battery.

Before I bought the ES12 ($250) I researched about every launch monitor and swing analyzer under $400. I wanted a device that provided accurate results, make the range more fun, and could improve my game. My goal is to improve my accuracy with different wedges from 20-140 yards and be able to use with a net during the winter. The ES12 was the only device I found that supposedly measured ball speed accurately for an affordable price and had pretty good reviews.Ease of Use and Droid App: Setup is pretty easy. You just place the unit 12-14 inches over and 12-14 inches ahead of where you are hitting. There are only two buttons; Power and Club Selection. You just select the club on the device before you start hitting. All clubs are preloaded w/o the ability to edit. You can also use Bluetooth to link it to the free app that will record all of your hits. After each hit the unit displays ball speed and then distance. If you have the app linked it will speak the distance in a creepy computer voice. The app is very easy to use and keeps track of up to 2000 swings.Results and Accuracy from range session: I've hit about 150 balls with the unit now and I must say the results are quite impressive. You do have to have the ball in the right area though as if you are to close to the ES12 it will pick up your club too and give you a much lower yardage. This was an easy fix though. I was at a range that had just got new range balls and was able to use the flags and my Bushnell to compare against my ES12 output. There was still snow on the range so I was not able to compare against my Bushnell over 120 yards. However I do know my yardages with my clubs and each club was pretty much dead on. If I hit it fat or miss hit it the results showed on the device. If I smoked it it was right on (I really don't need the device for full shots but wanted to check each club for accuracy). I don't think there was one strike that I questioned the results from the ES12. Going in I was concerned on the accuracy for short shots but this is where I was really impressed. From 30 yard pitches to full pitching wedges the unit was almost exact for carry distance. There was a flag 61 yards out and when I hit a shot at it I mentally knew the yardage from where it landed. I then looked at the device and it confirmed the exact yardage as well as confirmed it with my Bushnell just to be sure. I will say I was still skeptical after my research and didn't expect these results; especially with very short shots.Who it is best for: To be honest, if your a lower handicap its more of just a fun gadget. You probably know your yardages and 3/4 shots. But for mid to high handicaps and us northerners the ES12 is great. I can now go into my backyard or basement and hit wedges into net and practice different shots. This is where it can really add to my game. And if you go to a range that is poorly marked or not at all this is perfect. You may get more out of this than spending $250 on a new driver. Plus the app keeps all the data and show each clubs average and range from shortest to longest.Pros: Accurate, easy to use, free app that saves all data through Bluetooth.Cons: Bluetooth can be a little finicky as it wouldn't pair a couple times (may be user error, when I connected it stayed connected for the whole range session), you cannot edit the lofts of clubs though I didn't notice an affect and all my irons are strong lofts (rocketbladez). The engineer from ES said a few degrees of loft have minimal affect and ball speed is the main factor.TL/DR: Easy to use. Great initial results for all clubs and distances. Very happy with purchase.