Should my launch monitor go on the ceiling or the floor?

Two places a camera unit can live

Every camera launch monitor (also called photometric) photographs the ball, and usually the club, in the instant after impact. The difference is where the cameras sit.

• Floor units sit on the mat beside the ball, level with it: the Foresight GCQuad and GC3, the Garmin Approach® R50, the Uneekor EYE MINI and SkyTrak. You can pick them up and take them to the range.
• Overhead units bolt to the ceiling and look down on the hitting area: the Foresight Falcon and the Uneekor EYE XO2, EYE XO and EYE XR. Once fitted, they stay.

The Falcon uses the same four-camera Quadrascopic system as the GCQuad, so this is not a choice between technologies. It's a choice about where the box goes, and that decides handedness, ceiling height and how permanent the room is.

Handedness: what moves and what doesn't

This is the question that usually settles it. Every unit we sell has a left- or right-handed setting. What differs is whether the hardware has to move when the other hand steps up.

• Floor camera units sit beside the ball, across from the player, which is exactly where a player of the other hand needs to stand. So the R50, GC3, GCQuad, EYE MINI and SkyTrak are carried to the other side of the ball and the handedness setting is changed. Garmin's R50 manual places the unit 0.5m to the side of the tee, facing it, and has a Handedness setting in the profile. Foresight's GCQuad manual switches modes with the left-handed and right-handed tracking keys on its screen.
• Square Golf is the exception on the floor: it faces the hitting area from behind and to the side, so the ball shifts to the other side of its zone and the unit stays put.
• Radar units sit behind the ball on the target line, so they don't move either.
• Overhead units read the whole hitting zone at once. Handedness is set per player in the software and nothing moves. Foresight describes the Falcon as one hitting zone for both players, and its quick start guide asks you to leave room to swing for a left-handed and a right-handed golfer. Uneekor's EYE XO and XO2 manuals draw a 13ft swing area for both hands around the tee.

For one right-hander, moving a floor unit is never an issue. For a household or a visiting friend who plays the other way, it's a carry, a glance at the screen to check the ball sits in the zone, and a profile change, every swap. An overhead unit removes that completely.

When overhead wins

• A permanent, purpose-built room where the unit will never leave.
• Left- and right-handers sharing the room, with no kit to move between them.
• A clean floor: nothing on the mat to trip over, hit or knock out of alignment.
• Commercial-style use such as a club, coaching bay or lodge, where anyone might walk in.

When floor wins

• The unit also goes to the range or the garden. A GCQuad or R50 runs on battery; an overhead unit is wired in.
• The budget. Overhead units start above most floor units, and the Falcon is the dearest unit we sell.
• The ceiling is under the maker's window, or the room isn't yours to drill into.

What the ceiling has to be

Each overhead unit has a mounting window in its manual, and it isn't negotiable.

• Foresight Falcon: the quick start guide says the ceiling should ideally be 9.5ft to 10.5ft (2.9m to 3.2m), with the centre of the mat 10ft to 12ft (3.0m to 3.7m) from the screen and 4ft (1.2m) from the Falcon.
• Uneekor EYE XO2 and EYE XO: mounted 3ft 6in (1.07m) in front of the tee, with 9ft to 10ft (2.7m to 3.0m) from the floor to the sensor. Outside that, Uneekor asks for a ceiling drop mount to bring it into the window.
• Uneekor EYE XR: mounted 1m behind the tee, with the same 2.7m to 3.0m ceiling.

Our minimum room is 3.0m wide, 2.7m high and 4.2m long. Uneekor's window fits that ceiling exactly; the Falcon needs 2.9m or more. Both makers also draw a longer distance from ball to screen than our standard 2.5m (Uneekor's diagram shows 9ft to 10ft, Foresight 10ft to 12ft), so an overhead room wants extra length on top of 4.2m. Will a golf simulator fit my room? has the sizes; placement and lighting has every unit's distances.

The camera count ladder

More cameras mostly buys a bigger hitting zone and more club data. None of these units is bad; the step up is slight each time.

• Two cameras: Uneekor EYE XO (overhead, hitting zone 12in by 16in) and EYE XR (overhead, behind the tee). Full ball data and club data with Uneekor's club stickers.
• Three cameras: Uneekor EYE XO2 (overhead, zone 28in by 21in, Uneekor's largest), Foresight GC3 and Garmin Approach® R50 (floor). The GC3's manual doesn't offer face angle or impact location; that's where the fourth camera comes in.
• Four cameras: Foresight Falcon (overhead, zone 139.7cm by 65.6cm) and GCQuad (floor, zone about 14in by 14in with club tracking on). Both add face angle, lie and impact location.

If the question is accuracy on a well-struck shot, all of them are close. If the question is how far off-centre a beginner's ball can sit and still be read, or whether you want impact location for fitting, the bigger zones and the fourth camera earn their money.

The PC

Overhead and floor camera units alike need a Windows gaming PC to run course software: Foresight Premier for the Falcon, GC3 and GCQuad, Uneekor's own software or GSPro for the EYE range. The spec is in what PC do I need. The one exception is the Garmin Approach® R50, which runs Home Tee Hero on its own screen and sends 1080p to the projector with one HDMI cable.

Which I'd choose

For a purpose-built room that will outlast the kit, where more than one hand plays or the floor should stay clear, I'd go overhead: the EYE XO2 on a 2.7m to 3.0m ceiling, or the Falcon if the ceiling is 2.9m or more and the budget stretches. The EYE XO is the way onto the ceiling for less, with a smaller zone. For a garage that might still see a car, a unit that goes to the range, or a ceiling under 2.7m, a floor unit is the right call, and the GCQuad gives you the Falcon's four cameras on the floor. The UK launch monitor ladder lines them all up.