Shot Scope Pro LX+ Review

Shot Scope Pro LX+ Review

The Shot Scope Pro LX+ is the first of its kind, offering three-in-one functionality that combines the pinpoint accuracy of a laser rangefinder, the convenience of a handheld golf GPS device and shot tracking performance analysis. I tested the entire package over multiple rounds on a recent trip to Derbyshire. The review and video below are my thoughts.

Joel Tadman demonstrates how the Pro LX+ works in this video review

To get fully set up, you need to screw in all the tags into the tops of your clubs. They’re labelled, so there’s no pairing required, although renaming each club with the make and model in the Shot Scope app is a somewhat time consuming process if you want to add in this extra detail.

The GPS and shot tracking functionality goes through the H4 GPS (above), which is a very compact device that magnetically attaches to the front of the Pro LX laser rangefinder. For us, it charged quickly, located our course in seconds and provides a wealth of information, including distances to reach and carry bunkers, hazards and lay ups as well as the usual distances to the front, middle and back of the green. From a full charge in GPS + Track mode, it ran out of juice walking up the 18th fairway of our second round, so you'll need to remember to charge it before each round you play.

To implement the shot tracking element, golfers have to manually tag every shot by tapping the end of the club on the screen. The unit vibrates to let you know this has been successful, and the name of the last club tagged is also displayed on the screen to confirm. We played two rounds using the Pro LX+ system, one with the H4 attached to the laser and the other with the H4 kept in our pocket and we much preferred the latter scenario. It makes the process of tagging clubs much easier (you can even do it through your pocket if the screen is facing forwards) although we sometimes forgot to do it. That said, you can do it before or after hitting the shot so there are multiple opportunities to remember and you can easily add shots in the app afterwards. 

When the unit is attached to the laser, the process of tagging shots is more fiddly and for ease requires the case to be open the whole time, leaving it prone to falling out when walking. By keeping the H4 on your laser, it also means the accuracy of the shot locations isn’t as good - when you’re in a bunker for example, you’d tag the club outside of the bunker because you don’t want to take the laser in with you. Ultimately a combination of using it on the laser and then taking it with you in certain situations is probably the best compromise, and because it is pocket sized it allows you to do this without being distracting. 

With the H4 device kept on your person, you’re also more easily able to tag putt locations. When you finish putting out, the H4 gives you the option of inputting how many putts you took on the green, which should mean your scores and data in the app post round are more accurate and requires less editing. All in all, the H4 GPS is fairly easy to use, although its small size makes it a little fiddly to hold and press the buttons to access the information available.

After your round, you sync the collected data to the app via your smartphone - it takes a few seconds and our testing showed that it hardly missed a shot. It even added in a driver off the tee by default when we’d forgotten to tag it and flags potential errors, like an out of character 390 yard drive or 40 yard putt, before saving the round so you can address them and they don’t adversely effect your statistics, which are excellent by the way. The wealth of information available is incredibly useful, including Strokes Gained for each area of the game against different abilities of player, and we like the medals and it gives you and leaderboards you can compete on.

Then we move on to the Pro LX laser rangefinder itself, which has it’s plus points - its ergonomic shape, Slope mode and the option of a red or black display depending on the light conditions. The speed at which the distance is displayed is much faster than on the Pro L1 rangefinder, but it struggled at times when the flag was set against a busy background. There were a couple of occasions where he hit the wrong club based on the unit vibrating, which should indicate the flag had been picked out when it hadn’t. So you just need to double check the distance to the objects in the background before deciding on a club.

The way the H4’s GPS distances work in tandem with the laser is a big plus, informing your strategy on holes where attacking the flag might not be the best play. The magnetic attachment generally worked well but remember to remove the top plate to get maximum grip strength and reduce the chance of it being knocked off accidentally.