Bushnell Launch Pro Review: Wow, Things Have Changed…

Alright, no sense in building any suspense with this one.

I’m just going to come right out and say that I think the Bushnell Launch Pro (or what some are calling the Circle B Edition after the latest rebranding and aesthetic updates) is the best value in launch monitors today.

And I actually don’t even think it’s a particularly close call.

So in this updated-for-2026 Bushnell Launch Pro review, I’m going to tell you exactly why I think that.

I’m also going to touch on the long and winding road of this now five-year-old product.

I’m going to talk about how the Launch Pro compares to other similar launch monitors, including its twin sibling the Foresight GC3.

And I’m going to give you some reasons why, even though I think the Launch Pro is the best value play overall, it might not be the right pick for everyone.

But first let me just say this. The updated Launch Pro Circle B is probably the device I’d personally go out and buy right now.

I’ve been testing this thing for five years now. I’ve explored all of its features and use it as my reference launch monitor for nearly every other launch monitor review I do.

Point is, I know this device about as well as anybody.

Let’s get into everything that I’ve learned.

The Backstory You Need to Understand

The Bushnell Launch Pro has had a weird couple of years.

If you were paying attention to the launch monitor market, you probably noticed some confusing signals coming from Bushnell and Foresight Sports.

Back in 2021, Vista, the corporate parent, brought Bushnell and Foresight under the same roof. Right after that, we saw the release of the Foresight GC3 and the Bushnell Launch Pro. And ever since, there’s been this kind of competition between the two brands, because the reality is the hardware is the exact same. The only thing that’s really different is how it’s priced.

So there’s been a bit of ongoing fluctuation over how to position these things, how to price them, and what the subscriptions should look like.

All of that finally culminated about a year ago, when Bushnell actually discontinued the Launch Pro for a brief while.

What they did was create the LPi, which was essentially a stripped-down version of this that they then charged way too much money for. So you had this wonderful device at a great price point, and they killed it to, in my mind, protect the Foresight brand.

Well, that did not go over well. The Bushnell LPi dropped in price by over $1,000 within months because nobody was buying it. And then less than a year after discontinuing it, Bushnell basically said, “Okay, you win. We’re bringing back the Launch Pro as the Circle B Edition.”

And that brings us to today.

Finally, the confusion is over. The Launch Pro is back and here to stay as the Circle B Edition Launch Pro and the indoor-only Circle B Edition LPi.

For most of this review, I’m going to just call this the Launch Pro, because that’s what it is. The Circle B naming was more of a rebranding promotion to call attention to the new bright orange and big Bushnell circle-b logo on the back of the redesigned device. Bushnell itself is now calling this simply the Launch Pro.

It’s the exact same hardware. 

What’s changed (more than once) is the pricing. I’ll cover all of that updated information as we go.

One quick word of warning while you’re researching this thing. Because so much has changed over the last five years, if you find a review from a few years ago, it’s not necessarily going to be apples to apples with what you can buy today. The hardware is the same, but the pricing and the features around it have shifted constantly.

That’s been one of the most confusing things about this device. It seems like every six months, something fundamental to how it’s marketed changes, and that’s left a lot of people throwing up their hands and moving on to other options.

As it sits right now, that would be a mistake. Let me show you why.

First Impressions: Bushnell’s Signature Orange Returns

Most of the devices I review on Breaking Eighty are consumer-level launch monitors. Products like the Garmin Approach R10 and even the more prosumer FlightScope Mevo Gen2 are small, light, and portable.

I knew the Launch Pro would be bigger than those, but taking it out of the box, it’s clear this thing means business. This is a professional launch monitor, full stop, which makes sense, because from a hardware standpoint it’s a GC3.

The most obvious change with the re-launched Circle B Edition is the color.

Bushnell’s signature orange is back, and it’s loud. The entire back panel of the new launch monitor is bright orange. It’s unmistakably Bushnell.

This is a move that’s about brand identity. When the Bushnell product line started adopting Foresight’s blue-and-gray look, it made sense from a product-family standpoint. But it also made Bushnell less distinctive. All of a sudden we were seeing Bushnell rangefinders, which have always had some orange in them, show up in blue, gray, and black instead. It was just a little confusing.

This can’t-miss-it orange on the new Launch Pro solves that. It’s a clear visual signal that this is a Bushnell product, built for a Bushnell audience, and here to stay. I think it’s a smart move. Bushnell has built a ton of equity with that color over the years. So why not lean into it?

The package comes with the device, a power adapter, an alignment stick, and a small quick-start instruction book.

One of the things I immediately appreciate about the Launch Pro is the fact there’s a built-in screen, that’s situated in the perfect position to actually be useful.

I can’t imagine anyone’s first impression of the Launch Pro being anything other than, “wow, this is absolutely everything I expected it to be.” It looks high-end, it feels high-end, and it truly is a professional launch monitor.

How the Launch Pro Captures Data

 

One of the major differences between the Launch Pro and most of the less-expensive launch monitor options is how it captures your data.

Rather than using Doppler radar, it uses a series of three precision cameras to track your ball and club data.

Because of this, instead of being placed behind the ball like other launch monitors, it sits just a couple of feet to the side of where you’ll hit.

This means a few really good things. When you want to look down and see your stats, they’re right there in front of you. And it takes up far less space if you’re using it as a simulator setup at home where you don’t have a ton of room behind the ball. Other devices force you to turn around or look at an iPad or computer to get your data, so this quick, perfectly positioned readout is a really nice feature.

Camera-based tracking is also why this thing is just as good outdoors as it is indoors, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Here’s everything it measures.

Ball Data

• Carry Distance
• Ball Speed
• Total Spin
• Launch Angle (Vertical)
• Horizontal Launch Angle
• Spin Tilt Axis
• Back Spin
• Side Spin

Club Data

• Club Head Speed
• Smash Factor
• Club Path
• Angle of Attack

Ball data works right out of the box on the device’s built-in screen with no subscription. Club data requires a subscription and the included club markers. More on all of that in the pricing section.

Nothing has changed on the performance side from the old Launch Pro. It’s the same information, captured the same way, on the same hardware as the GC3.

Setup Is Now as Easy as It Gets

When I first reviewed the Launch Pro about four years ago, I had all kinds of issues getting my subscription connected, pairing it with the app, getting everything to talk to each other. I had to get on the phone with Bushnell’s support more than once. It was a multi-hour ordeal, and even once it was running I’d have occasional app connectivity headaches. It was one of my biggest critiques of the device for years.

I’m really happy to report that process has gotten so much better. Now I log into my Foresight account, hook the unit up to Wi-Fi, and boom, it immediately recognizes my membership. I pair it with the app, and the next time I go to use it, everything connects automatically. It’s just so much more seamless than it was when this device came out.

And the day-to-day setup has always been a strength. Because of the built-in screen, if you just want to get data on the fly and don’t care about interfacing with the app, you don’t have to worry about connecting to anything.

You literally turn it on, give it about 30 seconds to get going, and you’re ready to rock. There’s a calibration mode and an included alignment stick if you want to dial things in, but you generally don’t need to use them. You set it down, you hit your shots, and it gives you accurate results with minimal fuss.

The best launch monitor is the one you’re actually going to use. If something takes too long to set up, that’s going to deter you from using it, especially if you’ve only got 10 or 15 minutes before you head out to the course. Quick and easy to set up is a very real benefit.

One small note on connectivity. There’s still no Bluetooth on this thing. It connects over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or USB-C, and for the smoothest experience indoors I’d recommend a hardwired Ethernet connection to your PC. For an expensive device, Bluetooth would have been a nice option to have. But it’s a minor gripe now that the rest of the process has gotten so painless.

Using the Bushnell Launch Pro for Practice

When I first set the Launch Pro up, I was at home in my office. I placed a ball, started putting, and immediately got results.

Hit one harder? Softer? The speed adjusted perfectly. I was actually pretty shocked by how well it worked.

On the range, distances are damn near perfect compared with my rangefinder. I’ve confirmed this countless times over the years with all my additional testing. The accuracy is completely dead-on. I honestly don’t know anyone who would dispute this launch monitor’s accuracy.

And here’s why that’s such a big deal: this is the same device as the Foresight GC3, which retails for $6,999, while the Launch Pro retails for $2,499. To put that gap in even sharper perspective, the jump from a GC3 or Launch Pro to the $20,000 GCQuad Max is relatively limited for the average golfer. The Quad Max has an extra camera, a better and more configurable touchscreen, impact detection so you can see exactly where on the face you struck it, and a few extra club metrics. Is all of that worth an extra $17,500? Absolutely not. Something like 98% of the time, the Launch Pro or GC3 is going to give you the same user experience you’d get out of the Quad Max for a lot less money.

So despite the fact that this is fundamentally five-year-old tech, it is still as good as anything I’ve tested. I personally consider it the most accurate launch monitor I own. Five years old or not, it’s right there with the best of them.

Build quality is top-notch too. It’s as solid as any launch monitor there is.

The New Foresight App Is a Game Changer

This is the section I’m most excited to write, because it fixes what used to be my single biggest complaint about this device.

For years, the app experience on the Launch Pro was a thumbs-down for me. The FSX Pro app is powerful, but it leans hard toward the professional side of things. It’s not trying to dumb anything down for the casual golfer. If you’re a coach, a club fitter, or a total data nerd, it’s fantastic. But for the average person, it was confusing and overwhelming, and it just wasn’t a great experience to use day to day.

Well, I recently found out that there’s an all-new Foresight app that came out in the middle of 2025. I had no idea this existed. And I’ve got to say, I was stoked when I started using it, because it’s awesome. It’s everything I wanted this product to have with the old app.

First off, the user interface is clean and easy to use. Everything is fast and snappy, and the unit connects really quickly once you’ve done that initial pairing.

But here’s the feature that got me. We now finally have a visual representation on the range. If you want to see your shot tracer, you can get it. You did not used to be able to do that unless you were paying for the top-tier subscription. Now you can head out to the range with your iPad and see exactly what your ball is doing.

If you’d rather just see your numbers, there’s a tile mode where you can customize which metrics show up.

And you can easily set target ranges for most of them. So if you’re dialing in your 7-iron and you’re trying to hit it exactly 170 yards, you can set it so anything between 165 and 175 yards shows up green, and anything outside that range shows up red. That is one of my absolute favorite features to use in a practice app, and the Foresight app makes it dead simple.

There’s also a drill library built in. Right now there’s a ladder drill, where you try to consecutively hit different distances in a row, and a target practice drill, where it mixes up an array of yardages and you try to nail each one. Both work really well and feel responsive.

The best part is this new app comes with the Silver subscription. You don’t need to splurge on Gold to get it. You do need at least one of the subscriptions for it to work, but the $199 tier gets you full app access. I’ll talk more about those subscription options in just a minute.

This single change moves the app from one of my biggest complaints to one of my favorite things about owning a Launch Pro.

Using the Bushnell Launch Pro as a Simulator with FSX Play

When I initially reviewed the Launch Pro, I didn’t have a gaming PC to run FSX Play, and I didn’t realize how much I was missing.

FSX Play is my favorite first-party simulator software to use. Playing Pebble Beach on it, the graphics are stunning and the usability is seamless. It takes the headaches out of simulator golf and simply makes it fun to play.

I run a moderately spec’d gaming PC, and FSX Play has performed really well for me. I keep it on high rather than ultra and everything looks great, with very little lag. And even when I do crank it up to ultra settings, it still runs surprisingly well on my mid-range machine.

I’ve tested the newer Game Day software from Uneekor, and while it’s a big step up from their old software, I found it much more taxing on my computer. FSX Play just runs clean.

If you’ve got the Gold subscription, you also still have access to FSX 2020, the older sim software, which has a few cool features of its own. So you’ve got options.

Now combine industry-leading accuracy, the best first-party sim software around, and the new Foresight app being one of my favorite app experiences out there, and the software package you get with the Launch Pro is probably the most robust and most reliable of anything on the market.

Couple of honest downsides on the sim side. You need a fairly beefy gaming PC. Unlike some competitors, there’s no mobile simulator option, and there’s no e6 Connect support, so you can’t play sim golf off a phone or tablet. But if you clear those hurdles, the sim experience here is phenomenal.

LINK-Enabled Technology

One of the newer additions to the Bushnell/Foresight ecosystem is LINK-enabled technology.

The way it works is you go through a bag mapping process where you hit three to five shots with every club in your bag to capture your exact yardages.

That bag mapping lives in the new Foresight app. Then, using either the Bushnell app or a compatible Bushnell rangefinder like the Pro X3+, you get real-time yardage recommendations out on the course based on your own numbers.

I’ll be honest. I think this kind of technology is a little gimmicky. If you’re a halfway decent golfer, chances are you already have a pretty good idea of your yardages, and you don’t need a rangefinder to tell you. That said, the Foresight ecosystem is robust enough that it makes the experience pretty good.

One really neat touch is that when you pull up the GPS overview of a hole in the Bushnell app, it’ll show you a scatter plot of your different clubs from the bag mapping session, so you can see exactly how your 7-iron, 8-iron, and 9-iron performed and how tight the dispersion is on each.

Bushnell Launch Pro Subscriptions and Pricing

This is the most meaningful change with the new Circle B Edition, so let’s lay it all out.

The Launch Pro now retails for $2,499. That gets you ball data right out of the box on the built-in screen, no strings attached. If you want club data and simulator access, you add a subscription. And now you’ve got two options instead of one.

For years, there was only the $499 Gold package. And here’s what made that frustrating. If you wanted angle of attack, club path, or any of the other club data, you had to have that $500-a-year subscription, even if you had zero interest in the simulator side of things. On top of that, basic app access used to be locked behind that same tier. Most launch monitors include basic app access for free, so having to pay $499 just to get into the app felt egregious. That was kind of a deal breaker on the old Launch Pro.

Bushnell has now brought back the Silver tier at $199 per year, and this feels like the sweet spot for most people.

For $199 a year, you’re getting all the club data, full access to the new Foresight app, access to FSX Pro, and five courses on FSX Play. So if all you want to do is practice, get all your numbers, and maybe dabble in a little simulator golf, you can do that for $199 a year.

The Gold tier is still $499 per year. It gets you everything in Silver, plus 25 FSX Play courses instead of five, FSX 2020, and the ability to use third-party simulator software like GSPro.

That last point is important. The Silver plan does not unlock third-party software. If you want to use your Launch Pro with GSPro, you need Gold, and you’re still paying the separate $250-a-year GSPro subscription on top of that.

So the math comes down to how you’ll use it. Practice-focused golfers who play sim rounds only occasionally are going to find Silver a solid deal. Serious sim golfers who want GSPro will want Gold. Either way, I love that there’s finally a choice. It lowers the barrier to entry without compromising the core experience.

Here’s Why You Should Consider the Launch Pro Over the GC3

The Launch Pro is $2,499. A GC3 is $6,999. That’s a $4,500 difference, and to be clear, the GC3 does come fully unlocked with both ball and club data, the 25 FSX Play courses, and a Bushnell Pro X3 rangefinder included so you can tap into the LINK-Enabled feature right out of the box.

But still, that’s a big gap to close. At the Silver tier with the Launch Pro, you’d have to pay that $199 a year for a couple of decades before you caught up to the cost of a GC3. Even at the Gold tier, it’s around nine years of subscription payments to reach the GC3’s price.

For a professional-level launch monitor that’s 98% as good as a $20,000 QuadMAX, getting to unlock nearly all of its capabilities for $199 a year and $2,499 up front is honestly a little wild.

I’ve always liked the “season pass” mindset. As someone who skis, I’d rather pay one fee for a season pass than pay a daily lift fee every time I head up the mountain, even if I don’t ski enough to technically make the pass worth it. I’d love to do that here. And if you hate subscriptions and want to pay once and never think about it, the GC3 lets you do exactly that. But for most people, the up-front savings on the Launch Pro are big enough to make the subscription worth swallowing.

One honest catch. With the old Launch Pro, you could buy a ball-data-only model for considerably less. That’s gone. You can still skip the subscriptions and use the Circle B for ball data only, but you pay the same $2,499 either way, and your only savings is the subscription fee you’re not paying. So if all you want is ball data, the effective price has gone up. To be clear, the unit itself is identical regardless. To get club data, you don’t buy a different box. You just unlock it.

A Minor Display Quirk

One small thing worth mentioning about the built-in screen.

The Launch Pro cycles through three screens. The first is your ready screen, where you place the ball in the hitting zone. The second shows your ball data. The third shows club data. After each shot, it rotates between the ball and club data screens.

If you’re on Silver or Gold, this works great. But if you’re using ball data only without a subscription, that third screen just shows “—” for all the club metrics. It’s a minor annoyance, and you can head into the settings and turn off the club data screen entirely. Just something to be aware of.

And while we’re talking about the screen, I’ll say it’s not the best display out there. This is still five-year-old technology. I prefer the E-ink screen on the Uneekor Eye Mini, but that’s $2,000 more expensive, and I like the configurable OLED on the Full Swing Kit, but that’s double the price and a radar unit, which is a different story.

The Launch Pro’s screen works well and it’s relatively responsive. It’s not my favorite to use, but I just love that it has one at all. The fact that you can glance down and get your numbers without touching an app makes it the perfect driving range launch monitor.

Just as Good Indoors as It is Outdoors

Most launch monitors are noticeably better either indoors or outdoors. There aren’t many that do a really good job of both unless you start climbing into the high end.

The FlightScope Mevo Gen2, which is my other favorite launch monitor, is a great example. Use it indoors and you’ll need about 16 feet of space, eight feet behind the ball and eight in front. And generally, Doppler radar units aren’t quite as accurate indoors as optical units like this one.

Going the other direction, the Square Home Edition launch monitor is a device people absolutely love, but it’s indoors only. Square recently released the new Square Omni, which costs $1,600 and now has a built-in screen and outdoor capability. A lot of people are saying that’s going to kill everything else.

I’ve now used that extensively, and guess what? It’s really good. It’s surprisingly accurate, has no subscriptions, and especially for people who want to use GSPro? It might be the best option out there.

But where it falls short, and why I’d still personally pay a premium for the Launch Pro is software and user experience.

The screen on the Square Omni isn’t very good, and the software is about as basic as it gets. For a professional tool and a much better user experience? The Launch Pro wins, despite the Omni being excellent and an incredible value for what it is.

Where the Launch Pro Falls Short

I’ve yet to come across a perfect launch monitor. And for as good as the Launch Pro is, depending on what you’re after, it may not be the right fit for you.

It’s not the best value if your main goal is GSPro. To use the Launch Pro with GSPro, you need the $499 Gold package, plus the $250-a-year GSPro license. That’s $750 a year, which is a lot more than some competitors. The FlightScope Mevo Gen2, for instance, doesn’t require any subscription to use third-party software. You just pay your $250 to GSPro, and you’re good. So if your whole reason for buying is to play GSPro, there are probably better-value options for you.

Mixing righties and lefties is a hassle. This is true of any optical launch monitor. Because it sits beside the ball rather than behind it, you have to physically move the unit to the other side when switching between right- and left-handed golfers. A Doppler unit sits behind you and tracks either one. It’s not a big deal for most people, but if you’ve got both righties and lefties in the family using it regularly, it’ll get a little annoying.

No impact detection. This won’t show you where on the face you struck the ball, and you’ll need to use a club sticker to get club path data. There aren’t many launch monitors that offer impact detection, but the Mevo Gen2 and new Square Omni are two options with that feature for less than $2,000.

Potential battery questions down the road. I’ve had weird battery issues with both my GC3 and my older Launch Pro, especially when they sat unused for a while. My old Launch Pro got tough to charge after fully dying, and my GC3 has randomly shut off on occasion. I don’t know whether that’s been addressed on the Circle B. But since I believe it’s the exact same hardware, I’m keeping an eye on the long-term battery situation, and I’ll report back if anything changes.

Some occasional bugginess. I talked up how seamless the setup and apps are now, and that’s largely true. But with so many moving pieces, the FSX app, the Bushnell app, rangefinders, the device, your computer, I do run into the occasional weird issue when I’m updating software or firmware or trying to connect a new device. It’s nowhere near as buggy as it used to be, and most of the time everything’s smooth. But compared to some other brands, things aren’t always quite as seamless as I’d like.

None of these are dealbreakers for most people. But they’re real, and you should know about them.

Updated Final Thoughts on the Bushnell Launch Pro

In a lot of ways, there’s not too much that’s changed since I first reviewed the Launch Pro and since I’ve been recommending it for the better part of the past five years.

But in other ways, this new Circle B updated version is a big deal. It confirms the Launch Pro is alive and well, and it opens up a wider range of pricing options.

The return of the orange is a statement.

The Silver Subscription tier is a smart addition.

The new Foresight app fixes my single biggest complaint about owning this thing.

And the hardware was already excellent to begin with.

What we’ve got is one of the most accurate launch monitors on the market, with the best first-party sim software I’ve used, in a package that’s as good outdoors as it is indoors, for $2,499.

So if you’ve thought about this device in the past and wrote it off after it got discontinued, this is your chance to take another look.

Also, Bushnell offered my audience a 10% discount code. So if you can knock 10% off an already strong $2,499 value, even better.

For a prosumer-level launch monitor in the $2,500 range that’s proven, accurate, and well supported, the Launch Pro is still one of the best options out there. And personally, I’m very happy it’s still around.

Recent Updates:

June 20th, 2026: Fully updated Bushnell Launch Pro Review for 2026. Updated pricing, accuracy testing, comparisons to current competitors, and reviewed the new Foresight app. 

November 23rd, 2025: Added an update to reflect the release of the new Launch Pro Circle B.

March 1st, 2024: Updated to reflect new pricing, and updates to the FSX Suite of Software

One of the very best golf launch monitors for most people

9.5 Awesome

Same three-camera accuracy as the original Launch Pro. Same build quality. Same access to the FSX Play simulator software. What's changed with this new Circle B Edition is the color scheme, the introduction of a better app, and the pricing. Thanks to the reintroduction of the Silver subscription tier, you can now get ball and club data plus simulator access for only $199 a year instead of the $500/year Gold subscription. That's going to be a win for a lot of people.

The Good

1. Accuracy remains best-in-class
2. New Silver subscription tier allows for lower annual cost
3. Built in screen is very readable, and works great without the app

The Bad

1. Gold subsciption is still very high at $500.
2. Minor display annoyances
3. It's still the exact same device that's been around for nearly 5 years

• Presentation 10
• Performance 10
• Price 8
• Personal Affinity 10