The Voice Caddie SC4 Pro is a Killer Budget Golf Launch Monitor

A couple years ago when Swing Caddie released the SC4 launch monitor, it became the only sub $500 launch monitor that included a built-in screen, a remote, and e6 simulator capabilities.

Considering you can now pick up that device for $389, it’s easily one of the best launch monitor values out there at any price point.

But it has one fatal flaw: the app is terrible.

There have been some minor improvements since it was released, but the MySwingCaddie app is just not very good. It’s not very intuitive, the data isn’t great, and both Garmin and Rapsodo do a much better job if you’re willing to spend a little more money.

But all of that has changed recently as Voice Caddie (Swing Caddie?) has recently released the SC4 Pro.

This updated product features the same hardware, but there’s a new app, and with the help of some new machine learning upgrades – the SC4 Pro has added some new metrics as well.

But are the changes really an upgrade? Is the experience of using the SC4 Pro actually better than the original?

We’re going to look at all of that and more in this Voice Caddie SC4 Pro review.

Ready? Let’s do this thing.

What’s Different Between the SC4 and SC4 Pro?

Ok, before we do anything else, let’s look at the differences between the two units.

The hardware and Doppler Radar systems are exactly the same.

But using their proprietary ProMetrics engine, the new SC4 Pro now provides metrics for spin axis, side spin, back spin, and dispersion.

To take advantage of these new metrics, there’s a new app called Voice Caddie S which features a 3D range – and hopefully, a much better experience than the original MyVoiceCaddie app. More on that in a minute.

What about price?

The current retail price of the SC4 Pro is $599. The original retailed for $549. 

You might be thinking “But the title of your post said this was the best launch monitor under $500?”

Yep.

Breaking Eighty readers get a special price on the SC4, which brings it down to $499. You can also still pick up the original for $389 – but as you’ll see in this review, I don’t recommend doing that when you can get a significantly better version for just a little bit more.

First Impressions of the SC4 Pro

One thing that is still confusing is whether this is a “Voice Caddie” product or a “Swing Caddie” product.

They’re the same company. Online it seems to list the SC4 Pro as coming from Voice Caddie, but it still has a Swing Caddie logo on it.

I wish they’d just pick one name and stick with it across all their products.

The unboxing experience of the SC4 Pro is largely the same as the original model.

It’s well done and looks good. There’s nothing overly special that will blow you away, but you wouldn’t expect there to be at this price.

In the box you’ll find:

• SC4 Pro Unit
• Remote
• USB-C charging cord
• e6 Connect Activation Card
• Instructions

One thing worth noting is that the SC4 Pro doesn’t come with a carrying case. If you’d like one, you can add it for an extra $50.

If this were a more expensive product, this would bother me. But considering this device is already an excellent value, I like that they chose to keep the price lower, and then give options for add-ons for people that want them.

For what it’s worth, the carrying case is sturdy, well-built, and can also help with the alignment and setup of the device.

The device is charged via USB-C, and that works great. I wasn’t able to find what the battery life is rated for, but I’m going on 3+ hours of use without charging it, and it still is showing some charge left – so I don’t think this will be an issue for most people.

Setting Up the SC4 Pro

Speaking of setup, let’s talk about it.

On the surface, the setup is very simple. Turn on the device, put it 5 feet behind you, and away you go.

I appreciate the fact that you only need 5 feet of space behind you to use the SC4 Pro. Devices like the Rapsodo MLM2PRO and FlightScope Mevo+ require 7-8 feet for the most accurate results, so only needing 5 makes setup noticeably easier.

While the previous SC4 really was that simple to setup, you’ll want to be a little more precise with the new SC4 Pro. Now that there is increased lateral data, it’s even more important to make sure it’s setup and aligned properly.

If you’re on grass or have a large mat, this is pretty easily done. But if you’re on a mat that sits up a couple inches from the ground, you may find yourself getting less accurate readings unless you compensate for that.

The SC4 Alignment Stand

Voice Caddie sells an alignment stand that will allow you to raise and lower the device to get it even with the ball.

This works pretty well, but it’s certainly not the most seamless experience. The bolts it uses are fairly long. So much so that they partially block the view of the screen while you’re using them. With the bolts screwed in, the stand also becomes too big to fit in the bag it comes with – so to keep it portable, you have to unscrew each one every time you use it.

It’s cumbersome and inelegant at best. There’s a bubble level on the top that will help you make sure the device is level – and that actually works really well.

During setup, the unit will also help you with feedback regarding the leveling. Once you get it to “0” you’re good to go – and doing that with the included alignment stand was pretty easy.

If you place the unit just on the ground off the back of a mat, it will still give you metrics, but if the numbers seem to be off – this is probably why.

As an alternative, you can also place the unit on the carrying case if you decide to purchase that.

How Easy Is It to Connect the SC4 Pro to the App?

Connecting the SC4 to the app is just as easy as you’d hope. You download the app to your device, create an account, and then turn the SC4 Pro on.

Connect it via Bluetooth, enter in the pairing number, and you’re ready to rock.

Any subsequent use should auto-connect, and I’ve found this to work well.

One thing that surprised me is that if you’re connected to the app, you can’t get any metrics on the unit itself.

It simply reads “SIM”.

Considering one of the big selling points of this device is the built-in screen, I found this to be an odd choice.

Especially if you want to track your data, but don’t want to be checking your phone or iPad after every shot.

The VoiceCaddie S App: Talk About an Upgrade

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have high hopes for this new app. I was so disappointed with the previous one, that I really didn’t expect there to be a major leap forward with the new one.

Boy was I wrong.

For a $500 launch monitor, the new VoiceCaddie S app is phenomenal. 

You have 3 modes when you sign in:

• Practice
• Swing Speed
• Statistics

Let’s take a look at what they each do.

Practice: This is Where You’ll Live with the SC4 Pro

The Practice mode in the app is their 3D range.

Within a single shot, I was blown away by this app and the range.

In part, because it represented such a strong upgrade already from the previous app.

But more so because of how high quality and complete it felt for such an inexpensive product with no subscription fee.

You’re able to configure a variety of views, configure exactly which metrics you want to see, and how you want to see them.

You can set target distances to give yourself something to aim at.

You can adjust the viewing angle, see shot lists, star notable shots – and it’s all very easy and intuitive.

The shot tracer is clear and works really well (we’ll talk more about unit accuracy in a minute).

It feels like a very good consumer-level 3D range solution that does most of what you’re going to want it to quickly and easily.

Now, you’re not going to get the same level of customization, accuracy, and data of say the Mevo Plus which is 3-5x the price depending on which version you get.

You’re also not getting the built-in camera or some of the extra modes that you get with the Rapsodo MLM2PRO – which if you get the lifetime subscription, comes in at over double the price of this.

But it works great for practice, and I found myself loving it – especially with an iPad setup on a tripod.

If you do buy this and plan to use this feature (or frankly with any launch monitor), I recommend you pick one up.

Swing Speed: Who Needs a Ball?

The second mode is a swing speed training mode.

This allows you to swing in front of the unit without a ball, and it will assess your swing speed.

There’s nothing fancy about this mode, but it does a wonderful job of telling you exactly what you need to see in big, clear graphics and text.

It will also show you your daily best, daily average, and best ever.

I particularly love the daily average, as this is what will allow you to track your speed gains over time.

There are plenty of devices that can do this, but pairing this with a Super Speed or similar product is a nice little extra benefit on top of everything else you get.

Statistics: A Nice Improvement

The third mode is the statistics page.

Here you can see all the data from your previous sessions.

This is definitely the weakest section of the app. The data is in there, and it’s better than the previous app – but it’s not as detailed or customizable as other systems.

The experience is much better if you’re using it on an iPad. When using an iPhone, everything in this section is pretty small and not mobile-optimized. So I do recommend using an iPad across the board with this device over your phone.

One thing I do appreciate about this though is that all your data syncs across devices. So if you use an iPad during your practice session, you’re able to load that same data on your phone later on.

How is the SC4 Pro Without the App?

One of the benefits of this unit over most other competitors in this price range is that there’s a built-in screen. So if you don’t want to worry about pairing it and using an app, you can just set it down, turn it on, make sure it’s aligned and swing away.

The screen is fairly bright and the metrics are generally easy to read.

It does still feel like a miss that you can’t use the screen while paired to the app, but I’ll stop dwelling on that.

In order to make the most out of your experience without the app, you’ll want to use the included remote.

It makes it easy to adjust volume, switch your current club, change modes, and so on.

The remote generally works really well.

I did find in one of my sessions the unit was facing directly into the sun, and that seemed to cause some issues in getting it to read the button pushes. But that’s the only time I’ve encountered anything like that.

How Accurate is the Voice Caddie SC4 Pro?

Alright onto the section you’ve likely been waiting for: how accurate is it?

The answer?

Reasonably.

With long to mid irons, I’ve found the SC4 to work remarkably well both indoors and outdoors.

The shot tracer has been fairly accurate on the majority of my shots. Distances were right in the zone of where they should have been – and spin rates were solid as well.

Even testing short punch shots and chips with these clubs, it did a great job at recognizing both the lower trajectory and getting distances correct.

Where I’ve run into a few more issues is with wedges and driver.

With my gap wedge, I found the distances to be accurate, but I had a handful of weird directional issues – where the shot tracer simply didn’t get it right.

This happened about 20% of the time.

Not the end of the world, but there were more accuracy issues noticed with wedges – and in my experience (so far), this is the area where the SC4 Pro struggles the most.

Driver has been mostly solid, but has had the occasional issue.

Distances do seem to be a bit more variable than with other clubs. I had some mishit shots that it said went clearly further than it did, and I had some very good ones, that registered as less than they were.

This is similar to my experience with the original SC4, and it’s a little bit worse when hitting indoors into a net – which is to be expected.

As with the wedges, the driver felt noticeably off about 25% of the time.

The rest of the time it was at least in the right ballpark.

Spin rates usually were usually within a few hundred RPMs of the launch pro, but occasionally would get pretty big differences of 2,000 to 3,000 rpms.

I’m hoping this trend generally holds true for indoor testing. If I can get similar results, then this would make the SC4 Pro a big success.

It’s important to keep price in mind with these numbers. At $500 you’re not going to get Trackman level accuracy and consistency.

As long as you’re not expecting that, you’ll be in good shape. 

That said, for the money, the SC4 Pro if anything has exceeded my performance expectations, even if it’s not spot on 100% of the time.

E6 Connect

One of the biggest selling points of this product is the fact that at $499 it’s among the cheapest launch monitors that allow you to do full-on simulation.

The $389 original SC4 can also do this, and if you can find a Garmin R10 on sale, it does it as well.

I haven’t tested the SC4 Pro with e6 yet, but based on the performance I had using their app – I expect it will represent a very nice upgrade in accuracy and experience over the original.

To be clear, it’s a mobile-only license, so you’ll only be able to use it on your phone or iPad.

One nice upgrade is that while the original SC4 only came with one e6 course, the new SC4 Pro comes with 5 (despite the included card only saying it comes with one.)

Those courses are:

• Aviara Golf Club
• Bandon Dunes
• The Sanctuary
• Stone Canyon
• Wade Hampton

Final Thoughts on the SC4 Pro

The bottom line is that the Voice Caddie SC4 Pro is in my opinion, the best personal launch monitor that you can get routinely for under $500.

The new app and 3D range is a massive upgrade over its predecessor and is a joy to use. Accuracy is on par with anything else in the price range.

That said, it does require taking a little bit more time to set it up properly when compared to say the Garmin R10. And while the available alignment stand does the job, it’s more cumbersome than it should be.

My experience so far has been extremely positive with this unit. The Rapsodo MLM2PRO has more modes and is a little bit more consistently accurate due to its dual camera system – but it’s also significantly more expensive when you factor in the subscription (and it doesn’t have a built-in screen).

The R10 is closer in price and certainly has some advantages as well (Home Tee Hero, Garmin Eco System, calculated club data.) But just looking at the practice experience, I prefer the 3D range of the SC4 Pro over the Garmin.

And the Mevo Plus performs better in terms of accuracy, modes, customizability etc. But it needs more space, is equally cumbersome to setup, and is significantly more expensive.

All that to say, if you’re in the market for a budget launch monitor that has simulator capabilities? The SC4 Pro is going to be an excellent option.

This page contains affiliate links. This means that if you click a link and buy one of the products on this page, we may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you!) This doesn’t affect our opinions or our reviews. Everything we do is to benefit you as the reader, so all of our reviews are as honest and unbiased as possible.

RECENT UPDATES:

December 11th, 2024: Added video review. Updated info related to e6 Connect.

 

The Voice Caddie SC4 Pro makes a strong case for the best golf simulator under $500. But it's not perfect.

9.0 Fantastic

The new 3D range on the SC4 Pro is light years over the app experience on the previous device. It's reasonably accurate for the price, and the built in screen, remote, and simulator access are things you don't usually see at this price.

The Good

1. Built in screen and remote are useful
2. Fantastic value for what you get
3. New 3D range is best in class

The Bad

1. Occasional reliability issue with remote in direct sunlight
2. Aligning it properly take more time than before
3. Accuracy is good for the price, but certainly not perfect

• Presentation 9
• Performance 8
• Quality and Features 9
• Price 10
• Personal Affinity 9