Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I looked at the Swingbyte (looked a little bulky to me) and the 3BaysGSA Pro (a little expensive and I wasn't sure it would sit tight enough on the club) and at this, the Swingtip swing analyzer, and bought it. Out of the box: It's a little plastic thing that sits in a slender brace that clamps very snugly on the shaft of your club. The brace, and therefore the analyzer, does not move once clamped. It's a good design. To use it, you need to download an app to your iphone or (in my case) your android phone or your tablet. Go to swingtip.com -- the app is there to download. While doing that you should charge your analyzer; that takes about an hour. The port for the (enclosed) cable to charge your analyzer is in the "bottom" of the analyzer. The analyzer is a small cylinder; the bottom has a small cover you open with a fingernail exposing the port. The top is a button. To start the analyzer, push the button on the top (this is not labelled "top" or "on" or anything, so I'm spelling this out.) OK. Now start the app on your phone or tablet. Go to settings and follow the instructions to "pair" your analyzer to your phone or tablet, so they can talk to each other. Swingtip.com has detailed instructions on how to do this in their FAQ section, if you need that. Attach the analyzer to the brace you've attached to the club. Press the "swing" button on the app and you're ready to go. Just one thing -- you MUST hit a ball for the analyzer to read the swing. I spent a day swinging the club in my living room, annoying my wife, scaring the dogs, driving myself crazy, because I did not understand that you MUST hit a ball for the thing to work. Interesting side note about that: I thought the analyzer didn't work. So I contacted mobiplex customer support the only way they let you -- by email. And after a couple of emails back and forth I got ticked off and gave my cell phone number and said why don't you call me? The next day who calls me? Van Krueger, the company's vice president for operations. That's who calls me. So I have this very productive talk with Mr. Krueger and then put the dogs in the truck, drive to the soccer field, hit 48 golf balls, and -- boom. It works. Results: The analyzer gives you 6 types of data for each swing: 1) a picture of the arc of the swing, which you can view in 3 orientations, 2) a report on whether the swing is outside-in or square, 3) a report on whether the club face at impact is open or square or closed, 4) a report on where on the club you hit the ball, 5) a numerical value reporting your swing tempo, and 6) club head speed. All the data for each swing is visible on your cell phone on one screen. If you want, you can add to those data a comparison "reference" swing, which I think is what the arc of the swing should be, ideally. So what do I think? 1) I wish the company had a phone number you could call for technical support. 2) But by the same token, I'm really impressed the company's vice president would call me on my cell the THE SAME DAY I request a phone call. It looks to me like they really care about their product and their customers. 3) I love the way the report of the swing looks -- it's just really efficient and esay to see and read and understand, at a glance, what just happened with a given swing. 4) This thing is incredibly useful. For example, it's difficult for me to say for sure whether my slice was the result of an open face or the arc of the swing -- the analyzer tells me exactly what I need to know. 5) The design is good: The analyzer is so unobtrusive you would not notice it unless you looked for it on the shaft of the club; and it does not move at all with repeat swings. 6) I don't know if their web site makes it clear you MUST hit a ball to get a report; if not they should do that. 7) I'd recommend this to anyone interested in improving his or her swing. I just started playing golf for real this year; I have a LOT to learn -- this is already helping me, and I just used it for the first time today. 8) I should note too there are a bunch of tutorials available on the app -- I've just begun to use those; so far they look good. So for what it's worth, I'd say this is a great deal at $120. And I took the time to write this kind of detailed review partly because I can't remember the last time I had a problem with a product and got the kind of response these folks showed. That doesn't often happen, in my experience, and when it does, people ought to know.