Garmin Approach R50

Garmin publishes that placement figure and nothing else about the room. There is no minimum ceiling height, no room depth and no ball-to-screen distance anywhere in the R50 manual, which for a five-thousand-dollar purchase is a genuinely strange omission and worth knowing before you measure.

Golf Sim Oracle tracks the published space requirement for every launch monitor it covers, and the Garmin Approach R50 has the thinnest published specification of the six, despite being the most expensive by a factor of two and a half. The only placement figure in Garmin's owner's manual, read 2026-08-09, is that the launch monitor should be placed approximately 1.5 ft. (0.5 m) to the side of the desired tee location. Because it sits beside the ball rather than behind it, the room depth the R50 needs is set entirely by the distance from the ball to your net or screen, not by the unit itself, which is the practical advantage of a camera-based system over a radar one in a short room. Garmin publishes no minimum ceiling height, no room depth and no ball-to-screen distance for the R50. The manual asks for adequate ceiling height with no obstruction to the backswing or follow through, and advises that any net or impact screen have adequate free space behind it and be high enough and extended enough to account for high-lofted shots.

Anyone buying on price per feature. This is the most expensive unit here by a factor of two and a half, and the published specification is the thinnest of the six.