All of this happened in just the last 18 months:
- Garmin started selling certified pre-owned R10s at $408 with a 1-year manufacturer warranty. That’s $91 less than a new unit, and the warranty is the same one you get for buying new.
- SkyTrak put the original OG launch monitor — the device that basically invented the home sim category under $2,000 — on sale new for $695. The certified pre-owned units went for $499.95.
- Foresight Sports opened a full CPO line. GC3, GCQuad, QuadMAX, Falcon — the whole premium stack, refurbished and warrantied. A CPO GC3 saves you $840+.
- Rapsodo started selling CPO MLM2PROs at $599 with a 1-year warranty and a 30-day return policy.
- PlayBetter, the largest online golf tech retailer, now has a dedicated “Certified Pre-Owned” storefront with units from every major brand.
Three years ago, none of this existed. If you wanted a used launch monitor in 2023, you went to eBay, crossed your fingers, and hoped the previous owner didn’t drop it down a flight of stairs. The warranty was “no returns, sold as is.” The calibration was “trust me, bro.”
The shift from that to manufacturer-backed CPO programs with full warranties isn’t just a retail trend. It’s a signal. The sim industry has hit an inflection point, and the secondary market is the tell.
How the Secondary Market Used to Work (Badly)
Before 2024, the used launch monitor market was the Wild West. The only way to buy used was through peer-to-peer channels — eBay, Facebook Marketplace, GolfWRX classifieds, Craigslist. These transactions shared a common set of problems:
No calibration guarantee. Launch monitors are precision optical and radar instruments. A unit that got knocked around in shipping or stored in a hot garage might read 2-3 mph low on ball speed or miss spin axis by 5 degrees. The seller didn’t know because they never tested it after packing it. The buyer didn’t know until they set it up and their 7-iron was inexplicably carrying 135 instead of 155.
No warranty. Peer-to-peer sales are “as is.” If the unit develops a sensor issue after two weeks, you own it. The seller listed it, you bought it, the transaction is done. The manufacturer won’t help because you’re not the original owner.
Unknown history. How many hours of use? Was it dropped? Did it get wet? Was it stored in a car trunk through a Midwest summer? The unit might look fine cosmetically and be internally damaged. No way to verify.
Pricing chaos. Without a market maker, prices were all over the place. A Mevo+ might go for $1,200 one week and $900 the next, depending on who happened to be selling and who happened to be buying. Buyers had no reference point for fair value.
The result was a market that existed but couldn’t scale. The risk premium was too high. Most buyers either bought new (paying full retail) or avoided the category entirely. The secondary market was for enthusiasts and gamblers, not the mainstream buyer.
What Changed
Three things happened simultaneously that made the CPO model viable.
First, hardware became durable enough for second lives. The first generation of consumer launch monitors — the original SkyTrak, the early Mevo, the Garmin R10 — proved that these devices can survive years of use without degrading. They’re solid-state electronics with no moving parts. A SkyTrak from 2018 works as well in 2026 as it did the day it was built. That durability creates a viable secondary supply.
Second, the upgrade cycle became real. The launch monitor market has had three major product waves since 2020:
Wave 1 (2020-2022): The pandemic boom. Original SkyTrak, Mevo+, first-gen R10. These were the devices that proved the home sim market was real.
Wave 2 (2023-2024): The camera revolution. SkyTrak+, MLM2PRO, Square Golf Home, Bushnell Launch Pro. Camera-based tracking at consumer prices for the first time.
Wave 3 (2025-2026): The commoditization wave. Shot Scope LM1 at $199. Square Omni at $1,599 with four cameras and no subscription. Garmin R50 with a built-in touchscreen. Blue Tees Rainmaker. The barrier dropped again.
Each wave created a wave of trade-ups. People who bought an R10 in 2021 wanted a SkyTrak+ in 2023. People who bought a SkyTrak+ in 2023 want an Eye Mini Lite in 2025. The upgrade cycle creates supply for the secondary market.
Third, manufacturers realized they could capture the secondary value. This is the business insight that made CPO programs happen. When a buyer trades up from an R10 to an R50, Garmin has three options:
- Let the buyer sell the R10 on eBay and walk away from the transaction
- Offer a trade-in credit, take the R10 back, refurbish it, and resell it at 70% of retail
- Ignore the secondary market entirely
Option 2 is the obvious winner. Garmin gets a used unit at low cost, adds $50 in refurbishment (cleaning, testing, new packaging), and resells it for $408. Gross margin on a refurb is higher than margin on a new unit because Garmin already captured the margin on the first sale and the acquisition cost of the refurb unit is effectively zero.
This is the same playbook that Apple has run for 15 years with iPhones. The only difference is that Apple’s refurb program is a $50 billion business and Garmin’s is maybe $5 million. But the economics are identical.
What the CPO Explosion Actually Means
The existence of manufacturer-backed secondary markets is a reliable signal that a hardware category has matured. Here are three things the CPO boom is telling us about the sim industry.
1. The Upgrade Cycle Is Real and Predictable
CPO programs only work when there’s a steady supply of trade-ins. That supply comes from buyers upgrading to newer, better, more expensive hardware. The fact that Garmin, SkyTrak, and Foresight all have enough trade-in volume to run CPO programs means the upgrade cycle is real, predictable, and happening at scale.
This is good for the industry. It means:
- Buyers are engaged enough to want better hardware
- The product improvement curve is steep enough to justify upgrades
- The installed base is large enough to generate meaningful trade-in volume
- Manufacturers have pricing power at the top of the line (otherwise nobody would trade up)
A category with a healthy upgrade cycle is a growing category. A category where nobody trades up is a dead category.
2. Hardware Is Becoming a Commodity (and That’s Fine)
The CPO economics only work when hardware prices are stable enough that a refurbished unit at 70% of retail still makes sense for the buyer. If prices are falling so fast that a used unit is worth 40% of retail, the CPO model breaks — nobody pays $408 for a used R10 when a new, better launch monitor is $199.
But here’s the catch. The Shot Scope LM1 at $199 new has created a floor problem for the secondary market. Why would anyone pay $350 for a used R10 when a brand new LM1, with a full warranty and the latest hardware, costs $199? The R10 is a better device — it has club data, Home Tee Hero integration, a proven ecosystem — but $199 new is a powerful argument against $350 used.
This is the commoditization curve eating its own tail. The sub-$500 tier has become so cheap that the secondary market for budget devices barely functions. Your used R10 is competing against $199 new hardware from a real company. That’s brutal for resale value.
The CPO market is responding by consolidating at the mid-range and premium tiers. Garmin’s CPO program focuses on the R10 (mid-range, not budget). Foresight’s CPO program starts at $5,000+. SkyTrak’s CPO program targets the original SkyTrak and ST Max, not the sub-$200 market. The secondary market is segmenting naturally: the budget tier is disposable (buy new, use it, toss it), the mid-range tier is tradeable (CPO programs work here), and the premium tier is an investment (holds value like a Rolex).
3. Software Monetization Changes the Resale Math
This is the most interesting dynamic. The shift to software subscriptions creates friction in the secondary market, and the market is already pricing that friction in.
A Foresight GC3 at $5,999 with no subscription holds its value better than a Bushnell Launch Pro at $2,499 with a $499/year Gold subscription. On paper, the BLP is cheaper. In the secondary market, the GC3 trades at a premium because the next owner doesn’t inherit a subscription obligation.
The same dynamic applies to the SkyTrak+ versus the Square Golf Omni. The SkyTrak+ requires a $599/year Elite subscription for full features. The Omni has no subscription. On the secondary market, the Omni should theoretically hold value better — the buyer doesn’t face a hidden recurring cost.
The data on this is still forming — the CPO market is too new for robust pricing history — but the pattern is clear from the new-device pricing. Devices with no subscription requirement command a $200-500 premium on the secondary market over equivalent subscription-gated devices. The market is pricing subscription risk into used hardware values.
This creates a fascinating feedback loop. The manufacturers who push the hardest on subscriptions — charging $499/year for features the hardware already supports — are depressing their own resale values. Which makes their new hardware less attractive. Which pushes buyers toward competitors with no subscription. Which forces the subscription-pushers to either drop the subscription or accept that their hardware has lower total lifetime value because it trades at a discount on the secondary market.
The subscription model might be great for quarterly revenue. It’s terrible for hardware resale value. And in a market where buyers are increasingly price-sensitive and informed, that matters.
What This Means for Buyers
When to Buy Used
- Premium launch monitors ($3,000+). The CPO market is your friend. A Foresight GC3 CPO at $5,159 is $840 less than new with the same software bundle and a warranty. These units are built to last and the savings are real.
- Mid-range devices ($500-$2,500). CPO makes sense if you’re buying into an established ecosystem. A SkyTrak+ CPO at $1,795 saves you $200 and gives you the same hardware. But check the subscription math — a used SkyTrak+ still needs the Elite subscription.
- Budget devices (under $500). Don’t buy used. The Shot Scope LM1 at $199 new, the Garmin R10 at $499 new (with permanent price drop), the Square Golf Home at $699 new — new hardware at these prices is cheap enough that the risk of buying used isn’t worth the marginal savings. A used R10 at $350 saves you $149 over new but adds risk. The math doesn’t work.
When to Buy New
- Newly released devices. If the device launched in the last 6 months, there’s no CPO supply and the secondary market premium is minimal. Buy new.
- Subscription-gated devices. If the device requires a subscription for basic simulation features, buy new. The subscription cost dominates the total cost of ownership regardless of whether you save $200 on the hardware.
- Budget builds. If you’re building a sim for under $1,000 total, the hardware savings from buying used are real but the risk is concentrated. One bad used unit can eat your entire budget. Buy new and sleep well.
The Prediction
The secondary market for launch monitors will bifurcate over the next 24 months into two distinct tiers:
The disposable tier (sub-$500). Hardware is so cheap that buying used doesn’t make sense. The Shot Scope LM1 at $199 sets a price ceiling that the entire budget secondary market has to live under. Expect CPO programs to exit this tier entirely — there’s no margin in reselling a $199 device.
The investment tier ($3,000+). Premium launch monitors will hold value like high-end camera lenses or luxury watches. A GC3 purchased today will resell for 60-70% of retail in five years. The CPO market will become the primary distribution channel for premium devices, with new sales reserved for early adopters and people who must have the latest model.
The middle tier ($500-$3,000) is where the action will be. This is where CPO programs will thrive, where upgrade cycles will be most active, and where the subscription-vs-no-subscription pricing war will play out in resale values. If you’re shopping in this tier, the resale math should be part of your buying decision. The device with no subscription and better build quality will hold value better than the subscription-gated alternative with the same specs.
The Real Signal
The launch monitor CPO market exploding is not a story about saving money. It’s a story about an industry that is maturing faster than anyone expected.
Hardware commoditization means the barrier to entry is collapsing. Upgrade cycles are real, which means the market is growing. Manufacturers are optimizing for total lifetime value rather than single-sale margin, which means they’re thinking like platform companies, not hardware companies. The secondary market exists at scale, which means the installed base is large enough to generate meaningful trade-in volume, which means the category is past the early adopter phase and into the mainstream adoption phase.
All of these are good signs. They mean the home sim market is real, it’s growing, and it’s here to stay.
The CPO program is not a discount bin. It’s a canary in the coal mine. And the canary is doing just fine.