How accurate are the simulators at golf shops?

They have a tendency to make you hitting downwind to reduce ball curve. They will also set the altitude high and the ground firm so you hit it longer.

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they can preset the smash factor usually around 1.45+ so you get optimal distance for your swing

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Yep. GC2 allows you to edit clubs and create custom clubs with preset smash factors. Other people are correct as well about the altitude presets and wind (although that one is a bit obvious). However, these won't change the angle or spin numbers just the ball flight approximations like total distance (the main one they try to manipulate) and offline.

Nothing beats going outside, hitting off of real grass with trackman behind you. You won't get precise club data, but you'll know what the ball is going to do both visually and by the numbers.

It depends on where you go and who you are dealing with. At Golfballs, their monitor is fairly on if you are dealing with the right guys. The workers can manipulate it.

For example, Edwin watts had me hitting a 7I 190-205 every time. I hit a 7i 170 I always tell people to bring their own clubs.

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What's a smash factor and what does 1.45+ mean?

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Ball speed divided by swing speed. A driver for an AM will be between 1.4 and 1.45. And the number goes down as you go down your set.

I have found them to be accurate AND inaccurate. Same machine, different rep, and a couple weeks apart made the difference.

I hit on them to test out clubs against other clubs. BUT when I intend on buying a club to replace one I own or fill a gap, I always bring in my club(s) I am comparing to and bring my own golf balls. The ball makes a huge difference also and I have found that sometimes you get a dead ball from them and sometimes you get a brand new rock. If you are trying out for feel they may make sure you are hitting the softest ball they have, for distance (driver) the longest. This is more so true at chains and big box places than at mom and pop places.

I don't care if I hit my driver 300 yards when I play and the new driver I'm testing on their machine 400 yards. What I care about is that I don't hit MY driver 400+ yards on their machine if I am looking to pick up distance. It doesn't matter what the distance number is on their machine only the delta of the new driver and my current gamer on their machine.

But like others have said, concentrate more on the launch angle, loft, spins, etc and not on the distance with shop launch monitors.

I doubt people even know the loft of their current 7i. I remember talking about getting my clubs' lofts checked on this forum and a few people laughed at me for worrying about it. A bunch of my irons were way off for both loft and lie. From here on out I'm getting them checked every 3 months.

Most will be off by some degree. always take your own club to test against others that way you can see a percentage difference.

Not many will adjust it to show that you are hitting it farther because they don't want the customer coming back saying you lied. But there are a few who will.

Never use one to judge draw or fade except trackman and 1 or two others.

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Comparing 7i and 7i, assuming you bring in your own and use a couple of theirs, it's hard because not every loft is the same. Makes club fitting much more difficult, I'd imagine.

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No doubt the lofts change, but so much more goes into getting the ball up in the air than just loft. Weighting, CoG, etc play a huge part. I am lucky enough that I am not trying to game any more distance with my clubs, I like my gappings (for the most part, I am playing with my wedges at the moment). The last clubs I tried, I actually dismissed them because they were a little too much longer than my current irons which produced a huge gap at the low end of my set. The only club that I care to gain distance on now is my driver and even then I'm not too worried about it.

My point was that I am looking at playability and feel moreso with my new set, so if my 7i is 34° and the new one is 31/32° but the distance, apex, spin, etc is the same it doesn't matter to me. As long as it feels better, I can shape it more consistently, and as a bonus stop it better I don't care what the loft is.

The problem I have been having with newer clubs is that I get very little to no rollout with my current setup and the new clubs I have been testing have the same carry but less spin and are rolling out 5-10 yards further which will royally screw me up mentally for a while.

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Nothing beats going outside, hitting off of real grass with trackman behind you. You won't get precise club data, but you'll know what the ball is going to do both visually and by the numbers.

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What do you mean? Trackman uses Doppler radar tech so it can track club info also.