I haven't used the Proto Launcher that much, but didn't experience any of the issues Brad described when I was playing around with it before a tournament the other day.
With the shorter winder the prongs obviously have less full revolutions than the Light Launcher (2 or 3 less I think depending on which winder you are using with the Light Launcher), but it doesn't feel
completely under-powered. It's not competitive, but it isn't terrible (like the Wind-and-Shoot Launcher that Hasbro released when Metal Fusion came out lol). It's a nice little launcher; I think it was smart of them to release this, especially for kids.