Golf GPS

[echotrail]

I'm going to select my own Christmas gift this year and Golf gps units such as Skycaddie, Golflogix, Upro etc. are on my mind and it seems everyone is making them now. Who's got one? Which make/model would you recommend and why. Which make to stay away from? Has anyone played with someone else who used one and what did they say about theirs? Can they really help your game or are you going to be distracted by it?

[Walleye Guy]

Played with a buddy of mine who had a SkyCaddie. After two rounds he returned it. Response seemed slow and the number of courses was limited at the time. It just wasn't that impressive. That was 2-3 summers ago.

A handheld range finder seems to work better and is more versatile especially if you are a hunter.

[delmuts]

My son has used the Sky Caddie for the last two seasons, with great results. BUT!! We seem to have alot of the main courses arouond here on thier system. I would suggest you go to thier web sites to see who has the best selection for the ones you play and in your area!! Here in the mid west.( Iowa, and Ill. ) we have a very good coverage. So far we have not had any problem with satelite acquasistion either.

One note! If you play an AM. tournaments; the satelite yardage units are legal, but any laser type isn't

Do some checking and see which one would best suit your needs! del

[tweeder]

I have the sky caddie SG4 i think it is, the weather proof one. It has been fantastic.

Has yardage to (and to carry) bunkers, water etc. Has front-middle-back at the greens, can measure how far shots go so you can really get clubs dialed in.

I love it and the people I play with love it as well. I have had no issues with it at all (2 seasons and I play 40-50 18 hole rounds per summer)

It has almost all of the courses here in the metro area, as well as the ones up by the cabin in walker!

for got to mention range finders have limitations IMO, such as line of sight. if you can't see it you can't measure how far it is away. So for the blind shots, or dog-leg holes, or if you are like me and find the woods some times, the range finder is very limiting.

[BpAki987]

I work at a pretty desent golfcourse and hands down i see skycaddies 10 to 1 compared to other units. The skycaddie i use is just a sg2 but i have never had problems with it. very accurate when u need to be.i love being able to tell that its 145 to the front of a hazard and i need 160 to clear it.

Like Delmuts said tho go on the gps makers site and verify that the courses that you like to play are on there list of courses.

[echotrail]

Thanks for the responses and opinions. I've narrowed it down to the Skycaddie and Garmin "Golf Logix" brands. I'm seeing drops in prices already on the existing skycaddie models as the new 3.5 model will be at retail outlets next week and I want to do a "Hands on" session with it. I'm trying to find what Garmin has new for their 2009 model. I hope to use the one I buy in AZ. by the of Jan.

[BpAki987]

Good Luck!!!! You should definetly be happy with either one of those brands. There definelty cool to have.

[LovenLifeGuy]

I have used both the skycaddie and the garmin. The skycaddie imho is by far the better of the two. We found that the garmins batterys would not even last a whole round, and they were not rechargable.

[picksbigwagon]

Do you think Lowrance will come out with a chip or someone will come out with a chip that you can put into an h20? I don;t need another gps, but having that information would be handy to have, so when I am standing in the trees, I would know how far I have to hit it over the trees to get it on the green...I like to combine hunting and golf..................

[echotrail]

I emailed garmin and asked the same question about just buying a chip that fits into another unit and they said no.(Why sell you a glass of milk when they call sell you the whole cow).

Skycaddie has delayed the release of the 2009 3.5 model. It was supposed to have been released the third week of Dec.

Garmins 2009 model is called "Approach 5" which was previewed at a show in Las Vegas about two weeks ago. It should be released in the first quarter of 2009 and it's their first touch screen model and is similar to several other brand units. They have a cool demo video on their HSOforum. They are going to gouge you $500 for it with no annual fee. All courses are preloaded but for now they only have access to 5,000 courses. I've seen other touch screen brands with 15,000 courses available.

[echotrail]

I thought I'd have bought a unit by now, but with Skydaddies 3.5 release delay and Garmins Approach 5 unit comming out I've decided to wait until spring. On the subject of batteries, I've had other devices with rechargable batteries and they seem to recharge for about 1 year and then won't hold a charge and you end up spending $30 to $40 for another. I prefer to use AA rechargable batts and carry a second set. I must have 20 of them around the house now for cameras and radios. I know the 2008 Garmin Golf Logix uses AA's and I don't recall what I the Approach 5 uses.