# Do you have a GPS? What do you recommend?



## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Only one course near me has the GPS unit built into the cart, but I've begun playing with some new people who play at places that don't have them. Some of the guys have their personal GPS units, but with thoughts in mind about getting one, from what I've read, it seems hard to compare.

Some companies charge and annual fee. Some charge a one time fee. Some charge individual course download fees. Apparently some don't.

Once a course is mapped, is it only mapped for the company who did it or do all the brands access the same mapping?

Is there any serious learning curve to using the GPS'?

What are the important features as opposed to things that are sizzle, but not steak?

Thanks,
Dennis


----------



## stevel1017 (Apr 30, 2007)

I can only speak from my personal experience. I have the Skycaddie, and I love it. Yes, I have a yearly fee, but really only have to pay it if i want to add (or remove) courses. When I visit a new course, it is great to see how far to hazards, end of fairway, etc. For my home course, I don't have to seek out the yardage markers, and if (god forbid) I am off line, I still know my distances to the front, center, and back of the green, of to the layup area. Having the knowlege, I can then make good decisions, and trust my swing, no second guessing


----------



## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Do I understand you are saying that if you miss a green, to one side or the other, that the Skycaddie gives you the distance from side to side at that point, but that some other brands might not?

I looked at the Skycaddie plans and at $59.95 a year, that appears to be unlimited courses anywhere in the world and unlimited downloads. I really don't think that's so bad.

A friend is using a Sonocaddie and paid something like the same price for a one time setup that includes every course they can access, but their front end cost is a bit higher unless you get their tiniest model.


----------



## stevel1017 (Apr 30, 2007)

Yes the SkyCaddie has what they call intelligreen, the green rotates (for lack of a better description) so it always tells me front middle and back no matter what angle i am on


----------



## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

I'm a bit torn whether to get an entry level unit that seems to have just reasonable features, like the Sonocaddie V100, ot get a more full featured unit like their V300. They are very graphically different, although the V100 seems very intuitive even though it doesn't draw a hole map.

I seem to be drawn to that brand because 2 friends have them and are happy with them. There is also the attractive idea that Sonocaddie has a one time fee, which seems like a good value, not that $30 to $60 a year for the Skycaddie units is such a big deal.

Also, like I said before, the course I play most often has a GPS in every cart. There are three other courses near here that don't have them, but I don't play those courses all that much. The people I play with on weekends tend to play those courses during the week and my weekdays are about to open up. (Unemployment will do that for you!) So, if I make some effort to play those courses, I'll probably find a GPS handy, but if it's only a once in a while trip to the other courses, I'm questioning the worth of a $250 difference in price between the two.


----------



## Up North (Jul 3, 2008)

I don't have one but a buddy of mine does. His is the Golf Logix, and it's pretty cool. His just gives you the yardage to the hazzards, front, center, back, and the basics like that. Yesterday we were playing a course that neither of us had played before, and I have to admit it would have been nice to have a GPS that mapped the fairway for us. There were a few times where we had blind shots that it would have been nice to see where we were vs. the green. One other thing, is accuracy of the information, not so much the yardage as that seemed fine and accurate. But a couple times it told us there was a bunker when it was actually water. Big difference as a guy might still go for a particular shot if it's actually a bunker, if it turns out to be water when you thought it was a blind bunker and you just took a swim I'd be PO'd. 

Just thought I'd chime in on my experience with my buddies Golf Logix. A positive thing is that he dropped it on the cart path a couple of weeks ago, he had to reset it and download his courses again but at least it didn't break.

Good luck on the decision, it would be a hard one for me to make too.

Buck


----------



## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

I decided to try the entry level Sonocaddie, the V100. It doesn't show a map of the course like the V300, but there are reasonable ways it shows you the features you need to know and it includes the feature that let's you know how far you hit each shot.

I'll write some sort of review after I get to use it a bit.


----------



## Up North (Jul 3, 2008)

DennisM said:


> I decided to try the entry level Sonocaddie, the V100. It doesn't show a map of the course like the V300, but there are reasonable ways it shows you the features you need to know and it includes the feature that let's you know how far you hit each shot.
> 
> I'll write some sort of review after I get to use it a bit.


Hey Dennis,
How is that Sonocaddie working out? I've been kind of checking out various units too, and I think Sonocaddie has a pretty strong thing going for them. If I wanted to drop a bunch of $$ I'd opt for their 300 (I think it is), but the V100 you have looks pretty enticing. Let us know how it's been working out. Thanks!

Buck


----------



## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

The company I bought it from, (Golf Equipment), had the best price, only $134, but they took so long to get it to me that I only got to use it for the first time today.

I changed it up and took it with me, but forgot the quick start manual, so I definitely found out how intuitive it is. It didn't take long to figure things out and everything worked fine. The GPS in the cart and the Sonocaddie were within a couple yards of each other on every shot. The feature to set it at zero from some point and then simply drive to where your ball is let's you know how far you hit it.

One thing about my entry level model is that you have to manually change what hole you are on. I don't mind that, but there were a couple times we had a good laugh about forgetting to use it on one hole and looking at a reading that said we were 825 yards from the green... two holes back...

All day long I accounted for every stream, bunker or tree, except one. There's a way for me to put it in manually, but I didn't want to mess with that, worried that I'd really mess something up.

Mine doesn't draw a hole map, but instead just shows features to the right or left of a line with the distances to the features. The icons are very clear to understand and within a couple holes, after you've run into examples of everything, there's no doubt what it's telling you.

One of the things about my V100 I like is that while it has a thing you put on your belt, I've never liked those and this one is small enough to comfortably put in your pocket. It's about the same size as an old fashioned pager, smaller than any cell phone I know.

The V100 holds 10 courses in memory. I loaded 5, including the one I played today that has the GPS in the cart. There's one course 20 miles south of me that I can't find and I'll request it be added.

So, all in all, I'm very satisfied. On Wednesday, if I get to play again, I hope to play a course I loaded, but where there are few good visual cues and only a 150 yard marker in each fairway. I think it will prove its worth on that course.


----------



## Surtees (Sep 11, 2007)

sounds like a handy tool for distance and it would be useful on sharp doglegs. I dont need a gps to tell me where the sand is though I can find it all by myself. Just oone question if the course you play most has gps in its carts why do you need another one?


----------

