Sky Caddie or Pin Seeker

Tough decision, and a very personal one...

I work at a golf course with HUGE greens. We sell the SkyCaddie, and my members love it. Our 150 markers are colored Red/White/Blue depending on Front/Middle/Back. The SkyCaddie gives you yardages to Front/Center/Middle. At our course that number can be off by up to approx. 20". For most players that's fine, like I said, my members love the SkyCaddie.

I want an EXACT yardage to the flag, so I use the Pinseeker, and I'm extremely happy with that. I'm not saying my distance control is that good, I am just more comfortable with the exact number.

The pluses would be more towards the SkyCaddie if you have a lot of blind shots at your club that the Pinseeker can't hit, or if you have trouble holding the Pinseeker steady.

Another plus to the PinSeeker if you are traveling. No need to worry about downloading the needed courses.

Good luck, both are very good.

Kevin

20 ft ? That's 7 yards. Doesn't sound like good info to me. So, the sky caddie could say 157 and it could really be 164 ? I'd would be using the wrong club.

That's correct. The SkyCaddie doesn't know where the pin is, just where front/middle/back of the green is. Fine if you don't play on big greens.

Kevin

20ft? wow...they must have it mapped wrong. i play with guys who have pinseekers in skins and at most the diff is 2 to 4 yards. 3/4 of the time its 1 or 2 or spot on. The pinseekrs have probs with seeking the flag if it's up or down or obscures by trees or bush while the skycaddie, i can dial the flag position in just looking at the flag relative to the contour of the green.

the real minus with the skycaddie is that it needs a yearly subscription. i have the sg3 so i use the rechargeable AAs for it.

Also, you can move the flag position on the skycaddie to where the flag is and dial it in more accurately. So it's just not the front, middle and the green. Also the skycaddie has the bunkers and waters markers as well so you know what you need to carry etc. Very useful on a course you ain't never played before...

I own both b/c they have positives and negatives:

Skycaddie:

1. Fast yardages. Especially under 100 yards. Just look at the bag (I hang mine) and you know the yardages.

2. Do not need line of sight to the target to get the correct yardages. On hilly courses, this is a huge advantage.

3. The software (and their service) is a pain in the 'ss. Swapping courses in/off your Skycaddie can be a pain in you play different courses. Since two of the courses I play have multiple courses/nines, they take up 5 spots on my SG. For "one offs", I usually rely on my laser.

Pinseeker:

1. No software/download issues.

2. Significantly better at the range. I use it to find a target at "X" yards from my tee and go from there.

3. Touring pros all use lasers b/c they "know" who marked the targets. With the skycaddie, you have to trust the guy who measured things. Having said that, I have found my skycaddie quite accurate.

I am debating this issue as well. But I am leaning toward the PinSeeker.

A local golf shop now only sells the Sky Caddie. They use to also sell the PinSeeker but most sales were for the Sky Caddie. They claim it's just easier to use for most people. Also, it provides enough information for most people (Hazards, traps, front, middle, back of green).

I am ex-military. I would use a map and GPS (think Sky Caddie) to make sure I get to the correct location. But as soon as I was going to pull a trigger, I would either use the mil-dot system in the scope or a rangefinder. So this is why I am leaning towards the PinSeeker.

Other negatives for Sky Caddie:

-burns through the battery quicker

-Annual Fee

Negatives for PinSeeker:

-requires somewhat of a steady hand

-Not as dependable in fog

-awful for blind shots

skycaddie - get some rechargeable AAs and that should solve the batteries issues. Plus I can get 2 rounds off my 1/2 dead rechargeable batteries. It's not too bad imo. Yeah the yearly subscription s*cks.

There are other options in the GPS game-I looked at SkyCaddie, iGolf, Garmin and others-ended up with the iGolf unit since you "own" the courses you download from them-if your subscription lapses you've still got the courses. As I understand the SkyCaddie system-your subscription lapses and the courses go away.

I never really considered a rangefinder mostly because I (at my handicap level) don't see the real benefit in knowing exact distance to the pin (F/C/B with some in the noggin averaging) is good enough for me-the shot distance feature is a huge help to me (keeps me honest about how far I hit my clubs) and I really like the ability to add custom points.

No shortage of debate on this topic.

Whatever suits your game. I can't hit my irons with exact precision, so an exact and precise yardage to the pin is useless to me. When I hit approach shots from 120 yards and out, I'm aiming for the center of the green, period. That's why the SkyCaddie suits MY game. On the courses I play, there are countless shots I make where I can't even see the flag. So if I walk around to find a point where I can see the flag, shoot a laser and have to estimate or pace-off my distance between where I fire the laser and where my ball is...I feel like I'm defeating the purpose of having a yardage device in the first place.

The SC for me is so incredibly simple. I look down, I see a number, I grab a club. If it's a yard or two or 10 off, again, I'm not looking for an artery or a nerve here- this isn't major surgery (to me) so I can live with it. For what it's worth, I haven't had any of the inaccuracy issues that have been reported here.

The SC speeds up my club selection, helps me with course management and overall speeds up my game.

I definitely would recommend it, especially if your home courses are fully mapped.

My vote goes for the pinseeker, it can also be used at the range to determine if the yardage markers are on.

No shortage of debate on this topic.

 

Whatever suits your game. I can't hit my irons with exact precision, so an exact and precise yardage to the pin is useless to me. When I hit approach shots from 120 yards and out, I'm aiming for the center of the green, period. That's why the SkyCaddie suits MY game. On the courses I play, there are countless shots I make where I can't even see the flag. So if I walk around to find a point where I can see the flag, shoot a laser and have to estimate or pace-off my distance between where I fire the laser and where my ball is...I feel like I'm defeating the purpose of having a yardage device in the first place.

 

The SC for me is so incredibly simple. I look down, I see a number, I grab a club. If it's a yard or two or 10 off, again, I'm not looking for an artery or a nerve here- this isn't major surgery (to me) so I can live with it. For what it's worth, I haven't had any of the inaccuracy issues that have been reported here.

 

The SC speeds up my club selection, helps me with course management and overall speeds up my game.

I definitely would recommend it, especially if your home courses are fully mapped.

Good post. I have definitely noticed that my members who use SkyCaddie get their yardage a LOT faster than I do...

Kevin

My vote goes for the pinseeker, it can also be used at the range to determine if the yardage markers are on.

Also a plus. There are many good arguments for both devices!

Kevin

If you can have both, that's always nice. The Pinseeker would be really sweet at the range to work out your yardages. But if you want to really split hairs, you'd have to be using regular golf balls and not range balls if you want to be truly accurate.

But since I realistically could only have one device, I chose the SG4.

I have used both extensively. If I could only have one or the other, I would prefer the Pinseeker. It's much more versatile and more accurate. Although I am not as accurate as the Pinseeker, I do like to have the right club in my hand.

Look at this thread:

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=80146

Plenty of opinions in there.

Scott

Do the 4 star courses on Skycaddie have the ranges marked as well? From my understanding, you can input a range, which is nice to have on your home course.

Do the 4 star courses on Skycaddie have the ranges marked as well? From my understanding, you can input a range, which is nice to have on your home course.

If the 4-star course has a range, usually it's mapped.

You can map a driving range yourself if you want to sneak in after-hours (NOT suggesting anyone does this, but it can be done)

For exact yardages to targets "in sight"- hands down, the Pinseeker is the way to go.

For quick, approximate yardages to targets that you may or may not be able to see, with little to no effort, the SC works for me.

That link to a previous thread is a hotbed of opinions on this very subject. Check it out.

I agree with all the SC points. I've had mine for almost two years now and love it. Very accurate, easy to use, tons of courses to download, quick info. Several of my friends have them too and are also pleased with the performance.

Quick story - my SC went kerflewie a month ago, a software glitch with a download (something I screwed up). Anyway, it locked up - so I called and their support team walked me through a few fixes. When that didn't work, they go online through my computer to fix the problem. That didn't work, so they had me send the unit back. It was returned, fixed, at no charge.

It was out of warranty.

So, needless to say, I have nothing but good things to say about their technical support....

I used the pinseeker for 2 years and just switched to a SG5. What took me so Long to make the right call. Already sold the pinseeker and I'm not looking back. GREAT addition to anyones bag

My buddies with Sky Caddies are ALWAYS asking me for yardages. I keep telling to get their own Pinseeker...several of them have and don't even carry their Sky Caddie any more...

Scott

The SC is great. After watching my buddy (who is a club pro) try two and three times to lock on to the flag with his pinseeker, I feel nothing but love for my SC4. Also, I play at some courses with big greens and I just toggle the yardage line to the general flag location and yardage changes. It is not exact, but very close.

not much talk here about the ability to measure the distance of shots that you hit. i played with a guy that measured every tee shot all day long and most other shots with his skycaddy, which i thought was incredibly useful. do you guys do that? how accurate is that measurement? anything comparable with the laser? and finally, i don't need help with my yardages (i have a detailed map and know the course like the back of my hand), i only want to measure distances of shots that i hit. any suggestions? i was thinking i could maybe do it with a non-golf specific gps. or, maybe i could do it with the skycaddie without paying the subscrition fee for course info.

I use the Pinseeker for two reasons....

1) Practice...particularly dialing in different wedge yardages

2) To mark up a yardage book during a practice round. In competitive rounds, I often don't use the laser, as I'll pace off yardages and calculate them to keep myself distracted from slow play.

I can understand the benefits of the SkyCaddie, but the PinSeeker had a slight edge for my purposes.

This thread is soon to be just like the ones before it.

You're going to get a hundred arguments in favor of the Pinseeker and a hundred more in favor of the SkyCaddie.

Listen to some of the pros and cons, see if any of the arguments persuade you (or if the experiences can be applied to YOUR game) or your best bet: try them both. Then you can make the most informed decision possible.

SkyCaddie is the best golf investment I have made. Driver, irons and putter may change but the SkyCaddie is a permanent item.

I like them both.

There are many good points for both.

The thing that makes me lean toward my skycaddy is the ball mark button!

I can now know how far and under what conditions I hit whatever club or what ever ball.

I can also shut up those "I hit that thing 330" comments.

Checked my local course which had just been lasered and had only one yard differance on only three holes.

Many I play with think I'm nuts for purchases such as skycaddy, pinseeker and proplay. But they all want to know!

Both of them are good investment. My regular foursome has 3 SC(them) and 1 Pinseeker(me). I will say a few cons for both devices since everyone talked about pros already.

SC:

-it doesn't tell you the exact yardage to the pin.

-it requires yearly subscription.

-what if you forgot to load the map for the new course you are playing today?

-won't tell you how much room you have if you are under a tree and want to punch it sideway out of trouble.

-if the object is not mapped, you will not know the yardage. You will know some of the bunkers, creeks, but not the tall trees, the OB stakes, etc. again, if it's not mapped, you won't know.

Pinseeker:

-requires steady hands.

-it doesn't work if you have a blind shot.

-it doesn't work if there are direct sun light. Yes, it doesn't work if the sun is shinning directly into the lens.

-a little big, but it's good that it comes with it's own carrying case that you could strap it to your bag.

-it takes a few seconds more before you know the distance to the green compared to SC, which is almost instance.

I have both. I prefer the Pinseeker, my wife prefers the Skycaddie

20ft? wow...they must have it mapped wrong. i play with guys who have pinseekers in skins and at most the diff is 2 to 4 yards. 3/4 of the time its 1 or 2 or spot on. The pinseekrs have probs with seeking the flag if it's up or down or obscures by trees or bush while the skycaddie, i can dial the flag position in just looking at the flag relative to the contour of the green.

 

the real minus with the skycaddie is that it needs a yearly subscription. i have the sg3 so i use the rechargeable AAs for it.

 

Also, you can move the flag position on the skycaddie to where the flag is and dial it in more accurately. So it's just not the front, middle and the green. Also the skycaddie has the bunkers and waters markers as well so you know what you need to carry etc. Very useful on a course you ain't never played before...

In KC's post, he mentioned 20". " means inches, ' means feet. I could be wrong and KC can correct me if I am.

Also, if the Skycaddie is off by 20 feet. Someone did a bad job of measuring the course.

The accuracy of the SkyCaddie is +/- 3 yards. This is true for all of the GPS golfing devices. I own the SkyCaddie and for ME, I think it's much better than a rangefinder. I had a rangefinder before I had a SkyCaddie and I think that the instant yardage, no blind spots, and ability to measure any shot is a real plus for me. But the thing that I love the most is the front/middle/back yardages for the green. You can't do that with a rangefinder very easily. The rangefinders are accurate to +\- 1 yard, so it's not much of a difference accuracy wise.