Garmin Z80 GPS/Laser Ranger Finder Hybrid - The official thread

[BrendanH]

 

Anyone else have issues with it not waking up ?

 

 

Yes - mine did that too. I was able to restart by holding the power button for around 10 seconds. The restart was pretty fast.

[donuts]

 

Anyone else have issues with it not waking up ?

 

 

Yes - mine did that too. I was able to restart by holding the power button for around 10 seconds. The restart was pretty fast.

 

Seems like it happens to me about once a round. Very annoying.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Ok i looked today and it wouldnt come on by holding rbd button down.

 

I connected the charger let it charge from my lAptop for two hours.

 

Took the charger off and it shut down immediately.

 

Im going to charge overnight from an AC outlet. If i dont get s display tomorrow. It may be going back. Or at the very least a CS call.

 

Is there anyway to see thd current battery level while its charging.

 

All i get is the battery showing battery charging icon.

[donuts]

Ok i looked today and it wouldnt come on by holding rbd button down.

 

I connected the charger let it charge from my lAptop for two hours.

 

Took the charger off and it shut down immediately.

 

Im going to charge overnight from an AC outlet. If i dont get s display tomorrow. It may be going back. Or at the very least a CS call.

 

Is there anyway to see thd current battery level while its charging.

 

All i get is the battery showing battery charging icon.

 

Hold down the middle of 3 buttons until it powers up.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Well it was fully charged this morning and worked like a charm during the entire round. Woke up every time within 10 seconds or so.

 

One funny ancedote.

 

One hole from about 168 out in the fairway with a green that had water, sand and OB all in play. I was looking through the finder taking it all in.

 

My buddy said "is it having trouble picking up the flag".

 

I laughed and said no. I was just looking at all the other hazards and taking in all the info. Guess I I got sidetracked just amazed at how much info it was giving me.

 

I became cognizant after that not to spend any more time than I needed to get the number I needed.

[Bowlorgolf]

Really like the concept but I’m thinking I want to wait till the next version com s out. Sort of like buying a new release car really want it but you know there will be some issues.

[donuts]

I agree about the first release but I hope software updates can address some issues.

[ProfessorX]

Hi everyone

 

Any news for the past few weeks? New adopters? New updatew? People changing their mind on the device?

 

The geek inside me likes the concept but because I cannot test it, all inputs are valuable.

 

Thanks

[robins]

Hi everyone

 

Any news for the past few weeks? New adopters? New updatew? People changing their mind on the device?

 

The geek inside me likes the concept but because I cannot test it, all inputs are valuable.

 

Thanks

 

After talking with Garmin CS a couple weeks a go, the retailer swapped mine out for a new one. I've played about 4 rounds with the new one and it's performance has been flawless. Wakes up quickly, and yardages are accurate when compared with a Laser or a Garmin Fenix with the Golf GPS app. I think there have now been 2 software updates since the product was released

[tdk8180]

I bought a Z80 near the end of July, and it wqs flawless until it got hot and wouldnt turn on. It was HOT to the touch.

 

The blue light was blinking on the outside...but no screen.

 

My guess is that it hit the 124 degree F threshold per the user manual and until I cooled it down, it would stay off. I couldnt get it to cool down.

 

It happened to me twice during Sunny rounds in the 80s temps.

 

I swapped it out for a new one and have had no problems since, however, I am yet to play in the kinds of heated conditions I played in when it failed on me twice.

[jakemarsh7]

Ordering mine today through Amazon, adding the 3-year electronics warranty for $23. Playing it safe since it's the first version of a new product and can always get it replaced if needed. I'll be playing this weekend and will report back with feedback.

[2Bad4u]

I'm not in the market for a new rangefinder but I would love to have a Z80 in my bag.

[jakemarsh7]

Just played my first round with it, couldn't be happier. My favorite things about it after 1 round:

• image stabilization made it incredibly easy to lock onto the flag with shaky hands
  
• it's very good about know what's a tree and what's a flag
  
• because it's a digital screen and not just a lens, it adjusts perfectly to changes in light. I played until 8pm and it adjusted beautifully to darker conditions
  
• the "plays like" distance for slope is very accurate
  
• Battery life at the end of the round was 78%
  

Can't think of anything else specific, but I'm super pleased. KEEP IN MIND i did the software updates last night (2 total I believe), and I think it got rid of a lot of issues people were mentioning early on.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

After those initial issues I had the first round. Mine has worked perfectly for the last 5 or 6 rounds. Battery life is great. Getting about 3 rounds per charge.

 

 

[krb]

System requirements state windows pc is required. Is there any way to update software without windows? I’m a Mac user and don’t have access to a windows machine.

[krb]

System requirements state windows pc is required. Is there any way to update software without windows? I’m a Mac user and don’t have access to a windows machine.

 

OK, manual states that the device uses Garmin Express software for updates, and Garmin does provide a Mac version. Perhaps the system requirements are incomplete. Can any Mac users here confirm?

[2Bad4u]

System requirements state windows pc is required. Is there any way to update software without windows? I’m a Mac user and don’t have access to a windows machine.

 

OK, manual states that the device uses Garmin Express software for updates, and Garmin does provide a Mac version. Perhaps the system requirements are incomplete. Can any Mac users here confirm?

 

I'm a long time Mac user and have never had any issues upgrading my Garmin devices using the Mac version of Garmin Express. That being said, I do not own the Garmin Z80 so like you I don't have a definitive answer.

[LHGolf4]

I took mine out for the first time since the last software update. My previous round it shut off and would not power back on without rebooting it 3 different times. However this time when it did not automatically turn on I was able to just press the target button once and it immediately came on (which is similar to how my previous range finders worked). So we will see how well it works during my next round.

[Morry]

Is it fair to call this a bust or no?

 

work in progress maybe?

[LHGolf4]

Is it fair to call this a bust or no?

 

work in progress maybe?

 

I would say a good first generation product. They are releasing software updates fairly regular so they are actively working on issues as they arise. Probably needs a bit more time before calling it a bust (or success) just yet. I will say overall I have enjoyed mine so far.

[new2g0lf]

I use it daily and think it's a very good first generation product. I'd like to see a higher resolution view finder in the next version but overall, it's the best hybrid rangefinder out there and has delegated the X2 Pro to my away bag.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Is it fair to call this a bust or no?

 

work in progress maybe?

Not a bust by any means. other than the issues I had the first and second rounds mentioned above, it's worked perfectly the rest of the season. I've had several buddies use it during a round, and they are blown away by the quality of the GPS graphics, and information provided.

[Invisible-z]

has anyone been able to resolve to sleep issue?

 

Mine still goes to sleep once per round. It's a little annoying in tournament situations ...

[Scottyrocket]

I just bought this product and took it out for the first time yesterday. Some of the previous comments are spot on. The case is almost unusable if you take it in and out of the case every time. I kept it in a cargo pocket and that worked fine. It goes into standby mode pretty quick but when I hit the second button it turned on right away and had all the info. When I knew I was walking up to my ball I hit the button ahead of time and it was ready to go. I am used to the pin being magnified and much larger on the screen. That is not the case with the Garmin. However it locks on despite me moving the tiny reticle around, this was pretty amazing. What I really liked is that it gave me front-middle-back green distances so I knew it was locked on to the flag, not a tree behind the green.

 

My playing partners were puzzled when I was on the tee of a 500 yard hole and looking through the view finder to see distances to hazards. Overall I liked it but it was not 100 percent a true test as the course i was playing had added and subtracted sand traps which were not on the GPS. Mine never went into full sleep mode and when I first turned it on and hit play golf it found the course in a few seconds.

 

Thanks to the previous posters for the information. I was on the fence about buying it but the information here allowed me to make a more informed decision.

[ssb24]

Can the Z80 measure shot distances, similar to a gps?

[donuts]

Can the Z80 measure shot distances, similar to a gps?

 

No but I imagine it would be an easy software update

 

It will show the distances to the 200-150-100 markers. On the tee I’ll check the distance to an average drive length to compare. For example if it says 280 to the 100 then when I walk up to my drive and see how much I have left to the centre relative to 100 yards I’ll know how well I hit it. I.e. if it said 280 to 100 and then I’m left with 90 I’ll be fairly confident I’ve hit it 290.

[ssb24]

Thanks. It would be an easy software upgrade and hopefully they add, only thing I can see that's missing.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

I just bought this product and took it out for the first time yesterday. Some of the previous comments are spot on. The case is almost unusable if you take it in and out of the case every time. I kept it in a cargo pocket and that worked fine. It goes into standby mode pretty quick but when I hit the second button it turned on right away and had all the info. When I knew I was walking up to my ball I hit the button ahead of time and it was ready to go. I am used to the pin being magnified and much larger on the screen. That is not the case with the Garmin. However it locks on despite me moving the tiny reticle around, this was pretty amazing. What I really liked is that it gave me front-middle-back green distances so I knew it was locked on to the flag, not a tree behind the green.

 

My playing partners were puzzled when I was on the tee of a 500 yard hole and looking through the view finder to see distances to hazards. Overall I liked it but it was not 100 percent a true test as the course i was playing had added and subtracted sand traps which were not on the GPS. Mine never went into full sleep mode and when I first turned it on and hit play golf it found the course in a few seconds.

 

Thanks to the previous posters for the information. I was on the fence about buying it but the information here allowed me to make a more informed decision.

Lol. I had a similar reaction on a dog leg par 4 when I looked into it while sitting in the cart just pointing it out sideways. My buddy joked if I was seeing how far it was to got take a leak or not. Ha

[SoCalTitleist]

any updates on the bug fixes? looking for a black Friday deal

[dcmidnight]

Rick Shiels had a video up that to me was basically a big informercial for the Z80. I like his stuff, watch just about every video he puts up - but I couldn't handle this one. It was just a big commercial.