GPS Comparison Charts

[Brock]

here is title of a review I did on my SG3 after three rounds and playing on rainy saturday with complete overcast.

SkyCaddie SG3
review after 3 rounds

good luck...I will update it again after a few more rounds of experience with it.

[23muc]

Just when I was ready to invest in the SG2.5 .... I googled 2008 PGA show + GPS and found this.
Interesting looking but not much data available....yet. Could be yet another weak attempt to get in the market ... or something really good? No subscription fee...large course database (according to them)

Take a look...will have to visit the site again later when more info available.

[url="http://www.uplaytech.com/products/"]http://www.uplaytech.com/products/[/url]

[Gsco]

Looks very cool. It does say free membership, then it says 'included is one free pro mode download'. So it seems to get all the bells and whistles course you may have to pay extra.

$399 for the unit, wonder if that will change.

[23muc]

A little more digging ... think they charge for individual course downloads...guess it depends on how much per course??

[stevestrike]

That unit looks... hrm...

As best I can tell, the regular downloads are free (hazzards & greens) and the Pro downloads are charge (aerial views, measure mode, & smartview).

If that's the case, I think it's really smart. Give people the "course downloads are free", but also give them an opportunity to spend more money if they want something better. Either way, it looks like the fee for downloading a course is a one-time fee. I have to admit that fly over views would be useless on courses I already know, but when playing a new course they would be awesome.

To me, this looks like a premium product aimed at the highest end of the market (full-color screen, fly over views, voice command) and really doesn't seem like an incredibly practical product. I don't know. We'll see I suppose.

[Cknott48]

Looks pretty sweet!

[23muc]

Yet another entry into this market....

Golf Buddy Tour.....new hardware, color, no subscription fee, 20,000 course preloaded.....

GB folks told me it was to be introduced at the show so I googled it and found this.....need Quicktime to see the video....don't know if it was actually unveiled though??

[url="http://g11productions.blogspot.com/2008/01/introducing-new-golf-budy-tour-pro.html"]http://g11productions.blogspot.com/2008/01...y-tour-pro.html[/url]

[stevestrike]

[quote name='23muc' post='874899' date='Jan 21 2008, 12:40 PM']Yet another entry into this market....

Golf Buddy Tour.....new hardware, color, no subscription fee, 20,000 course preloaded.....

GB folks told me it was to be introduced at the show so I googled it and found this.....need Quicktime to see the video....don't know if it was actually unveiled though??

[url="http://g11productions.blogspot.com/2008/01/introducing-new-golf-budy-tour-pro.html"]http://g11productions.blogspot.com/2008/01...y-tour-pro.html[/url][/quote]
That one looks neat, I wonder how much it is? $600?

[23muc]

Don't know but the GB folks said they were considering trade ins if you had one of their earlier models to knock some off the price. That seems to be a novel concept in this market as well. I don't own one, so no advantage to me but it might be something the other OEM's need to consider if they become a player. I'm still leaning heavily to the SG2.5.

Nobody likes subscription fees but especially on a golf vacation and you play 4-5 courses....nobody thinks twice of dropping a five spot for a yardage book....that's 25 bucks right there! Yeah...I know...you can keep them forever and that's true if you go back there on vacation every year and play the same courses which I don't like to do.

[idiotbox]

I spoke with Golflogix today and they told me this.

"Thank you for your recent inquiry! We launched our new GolfLogix GPS unit
last week at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show. This unit contains the
following
features:
-Distance of the Last Shot
-Course Recognition Software
-Higher GPS Sensitivity Receiver
-Holds 20 Golf Courses
-Offers up to 6 hazards per hole (including lay-up yardages)

It will be available to purchase March 1st, 2008. I assure you there will
be
some sort of incentive program for you to turn in your old unit for the
new.
However, Distance of the Last Shot will not be a free upgrade to your
current unit."

[golfatdooks]

Does anyone know if with any of the GPS units one can enter gps coordinates directly in order to map a course. I'm talking about extracting coordinates from webmaps and then entering them into the GPS.

[23muc]

[quote name='23muc' post='868329' date='Jan 17 2008, 02:48 PM']Just when I was ready to invest in the SG2.5 .... I googled 2008 PGA show + GPS and found this.
Interesting looking but not much data available....yet. Could be yet another weak attempt to get in the market ... or something really good? No subscription fee...large course database (according to them)

Take a look...will have to visit the site again later when more info available.

[url="http://www.uplaytech.com/products/"]http://www.uplaytech.com/products/[/url][/quote]


Received the following bacj in an email from these folks...

Thank you for your interest in our products. You are confirmed on the email
list. The release date is in April with pre-orders starting in February. The
retail price will be $399 and at launch there will be approximately 2500
courses.

Regards,
uPlay

[PingG10]

I bought an iGolf GPS Caddie II a few months back-love the unit but will be putting myself on the waiting list for this uGolf unit, provided it supports some of the courses I play and provides the features that are described in the technical advertising.

[mceb]

[quote name='idiotbox' post='879260' date='Jan 23 2008, 07:38 PM']I spoke with Golflogix today and they told me this.

"Thank you for your recent inquiry! We launched our new GolfLogix GPS unit
last week at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show. This unit contains the
following
features:
-Distance of the Last Shot
-Course Recognition Software
-Higher GPS Sensitivity Receiver
-Holds 20 Golf Courses
-Offers up to 6 hazards per hole (including lay-up yardages)

It will be available to purchase March 1st, 2008. I assure you there will
be
some sort of incentive program for you to turn in your old unit for the
new.
However, Distance of the Last Shot will not be a free upgrade to your
current unit."[/quote]

Here's the press release. It looks like they are also doing a big ad campaign on this starting in March. I kind of figured they were ready to upgrade so I bailed out of my previous buy back in December. I'll be pre-ordering the new one (which Golflogix is calling GPS-8) when they open up ordering.

[url="http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/12452-GolfLogix--Inc--introduces-its-new-next-generation-GPS-8-product"]http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/1...n-GPS-8-product[/url]

[jshel]

If the new black GolfLogix unit is better than the current green one, it will be a good device.

I've used the green one for four rounds and it's very easy to use. You don't have to push a button over the course of the entire round. And I love the big numbers.

[gdecon]

I have one last question for this group. Does anyone know if the new Golf logix " GolfLogix GPS-8" will allow for user correction of entries.

[SVonhof]

Does anyone know if rechargable batteries die really fast when it's cold? I mean, I know batteries in general don't do well when it's cold, but I charged my AAA batteries for my Sonocaddie last week after playing, popped them in the Sonocaddie and then today, when I went to use it, it died after only 1 hole because it had no juice!

 

I have had the Sonocaddie for under 2 months and these batteries are newer than that, only used for the Sonocaddie and I have only played 6 times since then (slacker). They are Energizer e2 rechargable batteries.

[Solutions Etcetera]

Yes... cold is a factor, but there are others. Don't know what the make up of the e2 is, but in general rechargeables need exercise to reach and maintain their full capacity, AND they loose their charge just sitting around.

 

They only way to really get the best performance out of them is to use them and charge them regularly... and don't leave them in the charger after they have been charged.

 

Rechargeables are great in things like remotes, wireless mice and keyboards, etc., that get frequent use. Not so good for flashlights and other things that sit around for periods without use.

 

If you want to use rechargeables for everything, consider rotating the batteries between devices so you can maintain a regular charge/discharge cycle for all of them. For instance I rotate my DeWalt 18v NiCads between my tools (not used so often) and a cordless vac (used quite a bit and drains them fast) so none of them sit around for too long.

[SVonhof]

I had never heard of them needing "excercise" to reach full potential. Interesting.

 

My problem was that I had charged them on Sunday and played on Friday and they died quick. That seems extreme. I sent an e-mail to Sonocaddie to see if they have heard of any units with power leakage issues, but I sent it off yesterday after close of business.

[drpino]

have you used non-rechargeable batteries in your unit? if they do the same thing I'd say it was the unit but if not, i'd say it's the batteries.

[SVonhof]

The batteries that came with it (not good ones) lasted a single round. I won't use that as a good example though as it was one round in the cold and then I didn't play again for over a month.

[drpino]

batteries that came with mine lasted 3 full rounds...which was surprising.

[blade_man]

I have a Sky Caddie SG2; went overseas and the subscription lapsed. When I re-subscribed they short changed me by starting the 12 months at the expiry date of the first subscription (May instead of August). Also, they changed the subscription packages. And, of course, they do not support Macs.

 

Am looking for something else, backed by a company that does not treat subscribers with distaste and which supports my Mac.

 

Your suggestions most welcome. Thank you.

They do support MACs now..JAT

[Brian_Mc]

In respect to your rechargeables question... they don't need "exercise". NiMH batteries (which the energizers should be) can get a memory (loose a little bit of its capacity) if you don't completely discharge after each charging, but that shouldn't be relevant to brand new ones.

 

It is correct that they loose their charge over time... but it's over weeks/months... not hours/days.

 

BTW, I work with batteries in my job, so I'm not making this stuff up! :black eye:

 

Eating a set of batteries in one round sounds wrong. I'd contact Sonnocaddie and ask their opinion.

[stevestrike]

That's why an internal LiON battery is what you want.... oops! Three rounds under my belt, 50% charge remaining.

[putterzz]

Steve, are you using the neo when you refer to internal battery life?? Also, I am close to purchasing this unit and would like, if you could, to comment on the course mapping. Does igolf when they map courses input any information other than F/B/C of green, and if they do how is it characterized on the unit (e.g bunkers, water, etc..). I understand there are 4 additional POI that are able to be input for each hole, but am not sure if igolf does this or if it is only user based. TIA

[Diesel]

great post...

 

has there been a consensus on the best unit out there...?

[stevestrike]

Steve, are you using the neo when you refer to internal battery life?? Also, I am close to purchasing this unit and would like, if you could, to comment on the course mapping. Does igolf when they map courses input any information other than F/B/C of green, and if they do how is it characterized on the unit (e.g bunkers, water, etc..). I understand there are 4 additional POI that are able to be input for each hole, but am not sure if igolf does this or if it is only user based. TIA

Yes, I'm using the Neo. So far, battery life is solid, and long lasting. I can leave it sit for over a week, and it's still got plenty of juice when I get it out of my bag. The unit is basically brand-new right now, so performance could drop off as time goes by.

 

iGolf has every course I've looked for already mapped. They map F/B/C of the green, and up to 4 points for the Neo. In my experience, all of the greenside bunkers were mapped, all water, and all EOF. What's been missing for me has been fairway bunkers! I don't really care how far it is to a greenside bunker, because at that point, I'm aiming to hit the green. But it is easy enough to add your own points to the Neo, or to re-map the points they have included.

 

They are listed like this:

EOF (end of fairway)

LGB (left greenside bunker)

MFW (middle fairway water)

MFWC (middle fairway water clear)

etc...

 

The unit will hold 6 characters for a custom point name.

[putterzz]

Steve, are you using the neo when you refer to internal battery life?? Also, I am close to purchasing this unit and would like, if you could, to comment on the course mapping. Does igolf when they map courses input any information other than F/B/C of green, and if they do how is it characterized on the unit (e.g bunkers, water, etc..). I understand there are 4 additional POI that are able to be input for each hole, but am not sure if igolf does this or if it is only user based. TIA

Yes, I'm using the Neo. So far, battery life is solid, and long lasting. I can leave it sit for over a week, and it's still got plenty of juice when I get it out of my bag. The unit is basically brand-new right now, so performance could drop off as time goes by.

 

iGolf has every course I've looked for already mapped. They map F/B/C of the green, and up to 4 points for the Neo. In my experience, all of the greenside bunkers were mapped, all water, and all EOF. What's been missing for me has been fairway bunkers! I don't really care how far it is to a greenside bunker, because at that point, I'm aiming to hit the green. But it is easy enough to add your own points to the Neo, or to re-map the points they have included.

 

They are listed like this:

EOF (end of fairway)

LGB (left greenside bunker)

MFW (middle fairway water)

MFWC (middle fairway water clear)

etc...

 

The unit will hold 6 characters for a custom point name.

Exactly what I was looking for...much appreciated

[DBake]

Steve, are you using the neo when you refer to internal battery life?? Also, I am close to purchasing this unit and would like, if you could, to comment on the course mapping. Does igolf when they map courses input any information other than F/B/C of green, and if they do how is it characterized on the unit (e.g bunkers, water, etc..). I understand there are 4 additional POI that are able to be input for each hole, but am not sure if igolf does this or if it is only user based. TIA

Yes, I'm using the Neo. So far, battery life is solid, and long lasting. I can leave it sit for over a week, and it's still got plenty of juice when I get it out of my bag. The unit is basically brand-new right now, so performance could drop off as time goes by.

 

iGolf has every course I've looked for already mapped. They map F/B/C of the green, and up to 4 points for the Neo. In my experience, all of the greenside bunkers were mapped, all water, and all EOF. What's been missing for me has been fairway bunkers! I don't really care how far it is to a greenside bunker, because at that point, I'm aiming to hit the green. But it is easy enough to add your own points to the Neo, or to re-map the points they have included.

 

They are listed like this:

EOF (end of fairway)

LGB (left greenside bunker)

MFW (middle fairway water)

MFWC (middle fairway water clear)

etc...

 

The unit will hold 6 characters for a custom point name.

 

My Neo is on its way. Can you deleted a left greenside bunker and create something else in its place?