GPS Comparison Charts

[stevestrike]

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

Yes! You can remark, change, or move the 4 custom points as you see fit. This also includes the F/B/C points. Currently, you cannot do this with the SkyCaddie product or the GolfGuru, although they say they will be fixing that in the future.

 

For example, I've noticed that most greens are mapped very well, but the reading to the back of one particular green was off by about 7 yards. You can can select that point (back) and register it again where you want it to be. This is helpful because sometimes satellite mapping can be off. The green I'm talking about here has drop off that's really not part of the green, but it might look that way from an aerial view. You definitely would not want to land a ball there, and the flag would never be there. So it was easy to change this one point in the unit.

 

Renaming points can be a pain because you have to scroll through the alphabet to get to each letter. There are preset custom points like "layup" and "bunker" but not nearly enough in my opinion. One I've made up was "cutdog" because I mapped a custom point for how far a tee shot needed to be in order to cut the dog leg of a hole. Depending on where the tees are that day, this can range from very doable, to nearly impossible. The custom point helps me decide off the tee which route to take.

[howeracing]

Steve, with the NEO. do you or anyone else know what happens when its time for a new PC. what if your PC crash's. can the course files be saved to an external device for safety.

thanks, Randy

[stevestrike]

Steve, with the NEO. do you or anyone else know what happens when its time for a new PC. what if your PC crash's. can the course files be saved to an external device for safety.

thanks, Randy

Yes! I've got mine stored on my laptop as a backup to the courses on my desktop. The course files are tiny, 25 courses on my drive takes up less than 200KB. That means you could fit over 175 course file on one floppy disk (but uses those anymore anyway?)

 

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any online provision for re-downloading courses without paying for them again. That means once you get them, keep them safe. Personally, I think it's good because they don't lock you into an online system like SkyCaddie or GoflGuru. With those, you must have any internet connection to change courses on your unit from what are already stored. With the Neo, you only need to log in if you want to download new courses.

[Spliffic]

Does anyone know when Garmin will be updating their Golflogix unit?

[thattigga]

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?

 

How accurate are your yardages? I have the Igolf caddie II and I tried to map a course myself and I was getting some slightly off yardages but I had stabilizer on and the WAAS on ( I dont know if your familiar with that) and my yardages were slightly off compared to what the yardage said on the fairway marker and when I walked it off it was slightly off too so I dont know. But how accurate is your device? I dont know if I just want to get a membership and see if that makes any difference

[Diesel]

i ended up opted for the igolf... i expect to have it by Wednesday and will take it out to one of the courses they have listed with GPS available and test it out...

 

i chose it over the others, cause of price, and the number of courses they already have mapped in my area... hope it works out well...

[8thehardway]

Does anyone know when Garmin will be updating their Golflogix unit?

 

 

I've read this month or next. Authorized-dealer ebay prices have come down a lot on the original model which could mean the updated version will arrive soon.

[SVonhof]

BTW, I was contacting Sonocaddie about the battery issue with my unit and asked about the new color one. They sent me a flyer for it which I scanned in. Stupid thing is, the flyer they sent is black-and-white! How are they going to convey the color aspect with a B/W flyer?! :)

 

Larger:

http://vonhofs.com/files/golf/sonocaddie_v300.jpg

[stevestrike]

V300 looks like a nice unit. A little large, but still. It overcomes my biggest gripe with the sonnocaddie--limited custom points and no backlit screen.

 

So, who's next? You know the Guru folks will have a V.2 coming out soon. I think the GPS wars have only just begun!

[Anchor]

Anyone using SG5? Thinking of getting it. I'm from Asia, therefore not many GPS has course plot asia course, eg, Singapore, Malaysia.

[Scottx16]

Just wanted to add my 2cents here. I got the NEO last week and tried it for the first time this weekend. I could not be happier. I went back and forth between this unit and the guru. Chose this one mainly due to it's small size and the fact that it had all the courses I play in MO. and SC. The course I played had GPS on the carts and the NEO matched exactly with the cart yardages all day. Also, I don't like to carry much in my pocket when playing other than a divot tool, and the NEO was small enough that it didn't bother me at all to carry in my pocket. The only shortcoming would be the belt clip which I could tell wasn't going to work, but like I sad carrying it in pocket was no problem and it NEVER lost signal in my pocket. Overall I was extremely happy with this unit after one round. I will post update after using it for a few more rounds.

[Gozz]

Just wanted to add my 2cents here. I got the NEO last week and tried it for the first time this weekend. I could not be happier. I went back and forth between this unit and the guru. Chose this one mainly due to it's small size and the fact that it had all the courses I play in MO. and SC. The course I played had GPS on the carts and the NEO matched exactly with the cart yardages all day. Also, I don't like to carry much in my pocket when playing other than a divot tool, and the NEO was small enough that it didn't bother me at all to carry in my pocket. The only shortcoming would be the belt clip which I could tell wasn't going to work, but like I sad carrying it in pocket was no problem and it NEVER lost signal in my pocket. Overall I was extremely happy with this unit after one round. I will post update after using it for a few more rounds.

 

Hey Scott, welcome to the board. I'm from Springfield also & I just picked up the Guru. They have already loaded Deer Lake & Pointe Royale for me and I have requested Rivercut, Millwood, Stewart, Sillo Ridge, Fremont Hills & Murder Rock. I have also requested a few courses in the Joplin area. I would say within the next month the Springfield area should be up and running on the Guru. Unfortunately we are supposed to get 4-8" of snow tonight which will put a damper on the golf for a while.

[Scottx16]

Had I known that I probably would have taken a harder look at the Guru, but so far I am happy with the way the Neo performed this weekend. I really only need the yardages as my game doesn't require much more than that at this time. The weather is unbelievable right now. 75 this weekend and 6 inches of snow today! I am hoping it will be gone soon so I can play again this weekend. Have you tried out the Guru yet on the course?

[DBake]

Yesterday I play my first round using my brand new iGolf Neo. The Neo is the best thing I could add to my game. Yardages where right on matching the course that I was playing. If you want the best bang for your buck in a GPS system for golf take a look at the iGolf Neo.

 

Only one negative that others have already commented on is the clip that holds the Neo. I feel it will get the job done for a few months than will become to loose and will slide out too easily. The easy fix is go to Target and buy a slip in cell phone case and you will be good to go forever.

[stevestrike]

Neo owners: I found a pretty nice belt holster for the Neo recently. It is a Body Glove Mesh II Universal. ($20 online or at a local electronics retailer)

 

It fits the Neo like a glove. They might as well call it the "Neo Holster II"

 

It has a swivel belt clip, and fits the Neo snuggly enough that you don't have to worry about it coming out by accident, but it's easy to get out when needed. It has a window so you can read it without removing it, but you have to remove it to use the buttons anyway.

[pt71658]

Played my 1st round with the Neo Sunday. Every marker I checked showed up 2-3 yards shorter than the Neo. I can easily live with that. The readings were extremely stable. The best feature as far as I am concerned is I kept the unit in my pocket and it never lost a signal. At the turn I spent approx. 10 minutes in the clubhouse with it still in my pocket and on the 10th tee pulled it out and the signal strength was still strong.

[Tmiller72]

Just ordered the iGolf Caddie II from Walmart.com. I had a good amount on a WalMart gift card and wanted to used it, plus returning things to Walmart is very easy if I have a problem with it. I'll have it in a day or 2 and will be sure to post my opinion on it.

[GDWindowpane]

Well that was a good read. My birthday is coming up and my son is lobbying the wife to get me a GPS unit. I know many of the units allow you to map your own course but I think the lack of local preloaded courses is a deal killer on all but the SkyCaddie products. May see if I can demo any.

[Spliffic]

Looks like Golf Buddy USA is releasing some new sexy units.

[phil75070]

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

Yes! You can remark, change, or move the 4 custom points as you see fit. This also includes the F/B/C points. Currently, you cannot do this with the SkyCaddie product or the GolfGuru, although they say they will be fixing that in the future.

 

For example, I've noticed that most greens are mapped very well, but the reading to the back of one particular green was off by about 7 yards. You can can select that point (back) and register it again where you want it to be. This is helpful because sometimes satellite mapping can be off. The green I'm talking about here has drop off that's really not part of the green, but it might look that way from an aerial view. You definitely would not want to land a ball there, and the flag would never be there. So it was easy to change this one point in the unit.

 

Renaming points can be a pain because you have to scroll through the alphabet to get to each letter. There are preset custom points like "layup" and "bunker" but not nearly enough in my opinion. One I've made up was "cutdog" because I mapped a custom point for how far a tee shot needed to be in order to cut the dog leg of a hole. Depending on where the tees are that day, this can range from very doable, to nearly impossible. The custom point helps me decide off the tee which route to take.

 

I take it from your comments that the F/C/B are "fixed" points for each green? Not sure how to phrase this so I get a clear understanding. So if I am 90* left of the green, the front yardage will be a yardage to point <F and the yardage to the back qould be a yardage to point <B? They will NOT reflect the nearest and farthest points of the green relative to my position. yardages to points F1 and B1 as I diagram here?

 

------B1

 

>B Center <F ----------fairway----------------------------Tee

 

------F1

 

------me

[stevestrike]

I take it from your comments that the F/C/B are "fixed" points for each green? Not sure how to phrase this so I get a clear understanding. So if I am 90* left of the green, the front yardage will be a yardage to point <F and the yardage to the back qould be a yardage to point <B? They will NOT reflect the nearest and farthest points of the green relative to my position. yardages to points F1 and B1 as I diagram here?

I don't follow your diagram, but the answer to your question is yes, they are fixed. Only two units have the ability to "move" the F/B/C points depending on where you hit your approach from--the SkyCaddie, and the GolfGuru. They SkyCaddie 4-star courses are mapped this way in a feature they call intelligreen. The Guru courses need to be walked (by you) in order to learn where the boundaries of the green are. This is a feature they call greenzense. They are basically the same, although the SkyCaddy implementation is quite a bit better in my experience--that feature alone is almost worth the price of admission for SkyCaddie.

 

The rest (Neo, Sonocaddie, SureShot, etc..) only have static F/B/C points. You can move them on the Neo, but they will always be a fixed point, no matter where you stand on the course.

[GDWindowpane]

My son is going to be playing high school golf this fall, are these units approved for tournament play? I think the laser range finders that correct for slope are not?

 

Thanks for any advise you can give me. Trying to formulate a sales pitch for the wife to get me one for my birthday this month.

[phil75070]

My son is going to be playing high school golf this fall, are these units approved for tournament play? I think the laser range finders that correct for slope are not?

 

Thanks for any advise you can give me. Trying to formulate a sales pitch for the wife to get me one for my birthday this month.

 

That is done by "local rule".

 

From the USGA site and the Rules of Golf:

 

14-3/0.5 Local Rule Permitting Use of Distance-Measuring Device

 

Q. May a Committee, by Local Rule, permit the use of distance-measuring devices?

 

A. Yes. A Committee may establish a Local Rule allowing players to use devices that measure or gauge distance only (see the Note to Rule 14-3). However, the use of a distance-measuring device that is designed to gauge or measure other conditions that might affect a player’s play (e.g., gradient, wind speed, temperature, etc.) is not permitted regardless of whether such an additional function is used.

 

In the absence of such a Local Rule, the use of a distance-measuring device would be contrary to Rule 14-3. (Revised)

[GDWindowpane]

So you're telling me there's a chance...

[BallSpinner]

So you're telling me there's a chance...

 

[phil75070]

So you're telling me there's a chance...

 

A "chance"? Yes, but I can't answer for the committee that will be managing your son's tournaments. Check with them. I have seen where a lot of junior level tournaments do not allow them; I don't know what the common practice has been for HS golf. If I had to guess, I would say it is more likely that they are not allowed.

[GDWindowpane]

Phil, I gotcha... I was really making an obscure reference to a movie that ballspinner caught on to...

 

Although I think we are going to move forward with the fact that it could potentially help in my son's preperation for HS Tourny's (sales pitch to the wife).

[pflogger]

The Guru courses need to be walked (by you) in order to learn where the boundaries of the green are. This is a feature they call greenzense.

 

Guru downloads of pre-mapped courses do not need to be "walked" to determine green boundaries. They are already mapped for this functionality. You only need to walk the green when you are mapping a course yourself. Not a big deal in order to get the "Green Zense" smart green feature for courses you map yourself. It's great if you don't have to map a course yourself, but if you do, this is the way to do it.

[stevestrike]

The Guru courses need to be walked (by you) in order to learn where the boundaries of the green are. This is a feature they call greenzense.

 

Guru downloads of pre-mapped courses do not need to be "walked" to determine green boundaries. They are already mapped for this functionality. You only need to walk the green when you are mapping a course yourself. Not a big deal in order to get the "Green Zense" smart green feature for courses you map yourself. It's great if you don't have to map a course yourself, but if you do, this is the way to do it.

Yeah, except for if you use the courses they map you can't edit any points or add your own! And many of the courses they have mapped are lacking in detail on the points available.

[mkrolewski]

I thought I would throw in a few other points.

 

Golf Buddy has two new models (Pro (b&w), Tour (color)). I saw them at a golf show. I cannot find any information on the net to date.

 

I personally like the Golf Guru :man_in_love: although it is not on the chart. From info on another forum somewhere here, and reading, IMHO the Golf Guru may be the best bang for buck. MSP is $250. On ebay, it is going for $210-220.

 

The green sense feature with the ability to apply it to your own greens is a real winner for me in addition to scoring and club distance tracking.

 

Golf Guru displays distance continuous and up to the green edge. Others stop earlier. I personally cannot judge distance, so continuous, uninterrupted distance is really useful.

 

The only fault is not being able to add points to existing downloaded/premapped courses. (A feature request?). If would really great to add at least layup points for holes.

 

 

On the whole idea of mapping a course, I think the number of points is a bit over rated. I thought 3 besides the green was way too low until I attempted to look/map at several courses for my PDA/Intelligolf system/external GPS. For a lot of holes, especially my (Seattle) munis, there really are no items to mark except the greens. There are a few holes, notably doglegs with ridges or holes with creeks crossing them where more three points would be better. A dozen points or dozen front/clear combinations really does cover most holes.

 

Similarly, storing courses on the device, 10 is really alot. I mostly play the same courses, maybe 5 or 6 locally. Typically, I know in advance which one I am going to so one could download/reload them the night before. The only case where this breaks down when I am travelling. I often do not know the course, only the city. So a lot of courses -- 10-20 may be needed to cover an area.

 

 

On the satellite thing, what you want is the highest sensitivity to signal and fastest warmup time. To determine your position in space, you need only 4 satellites. GPS needs line of sight with the satellite. Walking under trees will block signals or at least interfers with the signal(s). The GPS device then must look for other satellites. This is where the additional satellites come in.

 

 

There are different chip sets.

 

My very old (5 year old?) GPS and its SiRF chip sees 10 or more satellites but typically only locks on 3-6 of them at time in the open.

 

The newer GPS chipsets are more powerful at gathering satellites and have more computational power to do the math to determine your position at lower power consumption. All of this is good for a GPS. I am kind of surprised that most vendors do not advertise which chipsets they are using. Maybe they are using the older chips.

 

In addition, one would hope that the device will power up almost immediately. Waiting 5 minutes is intolerable. The new chips are a lot faster.

 

 

Mike