GOLFGURU

SixtyAnything · February 16, 2008

GPS systems

So I went searching and searching for the best GPS system for me. I was only going to buy one and price was not a contributing factor. I quickly eliminated many of the systems including garmin, igolf, and others. It quickly became apparant that the only option out there was Skycaddie. I have to admit even though price didnt matter at this point I did not like the idea of paying 450 and then on top of it them getting in my pocket for another 50 a year. Back to the search....

Discovered the golf guru....

Ok not as flashy and not as well known. But 10 times better than Skycaddie.
Check this out:
Keeps your score card
And fairways, and greens, and putts... calculates and totals and averages everything for you
uploads it for you to a handicapping system.
Allows you to mark up to 16 marks per hole
You can mark lay up distance ( not that I would ever do that )
Rotates your approach if your right or left not just how far the front and back would be if your straight out.
Free membership
Uses 16 satelites compared to 12 ( i think its 12?? could be 10??)
Keeps 20 courses not 10
Smaller than an ipod (great for someone who walks)
I have never lost a signal yet on a course no matter how deep i get.
Customer service is phenominal.
Battery lasted 4 rounds before I decided not to chance it further and charged it.
NOW.... the price... 250 delivered. Got mine on Ebay a little cheaper from the maker. no yearly dues. so half what skycaddie is charging for twice the features and there is not one feature skycaddie has that this one does not.

I promise no one will have any complaints who give this one a go.

Why am I writing this review. Concern. As much as I would like to have a product superior to the people I play against, I want to make sure they sell enough that I would never have to switch to a Skycaddie and give up what I love. Its hard to go to a Hyundai when all you been driving is Mercedes.

Straight shots,
Shaun

Gozz · February 16, 2008

Anytime your looking to buy something golf related this is the site to go to first. Here are 4 pages on the guru. Welcome to Golfwrx but fair warning, this site will make you spend more money on golf and increase your addiction to the game. :drinks:

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?sh...150&hl=guru

vh3201 · February 25, 2008

Concerning the Golf Guru. After reading some reviews on this site I bought one on e-bay due to the supposed good customer service. The skycaddie service seemed terrible from what I read. My Golf Guru has not been delivered yet...........it ships today, but I did drop an e-mail to Golf Guru customer service asking for a course to be added that was not in their database. I received a reply within 45 minutes on a Sunday afternoon saying that they would add the course..........there was enough info on line to provide points on the course..........within this next week. This type of service deserves to be reported to others who might be interested in this type of product. They are fairly new and are VERY responsive.

J-J · February 25, 2008

Agree on the customer service part!

Although I did not buy one due to the lack of meters in stead of yards... When they do I'll buy instantly!

They were happy to reply my mails even on a sunday!!

Friendly and very fast.

EJ Mac · February 28, 2008

Props here as well on their customer service very responsive I bought Sky Caddie for now but am anxiously waiting for them to get all of the updates and course mapping completed before I pull the trigger simply because they have only 1 course mapped in my area. No hesitations on buying from them once these factors are complete.

guit80 · February 28, 2008

"I quickly eliminated many of the systems including garmin, igolf, and others"

Jukebox...Can you elaborate as to why??

phil75070 · February 28, 2008

After reading about this device here on a couple of threads, I emailed them with a couple of questions. My reply came 12 minutes later! I won the bidding on one they had up on Ebay at noon and got notification by email by 3:00PM that it was shipping the same day. So far, from a customer service perspective, the experience has been exceptional. Hopefully the device will perform as well.

I have been a SG2 owner for 4 or 5 years now. I did have a problem with the original unit and had a good experience with their customer service people back then. They were easy to get hold of, the unit was repaired and quickly returned and I have never had a problem since. However, I was intrigued by the added features, smaller size and greater accuracy (claimed) of the Golf Guru, and the course I play 95% of the time is mapped for download as well as 6 others I occasionally play in the area. I intend to run both of them side-by-side this weekend to compare accuracy. With the SG2, my experience has been that it is typically accurate to within +/- 2 yards although two SkyGolf units, any models, held side-by-side seldom display the exact same yardage!

Edited to add:

This is also about the closest thing to the SkyGolf Intelligreen feature I have found. Apparently, the idea of the green itself rotating to your point of view is patented by SkyGolf. However, the Golf Guru allows you to move the pin to approximate its location on the green and the front and back yardage markers move along the green to indicate those yardages on a line through the pin as you are displaying it. I would not even consider a unit unless it had a similar feature.

EJ Mac · February 28, 2008

Phil

Be sure and post back with how it performs as my jury is still out on this appreciate the info.

Diesel · February 28, 2008

i am in the market for a GOS unit as well, and was leaning toward the igolf, but the golf guru sounds interesting as well now...

phil75070 · February 29, 2008

Having used the SkyCaddie (SG2) for 4-5 years, there was no way that I would replace it with something that did not have an equivalent to the Intelligreen function. There is one other GPS that I am aware of that gives you the front, middle and back distances for the green based on your orientation to the green, but doesn't show the shape of the green nor allow you to approximate the pin location. With the Golf Guru you can do that and there is something that not even the SkyGolf products let you do and that is when mapping a course yourself to be able to map this feature as well.

I got tired of the $50/year subscription price with the Skycaddie and the $50 battery that would only last two seasons. Granted, they have more courses mapped but that gap will narrow over time.

mcpingist · February 29, 2008

Granted, they (SkyCaddie) have more courses mapped but that gap will narrow over time.

You make a lot of good points but until Golf Guru catches up in courses I think SkyCaddie makes more sense for me. It also sounds like, based on comments here, that a lot Golf Guru courses only have green info, not hazards, etc. I'm not interested in mapping anything myself. Hopefully in a couple or 3 years the decision will be more difficult because of features and courses added by companies such as Golf Guru and UPRO, which also looks great on paper but will likely take time to live up to its press releases.

dietz · February 29, 2008

I also contacted GolfGuru customer service. A couple of items i found out about the units on Ebay - 1. The reserve IS $210 !!! 2. You do not get a charging cord (110v or cigarette) this would be purchased separately either from them or from Radioshack. If you buy it from them it is $20 plus shipping. So all totaled you would really be spending the same amount if you went direct to the website. A side note on the customer service - they are VERY interested in knowing what WE want in the unit, this is the only way this unit is going to be the best available. So what im trying to say here is if you are interested in one .... please call them and ask questions and let them know what you are looking in the unit. I will be ordering a unit next week foresure !!

phil75070 · February 29, 2008

I can't find it on their website or remember where else I might have seen it, and the user manual says to not use any charger not specific to the unit, but I could have sworn I saw somewhere that just about any cell phone/MP3 player charger that uses a mini USB connector could be used. It does come with the USB cable so you can charge it from your PC. There does seem to be conflicting info on their site as it says in the FAQ:

What items are included with the purchase?

The Golf Guru package includes the Guru unit, USB cable, Quick Start Guide, and the Guru desktop utility for PC’s.

No mention of the AC charger. But if you go to purchase it on their website, selecting a charger (AC Wall or car charger) is "required".

golfgame · February 29, 2008

Granted, they (SkyCaddie) have more courses mapped but that gap will narrow over time.

You make a lot of good points but until Golf Guru catches up in courses I think SkyCaddie makes more sense for me. It also sounds like, based on comments here, that a lot Golf Guru courses only have green info, not hazards, etc. I'm not interested in mapping anything myself. Hopefully in a couple or 3 years the decision will be more difficult because of features and courses added by companies such as Golf Guru and UPRO, which also looks great on paper but will likely take time to live up to its press releases.

I had a conversation a day or so ago with tech support and this is what I was told basically. The beginning course listings that they offered which was 6500 courses I think, they actually purchased an existing course data base that had all of the greens mapped. In addition the courses also had some if not all of the hazards, layups, etc in the course data. The issue presently is that not all of it is showing up on the Guru. The issue that they are working on is to get that data base to shake hands with several other sites databases. One being the handicap site they are going to employ. Everything needs to match exactly. In addition they are in the process of redesigning their web page in order to offer a number of new features. One last thing any of the courses that any of you have requested will have items from tee to green marked. It may not be all that the individual would desire but you will have the ability to edit any of the courses in their next major update which they thought was a couple of weeks out yet.

Some of you must be involved it the IT/Programming world so you can appreciate what they are up against.

Keep the faith....they sure seem to be committed and are a delight to work with.

:)

mcpingist · February 29, 2008

Granted, they (SkyCaddie) have more courses mapped but that gap will narrow over time.

You make a lot of good points but until Golf Guru catches up in courses I think SkyCaddie makes more sense for me. It also sounds like, based on comments here, that a lot Golf Guru courses only have green info, not hazards, etc. I'm not interested in mapping anything myself. Hopefully in a couple or 3 years the decision will be more difficult because of features and courses added by companies such as Golf Guru and UPRO, which also looks great on paper but will likely take time to live up to its press releases.
I had a conversation a day or so ago with tech support and this is what I was told basically. The beginning course listings that they offered which was 6500 courses I think, they actually purchased an existing course data base that had all of the greens mapped. In addition the courses also had some if not all of the hazards, layups, etc in the course data. The issue presently is that not all of it is showing up on the Guru. The issue that they are working on is to get that data base to shake hands with several other sites databases. One being the handicap site they are going to employ. Everything needs to match exactly. In addition they are in the process of redesigning their web page in order to offer a number of new features. One last thing any of the courses that any of you have requested will have items from tee to green marked. It may not be all that the individual would desire but you will have the ability to edit any of the courses in their next major update which they thought was a couple of weeks out yet.

Some of you must be involved it the IT/Programming world so you can appreciate what they are up against.

Keep the faith....they sure seem to be committed and are a delight to work with.
:)

I am in the IT field. I sell software and am very familiar with promises on fixes, new features, etc and how they often take much longer to be released and/or work as advertised than the vendors suggest. That is why I listen but don't count on anything until it is released and tested enough to allow me to be confident that it will work as advertised. I have every hope that Golf Guru and others will deliver everything they are talking about and more. That can only be good for us, the consumers. I just don't put much stock in these "wer'e working on it" discussions until the final, tested product/update is in the marketplace.

EddieC · February 29, 2008

Just a note about the mapping. I purchased one of these a few days ago and asked the guru folks what my course looked like on the guru...they replied with just greens at the moment, but if I purchased the unit I could request the hazard mapping. I bought it and made the request and my course should be done in a few days. Seems fair enough that they wouldn't map every course known to man out there unless they were sure that someone was going to use the data. I would think that skycaddie has basically the same policy from what I've seen. Logically to me, skycaddie would have more courses mapped at the moment because they've been around longer and have had more individual request. So the bigger golf guru gets, the more units sold the more courses that will be mapped.

rcncgolf · February 29, 2008

The unit comes with cord to connect to PC - you can charge Guru that way. As others said, you can use IPOD or other USB car charger to connect & charge in car. Usually plug into PC & let charge for ~4 hrs then good to fo for 3-4 rounds (We have some 5 hour rounds due to weather & shotgun!)

golfgame · February 29, 2008

Granted, they (SkyCaddie) have more courses mapped but that gap will narrow over time.

You make a lot of good points but until Golf Guru catches up in courses I think SkyCaddie makes more sense for me. It also sounds like, based on comments here, that a lot Golf Guru courses only have green info, not hazards, etc. I'm not interested in mapping anything myself. Hopefully in a couple or 3 years the decision will be more difficult because of features and courses added by companies such as Golf Guru and UPRO, which also looks great on paper but will likely take time to live up to its press releases.
I had a conversation a day or so ago with tech support and this is what I was told basically. The beginning course listings that they offered which was 6500 courses I think, they actually purchased an existing course data base that had all of the greens mapped. In addition the courses also had some if not all of the hazards, layups, etc in the course data. The issue presently is that not all of it is showing up on the Guru. The issue that they are working on is to get that data base to shake hands with several other sites databases. One being the handicap site they are going to employ. Everything needs to match exactly. In addition they are in the process of redesigning their web page in order to offer a number of new features. One last thing any of the courses that any of you have requested will have items from tee to green marked. It may not be all that the individual would desire but you will have the ability to edit any of the courses in their next major update which they thought was a couple of weeks out yet.

Some of you must be involved it the IT/Programming world so you can appreciate what they are up against.

Keep the faith....they sure seem to be committed and are a delight to work with.
:)

I am in the IT field. I sell software and am very familiar with promises on fixes, new features, etc and how they often take much longer to be released and/or work as advertised than the vendors suggest. That is why I listen but don't count on anything until it is released and tested enough to allow me to be confident that it will work as advertised. I have every hope that Golf Guru and others will deliver everything they are talking about and more. That can only be good for us, the consumers. I just don't put much stock in these "wer'e working on it" discussions until the final, tested product/update is in the marketplace.

What you have said is fair. I have written a couple of programs and am well aware of what it takes to do that and get it tested. They have their work cut out for them but when you call there you get the feeling that they are working hard.

phil75070 · February 29, 2008

Got my unit this morning, charged it up, downloaded local courses, including my "home" course. The mapping of intermediate targets for my course is somewhat haphazard. Seems they only mapped bunkers and some were only mapped with a "to" distance and no "clear" distance, others vice versa. There are several other features that could have been mapped, such as lone trees used as a target off the tee on 2 and 10, distances to the end of the fairway on doglegs, lay up points on par 5's etc. Overall, I view the mapping as pretty poor, still better than those that only provide green distances. Hopefully, they will be out with their software upgrade that allows for editing/adding features on downloaded courses within the next thirty days or I might just return it and go back to using my SG2.