Why I went with the Igolf caddie II....

neverhadaholeinone · May 10, 2008

Was going nuts trying to figure what GPS to go with, so I hope this makes it easier for someone else.

1) First price was a consideration, I figure the technology will improve in the next year or two. Why spend 300 - 400 hundred for a gps I will want to upgrade. You should be able to get the Igolf with 1 yr. subs. for around $200.00

2) Next accuracy, the caddieII is right on, very accurate. I have used it on cloudy, overcast days and still picked up the satellites.

3) Batteries - I wanted batteries I can replace on the course. The caddieII uses 2 AA's. Remember to keep a sealed pack of spares in your bag! Most others use internal non replaceable by user.

4) Screen size - guy I was playing with had one of the skycaddies and I could barely read the info the screen was so small. The caddieII has a large screen and good sized info. I do wish the screen was brighter or had a multi-contrast screen if not color.

5) Easy to add custom points - very easy to do with the caddie 2. Has 5 or 6 custom points, more than I will ever need. Some of the courses I downloaded have many points marked already.

6) Ease of use - caddie 2 very easy to 3 with just a joy stick, escape and on/off button.

7) IMPORTANT - After customizing courses, you can save them to your PC. So, once you take the time to customize your course, save it and your good. If you play a lot of courses and take the time to add customized info, you don't want to do it again.

8) Courses available - Although you have to "subscribe", believe it was $30 for access to courses, you can download 100 courses for the annual fee. Once downloaded, there yours forever. More course than I'll ever play.

9) Customer service - Best to call these guys. I did have a problem with mine about 2 weeks after I purchased it. Email went unanswered but I called and got a live person in tech support right away.

I would much rather communicate with a person anyway. A new unit was shipped out as soon as the defective one was received. Tech support is excellent!

10) Shot distance tracker - has it and very easy to use. Now, no more saying you think you hit one 300 yds. You will know the exact distance of those big drives.

Negatives: The clip on the back is worthless and will break within one round. Remove it and buy the neoprene cover. It has an excellent clip on it. They should include the neoprene cover with the unit to make up for the poorly designed clip.

Overall, I am very pleased with my igolf caddieII and would recommend it to everyone. I find it the most useful when your looking for yardage away from the fairway. If you play the same course all the time and know all your yardages, this device is really not a necessity although it definitely speeds play. I would imagine it would be a big help for those courses not played as often and not marked well.

mookie · May 14, 2008

Thanks for your review. I've been doing some casual reading up on these GPS things and I'm leaning toward this model as well. I won't be able to get this right away, but I'm thinking about hinting around, since Father's Day is coming up...

Can you elaborate on #7, if you have some time? What exactly do you mean by customizing your courses? Is that the plotting out of specific points, like distance to the front of the stream, etc.?? And why is it important to save to your computer? Do you lose info when the battery runs out?

Dang...I know those questions sound stupid, but this would be my first one of these devices (if my loved ones catch the Father's Day hints).

Again, thanks for your write up on the Caddie2.

G

neverhadaholeinone · May 14, 2008

Thanks for your review. I've been doing some casual reading up on these GPS things and I'm leaning toward this model as well. I won't be able to get this right away, but I'm thinking about hinting around, since Father's Day is coming up...

Can you elaborate on #7, if you have some time? What exactly do you mean by customizing your courses? Is that the plotting out of specific points, like distance to the front of the stream, etc.?? And why is it important to save to your computer? Do you lose info when the battery runs out?

Dang...I know those questions sound stupid, but this would be my first one of these devices (if my loved ones catch the Father's Day hints).

Again, thanks for your write up on the Caddie2.

G

I was in same boat as you a couple of months ago, was new to the gps's and did a lot of research.

#7 is just what you stated. Most course I have downloaded includes some points included. I have added my own too. My batteries did go dead and I thought I had a couple of spares in my bag, left them in the car! I won't make that mistake again. I did not lose the courses when the batteries were depleted.

Excellent feature to be able to save the courses on your pc. Like I said, if you add your own points, why not have them backed up? Mine had to go out for repair (was replaced with a new one) and I would have "lost" my customized courses.

If you play the same course all the time, no big deal to enter custom points again, but if you play a few courses it could be a hassle.

I have a Sun Mountain speed cart and the golfcaddie fits in the cupholder,

you could carry it in your pocket, but if I was going to do that I would have went with the Igolf neo.

The one thing I didn't like about the Neo was a rechargeable battery and it was not user replaceable.

The more I use the CaddieII, it reconfirms my decision to go with it.

Got mine from Over*tock.com for around $180.00 delivered.

mookie · May 14, 2008

Yah, this is the GPS I want, no doubt. And $180.00 sounds very nice. If I didn't feel so guilty about spending more money on golf stuff, I'd buy it right now. Maybe I'll go check out the iGolf site and possibly get over my guilt.

Actually, one more question about the battery and saving to the computer. Let's say I'm on the course, 5th hole, and my iGolf goes dead. So I pop in a couple of new batteries, and turn it on again. What is displayed? Is it the spot in the fairway (or trees, more accurately) where the GPS went dead? Or do I have to select the course again?

But either way, the customized points that you plot are erased?

Thanks a lot...I appreciate your help!

PingG10 · May 14, 2008

This has happened to me a couple of times with mine-I'm always milking the batteries to the last amp!!

The unit will restart as if you just started up-you'll have to select the course, tees and then scroll to the hole you are on-not very difficult or time consuming. I've found my GPSCaddie to be amongst the fastest at finding and locking satellites (when compared to the SkyCaddie and Garmin that two folks I golf with have).

As a side note-I finally went to rechargable Energizer batteries-I've found that the 2500 milli amp hour Energizer AA rechargables last a lot longer than the non-rechargable AA batteries I've been using. Found a real deal on the rechargables at Sam's Club (8 AA batteries, 4 AAA batteries and the wall charger for $26.50).

h2ohzrd · May 14, 2008

SkyCaddie and Golf Guru have the ability to position the pin on the green so you have a truer idea of pin position and distance. Does this unit do that or just give front, middle, back? Has anyone requested custom points yet and if so, how much time does it take to get it done?

neverhadaholeinone · May 14, 2008

igolf Caddie II only gives front, center and back of green. All I really need and wanted. I really don't even use the custom points (front bunker, right bunker, etc) at all. I would have went with the Neo because of the same size (like a beeper/pager), but the rechargable battery was a turnoff.

dlnljl · May 15, 2008

I had used the original Caddie last year and liked it very much. So much that I bought the Caddie II. The Caddie II has a much nicer display and the ability to choose your font size. This makes it easier to see the numbers for us older player. They layout is better on the main screen is better with the ability get shot distance right there. Also on the new one you can map a hole or custom point while in the play mode. The older one you had to exit the play mode and go to the mapping mode. I used Duracel 2650ma rechargeable batteries and also have noticed that the Caddie II is much easier on them and can get three rounds of golf from on charge. I have gotten a membership at Igolf to download some courses, but the nice feature is I didn't have to if I didn't want to. Secondly once I download them they are mine and I can share them with other Igolf users. Over all a very nice unit and would highly recommend it.