Golflogix review from a novice

[jpggpj]

This past Saturday I purchased the new Golflogix GPS system. I did quite a bit of research (which led me to this site) and decided to go with the Golflogix due to a few factors that suited me. The first and foremost factor was tech support. The course I play mostly is a 9 hole course extremely close to my home. It's basically a cow pasture with holes but it's cheap, it's close and it works well with my shedule. I contacted 3 gps manufacturers about having my course become available. 1 contacted me back and told me it wasn't available now (which I knew) but may be in the future and went on to tell me about their mapping feature, 1 never contacted me back yet (almost 2 weeks now) and Golflogix contacted me 2 days later saying my course was now available for download. Having all the other courses near my home available already; once they made my cow pasture course available as quick as they did I was sold -- LOL. I mentally agreed to accept paying a yearly fee for courses ($30 for Golflogix) before I purchased so that wasn't a big deterrent for me. I also appreciated the fact it is 100% waterproof. I do not make it a habit to play in the rain but I have been caught by a shower or two trying to "squeeze in a round" before it comes down. I walk so when I get "caught" I'm usually somewhat wet. Not having to worry about my $300 investment gave me a piece of mind.

 

Here's my positves/negatives list on the unit (keep in mind I have only used it twice but as simple as this machine is, I believe that is all that is needed to use it to form my opinion of it.)

 

POSITIVES:

1. SIMPLICITY. As I stated above, this unit is simple. I honestly believe my 8 year old son could have set this up out the box. I took the unit home and took it out the box. One thing I found odd was there was no owner's manual. I called Edwin Watt's (where I purchased it from) and asked them if the other boxes had this. He opened one in the store and it had a quick start guide (which I didn't have). This kind of got me worried but I went with what he told me to do. Go to their website and download their software. From there it was basically step 1, step 2, step 3. I registered my unit, paid the yearly subscription of $30, downloaded about 15 courses and loaded them on my unit in all of about 15 minutes. That same day I took it to my course and used it. I turned the unit on when I got to the course and it picked up the course it less than 30 seconds.
   
2. WATERPROOF. Again, as stated earlier, this unit is 100% waterproof. I'm sure sooner or later that is going to payoff for me!
   
3. COURSES AVAILABLE. Their website has over 15000 courses available. If they could supply me with the my home course "cow pasture with holes" I have to believe they could supply me with any request.
   
4. TECH SUPPORT. I may be premature on this but the one time I called on them they replied.....quickly and effectively. On their site they claim if your course isn't on their list; request it and they will have it available within days. Trust me, I challenged this by requesting my course and they delivered. Like I said, I may be premature on their support but right now they are batting 1000.
   
5. BATTERY. I kind of go both ways on this. It runs on 2 AA batteries. Which is kind of good and kind of bad. I now pack 2 extra batteries in my bag and will use them when needed. I leave the unit on the whole round and so far it has lasted two rounds....we'll see how much longer it goes. I think I may rather having rechargeables but this way the unit stays clipped to my bag so I won't forget it. At this point BATTERY could be a positive or negative.
   
6. DURABILITY. Obviously I cannot say that this unit will not break as I have only used it twice, time will tell on this. But by the looks and feel of it, this unit seems to be able to stand a little drop here and there. It is surrounded by a rubber finish and seems to have to be really mishandled to break. I have had Garmin handheld GPSs for my boat in the past (2) and they both survived and performed through my years of having them, I believe this golf GPS has been built with the same "durable" technology but again....time will tell.
   

NEGATIVES:

1. BALL DISTANCE USE. I'm not that familiar with how the other units work with this feature but for the Golflogix unit, before you start to your ball, after you hit it you must hit the "Enter" button to get to the distance feature. It then starts to calculate from where you are to where you are going. A few times (probably because it's new to me) I forgot to hit the button after leaving the tee box which in turn did not calculate my distance. Also, you cannot see the distance to the green without ending the distance of last shot feature. If I have a friend who wants to know the distance of his shot to the green and I outdrove him I would have to click off of the distance of last shot feature to give it to him thus ending the calculation of my drive if I outdrove him. I guess this may be purposely done by Garmin in order to make more people buy their own units and most units may be like this....I don't know. I just wish the distance of last shot feature was more automatic.
   

Other than the distance feature not being more automatic, I really cannot find anything else I don't like or would like to have made better on this unit. Now let me also add that my "simplicity" positive could be a negative for some who want more out of their unit. In my game, knowing the distance of the front, center and back of the green and distance of my last shot is what I mostly count on. Hazard information is there and available as well. To those who want to track more of their game this unit may be "too" simple. For those who want to know distance to go, distance traveled and distance to and to clear hazards....buy it. It's simple, it's effective and it is extremely user friendly. It's "almost" hands free during your round with the exception of the distance feature and doesn't take you out of your game. For those that want more detail and really want to get into dissecting their game.....you may want to shop around. As for me, simple and effective is what I wanted and this unit has certainly supplied that. To date I have made the right choice for my game. To those who ask, "What is the best unit?" You have to compare the unit to your game. There is absolutely not 1 best unit out there for everyone. It totally depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what you want to know. They basically all track distances it just depends how in depth you want to go with your game. Good luck shopping and I would like to thank the guys/gals whoever who took the time to make spreadsheets on comparing units. Not only did I find alot of useful info just from people posting on this site but those spreadsheets, I found, were very helpful.

[Alpha3]

cant you just subtract the distance you are from the green vs. the distance from the tee box if you and your buddy both need to know how far you hit it. for the most part i want to know how far i need to hit the next shot, i have the first skycaddie and was thinking of updating to the golflogix because of the distance to hazards being there. i have not seen the golflogix work does it really show all the hazards and distances on screen at the same time the green distances are there. if so thats what i want, one look and see all options. thanks for your time!

[stevesxm]

my sono caddie has an edit feature which lets you add course features as you want. what i did was enter a "tree" at every tee box. that way i get an automatic distance from each teebox to where ever i am so automatic drive length if care. the sono caddie has a 1 button distance push for all the others.

[jpggpj]

The hazards and distance to green usually come up on different pages. It shows hazards (distance to and distance to carry) as well as distance to layup on one page and on the other it has the green front/center/back distance. You have to press a page up or down arrow to go from screen to screen. I find myself pushing the ENTER button after I hit to mark off the distance of my shot and when I get to my ball I hit ENTER again and it usually defaults hazards info screen. If the next shot doesn't have any (fairway) hazards, except for what is surrounding the green, it goes to the front/center/back green distance. From the box it will show fairway hazards or doglegs, trees distances to start and after you hit, it normally defaults to the green distances.

 

On the battery issue, I recently played my 4th 18 hole round, walking, and am still on the original batteries. I do carry a pack of four in my bag (unit takes two) just incase but thusfar haven't needed them.

 

I have to say, I wasn't going to get one of these gps units because I just couldn't justify spending the money but one thing I have noticed is I have become VERY aware now of exactly how far I can hit certain clubs and it is definetely showing on the card. I have been very suprised at the clubs I would grab out my bag because I'm now going on the gps yardage rather than what I think it may be. My shots (although left and right at times) are finding themselves closer to the flag more often than not. It has humbled me in my driving distance....I'm not driving 270 like I thought...more like 240 and has given a bit more confidence when grabbing a club to clear water or sand.

 

Again, this unit is perfect for someone who just wants the facts. Simple, compact, rugged and waterproof. I see on their website they have some software in development to let you track your game on another level but there is no release time on it....it could be months, it could be years. Overall though, I am very pleased with what I have experienced thusfar with GolfLogix.

[niceroll]

the hzards screen and distance to the green are separate screens, but simply pushing the scroll up and down button instantaneously changes the display and you can toggle back and forth. Multiple hazards are shown on the hazards page.

[not_scratch_yet]

Excellent review. I just bought my GolfLogix 8 yesterday, haven't even used it yet, but then there is lots of feedback from actual users. I have some feedback that I think is pertinent that no one else has mentioned so far.

 

1. BATTERY: Aside from the convenience of being able to find and carry extra AA batteries, I've found with any rechargebale device I've ever had that after 3 years or so it needs a new Li-Ion or NiCad battery, one that may be hard to find, but will at least certainly be expensive (cause you gotta buy that particular battery). With AA cells, I know they'll be easy to find 10 years from now, and I never have to worry about memory, or reduced charging or such. Also, I do at least 3 travel golf trips a year and as already mentioned, when AA just seems more practical to me. (BTW, if you REALLY want rechargeable, you can easily find AA rechargeables to use in yoru GL8).

 

2. TEXT SIZE: I need glasses to read but don't generally wear them, and not when playing golf (bi-focals) and don't desire to either. When I tried to read the smaller Sky Caddie screen , it was impossible. Not so with the bigger text on the GL8.

 

Anyway,

There you go!

[fyrmng]

Happy Father's Day to me...I replaced my stolen 1500 TE with the NEW Golflogix GPS 8. Going to test drive it tomorrow. I live in So Cal and the Roger Dunn that I usually shop at was out of them. I drove to another RD store and they had one in the display case. When I got the register the cashier pulled a box out of a half empty case. He said they had to run the new version. Not as hot as the new Skycaddies but he said alot of folks are asking / buying them. I chose the Golflogix over the SC 2.5 because;

 

>I prefer the convenience of AA batteries

>$30 / year gets me unlimited courses vs 1 state

>1 year warranty included in the purchase price vs $20 to extend to 1 year

>I have had great luck with my Garmin Etrex Vista

 

I am test driving it tomorrow!!

[propredicr]

Bought myself one for my birthday and used it today for the first time. Easy to set up course manager and very easy to use. Just power on at the course and there you go. Not so great to find out that my tees shots for the 500 yard hole to the 200 yard marker are not 300 yard drivers. More like 262 per gps. Oh, well, I'm a mere mortal. Hey, it's uphill!

 

Easy to see in the bright sun. Distances to the pin/back/front very helpful. Overall, I'm pleased. Picked up online for $240 including shipping.