So....what's the verdict? Which GPS is best '09 product?

[gmangolf]

I'm in the market for a new GPS and was considering the Upro, Garmin G5 and the OnPar. I ruled out the OnPar because of the club selection feature wouldn't allow me to use it for tournament play. I contacted uPro customer service to inquire about their pricing vs. the Garmin G5...and their reply is posted below.

 

My email to Upro CS:

 

I am considering purchasing a new GPS unit. I am considering the upro and the Garmin Approach G5. The Garmin costs $500, has no subscription fees, offers the same "Anypoint" technology as upro, and comes pre-loaded with all courses in the U.S. and offers free downloads of future courses. The Upro costs $400 plus you have to pay $180 for 150 "pro" course downloads. Upro is not competitive with Garmin right now. I would like to buy a upro, but only if they lowered the costs of their "Pro" course downloads. I would be willing to spend about $100 for unlimited Pro course downloads...which would be similar to the new Garmin. I hope your sales force/marketing dept./ Management receives this email. Thank you.

 

Callaway's (Upro) reply: (replied within 2 hours...which is great CS)

 

We appreciate your consideration and your comments. Unfortunately, the level of detail in the courses on the Garmin device is not equivalent to what is offered on the Callaway uPro. Additionally, there is a large difference between our AnyPoint feature and what Garmin is offering. The sketches of the course that are used by Garmin and others represent an entirely different experience from the actual high resolution aerial photography that we use for our ProMode. There are several products on the market that offer Garmin's level of data. Play with them both, I think you will find what others have, there is a clear difference.

 

 

I haven't used either, so I can't make a comment. I'd be interested to hear other's views who have used both the uPro and the G5.

 

I have friends that have a Upro, Im not that impressed. As you pointed out by the time I pay the $$$ for the 50 or so courses I want in Proview, it costs way more than the Garmin. Yep it has real pictures, but until my friends contacted them over the course of a few weeks their pretty pictures were 15 yards off on our course.

 

 

The Garmin is 500 list. You can buy 50 promode course pack for 125.00 plus the 399.00, a 25 dollar difference. Big deal.... As far as courses, I play about 35 courses in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have played probably 20 of them since I got the upro. None of them have been off at all, they are dead nuts the same. Many of my friends have the skycaddie and ours are always within distance. Funny thing is, the skycaddie guys are always asking me for distance numbers to carry various things, since skycaddie sucks at having all the hazards marked. Sounds like your "friends" might have had a low battery when it was off by 15 yards. I had that happen initially once...... Upro is the best technology in my opinion...

 

On a side note, I contacted Upro support to find out about their stats module and scoring, he mentioned it has been delayed until Summer. So that sucks but I am still happy with the unit. I do highly recommend getting a screen guard, like a best skins ever to protect the lcd from scratches, etc. I bought one and the thing is flawless still after 20+ rounds.

 

 

I'm happy with my uPro too. The customer service agent I talked to originally said spring, then said "no timetable" when I pressed him further on the stats module.

 

Anyone who wants a uPro... look up budgetgolf.net on ebay. 299 BIN. Might as well save 100 bucks. :clapping:

[Bogeymann]

It may not be relevant to you guys in the States but the key factor for me in buying a GPS was the availability of courses. Some of the new devices have little or no coverage in UK and Europe. For example UPro's web site has only UK courses - no country entries for Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany .....!

For me the best coverage of courses I'm likely to play and more than adequate capability meant that I went for an SG5.

[iKhanh]

I skimmed thru the post and didnt see any mention of any of IGOLF's GPS'. I own a iGolf Triton and absolutely love it!!

 

I live in new england and not many courses were open here except for little 9 holers. The first on course use of my triton was on a course that wasn't mapped. I mapped the course myself while playing, it was quick but best of all EASY to use. I didnt have a manual, I'm not as dumb as i look but i am also not intelligent by any means (so says my wife when she's mad). So i mapped this course front center back of green NO PROBLEM. Once i mapped the 9 holes, i came back around to finish my 18 holes and distances were pretty damn accurate. I stood on 100 yard sprinkler heads and my gps reading was dead on or +/- 1 or 2 yards.... Now some of you may be saying... well my GPS is accurate down to 1 inch... I can't play like a pro, nor do I possess the talents necessary to control my shot distance down to a foot of where i want i am aiming. I just want my ball to go where I was aiming and stay in play for my next shot.

 

in regards to subscriptions/fees:: Igolf has a 35$ fee for 100 download credits or 12 months whichever occurs first. I have only used 21 download credits and have 79 remaining. ONCE I download my courses and my subscription runs out I AM STILL ABLE to use my GPS as... a GPS and not an electronic paper weight (*cough* skycaddie *cough*).

 

Best bang for your buck hands down if you don't need a fancy color screen, touch screen and the ability to watch pr0n on your golf gps... the triton would be sweet if it had that last feature :tongue: . None the less if you are looking for a sensible purchase, distance to F,C,B and 6 hazards/layups/etc pts, score keeping abilities, shot distance readings AND would like to NOT PAY annual subscriptions once you have downloaded your courses... then again hands down... iGOLF neo/triton/saturn are your best bets...

 

Khanh out!

[nbargolf]

the garmin unit looks great but you can't add your own courses and their list of courses suck.

[slightdraw]

the garmin unit looks great but you can't add your own courses and their list of courses suck.

 

yeah...the courses are slim-pickings for sure. here is some analysis that shows just how bad they do suck LOL

http://criticalgolf.com/?page_id=1156

 

they picked out a bunch of courses to test on at random it looks like

http://criticalgolf.com/?page_id=1317

 

oh well, i guess its still has more courses available than the onpar LOL everything is relative, right?

 

hopefully i can post more about the g5 later this week or next. for me, i already know there are few courses in my area available on the g5, so i actually have to wait until i play a covered course to spent some qt with i. bummer. my guess, though i have no info to base this on, is that it takes on the order of a good 6-9 months to get very good coverage (at the level of skycaddie or golflogix).

[Q-Ball]

As with the thread I started on G5 courses, they said my course might be available in the Summer update. I replied I might buy their product.

 

I wanted the G5 to be so good, I have ben waiting for it, but this quarterly course update thing has turned me off. Using a UPro this weekend, swore I wouldnt get one but they are winning me over.

[finalist]

I got my uPro yesterday. It's pretty fun to be sitting on the couch at home and play around with the Anypoint feature on top of the video fly overs in Preview mode. You can really plan a strategy or see how you hit the ball from previous rounds. It's like having a full color real photo Professional caddie yardage book except you can use a cursor to see any desired distance to anypoint on the entire course. amazing!

[ScottyUSN]

Dump the UPro!

 

A friend got one last week. We were out yesterday. His UPro kept losing touch with GPS. This was not a problem for any other GPS in our group (GolfLogix, Sonocaddie, SkyCaddy).

IMO The $10.00 "Fly over" is a complete gimmick.

 

Until I saw the G5, my choice would have been a sonocaddie (if price is not a concern). Sonocaddie one time reasonalbe fee and a full feature GPS.

My Golflogix is very simple, accurate, rugged, and CHEAP (minus the $30.00 annual fee for nationwide coverage)!

 

I believe the G5 will set the bar "If your golf courses are all available, or soon will be.

[Q-Ball]

Dump the UPro!

 

A friend got one last week. We were out yesterday. His UPro kept losing touch with GPS. This was not a problem for any other GPS in our group (GolfLogix, Sonocaddie, SkyCaddy).

IMO The $10.00 "Fly over" is a complete gimmick.

 

Until I saw the G5, my choice would have been a sonocaddie (if price is not a concern). Sonocaddie one time reasonalbe fee and a full feature GPS.

My Golflogix is very simple, accurate, rugged, and CHEAP (minus the $30.00 annual fee for nationwide coverage)!

I believe the G5 will set the bar "If your golf courses are all available, or soon will be.

 

 

The key point is WHEN. They emailed me (email included in the thread I started about the G5 course availability) and said either the Summer or Fall update. They are doing quarterly updates, so I could get one now and have no clue when it will be available.

 

I love the Garmin Oregon platform used for the G5, Ive played with it at an outdoors store with the hiking software, but I dont want to go several months without my home course. On the other hand its so flat and I know it so well my laser will work.

[frozen_rope]

Sonocaddie V300

 

I'm mostly a lurker, but I've been reading through this forum since back before Christmas. I've been thinking of getting a GPS unit......so, what's the best one overall? UPro? new Garmin? OnPar? Those seem to be the big new ones. What's the verdict? Which is the best if you're gonna buy now or this Spring?

 

Thanks in advance.

[dwboston]

Dump the UPro!

 

A friend got one last week. We were out yesterday. His UPro kept losing touch with GPS. This was not a problem for any other GPS in our group (GolfLogix, Sonocaddie, SkyCaddy).

IMO The $10.00 "Fly over" is a complete gimmick.

 

Until I saw the G5, my choice would have been a sonocaddie (if price is not a concern). Sonocaddie one time reasonalbe fee and a full feature GPS.

My Golflogix is very simple, accurate, rugged, and CHEAP (minus the $30.00 annual fee for nationwide coverage)!

 

I believe the G5 will set the bar "If your golf courses are all available, or soon will be.

 

:rolleyes:

 

My uPro didn't lose signal once during my round last weekend. The flyover is useful on unfamiliar courses, otherwise you can just shut the videos off or skip them. I'm very happy with my uPro - no annual fees, free basic mode course downloads, and reasonable pro mode course downloads, all in a small, easily pocketable unit. Maybe your friend got a bad unit. If he just got it, I'd call uPro, their customer service is very good. They may exchange it for him.

[finalist]

My UPro hasn't lost a signal yet. How can you beat the anypoint feature?

[v10king]

Upro all the way, nothing can touch it.

[Gsco]

Played with the G5 again with the uPro the other day. If pro mode is not a concern to you - the uPro just can't be beat.

 

It had or has all points marked - including trees or any other obstacle in the fairway. The G5 did not have these points marked, but it did have enough points to smoothly go through a round.

 

In pro mode, you can pinpoint any location on a hole. The G5 does have points to a bunker but sometimes doesn't have to clear it (and vice versa) because of room constraints. (per garmin tech) So if you wanted one of those points forget it. It's just to hard to pinpoint with the touch targeting. Actually, the uPro is better with the pad. Having said that you really have to be anal to need it. Although I'm sure there are quite a few people who are.

 

If portability is a concern the uPro easily slides in your pocket without any signal loss. You will have to hit the middle key to awake it from sleep and wait a couple seconds for it to locate you again. The G5 will go in your pocket but it is just not comfortable. Yardages were a no factor between both units. Both pretty much the same except for the green. I guess they have different opinions on were the f, m and back should be.

 

The only thing that bothered us was the battery life for the G5. Using lithium we had one bar left again by the end of the round. I'm not sure how much more we could have played. The owner took it home and I haven't talked to him if he has tried to use it again. If it's not a software glitch you would have to buy rechargeable-s as it would become pretty expensive.

 

The G5 is solid as a rock. The uPro feels like you could crush it in your hands after handling the Garmin. I liked the G5 very much. If I didn't have the uPro - it would be my next choice.

[gmangolf]

uPro is outstanding. I've never lost a signal, and it goes from sleep mode to updated yardage in about 2 seconds. flyover mode is only necessary on unfamiliar courses... but any point yardage is a very useful feature.

 

I bought mine for 299 new... and downloaded my home course as the free pro mode course and have downloaded 30 others in standard mode for free. IMO you can't beat it.

[finalist]

I finally got out for 18 with my Upro. It used half the battery life for 18 holes and I was constantly messing with it, so I'm sure it would go 36 no problem. Also, there have been a few responses about people having trouble seeing the screen when the sun is bright. Sort of true, but I read an interesting point in the manual. The screen is designed to be held facing directly into the sun! Interesting. When I tried that out there is a very minimal rainbow glow seen on the screen and it is easier to see. I found holding it at an obtuse angle to the sun makes it hard to view. Any amount of shade and it is very viewable. It never lost the satelite signal when I had it in my hand and it only took about 2 seconds a few times to pinpoint my location when I had it in my pocket and took it out to get a reading. The hole advance worked perfectly. I set it to "ask me if I want to advance" and it was always timely.

 

I only wish it could keep my score. I now see how handy that would be to not need to write down numbers on the card. I like to walk so keeping things simple helps. The Upro fit into my pocket with no trouble. It's lighter than my cell phone. I did feel like I was a little distracted with the Upro, paper score card, and playing. Granted it's a new toy on a new course, so that's to be expected.

[slightdraw]

just wanted to add that ive always been able to get 2 rounds out of a charge (but not 3) fwiw

and heres hoping with a software update that they can add scorecards (and stats). like finalist, i agree that is one piece that is still missing... i always figured that it isnt a big deal using a gps that doesnt have a scorecard, but once you use one that does you really wont want to go back.

 

and i have to disagree with those that refer to the promode courses as "flyover" for $10. if you look at this device, check out the upro (er callaway) site for the bucket discounts. about as much as a course guide in the end. the promode gets you basically all hazard distances you will want. really top notch.

[milfordj]

"I set it to "ask me if I want to advance" and it was always timely." Just curious -- Why would you set it to this setting instead of "automatically advance to next hole"?

[milfordj]

"the promode gets you basically all hazard distances you will want" Do you get more hazard distances in promode than in basic mode? And, if so, do you get those same hazard distances in basic mode IF you have purchased the promode for that course (I'm concerned that I may have to use basic mode instead of promode in bright sun)?

[gmangolf]

"the promode gets you basically all hazard distances you will want" Do you get more hazard distances in promode than in basic mode? And, if so, do you get those same hazard distances in basic mode IF you have purchased the promode for that course (I'm concerned that I may have to use basic mode instead of promode in bright sun)?

 

 

In my experience, the basic mode has all the yardages you really need in terms of bunkers/water hazards etc. If you want distance to a particular tree or rock etc. Pro Mode can easily do that but unless it is a significant item (like a tree in the center of the fairway) it probably hasn't been marked as a "hazard" in basic mode.

 

I had all the yardages I wanted in basic mode and didn't use pro mode much at my home course.

 

I've not noticed the sun problem everyone is talking about. If you hold it directly into the sun, its not difficult to see if you ask me.

[finalist]

"I set it to "ask me if I want to advance" and it was always timely." Just curious -- Why would you set it to this setting instead of "automatically advance to next hole"?

 

I set it to "ask me" just in case I wanted to check out a previous feature. I was also concerned it may advance before I wanted it to (I think I read that happened a few times to people), but that doesn't seem like it would be the case unless the two holes have an unusually close green to tee design.