Laser is better. It is an open and shut case!

[Bob McClain]

GPS vs Laser

I just saw the new Golflogix website www.golflogix.com . It looks like they are giving up on the hardware business. They say the "Smart" play is to put Golflogix course maps on your Smart Phone for 39 bucks a year and not bother with your "golf specific" handheld GPS unit.

Check out www.gpsgolfshot.com -- Here comes Verizon giving course maps on you cell phone for $1.99 a round. Don't worry Sky Caddie -- Verizon only has 60 million cell phone contracts. How long until ATT / Sprint and the rest are in the game?

Did you all make $400 mistakes by buying a golf GPS handheld from Sky Caddie / UPRO / GolfLogix? Should have gotten a laser!

[Bucken77]

Wow something different. A laser is better than GPS post by Bob McClain. Never thought I would see that

[stevestrike]

I came into this thread expecting to read something worthwhile, but that was about the dumbest argument for laser (or against GPS) I've ever heard.

 

MORE companies are getting onto the GPS bandwagon, and it's the WRONG choice? If you were unbiased, you would realize that this will only increase the dominance of GPS in the market place, not reduce it. It doesn't matter who provides it, whether you have a dedicated unit or a smartphone, if you pay by the round, the course, or the year; the technology is the same.

[poloshankey]

I just saw the new Golflogix website www.golflogix.com . It looks like they are giving up on the hardware business. They say the "Smart" play is to put Golflogix course maps on your Smart Phone for 39 bucks a year and not bother with your "golf specific" handheld GPS unit.

 

Check out www.gpsgolfshot.com -- Here comes Verizon giving course maps on you cell phone for $1.99 a round. Don't worry Sky Caddie -- Verizon only has 60 million cell phone contracts. How long until ATT / Sprint and the rest are in the game?

 

Did you all make $400 mistakes by buying a golf GPS handheld from Sky Caddie / UPRO / GolfLogix? Should have gotten a laser!

Do you REALLY have nothing better to do than preach CONSTANTLY about laser over GPS?

[DBake]

I bought the iGolf Neo when it first came out and sold it when they came out with their "updated" software and wanted to charge people for it, glad I sold it for want I paid for it. Now have a Leupold GX-1, and should have gotten the laser the first time.

[finalist]

Doesn't this Bob Mclain guy work for a laser company? There was a thread a few months ago and the evidence came out. I'll try to dig up the company info.

Apple has had $30 apps for some time. Why is this news?

[Desert Golf]

My Skycaddie SG2 is 3 years old and going strong. It was less than $300, speeds up my play, and gives me immediate yardage.

It wasn't a mistake for me but I would have probably enjoyed a laser too.

 

I don't understand why some people try to trash gps....grow up, and buy what suits your game and makes you happy. If you are worried about $300 or $400 golf is not for you.

[EnglishBob]

I had a laser for over 2 years, I liked it and found the accuracy on par 3's made me reluctant to go the GPS route. My wife bought me a GPS 3 months ago and my conclusions:-

 

GPs is MUCH faster.

 

GPS is MUCH better from other fairways with trees in teh way (Something I find happens to me many times a round.)

 

And it also solves my problem on winter mornings, the Laser doesn't work for crap in the light morning fogs, it says everything is 14 yards away.

 

So after using both for many rounds, GPS wins for me.

[taskerc]

I use both - GPS is strapped to my push cart and laser in hand/pocket. GPS is useful for general yards and for hidden, un-laserable targets. Laser is great for target and I have found it useful for the "tweener" wedge shots - I quickly realized I had no idea how far my middling wedge shots were and therefore should not have been surprised when I was never very close. My eye doctor said some peopl have problems with distance perception and I think I may be one of those, so laser and GPS has been very helpful to me. If I could only pick one, it would probably be GPS although gettign a reasonably priced Bushnell 1500 with Slope showed me how fast laser can be. To each their own I say .....

 

Chris

[oldpalchamp]

Next time you're in the wrong fairway or behind a large mound and can't actually see the flag, tell me how much better your laser works!

[Stern100]

I'm shocked. How can you guys not see the genius of Bob McClain?

[Lefty4par2]

Heck... next time you are in a deeper bunker, behind any tree... not just another fairway... shooting to an elevated green.... taking a dogleg approach shot... we can go on... and on... and on....

 

Then tell me how much better your laser is. Great for Driving ranges, but that's about it! ESPECIALLY if you wear glasses. Glasses on... glasses off... use laser... "rinse repeat". No thanks.. I'll stick with my GPS!

 

Laser better than GPS... then you woke up!

[finalist]

Doesn't this Bob Mclain guy work for a laser company? There was a thread a few months ago and the evidence came out. I'll try to dig up the company info.

Apple has had $30 apps for some time. Why is this news?

 

OK I remember the site Bob Mclame pushes: http://www.laserisbetter.com/share --which is a front for the Red Hot Laser Rangefinder.

I have no problem with pushing a laser, but don't skew numbers to sell a poor product. There are much better laser devices out there.

[wentorf11]

Doesn't this Bob Mclain guy work for a laser company? There was a thread a few months ago and the evidence came out. I'll try to dig up the company info.

Apple has had $30 apps for some time. Why is this news?

 

OK I remember the site Bob Mclame pushes: http://www.laserisbetter.com/share --which is a front for the Red Hot Laser Rangefinder.

I have no problem with pushing a laser, but don't skew numbers to sell a poor product. There are much better laser devices out there.

 

 

I've been dying to use that one, good find Finalist.

[x100]

Leave Bob Mclain alone, its quite obvious he's not the sharpest knife in the draw! LOL

[arkstorm]

Leave Bob Mclain alone, its quite obvious he's not the sharpest knife in the draw! LOL

 

I think that maybe he went to the Jack Hamm school of argument: If the facts don't support you, make things up to make your product look better.

[withdrew]

This thread has a spam feel to it and should be closed. I don't want to see GolfWRX become like all these other forum sites where the boards are flooded with marketing and personal ads.

It's a ridiculous debate as well. Some people like lasers (and are accurate enough players to need exact yardage) and other people like a huge number to the center of a green from a different fairway. I'm the latter. If you like lasers, good for you. If you like GPS, good for you. Just play ready golf and replace your divots.

[stevestrike]

Do you yell "ZAP!" when you use a redhot laser?

[DaveLeeNC]

I've owned and used both - it really depends on what you want/need.

 

The only thing that I can get from distance measuring technology that is truly crucial (to me) is accurate yardages to the pin from inside 100 yards. I practice my wedges to specific yardages and I would REALLY miss that capability - and you only get that with laser.

 

My sense of things is that GPS devices outsell laser devices. Of the guys that I play with maybe 25% own some form of distance device. There isn't a single GPS in the bunch. I don't know what to think about that. It might be related to the fact that our courses have reflectors in the flags making acquiring yardages trivial with even the cheapest laser devices.

 

dave

 

ps. Also I'd really miss the ability to laser to 'that brown spot' on the range. When I had a GPS device I had manually 'marked' all the formal targets on our range. But that is still relatively limiting in my experience.

[phil75070]

The only thing that I can get from distance measuring technology that is truly crucial (to me) is accurate yardages to the pin from inside 100 yards. I practice my wedges to specific yardages and I would REALLY miss that capability - and you only get that with laser.

 

I see that a lot as a reason to use lasers, but I don't get many of these less than full wedge shots on the course that match up with practice conditions. Lies differ from tight to fluffy, from Bermuda, to fescue to Bent; shots are up hill, or down hill or side hill. Where I need to land the ball, given the contours and firmness of the green, is still an estimate. So I am not sure that having an exact yardage to the pin for these shots really is that more beneficial than the estimate that a farily accurate GPS provides or necessarily produces better results than someone who plays these shots less mechanically and more by feel and imagination.

[dwboston]

The only thing that I can get from distance measuring technology that is truly crucial (to me) is accurate yardages to the pin from inside 100 yards. I practice my wedges to specific yardages and I would REALLY miss that capability - and you only get that with laser.

 

I see that a lot as a reason to use lasers, but I don't get many of these less than full wedge shots on the course that match up with practice conditions. Lies differ from tight to fluffy, from Bermuda, to fescue to Bent; shots are up hill, or down hill or side hill. Where I need to land the ball, given the contours and firmness of the green, is still an estimate. So I am not sure that having an exact yardage to the pin for these shots really is that more beneficial than the estimate that a farily accurate GPS provides or necessarily produces better results than someone who plays these shots less mechanically and more by feel and imagination.

 

I agree.

 

Plus the Anypoint feature on the uPro (or similar on other devices) allows you to move a cursor around the green to get pretty close to an "exact" distance to the pin.

[sandwedge59]

I played with someone with laser a few days ago and im not sure what the big deal is about .. for someone who wears eye glasses , i had a very difficult time trying to see the yardages thru the one port and and trying to read it without my glasses on was useless as it was blurred and unreadable ,also the distance on this $500.00 laser range finder and my sky caddie were exactly the same at more than a few places on the course .. with that said you can keep your laser range finder as i was not impressed in the least

[23muc]

Bushnell Bob is back...I was wondering where he disappeared to!!

 

Nobody cares Bob...like withdrew said "If you like lasers, good for you. If you like GPS, good for you. Just play ready golf and replace your divots."

Take you silly reasoning somewhere else.

 

I'll believe the Billy Mays (God rest his soul) Mighty Putty pitch before I'll bite on your silly laser ramblings.

[mesegrn]

I have played both and my home course has about 6 uphill approach shots as do alot of courses in North Georgia. I actually owned a GPS (Skycaddie) for about 3 years. I got tired of guessing where the flag was positioned on the green. I know 5 yards doesn't sound like alot of difference, but for me it is a confidence booster to know the exact yardage. I played with a guy that had a bushnell laser and fell in love with it. I actually purchased a Bushnell 1500 slope edition and could not be happier. All I want is one number, period. I don't need the front number or back, just the number on the flag. I do think that the mack daddy would be a GPS that you can turn on it's side and fire a number to the flag! I vote Laser!

[Mike_C]

I've got both, an older skycaddie 2.0 and a laser, I go to the laser first, and skycaddie as a confirmation or if I don't have line of sight. I also like to know that its X yards to the pin, but x+or- to the back or front of the green. Having both saves me alot of shots IMO.... I tend to also use the skycaddie off the tee where it gives me yardages to bunkers, and carries over bunkers, or so and so yards to a certain tree or mound, having both is really like having a tour caddie on your bag.....

[klehrkeyes]

I have yet to take the plunge for either. I practice 5 hours a day 4 days a week and play on weekends. I feel like laser would work better for practice greens and range?? But GPS better on the course? Ive played with people who use laser and people who use gps. I think getting my short game down is more important than knowing the distance behind a tree which im going to punch out.

[Mercurial]

Looking at all the replies here, Mr McLain is harming his case because he is clearly peddling his product. Most replies are negative. I would stop posting if I was him, he's harming his company's marketing. Just look at his website, the FAQ's, for example, WAAS is a setting that is readily available in Australia and South Africa, yet he claims it only works in North America, that's so wrong.

 

He's more than welcome to reply back to this assertion. Look, you get what you pay for, don't forget, cell phone GPS as side, you need to know how well these courses are mapped in the first place. That's what you are paying for. Who cares if the GPS is off X amount of yards, it's based on the original mapping data you downloaded. That comes from the company, pick your poison, I would go with a company that is already established.

[Mercurial]

Mr. McLaine, your claims, at best, as far as GPS accuracy is hogwash. I'm an avid golfer, I also work for the CDC, we rely heavily on GPS. In all cases I have dealt with, the lon/lat co-ordinates were within 2-3 yards. Maybe you have some technician filling your head with what you want to hear.....I don't know.

 

I've posted a couple of times tonight: It entirely depends on the course mapping in the first place. I am more than willing to enter into a public debate on this forum about GPS accuracy. What I can tell you is this, if my life depended on accuracy levels on a golf course I would trust a laser. The GPS is less labor intensive and for the most part easier to deal with, and that's why the average golfer prefers it and it happens to be accurate within acceptance levels. Tiger Woods can't land a ball within 9 feet most times, the vast majority of us are not Tiger.

 

Quite frankly though, your website is at best...misleading. Keep on peddling and alienating your product.

 

Edit: spelling.

[frozen_rope]

The only thing laser units are good for is slowing up play.

 

I just saw the new Golflogix website www.golflogix.com . It looks like they are giving up on the hardware business. They say the "Smart" play is to put Golflogix course maps on your Smart Phone for 39 bucks a year and not bother with your "golf specific" handheld GPS unit.

 

Check out www.gpsgolfshot.com -- Here comes Verizon giving course maps on you cell phone for $1.99 a round. Don't worry Sky Caddie -- Verizon only has 60 million cell phone contracts. How long until ATT / Sprint and the rest are in the game?

 

Did you all make $400 mistakes by buying a golf GPS handheld from Sky Caddie / UPRO / GolfLogix? Should have gotten a laser!

[hacker1]

Wow... poor Bob! Not sure, but I coulda swore I just saw a golflogix commercial this morning!