My UPRO and Golf Buddy Review

[mfbris]

I used both for multiple rounds

Just wanted to give you my thoughts on two GPS devices I have used at multiple courses.

The Callaway uPro and the Golf Buddy Pro GPS


First lets talk set up.

The Callaway uPro is what I call a gadget.
It comes with no courses preloaded and you hook it up to you computer and download the courses you want. If you are not computer savvy or don't want to mess with the hassle then the uPro may not be for you, but if you are kind of a computer geek like me I like messing with that kind of stuff.

The Golf Buddy is about as easy as it gets charge it and turn it on.
I has automatically recognized every course I was at when I powered it up.


Information that is displayed on the main screen by both.
Green yardage Front, Middle and back.

The uPro has two modes Basic and Pro.
All of the courses are free in the basic mode the Pro Mode courses you pay for.

The Golf Buddy has basically the same information as the uPro in the basic mode except it does show you a diagram of the green.

The Golf Buddy will rotate the green image and the front, middle and back of the green are always in a straight line from you current position no matter you angle to the green.

The uPro in basic mode does not show a diagram or picture of the green but like the Golf Buddy the front, middle and rear of the green are in a straight line from you position no matter you angle to the green.


The uPro in the basic mode has hazard view with basically shows you a picture of what kind of hazard it is what side of the hole it is on and distance to it and over it.

The Golf Buddy does the same thing but without the pictures it list the hazard and the distance to and over them also. The one thing the Golf buddy does have that is a nice feature over the uPro is the ability to any point you want on any hole manually.

Now lets talk about what separates the uPro from the Golf Buddy.
The Pro Mode courses.
I really like this option. You see an actual image of the whole with yardages imposed on the image. You can use the any point feature to draw a line and get a yardage to any point you like from anywhere you are.
But again you do have to pay for the pro mode courses.

Speed and accuracy.

The uPro is a bit faster on calculating you yardage once you get to your ball than the Golf Buddy.
The yardages displayed by both on the courses I played were pretty close. I think two or three yards difference between the two was the biggest difference I ever seen. But most of the time they were the same or within a yard. For me no big deal.


My minor complaints.

The battery life on the uPro is average at best. Two rounds if you leave it in the energy save mode four or five hours if you take it out. Good news it does charge via USB so if you have a new car that has a USB jack for the entertainment system you can charge your uPro in you car.
With the uPro you press the "U" every time you need to use it to bring it out of energy save, not really that big of deal for me.

Summary

Both The uPro and Golf Buddy met my expectations and preformed with out any problems for me.
If you are looking for a gadget and like the Pro Mode feature than the uPro is a good choice.
If you are looking for something simple to use that is preloaded with 20,000 course and just want to turn it on and go the Golf Buddy is also a good choice.


But before you by any GPS device don't make the mistake that many people have.
Check the manufacturers web site to see if the course you want or play are available.

[stevestrike]

Nice write up. Do you think the GolfBuddy would be the best option for non-gadget kind of guys? (think older folks who are not very familiar with computers, cell phones, etc...)

[mfbris]

Sorry I did not reply sooner. I did not get any notification anyone replied to my post.

Yes the golf buddy would be a good choice. It is simple to use. Charge it up and turn it on.
My father can use the Golf Buddy and he does not know how to even turn on a computer or have a cell phone.
Just make sure the courses you want are included by checking the manufactures web site before you by any GPS

[ronbo]

Golf Buddy is not pre-loaded with 20,000 courses, it has the ability to hold 20,000 courses. a friend of mine got one this summer and when he went to use it, found at least 2 of his favorite courses not in the unit. When he called the company, they told him to use his computer to down load the courses. When my friend asked why both the web site and TV spot says 20,000, and ready to use out of the box with No Computer, the customer service person said was a mistake. Nice answer, it's call a lie. He returned it the next day......

[cpuKEN]

I also own the uPro and want to expand on the earlier comments regarding computer syncing.
When I first received me unit I had problems getting my uPro to work properly with my
main computer... I kept getting an error when I plugged it into my PC and attempting to
download new courses! I made several calls to tech support. I have several computers
available to me and some have Vista others have WinXP. I eventually got it to connect
and download the desired courses. On my main PC I ended up connecting it to one of
the rear USB ports and that seems to work better but still not every time!!

I believe the way that they have configured the entire sync process is flawed. You connect
the uPro and if everything works, it goes into Sync Mode and automatically launches
the uPro web site. There you can sync with newly selected courses. A better way, in my
opinion, is to allow a registered user to select the desired courses without the uPro being
selected and first download the courses to your local PC and then in a separate step,
transfer that data to your uPro, as opposed to directly downloading to the uPro itself.

I'm sure that Callaway will revisit their current download model and fix/enhance it in
some future version because for an average computer guy, this would be a deal breaker.
I use to do PC support on my job and I still had problems getting it to work and it still
does not work everytime I plug in my uPro.

Ken

[phil75070]

"A better way, in my
opinion, is to allow a registered user to select the desired courses without the uPro being
selected and first download the courses to your local PC and then in a separate step,
transfer that data to your uPro, as opposed to directly downloading to the uPro itself."

I see a problem with that from the manufacturer's viewpoint with the Pro mode courses. Once you pay for the course and download it to your PC any buddy of yours could then connect his uPro to your computer and get the Pro mode course for free. They aren't going to do anything that causes them to lose revenue. Maybe there could be a way to do what you suggest with the free "basic" mode courses.

[Borthwick]

[quote name='ronbo' post='2057858' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:35 AM']Golf Buddy is not pre-loaded with 20,000 courses, it has the ability to hold 20,000 courses. a friend of mine got one this summer and when he went to use it, found at least 2 of his favorite courses not in the unit. When he called the company, they told him to use his computer to down load the courses. When my friend asked why both the web site and TV spot says 20,000, and ready to use out of the box with No Computer, the customer service person said was a mistake. Nice answer, it's call a lie. He returned it the next day......[/quote]

I'm calling BS.

[ROBHATTER]

It is early since the Upro Go is not released untill November 15th.

But a better comparison would be the Upro Go and the Golf Buddy.

Apples to Apples just my 2 cents

[mfbris]

I can only compare the two that I have and use.

The uPro and the Golf Buddy.

I also agree on the earlier post about the BS with the Golf Buddy not preloaded with 20k courses.

[phil75070]

It may be splitting hairs until someone counts the actual number that come pre-loaded, but their website says it can "[i][b]hold [/b][/i]up to 20,000 courses" and comes "pre-loaded with courses from around the globe" and elsewhere "thousands of pre-loaded courses" . They don't specifically say how many courses are actually on the device when you buy it but certainly one is left with the impression that 20,000 courses are already loaded on the device. Also, do any of the Golf Buddy models depict a graphic, the layout of the hole, showing bunkers, water, trees, etc., as shown on this page:

[url="http://www.golfbuddyglobal.com/howitworks.asp"]http://www.golfbuddyglobal.com/howitworks.asp[/url]

If not, that seems a little misleading to me as well.