My review of the Garmin Aproach

[kenegan]

I like it!

Well, I was going to wait until next spring to purchase a golf GPS unit to replace my skycaddie 4. After doing my research and posting on this board about which way I was leaning I just couldn't wait. I purchased the Garmin approach. I've played about 10 rounds so far and thought I'd pass along my impressions so far.

What I like:

It boots up and is ready to play in a minute or two. The s4 took so long that I usually had to turn it on before my range warmup in order to be ready. Sometimes it struggled to aquire a proper lock on the first startup so I found it faster to turn it off and then on again. The Garmin stays locked in under trees, on cloudy/rainy days and even after putting it in my pocket for a spell. Other newer GPS units may do this too but as a long time golf GPS user I am really impressed. The screen is easy to read in all weather conditions but more so in direct sunlight.

Like most newer GPS units the yardage is almost always spot on. I attribute this to real good hardware and "almost always" perfect mapping.
My buddy has a laser device and we usually agree within a yard or two. There have been a couple of times where there was a glaring conflict and I attribute this to bad mapping. I'm a 7 USGA and while not really a long ball hitter I am pretty accurate on approach shots and around the green. Those rare yardage conflicts are way less a factor in my scoring than the human factor (my swing) or bad lie/weather conditions.

It's simple to zoom in on any area on the fairway (or rough) for a quick layup yardage.

It's simple to zoom in on the green and move the pin around. If you have the daily pin placement map or have colored pin flags you can quickly hone in at close to laser type yardage. If I had perfect distance control all the time the laser might help once in a while. For me, I tend to play to a safe part of the green shading toward the pin location rather than trying to force in a higher margin of error shot.

I'm glad that I don't have to hook the unit up to my computer all the time to charge or download courses for road trips.

Having had a rechargable GPS unit for three years I wanted to get a unit with replaceable batterys and I'm glad I did. I can now leave my GPS in my golf bag at the clubhouse where it should be. I bought some of those newer ready to use batterys and a charger. I keep the spares in the bag and it takes about one minute to change them out. I get about 2 1/2 - 3 18 hole rounds out of a set. If you need to change during a round the unit remembers all your data and there is no time lag to reaquire a GPS lock.

I don't use the score keeping feature because we post and turn in our score cards after each round so why bother.

Over all I am really happy. Are there better products out there? Maybe. For me the Garmin Approach fits my skill set and is sooo fast and simple to compared to my last GPS product. Living in Oregon and playing all year round the water resistance of the heavy duty case makes sense too.

n

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Nice review. I agree with all that you've said. I thoroughly enjoy mine as well.

[sumat]

I agree with you too. After reading the reviews here, I bought on a few weeks ago. I first purchased lithium batteries, and managed to get over 20 hours usage on them. Now I have 2 sets of rechargeables and they last 2 to 3 rounds.

Summary - this is my first GPS, and I love the simplicity of it. There has only been one golf course I play that is not among the preloaded courses, and when I emailed Garmin about it, they replied within hours that it would be on the next update.

sumat

[Zunes]

kenegan - did you consider the Upro and if so, what made you choose the Garmin.

I too have a Skycaddie. Would like a device with an overhead view, and have narrowed it down to the Upro or the Garmin.

[hamsey]

I got mine a couple of weeks ago. It is my first and am really enjoying it. I like the simplicity of it not at all distracting on the course. No more guessing yardage. Waiting for Garmin to add the Pinehurst resort courses which I was told would be included in the winter/spring update. Hopefully, before the end of March.

Reason I went for the Garmin over the UPro is the ease of use. No buttons and the touch screen is very easy to understand.

Norm

[kenegan]

Zunes

I looked at the Upro but didn't take it out on the course for a test run. To be fair I didn't take the Garmin out either.

I did try both out in the pro shop. Garmin was my choice for a couple of reasons.

1) I liked the screen on the Approach. It's much larger and my 60 year old eyes arn't getting any sharper. For me, the biger the screen the faster I can get the exact information I need. Also the touch screen size and interface makes really easy to move the target point to get layup and green yardage.

2) large number of free courses that are installed on the GPS ALL the time. I wanted to leave it in my bag not take it home verry often.

3) I wanted a battery set-up that was not built into the GPS unit because I hated the hassel involved in charging my3 year old Skycaddy s4. I have a Blackberry phone that I carry all day and plug into my PC to exchange data and charge every night. I just don't want to carry my GPS home too. I have a car charger for my phone and one for my wife's phone just in case. Who needs the clutter of a GPS charger cord in the consold as well. (I've had one there for the Skycaddy and this was a chance to get rid of it).

I'm sure the Upro is a fine unit. Having said that, somestimes you can look at a tool and just know that it's what you want/need to get a job done. The "features" race is a never ending catch up battle for all gizmos and dodads. The Approach is is built for ease of use, accuracy and durableity. Garmin has been in the consumer handheld GPS business longer than most of the Golf-only GPS companies combined. What more can I say.....it shows.