Looking for a gps

[young n bag'n]

I am new to the forum and been doing some looking around on the net for a good golf gps that i can take to the courses i play locally. i've read good and bad things about

 

various kinds (golf buddy, callaway, skycaddie and garmin). I was wanting to see what some of ones that have been used and see what people have to say about them from

 

thier experience with them. The two i was thinking about were the golf buddy and callaway.

[TJCDAS]

Google critical golf--great review site for golf GPS units.

[Marengo]

Dont get a Golf Buddy. I have a topic on here that will explain why.

[rymail00]

I have a skycaddie and love it. Super easy to use and works great

[MSchad]

I've seen good and bad reviews of all brands/models. I personally have a skycaddie 3.5 and like it very much. The main reason I chose it was that it has replaceable batteries which I prefer over the a rechargeable on board battery, and the ability to upload my scores to their web site for stat tracking. The one thing I suggest before buy any brand/model, check to be sure the courses you play are mapped/GPS'd. When I was researching before I bought mine, I found several makes did not have my local courses in their databases. Granted I live is South Dakota, so I would expect to be on the bottom of most companies lists to GPS courses. Just a thought.

[entourage2]

I have a callaway UPRO and i think its one of the better GPS out there. No annual fees, you only pay for the courses you want. And if you don't want to pay you can just download the BASIC maps with only list the FRONT, MIDDLE, and BACK yardards + harzards for free.

The yardards are pretty accurate as well.

[Marengo]

[quote name='entourage2' timestamp='1305833902' post='3247637']
I have a callaway UPRO and i think its one of the better GPS out there. No annual fees, you only pay for the courses you want. And if you don't want to pay you can just download the BASIC maps with only list the FRONT, MIDDLE, and BACK yardards + harzards for free.

The yardards are pretty accurate as well.
[/quote]


So you are saying that you have to pay for each individual course that you play? Seems like that would get pretty expensive.

[entourage2]

[quote name='Marengo' timestamp='1305835185' post='3247698']
[quote name='entourage2' timestamp='1305833902' post='3247637']
I have a callaway UPRO and i think its one of the better GPS out there. No annual fees, you only pay for the courses you want. And if you don't want to pay you can just download the BASIC maps with only list the FRONT, MIDDLE, and BACK yardards + harzards for free.

The yardards are pretty accurate as well.
[/quote]


So you are saying that you have to pay for each individual course that you play? Seems like that would get pretty expensive.
[/quote]

Kind of. If you want to see the actual view of the course in 3-D kind of, you have to pay ~$3 a course. This is so if you don't know what is around that dogleg right, you can view it on this GPS. You get an aerial view. Also, i think this beats paying annual fees because how many different courses do you actually play? I probably only play 4 different courses on a regular basis. The ones that you would probably only visit once, just download the BASIC map. Which is FREE, but instead of getting the aerial view (because you have to pay for it) you only get yardages for the FRONT, MIDDLE, and BACK green and also yardage for bunker and water hazards. So really i am only paying for ~$12 the 4 courses i consistently play on and the rest i just use the free option.

[young n bag'n]

Now with the fees on the upro mx i have heard that there is just a one time fee for the pro mode for downloading courses. I have looked on callaways website and I can't find a thing on what the fees are. I seen where the older models that have the prices for them. Now would they be same for the new upro mx. Cus this is the unit i am looking at just trying to decide to go ahead and order or wait till the monday when it gets releced and see if they show prices on fees.

[TundraToad]

+1 on the tip above about checking what courses are available where you live. Sometimes the choice of GPS is a no brainer.

[Rickochet]

I am currently using a Garmin S1 wristwatch GPS. I has 13000 preloaded courses and there is no annual fee. This is my fourth golf Gps and the S1 is my favorite. It only gives the basic Front-Center-Back and shot measuring info but that is all I ever used on my fancier units. It has large numbers and is easy to read even in bright sunlight. It auto advances to the next hole so you never have to touch it. With various discounts and a mail in rebate it can be had for $175 shipped.

The only GPS I would suggest staying away from is the Callaway Upro. I ordered a refurbished Upro and it was DOA. Cally sent me a replacement and it was bad also. They had to start up the uPro production line because the unit is being phased out and they didn't have enough units to replace warranty replacements. It took 4 months to get an operable unit which I quickly sold.

[Houstonhacker]

I'm new here as well. I've played two rounds with my new Garmin Approach G3, and I like it a lot, especially the part about no annual fees. To me, it's a nice combination of compact size, simple operation, and reasonable cost. I admit to being partial to Garmin products; they make good stuff.

[young n bag'n]

Thought about garmin until i looked at the courses that they have and the 3 courses i play the most aren't even there. I think i am going to pull the trigger for the new callaway upro mx

[BlackDiamondPar5]

[quote name='JohnnieMo' timestamp='1306206417' post='3257364']
are the gps's really necessary if the pros dont need them why do we cmon.
[/quote]

I guess if you have a professional caddy with a detailed yardage book that looks like a survey map, then I guess you don't need a GPS. But for those of us that don't, the GPS is the closest we can get to a caddy and yardage book.

[Rickochet]

[quote name='JohnnieMo' timestamp='1306206417' post='3257364']
are the gps's really necessary if the pros dont need them why do we cmon.
[/quote]
You obviously haven't tried using a GPS. One of the best +'s is that it speeds up the pace of play. Many of the courses I play have the yardages on sprinkler heads that are very difficult to find. We save a lot of time not having to search for distances. If you don't care about time or distances then I guess a GPS is not for you.