Skycaddie 3.5 vs. Garmin G3

whitehead31 · October 10, 2011

I have done loads of research on each and have come down to these two. Each have pros and cons and I wanted to know if you guys had personal stories or advice to which you like or dislike these items. Thanks in advance.

ALPINE240 · October 10, 2011

ive used the sg 3.5 for 2+ years and really liked it. has intelligreen so you can see where the slopes on the greens are..
the only downside is obviously the annual fees for the sky caddie. dont know too much about the garmin..
i have the 3.5 on the BST forum for sale if you are interested. I recently switched to a laser so no need for the sky caddie (i also use an iphone app called skydroid...its a basic gps program that i use as backup to my laser RF)

preacher · October 11, 2011

I recently moved away from Skycaddie to avoid there yearly fees. I moved from SG5 to G3 Garmin for courses I'm unfamiliar with and use Leupold GX-3 for more accurate distances. I find the G3 to be a nice unit, touch screen is really nice. If someone told me I could not have a laser and only go with GPS, it would be Skycaddie SGX no question about it.

IMAway · October 11, 2011

Garmin G3 is my choice. First off, buy it and you're done - I hate the annual fees. Secondly, the fact that it uses AA batteries is a plus. If you forget to charge the Skycaddie and run out of battery power... you're screwed. With the Garmin, I just use rechargeable AA batteries and carry an extra set of of regular AA batteries in my bag in case I do forget to charge them. G3 is nice.... I love it.

ClayGolf84 · October 11, 2011

SkyCaddie 3.5 in a landslide. I don't care about the annual fees as it is about the same price as a dozen golf balls.Just keep an extra set of AAA batteries in tha bag and no worries. I get 3 rounds out of a set of duracells.

IMAway · October 11, 2011

[quote name='ClayGolf84' timestamp='1318340311' post='3656653']
SkyCaddie 3.5 in a landslide. I don't care about the annual fees as it is about the same price as a dozen golf balls.Just keep an extra set of AAA batteries in tha bag and no worries. I get 3 rounds out of a set of duracells.
[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up on the Skycaddie using regular batteries... that is a nice feature. Still hate the annual fees though

BlackDiamondPar5 · October 11, 2011

[quote name='whitehead31' timestamp='1318270417' post='3652851']
I have done loads of research on each and have come down to these two. Each have pros and cons and I wanted to know if you guys had personal stories or advice to which you like or dislike these items. Thanks in advance.
[/quote]

Two of my golf buddies have each. Both like them, and because I'm a techie geek I had to look at both. My brief encounter with each unit was favorable. While I'm not a fan of touch screen on my golf GPS, I know I would live with it over the annual fee's of skygolf.

Maybe you already know this about sky caddie, but if you only play in one state the membership is $30/year and may not bother you. But if want to play out of state it goes to $50/year, and should you decide to go to outside the US to play, it will cost you $60/year for membership. Nothing like feeling nickel and dimed, and not sure why you'd pay for what others give it away for free unless you see some other value. And that membership is in perpetuity, because your device stops working when your membership lapses. So keep that in mind.

Here is a site that might help you gather more data to assist with your decision.

[url="http://www.criticalgolf.com/category/reviews/golf-gps-devices/"]http://www.criticalgolf.com/category/reviews/golf-gps-devices/[/url]

ClayGolf84 · October 12, 2011

[quote name='IMAway' timestamp='1318380990' post='3660113']
[quote name='ClayGolf84' timestamp='1318340311' post='3656653']
SkyCaddie 3.5 in a landslide. I don't care about the annual fees as it is about the same price as a dozen golf balls.Just keep an extra set of AAA batteries in tha bag and no worries. I get 3 rounds out of a set of duracells.
[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up on the Skycaddie using regular batteries... that is a nice feature. Still hate the annual fees though
[/quote]

The annual fees IMO are not a big deal I get maps of golf courses that where mapped by a person and not by a camera. I get targets distancs that have never let me down and are really helpful. To me my annual fee is an investment that I will have quality professional maps every year, not a draw up map from Bing or Google that I have no idea how it was developed or is it even accurate.

BlackDiamondPar5 · October 12, 2011

[quote name='ClayGolf84' timestamp='1318435890' post='3662879']
[quote name='IMAway' timestamp='1318380990' post='3660113']
[quote name='ClayGolf84' timestamp='1318340311' post='3656653']
SkyCaddie 3.5 in a landslide. I don't care about the annual fees as it is about the same price as a dozen golf balls.Just keep an extra set of AAA batteries in tha bag and no worries. I get 3 rounds out of a set of duracells.
[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up on the Skycaddie using regular batteries... that is a nice feature. Still hate the annual fees though
[/quote]

The annual fees IMO are not a big deal I get maps of golf courses that where mapped by a person and not by a camera. I get targets distancs that have never let me down and are really helpful. To me my annual fee is an investment that I will have quality professional maps every year, not a draw up map from Bing or Google that I have no idea how it was developed or is it even accurate.
[/quote]

Just because u don't know how a map is created doesn't mean its not accurate. Also skygolf does not walk a course every year, so changes could take years to be updated. Properly done aerial views can be accurate to inches. There are companies that specialize in this technology.

In practical experience across many courses I typically have not seen my friends skycaddie, upro or my golf guru differ by more than than a yard or two. I would not expect garmin to be worse.