AuburnWarrior
Tour Winner
I got one of these for Christmas. I believe the Wife paid less than £150 for it.
It's the size of a mobile phone and feels very robust. It's encased in rubber which makes you feel confident that it'll survive most mishaps both during transporation and out on the course.
Synching
I know Bratty had issues with his but mine couldn't have been easier. Once all my personal details were in it located my course and I downloaded it with ease. Every purchase gives you one free 'Pro mode' download which I used for my course.
Pro Mode course downloads start at £4.95 for one course but, the more money you credit your account with, the cheaper the courses. £30 gets you 7 courses and so on.
You can download a 'basic' course which is free so, potentially, your only outlay could be the £149.
Out on the course
I've never owned a GPS unit but I used a few over the years and the Callaway is certainly up there with the better units.
The first thing the unit does is give you a video fly over of the hole, very similar to what the TV channels do. This is a very useful feature if you're playing a course for the first time. You can skip this if you've played the course many times.
Once the video fly over has finished, it gives you measurements to all the hazards on the hole.
Now, you can switch between pro mode and basic mode at will due to a button on the side of the unit. The basic mode will simply tell you the distance to the green - front, middle and back.
You can also get a display up that simply shows the hazards and the distances to each.
You can also use the overhead diagram of the hole to measure 'lay up' points if playing a dog leg or opting not to go for the green.
It also has the distance mark facility. This is where you measure how far you've hit a particular shot.
The only down side is that you can't store any statistics on the unit as yet. I believe Callaway are working on this and will hopefully become a feature in the not too distant future.
Overall I'm very pleased with this unit. For less than £149 I think it represents excellent value for money and when compared to the SkyCaddie, etc I think it's a viable alternative.
AW
It's the size of a mobile phone and feels very robust. It's encased in rubber which makes you feel confident that it'll survive most mishaps both during transporation and out on the course.
Synching
I know Bratty had issues with his but mine couldn't have been easier. Once all my personal details were in it located my course and I downloaded it with ease. Every purchase gives you one free 'Pro mode' download which I used for my course.
Pro Mode course downloads start at £4.95 for one course but, the more money you credit your account with, the cheaper the courses. £30 gets you 7 courses and so on.
You can download a 'basic' course which is free so, potentially, your only outlay could be the £149.
Out on the course
I've never owned a GPS unit but I used a few over the years and the Callaway is certainly up there with the better units.
The first thing the unit does is give you a video fly over of the hole, very similar to what the TV channels do. This is a very useful feature if you're playing a course for the first time. You can skip this if you've played the course many times.
Once the video fly over has finished, it gives you measurements to all the hazards on the hole.
Now, you can switch between pro mode and basic mode at will due to a button on the side of the unit. The basic mode will simply tell you the distance to the green - front, middle and back.
You can also get a display up that simply shows the hazards and the distances to each.
You can also use the overhead diagram of the hole to measure 'lay up' points if playing a dog leg or opting not to go for the green.
It also has the distance mark facility. This is where you measure how far you've hit a particular shot.
The only down side is that you can't store any statistics on the unit as yet. I believe Callaway are working on this and will hopefully become a feature in the not too distant future.
Overall I'm very pleased with this unit. For less than £149 I think it represents excellent value for money and when compared to the SkyCaddie, etc I think it's a viable alternative.
AW
