GPS Advice Needed

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barry610

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Oct 9, 2008
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In the not too distant future i'm going to be buying one of these bad-boys and i'm looking for some advice on the pro's and cons on the ones that i have on my shortlist , which are :

Skycadie SG5
Sureshot 8850
Sonnocaddie V300

Any info that you guys could give me would be most helpful
 
Skycaddie - arguably the most popular but the subs plans are on the expensive side.
Sureshot - a decent unit but some seem to think its a bit bulky compared to others
Sonocaddie - can't comment but Bobmac or Vig can!

They're all good, they all cost about the same and do much the same thing.
One thing though - do you need a colour screen? SC 2.5 does the job at half the price in black and white.
 
I think after looking at many of these tools on the market, that the best value and most convenient are the lazer range of products. Use them anywhere, no extra costs or hidden costs, no updating required, no annual fees, just buy one and use it anywhere any time. If I ever get round to getting one thats the type I will get, quick look through the lens and hey presto.
 
I dont think i would go for the laser option as they are no goood on blind holes.
The thing that was putting me off the skycaddie was:
1.They must be due an upgraded model as the sg5 has been out for a while.
2.I have heard that the unit is disabled if you don't pay the following years subscription.
3.You cant take note of you're stats after a round.

If i'm wrong on any of these points please let me know and i'll grovel accordingly :o
 
Being gadget mad I have a busnell range finder and an sky caddie 2.5. The rangefinder is not that useful on the course where a gps gives you the distace at a glance even if you acnnot see the green. But I would take a good look at the sonocaddie, looks more versitle and fun than the skycaddie.
 
For me , the only downside that i can see with the sonnocaddie is that my home course is not on the course list , is it easy to get them to put the course on or does it take months ?
 
Sorry , my bad , that was the Golf Buddy website i was thinking about :o if i remember correctly the sonnocaddie only has the scorecard info for my course , but the same question applies , how easy is it for them to put my course on ?
 
Sonocaddie is good if you want to records stats but couldn't comment on how easy it is to get a course featured. SC is my preferred choice but my understanding was they blocked the account and not the machine although I stand to be corrected on that. The plus point is that they will come in pretty quickly to measure a course on request (subject to the club giving permission). As the SC5 is the top end, I agree that an update may be due but they won't make that model obsolete for a while. There was orginally an SC 2, 3 and 4 and although I think the 2.5 was designed as a market entry model (and the others may still be around) I think its this end that will see any changes.

As for lasers, I'm not a fan as I find it hard to get readings especially in windy conditions. If you are offline like me on a regular basis it can be hard to see the flag to get a fix which is why I prefer GPS
 
The recording of stats was what held the appeal of the Sureshot as you can upload the information onto you're computer after you play and use it as a game analysis , is this possible to do with the Sonnocaddie ?

P.S i've just put in a request to Sonnocaddie to have my course mapped so everything going well i may be starting to sway slightly in my choice.
 
Unlike some, I'll tell you what little I do know, not what I don't know.

I do know that the best software that I have come across for recording stats is ScoreSaver2. Just simply record on a card your stats on course, upload, and Bob's your uncle. More info than you ever dreamed of.

I do know that my SC2.5 gives accurate information to distances to hazards, front, middle and back of greens from whichever way you approach them.

Any device giving distances is probably only worthwhile if you regularly play different courses.

You didn't ask in your OP about laser devices although they were mentioned later. I can't really comment on their effectiveness other than to say that from what I have heard, they may have trouble in giving readings to hidden objects such as a flag on a dogleg, pot bunkers, streams crossing fairways, etc.
 
I have a SC5 and a laser. I only use the laser now. The SC is fine, but is only preferable on courses I don't know. On my usual course, I find the laser much more useful, and I use it to get distances to flags, obviously, but also bunkers, trees and other aiming points.

It doesn't work around corners, obviously, but unless you have a course with an awful lot of doglegs or blind shots, shouldn't be a major problem.
 
Barry, I played with Vig at the start of the year and saw his Sonocaddie V300 in action and was very impressed.
So impressed in fact I got one myself. I used mine at Sherwood Forest G C last week and it was brilliant.
It does everything it says on the tin.
It is much smaller than the sky caddie with no membership fees or course download charges and it can see around corners :D
Best of all it was cheaper than Sky caddie 5 too.
If you decide to get one, send me a pm, I may be able to get you one a bit cheaper :)
 
The sonocaddie does everything you want and more.
graphics are good, it's easy to use & downloads are free.

Crikey it's got to be good for Bob to dip in his pocket :D ;)
 
I dont think i would go for the laser option as they are no goood on blind holes.
The thing that was putting me off the skycaddie was:
1.They must be due an upgraded model as the sg5 has been out for a while.
2.I have heard that the unit is disabled if you don't pay the following years subscription.
3.You cant take note of you're stats after a round.

If i'm wrong on any of these points please let me know and i'll grovel accordingly :o
Click to expand...

But how many blind holes can you not manage by reference points or a course plan?? This to me is something that would rarely be a problem of any kind, and what if you cannot see a couple of holes per course? at least you can use this tool on ANY course at no extra cost and no downloads required, and in conjunction with course planners is probably the quickest as well as most accurate, I would argue, as most tools relying of some form of global sat nave have various degrees of error expected, when using lazer correctly, it measures spot on!
 
Unlike some, I'll tell you what little I do know, not what I don't know.

snip

You didn't ask in your OP about laser devices although they were mentioned later. I can't really comment on their effectiveness other than to say that from what I have heard, they may have trouble in giving readings to hidden objects such as a flag on a dogleg, pot bunkers, streams crossing fairways, etc.
Click to expand...

Eh? :o
 
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