haplesshacker
Money List Winner
I have mentioned this in passing before, but now as things have progressed somewhat, I'll give it it's own post.
For anyone that has a Windows mobile phone (particularly touch screen) with an in-built GPS receiver or a GPS enabled i-phone. Can I suggest that you take a look at www.freecaddie.com
The basic version which will give you front, middle and back of green is handy enough for most of us. If your course isn't listed, you just go and map it out on Google Earth or Virtual Earth. (I won't get into the argument of accuracy here!) The big advantage of Freecaddie is that for this basic function it is absolutely free. No charge, no subcription!
However if you upgrade to Freecaddie Pro, you are able to map out all of the hazards, bunkers, doglegs etc. You are also able to record your score and basic stat info which can be downloaded into your log in and used for reference at a later date. This bit I won't be using as I have a years worth of stats on Scoresaver2.
The other thing it will give you is measured distance, useful if you want to measure your drives, or indeed measure the club length of every club in your bag on the practice range.
Freecaddie pro costs 24.95 US Dollars.
I've been using the free version on and off for a while now, and today I've upgraded to the Pro version. I will let you know how it goes.
Pros.
Basic version is free, so if you're not sure if GPS is for you then you can use it at no cost to yourselves.
Upgrading to the pro version is only $24.95. Substantially less than a dedicated unit such as Skycaddie, Sonocaddie etc.
If your course is not listed then you can add it in a matter of minutes.
It keeps the Mrs happy on how much you're not spending on yet more golf stuff!
No subscription charges, no update charges, no losing the courses that you already have!
No extra hardware to buy or buy batteries for.
Auto change to next hole.
Works well with touch screen devices.
You don't need to have data access or data contract with your mobile provider.
You can edit course info on the course if required.
If you turn up to a course that you've never played you can download the course 'online' (data connection required).
Cons.
The phones aren't waterproof, drop proof or anything proof.
No graphical / pictorial display like Sonocaddie or Caddyaid.
Arguable accuracy through using Google Earth or Virtual Earth. Though I have not found this to be a problem.
Using GPS solidly for 4 hours plus on the golfcourse does chew battery life.
All in all, so far I've been happy with with the basic free version, but as I had a little left over from my birthday, I'd thought that I'd upgrade. We have a few nastily placed hazards on the two courses and it would be useful to know the exact distances of them. I also wanted to start measuring my distances of my clubs.
So if you're looking for a cheap way of entering the golf GPS market, but can't or won't fork out for a dedicated unit, what have you got to lose?
As more and more phones have built in GPS, this could be an alternative. Worth thinking about if you're upgrading your phone soon.
Part review part reccomendation. Maybe one of the mods might want to move it to the reviews section!?
Sorry to have gone on, but I felt that it needed a full explanation.
Cheers
HH
For anyone that has a Windows mobile phone (particularly touch screen) with an in-built GPS receiver or a GPS enabled i-phone. Can I suggest that you take a look at www.freecaddie.com
The basic version which will give you front, middle and back of green is handy enough for most of us. If your course isn't listed, you just go and map it out on Google Earth or Virtual Earth. (I won't get into the argument of accuracy here!) The big advantage of Freecaddie is that for this basic function it is absolutely free. No charge, no subcription!
However if you upgrade to Freecaddie Pro, you are able to map out all of the hazards, bunkers, doglegs etc. You are also able to record your score and basic stat info which can be downloaded into your log in and used for reference at a later date. This bit I won't be using as I have a years worth of stats on Scoresaver2.
The other thing it will give you is measured distance, useful if you want to measure your drives, or indeed measure the club length of every club in your bag on the practice range.
Freecaddie pro costs 24.95 US Dollars.
I've been using the free version on and off for a while now, and today I've upgraded to the Pro version. I will let you know how it goes.
Pros.
Basic version is free, so if you're not sure if GPS is for you then you can use it at no cost to yourselves.
Upgrading to the pro version is only $24.95. Substantially less than a dedicated unit such as Skycaddie, Sonocaddie etc.
If your course is not listed then you can add it in a matter of minutes.
It keeps the Mrs happy on how much you're not spending on yet more golf stuff!
No subscription charges, no update charges, no losing the courses that you already have!
No extra hardware to buy or buy batteries for.
Auto change to next hole.
Works well with touch screen devices.
You don't need to have data access or data contract with your mobile provider.
You can edit course info on the course if required.
If you turn up to a course that you've never played you can download the course 'online' (data connection required).
Cons.
The phones aren't waterproof, drop proof or anything proof.
No graphical / pictorial display like Sonocaddie or Caddyaid.
Arguable accuracy through using Google Earth or Virtual Earth. Though I have not found this to be a problem.
Using GPS solidly for 4 hours plus on the golfcourse does chew battery life.
All in all, so far I've been happy with with the basic free version, but as I had a little left over from my birthday, I'd thought that I'd upgrade. We have a few nastily placed hazards on the two courses and it would be useful to know the exact distances of them. I also wanted to start measuring my distances of my clubs.
So if you're looking for a cheap way of entering the golf GPS market, but can't or won't fork out for a dedicated unit, what have you got to lose?
As more and more phones have built in GPS, this could be an alternative. Worth thinking about if you're upgrading your phone soon.
Part review part reccomendation. Maybe one of the mods might want to move it to the reviews section!?
Sorry to have gone on, but I felt that it needed a full explanation.
Cheers
HH
