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Sneds

Sneds

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Whilst playing at the weekend, I was seriously considering purchasing a SkyCaddie. Encouraged by some money given to me by family for my birthday, it was rather burning a hole in my pocket.

I had a quick glance at the SC website and decided, that in all honesty, I probably only required a SC2.5. Especially at home track. I proceeded to ask the pro at Manor of Groves if there was any chance of using a demo SC2.5 for my round and if I got along with it I would purchase it afterwards.

Unfortunately, he had no demo SC's available, but I was offered the opportunity to pay £5 to use an ancient GPS (with no fricking clip) in order to gauge how much it would assist me. To say that this particular GPS was disappointing is an understatement, I frequently had no reception and the unit took a long time to update.

Case in point, I step up to the ball and I am told 208 yards to the front of the green. I hit the ball, look back down and the GPS now says 192 yards to the front.

I got my £5 for the awful GPS back, but they can't all be that bad can they?

I am relying on the knowledge of the forum to give me an informed and objective (ha!) opinion on SC's or GPS's in general. Also, rangefinders do not interest me.

I feel that I would benefit from knowing the distance of each club more accurately (particularly my pesky 52 wedge) as well as having the confidence to hit a club knowing I have x yards to the back of the green.

Thanks in advance guys.

P.s Talk to me about annual fee's ;)
 
SkyCaddies are great if you play different courses, or have holes with blind shots that you can't see with a laser. Almost every decent course seems to be mapped now, and as far as I am aware, they are pretty reliable on distance. If you play by yardages, worth a go, the precise model depending on your budget and love of techno features.
 
P.s Talk to me about annual fee's ;)
Click to expand...

That has always been my issue with GPS and Skycaddie in particular. I know you pay for updated maps on satnavs for the car but if you do not want the new maps, you do not lose your old ones. The fact that the Skycaddie becomes next to useless if you stop your subscription is my concern. In my opinion, and I am willing to be shot down on this, if you want to make profits from ongoing subscriptions then the price of the actual unit up front should be a damn sight lower. Different economies of scale I know but if I subscribe to Sky I get the receivers basically free and if I sign up for a phone the handset is free as the cost is built into the contract.

Also, with some of the other models charging up to a tenner for a new course map that you play only once I could only ever seem myself going down the Golfbuddy loads of free maps route.
 
I don't use a SkyCaddie but do use two different GPS programs on my phone when I'm on the golf course.

I've always found the distances to be accurate and update instantly (if you walk with it, you can clearly see the yardage decreasing as you walk). And standing at the 150 marker always gives the right distance to within a yard or two (which could be more down to whether I'm standing in "line" with it or not.

I don't know how old the GPS was that was given to you, but if it was "old", I would think that technology has moved on since then.

Don't dismiss it until you've tried the real thing.

And if you have a "smart" phone or iPhone you can get one for considerably less than you'd pay for a SkyCaddie.

EDIT: In reference to the annual fees the apps you download for your phone don't charge any other fees other than the initial cost of the app (anywhere from free to £20 depending on which one you choose). The only downside is that you have to map your own course if the course you want isn't already mapped. I've only come across one that I've had to map thus far though.
 
GB72,

In relation to your post, I am surprised at the prices that they charge. £200 for 2.5, the most basic model bar one! I guess they promote the fact that people walk the course?

Aztecs,

I have an iPhone4, but I have real issues over reliability on the phone. Firstly over the accuracy of the distances and secondly I often lose signal at my course, I imagine this will result in no distances?

I think if there was a trial option on an GPS app, I would definitely try it and see.
 
I have a 2.5 but on Saturday I forgot it so the Pro gave me his sg4.......preferred mine if truth be told,all I could see that was extra for the extra cash was a bigger screen!

Great bits of kit whether you are using at home or away.
 
I've got Freecaddie and Golfshot on my iPhone ,Golfshot is a lot quicker at updating but drains the battery so have been using Freecaddie which is exactlty the same as my mates SkyCaddie but a bit slower to update
 
Got a Skycaddie SG5. Great bit of kit. Updates pretty quickly, clear information, accurate, etc. I like it alot. The 2.5 would have been fine though.

As to the annual fee, it doesn't bother me. I play quite a few different courses, so at a fee per download I would end up spending more anyway. I also play a bit abroad, and so I have the more expensive membership plan £40 ish I think? In the grand scheme of things that isn't that expensive.

My Dad has the golf buddy. It is more complicated to use, but is free to run. I have had a couple of issues with it. It doesn't have (didn't when I last looked) The Grove on it. I play here a bit. And also, when we were on holiday in Florida, one course was hopelessly inaccurate, when my SG5 was fine.

I would look at a few others too before making your mind up, but I have no complaints with my SkyCaddie, and rearely play without it.

I have a smart phone with GPS, but would not put a golf app on there for the following reasons, weather (it isn't waterproof), robustness (it is fragile), contract cost (if I break it I have no phone for two years), and the time to update. Yes, the GPS is pretty quick when up and running, but to pull out my phone, turn on the screen, wait for a signal, etc, is too slow (yes I have played with guys with iphones, and it has been painful).
My Skycaddie clips to my bag, and a quick glance is enough to get me the correct distance.
 
Aztecs,

I have an iPhone4, but I have real issues over reliability on the phone. Firstly over the accuracy of the distances and secondly I often lose signal at my course, I imagine this will result in no distances?

I think if there was a trial option on an GPS app, I would definitely try it and see.
Click to expand...

Sneds,

Try an app called "Free Caddie". There's a free version and a "pro" version which is £8.99.

The free version basically gives you the ability to load a course and get the distances for each hole on the course. It's basic but does the job. For £8.99 you basically get everything else you'd need:
-distances to bunkers/water/other hazards
-scorecard (for up to 4 people)
-unlimited course storage (so you can save your favourite courses on your phone)
-a load of other stuff.

I use the same app for my HTC (but the Android version, not the iPhone version), and it's great and does the job. Try the free one to see if you get distances from the whole course (not sure if signal drop outs will affect the GPS, it doesn't when I'm using the sat nav on my phone), and if you like it, just stick with that if it's as good as you need or upgrade for 9 quid.

At least that way you can try it out without paying out for it. And you could even pay for one of the "better" apps that are available for around £20...The GPS will work the same no matter what the app.

I hope you've learnt your lesson - next time, don't buy an iPhone 4 ;-)

I do think that's a downside of the Apple App Store though. You can't try stuff before you buy unless there's a "lite" version. On the Android store you can buy an app and if you decide you don't like it, you can "remove/refund" it from your phone and you'll get a full refund as long as you do it within the first 24 hours.
 
For once I get in ahead of BobMac!

Sonocaddie - by far the best unit out there. No annual fees, easy to add courses, stores loads of stats, keeps your score etc.

I have found it fantastically useful even on my own track.

I did stacks of research before getting this and I stand by it - given £250 again of someone else's money, I would still buy the Sonocaddie V300. Can't give you a better recommendation than that.

As for what they loaned you - best to ignore it as it sounds about as useful as a Tiger Woods promise of fidelity...
 
Just for reference. Smart phone golf GPS does not use your phone signal to acquire a position 'fix'. The phone needs a built in GPS receiver to give you an accurate position. Therefore 'loss of phone signal' is not an issue. In fact switching the 'phone' part off is desirable to extend battery life when operating GPS off the phones battery.

However. The fragility of phones on the course and in god knows what weather wise, is an issue.
 
Just for reference. Smart phone golf GPS does not use your phone signal to acquire a position 'fix'. The phone needs a built in GPS receiver to give you an accurate position. Therefore 'loss of phone signal' is not an issue. In fact switching the 'phone' part off is desirable to extend battery life when operating GPS off the phones battery.

However. The fragility of phones on the course and in god knows what weather wise, is an issue.
Click to expand...

I thought this was the case!

Not found a problem with the fragility of my phone as of yet *touch wood* (and I've dropped it numerous times!), but I probably wouldn't risk using it on a wet day, but then I don't generally golf when it's raining. Fairweather golfing and all that :D

I keep it in my back pocket and whip it out whenever it's needed.
 
SkyCaddies are great if you play different courses, or have holes with blind shots that you can't see with a laser. Almost every decent course seems to be mapped now, and as far as I am aware, they are pretty reliable on distance. If you play by yardages, worth a go, the precise model depending on your budget and love of techno features.
Click to expand...

I agree with Ethan on this one :o ;)
 
Sneds, if you have an iphone download my caddie pro. Its a free app and the gps i found is very accurate. i used it again at the weekend and i find if i turn the gps off between shots it still only takes a max of 10 seconds to update to a fix yardage.

My phone was fully charged and if i turned the gps off between shots it only used about 20% of the battery life, this was also using the score card facility for 4 players, as well as the stat manager for myself. this covers Up & downs, bunker saves, putts, fairways hit and Greens hit. you can enter each players handicap within the group and it will work their shots per hole out too which is a bonus as i always lose my dam pencil

Id really urge anyone thinking about a SC to download this for free before splashing out £200 on a SC, i was going to get a SC but wont bother now, that money can go towards green fee's, next years membership or lessons.

Unfortunately we played 2 different courses on saturday one wasnt fully mapped (only first 4 holes) but this can be common with the SC too so im lead to beleive.
 
Would never buy a Skycaddie

Mine has no membership.
Large colour screen.
Hole view.
Scorecard.
Round stats etc etc etc
And...its cheaper than the equivilant Skycaddie one.
No brainer really.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonocaddie-V300-...2943&sr=1-3

Just my opinion of course :)
Click to expand...


..... and is mapped using unreliable google earth/maps. ;)

This may be okay but I have serious doubts,my mate uses a phone app and is always at least 3 yards diff to the Skycaddie...I know which one I trust having seen the extensive workings the company take in mapping the courses.
 
Unfortunately we played 2 different courses on saturday one wasnt fully mapped (only first 4 holes) but this can be common with the SC too so im lead to beleive.
Click to expand...

I have never found this with Skycaddie. The only time I have heard of this is with the new SGX, which is not under discussion here, as it the OP was asking about SG2.5, which will not have any issues with mapping.
 
This may be okay but I have serious doubts,my mate uses a phone app and is always at least 3 yards diff to the Skycaddie...I know which one I trust having seen the extensive workings the company take in mapping the courses.
Click to expand...

You honestly think 3 yards is going to make any difference at all? The only people who hit to that level of accuracy have walking, talking yardage indicators...
 
This may be okay but I have serious doubts,my mate uses a phone app and is always at least 3 yards diff to the Skycaddie...I know which one I trust having seen the extensive workings the company take in mapping the courses.
Click to expand...

You honestly think 3 yards is going to make any difference at all? The only people who hit to that level of accuracy have walking, talking yardage indicators...
Click to expand...

Yes....where do you draw the line then?
 
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