golfrewind.com

I am planning on buy a golf course GPS and was wondering if any of you could comment on the three devices I am looking at so I can make a better informed decision.

SkyCaddie GPS
I know this is like the father of golf course GPS, but the units have bland screens and don't offer alot of feature. Plus they charge a membership. I am most likely not going to purchase a skycaddie unless I get feedback that the next two are junk.
www.skycaddie.com

SonoCaddie
I am seriously leaning towards this unit, same bland screen technology as the SkyCaddie but I feel it offer more information, is cheaper, and does not have a membership fee. www.sonocaddie.com

SureShot Golf GPS
This thing looks awesome color display very detailed information and advanced editing. Roughly the same price as the SkyCaddie but it has a membership fee. I would hoose this before the SkyCaddie and would buy if not for the price and fees. Anyone got any really good comments about it that might push me over the edge to buy it.
www.sureshotgps.com

Any comments good/bad/otherwise would be appreciated.

Sureshot just added 5000 courses in the US. I just wrote to them to add a couple of courses before buying it. I checked the site later and they had it mapped. You can download the courses to your computer and you have them forever. You cannot do that with a sky caddie since they use a "Sky vault" (online storage) - once the subscription period ends you don't have access to them anymore.

Customer service is better with the Sureshot. I asked a technical question and they answered quickly. I posed a question to Skycaddie and never received a response.

You can plot more points on the Sureshot if you are plotting a course yourself. The Sureshot has other statistical data such as storing your score, GIR, club distance and can upload it to the included software. Sureshot is my choice with GPS systems. However, with GPS systems there is some variability of distances that can range from 9 to 21 feet depending upon your signal.

IF I were choosing the Skycaddie, I like the SG3 which uses over the counter batteries which don't require sending the unit back to the manufacturer - you can use rechargeable batteries.

The GPS Golf Pro is another option that I considered that you can use on your PDA phone but they also have their own PDA with GPS incorporated into it. You can map courses yourself with their software or they can map the courses for your. They do not have a subscription fee either.

http://www.gps-golfpro.com/

Garmin, one of the leaders in the GPS industry, produces GolfLogix.

http://www.golflogix.com/product-info.asp

For now, I chose to get a Laser Rangefinder which allows a tighter accuracy of distances but works on the concept of your line of sight. Acquisition of distances is faster than I expected but you do need steady hands.

You should add iGolf to your list. I haven't tried any so I can't offer any other assistance.

I have been using my sky caddie2 for 2 seasons now and I wouldn't be without it. it has improved my approach shot accuracy two fold.
http://www.thegolfaholic.com/rts/ind...92&siteid=1606

Got to play with one last week and loved it, but how accurate are they really? Also, when the devices give a yardage "to the pin", are they really updated every day? (I assumed It was really just the center of the green, but watching the skycaddie commercial, he specifically refers to the flag.)

They work by triangulation, 3 or more satellites. They do not give you the yardage to the pin. they give you the yardage to the front, center and to the back of each green, or just to the center depending which setting you have it on.
http://www.thegolfaholic.com/rts/ind...92&siteid=1606

I have been using a Sky Caddie for tree years now. It has always been right on the mark. Distance you can count on. Takes a bit of getting used to to up load new courses, but just about every course in the world is on the site. You can store 10 at a time. When you down load the enxt time the old ones are gone and are replaced with the new ones. You can create play lists with ten on each list.

Just tired out a Sono caddie and was very disappointed. the first course I played with it had bad distance for everything. All the greens were from 10 30 yards off for the front and back of the green. Spent the day editing the distance which is pretty easy to do. Just a pain. Am sneding it back today. If the downloaded courses are that screwed up I don't want it. Maybe it was just this course? Primarily need it for new courses socan not depend on it. Menu was OK , just took a few minutes to figure it out. SCore card feature is nice but no all that usefull. Picture of the hole is usefull. Skycaddie does not have that. One time fee was good. Skycaddie had 1 *, 2*, 3* and 4* courses. One star only has center of green. 4* had everything plotted.

I'm not really in the market for one, but if I were to buy a GPS today I think I'd go with the iGolf Neo: $149 and comes ready to use out of the box (if you map your own courses). If you get the subscription, you can download courses but you get to keep them if even you let the subscription lapse.

iGolf - Neo GPS Unit

Well to make along story short, I have tried to Igolf Neo and For Cell Phone. And I tried the sureshot, unless you map the courses yourself they are very inaccurate. The IGolf was the worst as distances tended to drift from day to day. One day you would be standing on the front of the green and it would tell that you were right on it and the next it would tell you you were 20 yards off.
The Sureshot is nice but the courses you get from them are google earth mapped and vary wildly, the unit is also hard to read in direct sunlight.
So I broke down and bought a Skycaddie 2.5, which has all of the features of 5.0 but is not color and is smaller. I absolutely love it and wished I had not spent all that money previously. The SG2.5 is a Keeper for sure. Accurate, easy to use, the mapped courses you get from Skygolf are spot on even to hazards and carries.
I was an idiot for even trying to get anything but the industry leader.

Save your money on GPS devices. Laser Rangefinders are the way to go, if you really need distance to a location/pin.

Q's you gotta ask yourself are

1) How often do you play a course that you have never played before?

1B) Is your course decently marked distances?

2) How many shots in a round do you not know the distance to the desired spot

3) Do I really need to know I am 152 or 156 away from a pin or bunker, or does 150+ good enough for you?

I personally have a laser rangefinder in my bag and it rarely if ever comes out. For the people that love these things, great for them, but how much better are they with this additional info.

I play with many different levels of golfers at my course and I have not seen one player improve their score tangibly from their GPS.

I kind of like knowing I need 180yds to carry a water hazard on a blind shot. Try determing that with you antiquated laser. Lol just kidding I used to have an optical rangefinder and then I got a bushnell laser. Now I just look down at my gps grab a club and go. If I didn't always have to wait for people in front of me I would sya it has shaved 10 to 20 minutes off my round.

If you have a PDA style cell phone with GPS I would just get Intelligolf or similar software. You already have the hardware and just need the software. A golf buddy recently started using it with the GPS features and it works well. I have a SG4 and don't have a Windows Mobile cell phone.

I purchased the Skycaddie SG5 from ebay new for about $100 less then retail. I don't take advantage of alot of the features, however its a great unit. Do I need on of these? No not really, but its nice to have. It really speeds up the play of my group, when I start giving everyone exact yardages. Also I like the ball mark feature, so I can easily see the yardage of a shot I just hit.

I am new to golf (1 year this month) and purchased the shureshot gps when I started and have nor regretted it one bit. I did some research as I am sure you have and decided on this model for the exact same reasons stated by titaniummd. I have enjoyed the device, the scoring and GIR and all the bells and whistles have made my playing a delight (too bad it can correct that slice I too contacted them to add a course and they were very respnsive asking for the contact information the course and then said they would email me when the course had been mapped. This was just a week ago so I expect to hear from them any day now. This is the best gps in my book.

Keith

I have the iGolf Neo, and love it. I have found it to be very accurate. The major plus is its small size: I simply stuff it in my pocket. The only problem, as reported in other golf forums, is the belt holder; it does not securely hold the device, so I don't use it. Of course, at $149, the price can't be beat.
For those who think laser rangefinders are better, I don't think so. The GPS is always on: you walk up to your ball and you have an instant display of yards to the hole. Much faster than fiddling with a laser rangefinder.