I purchased a SG2 and went with the Eagle membership. I have had a Bushnell Pro for a few years, after using the GPS for about a month now, I love the GPS. The downside is the membership is $50. a year and playing a course that is not mapped. The upside is having front center and back yardages on a course you have not played.

Imagine you block your tee shot 80 yrds right and you are in another fairway. Trees kind of block your view so you can't use a range finder. Your GPS will give you accurate yardages, within a few feet of your taget. I used it for the first time today on a course I had never played, I think it saved a few strokes . I know it saved at least ten minutes through the round not having to look for markers. One time my ball was sitting next to a marker, it was exactly the same as my GPS.

For those of you on the fence. For me this is the way to go, I sure wanted a new range finder with slope on it, but they are not leagle for tournament play. This will be at most tournaments.

I agree. I have both GPS and a RF and although each have their pros and cons - if I had to choose, I would go with the caddie! It saves time, and although that may not be a a big deal, it's nice to know the yardage instantly and then think about the shot vs finding the markers, etc especially if you are a joe shmo golfer and play on the weekend when it's usually packed - there's less pressure on you to take your shot becuase people behind you are waiting. It's alos light, small and discrete, its something you can use for everyone, it's cool. I like the RF for range practice. I like to measure the greens and no far I;m hitting when I practice. But for game play - go with the caddie. it's the future!

I saw a few people using these last year. They work pretty well. I think that they will really catch on this year. The prices should come way down, too.

Someone using one had marked the flags at the driving range so he knew how far the flags were no matter where he was hitting from. The tee area moves all of the time there...you hit from grass. The difference can be 30 yards of more.

You can use them even in strict tournaments "by local rule" starting this year...sweet.

Honestly, the GPS has more capabilities than a RF. Don;t get me wrong, love the RF but like I said if i was forced to choose, it's no contest caddie all the way. I just play for fun and don;t play competively so I am only speaking from my perspective. to each their own. Oh and the membership - big deal it's a family dinner at applebees!

I don't use the caddie but I use GPS on a PDA and a program that is called intelligolf. It does so much more for you than the range finders. I have been using it about an year, no membership or anything and it keeps up with all of your history, keeps track of your handicap. Now that a lot of the PDAs have the GPS built in it is a lot cheaper now. I had to buy my GPS seperate and it was a little expensive, but I already had the PDA.

You can only get center of green and not yardage to the pin, but I have more confidence of my yardage than I did when I was using the range finders. I know they have inproved on the range finders now so they may be a little better to hit the flag than the one I had.

LMAO!!!

Way to put it into perspective!

I also use the SG2 and I think it's fantastic! It definitely makes all the difference in a round. Not having to look for sprinkler heads and knowing the exact distance to the front, back and center of the greens is everything you want IMO!!!

I bought one on a whim and couldn't be happier. I live in SE Georgia, and almost every course in the area is mapped with Intelligreen. This is a big plus for me, but something you should consider before purchasing. I have found the distances to be anywhere from dead on to off by 3-4 yds (based on yardage markers on the course); I'm only an 11, so this is good enough for me.

I also agree with a previous poster who discussed getting the distance while others are playing. It's great when your cart-partner plays his shot (from the other side of the fairway!!), and you are waiting for him to come over. You will already know the club you want, etc.

I highly recommend it; just make sure you have it plugged in the night before a round. Nothing like getting to the first fairway, and it powering down . . .

Chris

I agree. the caddie is much more versatile and whether or not saving time is a big deal, it's definately much nicer to just press a button and get the yardages versus trying to find a markers or trying to pin a flag down. And for the membership, i mean cmon half of us have spent that membership on a box of pro v1s which we don't have anymore!!

I have the Eagle level too, and sent them 4 E mails to map my home course over the period of 6 months. They have not given me a reason ( or response) . However on mapped courses it is great.

Thanks for the reviews. I will order mine tonight. I am sure more courses will be added over time.

Can you delete a course from the memory to add a new one?

Anyone know what they charge to map a course?

Also you buy one but its useless w/o the 50 annual? Or does that give you mapped courses in your area? My course isn't mapped but I would be interested in knowing the cost of doing so.

Dan

I don't doubt that that they received your request, but unfortunately they have a tendency to take their time on mapping new courses...........probably a function of prioritization.

It took them a while to process my request for my home course (~ 5-6 months), but it eventually showed up in their database.

Outside of that, the skycaddie allows you the ability to map the course yourself (w/o Intelligreen) and it doesn't take much time to do at all. I've done it and it's pretty simple! You can record front, back and center green locations (which takes a little more time) or just record center green locations (quick and easy).

When you're done you also have the ability to publish the course you recorded through their system on line. It might seem like you're doing some of their work for them by mapping and publishing your own course, but I have to imagine it's a pretty big job for the company in mapping a great majority of golf courses for their database!

All said, at the end of the day you can ultimately control what becomes a very useful tool!





You can always add and delete courses from your skyfolder.





They don't charge a penny to map a course. When you put in a request, they get to it eventually.

There are also different levels of membership which vary in cost. I have the 'Birdie' membership which gives me all their published courses in my state. If you want to add a course that isn't in your state there's an option to upgrade your membership level, but I haven't found this cost effective for me as I don't play a ton of courses outside my home state. If I did, I might just map them out myself.

I hope all this helps!

We put these in our shop a few months back and the response has been overwhelming. We can't get them in fast enough. I think you can at least add the green depths for unmapped courses.

There is only an annual "fee" if you want the flexibility to swap out courses all the time. It holds 10 pre-mapped courses you can download. Based on the level of membership, those can be either from your state, your country or the world. If you would only use it on 10 courses, pay the membership fee the first year and be done with it. The unit will still work as there is no cost associated with using GPS. Also be aware, however, that it does not use standard batteries. The battery lasts about two seasons and is another $50 replacement item from SkyGolf.

Personally, I much prefer the SkyCaddie over a laser rangefinder.

I bought the skycaddie when it first came out and the battery lasted 2 seasons. They new battery that they installed lasts much longer than the original one did. I suspect it is a longer life version. They are great. I tried the laser range finders , but when I devloped parkinsons disease, they didn't work to good

Anyone else had trouble with their SkyCaddie. Mine worked fine the first 5-6 times i used it. Since then it will not connect to the sats. It is next to impossible to talk to someone, it is mainly email. I finally got someone on the phone this morning, looks like I have to return it for repairs. I hope the repairs are timely, I love this thing when it works.

I had that problem of not finding or synching with the satellites after having my unit for a while. I contacted them; they had me ship it back and replaced it or fixed it, not sure which. I seem to recall having purchsed the extended warranty and it was within that warranty period.

It looks like Intelligolf does not support Balckberry devices. Does anyone know of any GPS software packages that can be used with a blackberry?

I had the same problem and went in to the manual to reset GPS. After I did this it has worked since. I heard from our Rep that this has occured, but we have sold 20 in the past two months and mine was the only one with a reported problem.

I tried this several times, it worked the first time, but after that it would never connect.

You are right at this time intelligolf does not support blackberry but i sent them an email and they are working on it. They did not give me a date when they expect to oomplete it. I am currently using intelligolf on my PDA and i would not take for it. Best thing i have ever ran across and makes playing and practicing so much more enjoyable. The treat would be worth waiting for.

You are right at this time intelligolf does not support blackberry but i sent them an email and they are working on it. They did not give me a date when they expect to oomplete it. I am currently using intelligolf on my PDA and i would not take for it. Best thing i have ever ran across and makes playing and practicing so much more enjoyable. The treat would be worth waiting for.
[/quote]


Thanks. My current PDA does not have GPS capability and I think I'm upgrading to a Blackberry so hopefully they're up and running this summer. that way I won't have to spend the 350 on a sky caddie.

[quote name='JIMF25' date='Feb 3 2006, 01:19 PM' post='109448']
You are right at this time intelligolf does not support blackberry but i sent them an email and they are working on it. They did not give me a date when they expect to oomplete it. I am currently using intelligolf on my PDA and i would not take for it. Best thing i have ever ran across and makes playing and practicing so much more enjoyable. The treat would be worth waiting for.
[/quote]


Thanks. My current PDA does not have GPS capability and I think I'm upgrading to a Blackberry so hopefully they're up and running this summer. that way I won't have to spend the 350 on a sky caddie.
[/quote]


Considering all of the legal isses surrounding RIM and the Blackberry I'd hold off on picking one up!

[quote name='JIMF25' date='Feb 3 2006, 01:19 PM' post='109448']
You are right at this time intelligolf does not support blackberry but i sent them an email and they are working on it. They did not give me a date when they expect to oomplete it. I am currently using intelligolf on my PDA and i would not take for it. Best thing i have ever ran across and makes playing and practicing so much more enjoyable. The treat would be worth waiting for.
[/quote]


Thanks. My current PDA does not have GPS capability and I think I'm upgrading to a Blackberry so hopefully they're up and running this summer. that way I won't have to spend the 350 on a sky caddie.
[/quote]


My PDA also does not have the GPS built in that most of them do right now. I added a Pharos to my PDA and it works great. I wanted to upgrade to the new one that HP just came out with that has the GPS and the Phone built in. It has a square screen and Intelligof is working on a compatible software for it also. I just am not sure how good the gps works in some of these. The one I have works great but it sticks out the top of the PDA so it is a little awkward, but not bad.

I just got myself a GPS enabled PDA and am thinking of getting Golf GPS software for it. Intelligolf looks as if is the only one that may have Australian courses on it. Does anyone know of any others that may have Australian Courses mapped.

Also how awkward is it getting it out of the bag and powering it up for each shot?