SkyCaddie Review
Posted May 6th, 2005 by Erik J. Barzeski
This GPS unit can tell you the exact distances to greens and trouble. Just don't use it in competition or you may find yourself in trouble.
We all know the routine. It's fairly well ingrained in every decent golfer, and it goes a little something like this:
- Arrive at your drive and set down your bag.
- Wander around looking for a sprinkler head.
- Pace forward or backward to get a better yardage.
- Estimate how much the angle of your approach affects the yardage.
- Estimate how deep the green is and where the pin is placed, and add those calculations to the mix.
- Perform complex math in your head, give up, and then just guess at the correct yardage.
- Choose a club and hit the ball.
Imagine cutting three steps from that ordeal:
- Arrive at your drive and set down your bag.
- Look at the location of the flag on the green.
- Unclip a device from your belt and read a number or two from it to get the precise yardage.
- Choose a club and hit the ball.
The SkyCaddie - formerly known as the "SkyGolf GPS" or the "SG2" - can make the abbreviated process a reality. Though use of a yardage-measuring device is currently illegal for tournament play, the SkyCaddie can be used in handicap rounds and casual play.
The Basics
The SkyCaddie uses freely and widely available GPS (global positioning system) signals to calculate to within one yard your precise location on the planet Earth. If you've also programmed in other points of interest - such as the location of the middle of the green - the SkyCaddie can tell you exactly how far you've got to the middle of the green.
The SkyCaddie unit is a bit larger than your average flip cell phone. It's black, it has a short, stubby antenna that's not going to snap off, and it's solidly built. The buttons are easy to press and the display is easy to read. It clips nicely onto your belt or, as I prefer, to a golf bag strap. Laser-based range finders are bulky, and compared to them the SkyCaddie is rather svelte.
How's It Work?
When you first receive your SkyCaddie, you must register at SkyGolfGPS.com to activate the device. You do so by plugging in your SkyCaddie via a serial port (if you have USB ports only, you'll have to buy your own serial-to-USB converter, as one is not provided) and downloading some software. The process takes a matter of minutes.
Next, you'll probably jump into the course search with "over 5000 courses." Once you find your courses you upload them to your SkyCaddie and head out for a round of golf.
If you live near a red dot, congratulations: you won't be programming your own SkyCaddie.
Unfortunately, at the time of this review, only one of the 35 courses within 45 minutes of me is even listed as having GPS information, and it's user-supplied front/center/back of green information. Any course can have one of four levels:
| Level | What This Means |
|---|---|
| 4 | "SkyPro" course with IntelliGreen |
| 3 | "SkyPro" course without IntelliGreen |
| 2 | "SkyPlayer" course with tee/layup/green targets |
| 1 | "SkyPlayer" course with front/center/back of green targets |
If your course is a SkyPro course, congratulations. You'll have access to the full range of information - layup yardages, hazard distances, and more. You may even have IntelliGreen - an option that will "intelligently" rotate the image of the green depending on the angle of approach. If your course is a SkyPlayer course, well, you're gonna have to eye some things up. And if your course isn't listed, well, you're not out of luck at all. You just have to add it yourself.
Though the SkyCaddie can be used without one of the "SkyPlayer" memberships, some users may opt for some of the membership options available at a yearly cost. I tend to play very few courses and I certainly don't need to store them in an online "SkyVault," so I don't plan to renew my trial membership. However, if you play a lot of golf at different courses - and have a lot of "SkyPro" courses, a membership may make sense to you as you'll have access to all of the SkyCourses, the IntelliGreen graphics, and a SkyVault for storage. Several plans are available:
| Level | Number of Allotted Courses | Number of SkyFolders | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 5 courses in user's state or province | 1 | $19.95/yr. |
| Birdie | Unlimited courses in user's state or province | 3 | $29.95/yr. |
| Eagle | Unlimited courses in user's country | 5 | $49.95/yr. |
| Double Eagle | Unlimited courses worldwide | 10 | $59.95/yr. |
My Testing
My home course, Lake View Country Club, is not listed at SkyGolfGPS.com. When it may be, I don't know. Instead, I took the opportunity to enter data into the SkyCaddie myself.
It's a relatively simple process. As you play a round of golf, pause at the center, front, and back of each green. press the "record" button, confirm your location, and wait five seconds. The precise location is stored and you can move on to the next hole. I recorded all 18 of my course's greens while playing with a threesome. I didn't hold up play and my playing partners only teased me the first seven holes! <grin>
It's in subsequent rounds, the SkyCaddie truly shines. I turn the SkyCaddie on when I step onto the first tee and it gathers information from the GPS satellites. By the time I'm ready to hit my first approach shot, the display tells me three yardages: distance to the center, back, and front of the green. I adjust the yardage based on pin location, wind, and elevation in my mind, choose a club, and play. I no longer care about sprinkler heads, how accurate their yardages may be, or how much playing from a different angle than "dead center of the fairway" might affect my distance.
The SkyCaddie is actually most useful near the green. Very few courses even bother to mark yardages inside of 100 yards, and as a student of the Pelz method for short-game scoring (you know: three wedges, four swings, twelve distances), getting precise yardages inside 100 yards is critical. I've worked hard to dial in my wedges to within a yard or two, so knowing that I'm facing a 55-yard shot and not a 65-yard shot is of critical importance.
The first few times I played with the SkyCaddie, I ran through the normal "sprinkler head" routine and came up with a yardage to compare it to the SkyCaddie's. In each case, the SkyCaddie was surprisingly more accurate. If I hit the club I would have hit with my number, I often failed to get pin high. With the SkyCaddie's number, my shots were pin high all day long.
It's tough to attribute a "stroke-saving" number to an accessory like the SkyCaddie, but based on my unscientific testing (nobody's golf game is exactly the same day to day), I am comfortable suggesting that the SkyCaddie - even with only front/back/center green measurements - has shaved two to three strokes from my game.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I hope never to play without the SkyCaddie (or some more feature-packed successor) again. I've used GPS units in carts - they're expensive to install and slow down play. The SkyCaddie is accurate and fast. Walk to your ball, look at the LCD, hit the ball. It couldn't be better.
Except that it does. I only tested the most basic aspects of the SkyCaddie. "Enabled" courses - particularly those with IntelliGreen - promise to offer up a great bit more information. Perhaps a course near me will be "enabled" soon, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm happy to use my numbers on my home course.
The SkyCaddie is easy to use, but not waterproof. I'm hopeful that this design oversight is fixed in later versions.
Frustrations
As with any bit of technology, there are some frustrations. First, the SkyCaddie is not Mac compatible. Though this may not matter to 90% of the world, a small - and vocal - portion of the computer users out there will certainly want to take note. Furthermore, on the PC, the SkyCaddie requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or later. You'll have a helluva time getting the SkyCaddie to work if you've set Firefox or any other browser as your default.
Much of the work you do to set up your SkyCaddie is done at SkyGolfGPS.com in Internet Explorer or via the "SG2 Browser" application. The SkyGolfGPS site allows you to maintain your profile and edit the contents of your SkyCaddie. You can add courses to folders and synchronize the data to your SkyCaddie. If you're planning a trip to Arizona, you could load your SkyCaddie with the courses you'll be playing.
In theory, that's great. In practice, it took multiple synchronizations to get the data to the SkyCaddie. I'm not a novice computer user - I'm a software developer and an IT consultant - but the SkyGolfGPS.com experience is one I'd rather do without.
Overall
The SkyCaddie costs $349.95. You get a serial cable, a wall-charger (a three-hour charge lasts 10 to 12 hours on the course), and a belt clip. The SkyCaddie is smaller than a laser-based range finder and doesn't require a line of site to the target.
My only gripes are the lack of "enabled" courses in my area and the frustrations of being forced to use a PC with Internet Explorer.
The SkyCaddie is easy to use and deadly accurate. It's shaved strokes off my game and may pay for itself in bets won before the season is through. You can use the SkyCaddie on any course in the world so long as you're willing to put in the center/back/front data yourself.
Despite the minimal frustrations, I recommend the SkyCaddie. If it's good enough for the Tight Lies Tour, well, it's good enough for any ol' duffer, eh?
Feedback
We'd love to hear from you! Comment below or join our forum.
Posted 31 May 2005 at 5:49pm #
I have used the SkyCaddie at 3 different SkyPro courses with the Intelligreen feature and it is woefully inaccurate. At Torrey Pines South the yardage to the center is marked on the sprinkler heads. The Pro's Lucas Yardage Books for Torrey Pines South used in the Buick 2005 were based upon the location and measurements on these sprinkler heads so we KNOW they are accurate! When the Sky Caddie was held directly over the marked sprinkler heads, it was off an average of 5 yards, and as much as 10 yards, on distances that were as little as 60 yards to the center of the green. Further, on at least two rounds with moderate fog on the horizon or cloud cover directly overhead, the unit had no reception on the first hole, even though it had a 15 minute warm up at the course before arriving at the 1st tee. It also lost reception completely on the 17th and 18th holes. It took literally an hour for the unit to pick up any reception at Mission Bay Golf Course by which time I was on the 6th hole! It repeatedly lost reception at Tecolote Canyon Golf Course as well.
Hoping it was just a bad unit, I replaced it with a second brand new unit, and had virtually the same experience: intermittent reception and warm up times of an hour or more to pick up a signal when the device already had signal in the area at another local course the day before, and GPS readings that averaged being off by 5 yards on every target.
According to Garmin and Magellan, GPS with WAAS enhancement (the very technology upon which the SkyCaddie is based) has an accuracy of 3 yards 95% of the time and can be off as much as 8 yards the other 5% of the time. GPS without WAAS has an accuracy of 15 yards 95% of the time and can be off as much as 40 yards the other 5% of the time. There are TWO GPS measurements necessary whenever you set up your own course, and whenever a Sky Player Course is used, one for the original marking of the targets during course setup, and another for marking the position of your ball during play from which you want the distance to the target computed. Under the BEST CASE SCENARIO, assuming WAAS for both locations, and assuming reception (a very big IF!) EACH of those measurements will have a 3 yard variance 95% of the time, creating a 6 yard variance 95% of the time!
You CANNOT use any GPS based device for accurate yardage under 100 yards because the variance of 6 yards on average and sometimes up to 10 or more yards guarantees inaccurate measurements that will cause you to select the wrong club based upon the yardage displayed. Even if you hit your selected club perfectly, you will never know it, because your target will be 18 feet away from where you thought it was on average. I don't know about you, but I don't make too many 18 foot putts! Also, using the device to determine how far you hit your clubs (another of its selling features) will always be off by 6 yards on average: 3 yards off for marking where you hit the ball from, PLUS another 3 more yards off for marking the ball where you hit it to.
If you really want accurate yardages to the pin from 100 yards and in, buy a Rangefinder, as it is accurate to 1 yard up to 400 yards away and doesn't depend upon the weather, or someone else's GPS measurements, or the sprinklerheads being available, and at that distance, seeing the flag is never an obstacle!
Further confirmation of the unit's inaccurate readings can be seen by standing on the front of the green and seeing that in the Pro view of the green, the SkyCaddie reads that you are still 3-6 yards away from the front of the green. Try it again while standing on the back of the green. It will again tell you you are 3-6 yards away from the back of the green. So much for being "accurate"!
The device CANNOT be any more accurate than the technology upon which it is based. It also CANNOT tell you where the pin is, as it doesn't know where the pin is on the green, since no one has ever "marked" its location. It only knows approximately where the front, middle, and back of the green are, based upon someone's marking of those locations with GPS. Any attempt to modify the pin location on an Intelligreen enabled course is only a rough visual approximation on a tiny screen, and is not based upon anything more accurate. On a par 3, you might as well take your measurement to the center of the green from the measured marks for your tee box, (or on a par 4 or 5 from a nearby sprinkler head) and simply add or subtract 5 yards for a back or front pin based upon flag color on a 30 yard deep green! It will likely be more accurate and less frustrating, as that method can't lose all signal and provide NO information at all! Save your money and buy a Rangefinder instead if you really need accurate pin distances.
Posted 20 Jun 2005 at 12:11pm #
The Bushnell PinSeeker 1500 is a $449 range finder that measures yardage and slope. How much would you pay to have an exact yardage to every pin?
Posted 01 Aug 2005 at 1:28pm #
The "range finder rule," Rule 14-3b, may soon be going the way of the dodo. Hallelujah!
Posted 24 Nov 2005 at 10:39pm #
I purchased my SG2 in July 2005 and won't leave home without it! I too expienced techical difficulties that were quickly resolved by SkyHawke Technologies technical support personnel. I have Cleveland CG-10 wedges and Callaway Fusion irons and using the SG2 I've dialed in my accuracy. Sure the unit is only as good as the technology behind it and there will be problems with any gadget on the market today. But I return to my home course 3-4 times a week and the yardages I've programmed for the course are pretty dead on with what I've first recorded and come with in a yard or so of and the course markers. In less your a pro tour player, I can live with that. All I can say is over the past 6-months, I've made more birdies than I ever have before due to my short game confidence provided by using my SG2
Posted 01 Dec 2005 at 11:22pm #
I used the sky caddy for about 2 years and it does save quite a bit of time looking for markers and pacing off your distance. I was happy with it until it started acting up. It seems that when it was exposed to the sun the unit reflected grossly incorrect yardages such as 2499 yards when we were 150 yards to the green. I have sent the unit back to customer service twice; the first time they had it for about 6 weeks and returned it without an explanation. As soon as I started using it again it did the same thing. I emailed their customer service department and their manager there said he would personally take care of the repair and gave me another RMA number. It's been about 4 weeks, I received a letter back from their customer service department saying that the unit is out of warranty and cannot be repaired and offered me to purchase demo units for $249 or some others for $199.
For this reason alone, I informed them to keep the unit and use it as a "lemon". I will never use one again....and neither will my friends and their friends.
Caddyless in San Diego
Posted 27 May 2006 at 5:24pm #
I bought the SkyCaddie at my pro shop and brought it home after a frustrating round. Excited to set it up for use at my home course, which is on the four star list of courses, I found out the CD will not work on a Mac. I am now putting the device back into its box with directions, accessories, etc. and will return it in the morning. Any company not willing to spend the money to make their software compatable with Mac and blow off millions of potential owners to save a few bucks is not worth supporting with a $350 device fee and from 19.95 to 49.95 membership fees. I will purchase a competing lazer device and happily use that techology for my yardages. Gordon Chibroski, The Woodlands Club, Falmouth, Maine.
Posted 19 Jun 2006 at 2:42am #
I bought this about 1 and 1/2 months ago, had some tech issues also, but worked them out. I am a 12 handicap, or should say I used to be a 12 handicap. Now I'm playing to a 6 handicap. I've shot more rounds in the 70's in the last month than I have in my intire life. I attribut it to this unit. I always had a hard time with yardage, and now make a more confident swing by trusting the yardage information. to the front or middle of the green.
For me this works, for others it might not.
Dewayne
Posted 26 Jun 2006 at 11:18am #
I bought on these units a few months ago and have used it both with a pro mapped course and one that I programmed myself.
I also have a Sureshotgps and a Bushnell Pinseeker 1500.
I also experienced on two ocassions, a reading of 9999 to the green, but I also had the Sureshot on at the same time - might be coincidence but it didn't work next to the competition ! - no problems since.
It is more accurate if you let it 'settle' once you reach your ball for about 20 seconds
and then take the reading.
With regards accuracy, I found it to be extremly accurate , especially if you have a strong signal. I compared the distance with the range finder and they were only 1 or 2 yards different - closer than my control over my iron distances !
The big plus is how robust and easy the whole process is. I have it in a clear Ortlieb small waterproof case on the side of my bag and it is simply a case of put down the bag, choose the club , practice swing , then have a final check on the yardage and hit.
By comparison, I found the Sureshot GPS more fiddly to set up your own course and the list of UK courses they have is extermely small compared to Skycaddie.
I would say once you have confidence in it, it speeds up play, sprinklers / yardage books can be a pain , especially if you are off line.
Posted 31 Aug 2006 at 3:09pm #
With Skycaddie and other devices like these, where does the mapping database/info come from? Does somebody source that information?
Posted 21 Nov 2006 at 6:25pm #
The current most popular GPS-based rangefinder is growing into a full-fledged product line to give golfers more choices in price, capability, and size.
Posted 21 Nov 2006 at 6:58pm #
Distance measuring devices are now legal if all they do is measure yardage. So what are some options?
Posted 26 Jan 2007 at 11:45am #
I have been using the IGOLF GPS CADDIE for almost a year now and have to say that this GPS unit has it all over the sky caddie...the one unit I would not recommend to anyone because of their poor service and intermittent units in the field. I have not had one problem with the IGOLF GPS CADDIE since I purchased it, much less that the sky caddie, and it will hold as many as 40 courses in memory while the sky caddie only holds 10 courses. The courses can be downloaded to your computer and stored for future use and membership is a fraction of sky caddie's membership plan.
Their customer service team is responsive and much "friendlier" than sky caddie's team (if there is one). I would definitely give a firm recommendation for the IGOLF GPS CADDIE. I've mapped courses for credits, mapped sand traps and bunkers; and have compared the yardages to cart GPS units and it always is within 2 or 3 yards. I never have erroneous yardages displayed and can always rely on the distance displayed. The IGOLF GPS CADDIE is the one companion you must have when you play a round of golf.
Posted 29 Jan 2007 at 6:09pm #
I looked into buying a SkyCaddie but decided against it because of the fact that you don't know how far you are from the pin, only the front, middle or back of the greens. In my experience there are so may times, even with pin sheets and/or color coded flags that pin positions can easily be a whole club off. I did get a Bushnell rangefinder and absolutely love it. I bought the smallest and least expensive model and it never fails to give me exact yardages to the pins, as well as yardages for layups, tee shots on unfamiliar courses, etc. What's the point of GPS if you don't know the distance to the flag?
Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 10:00am #
I Have a Bushnell rangefinder and am considering a SkyCaddie because I can not seem to be able to hold the rangefinder steady enough on the target flag to get an accurate distance.
Does anyone else have that problem with the rangefinder and better yet is there a way to overcome it?
Posted 23 Feb 2007 at 3:39pm #
Chuck – I too just demo’d the Bushnell 1500 at a local shop and quickly found out that my hands were shaking when trying to locate anything! Even though I looked at my hands to see if they were in deed shaking (whithout holding the unit), I could not really see them moving at all. I could probably get used to it after a while, but I am still trying to decide on either the igolf,sureshot, or a rangefinder.
I have read good things (and some bad) about all of them. I am not considering the skycaddy due to the fact that once you pay for a year’s subscription, and download courses, they are not yours unless you continue to pay the yearly fees. This is not tru with the igolf and sureshot, since they are on your computer, not skycaddys’. Of course the bushnell doesn’t work this way.
I am (as of today), leaning more towards the igolf or sureshot. It would also be nice if the bushnell was smaller to I could clip it to my belt. Bushnell has just come out with a new unit (which is a bit smaller) that has the same technology as the 1500 but only (I think) goes to about 200 yards insead of the longer yardage capability of the 1500. It is said to sell for about $299. I saw it on a television show (the golf channel 2007 golf show in Florida).
Anyway, if some of you who use either the iGolf or the Shureshot could comment on their experiences–that would help me greatly in my decision.
If the Bushnell was the same size, I would probably get it though! I would’nt like having to stop my cart, walk to my ball (courses with 90 degree walk-ins that is) take a measurement, then walk back to get a club and walk back, etc)
Posted 26 Feb 2007 at 7:46am #
I use the SureShot GPS system, I think their site is http://www.sureshotgps.com
The color screen looks a lot better then any of the other GPS models.
This is by far the easiest to use and keeps all your stats like score, Greena nd fairways hit.
A very good buy.
Posted 26 Feb 2007 at 10:06pm #
Hello,
I am really anxious to buy a sky caddie for the upcoming season. I am just not sure as whether to buy the sg3 or the sg4. I'm just trying to decide if a rechargable battery is better than replacing AA's?
Thanks for any info.
Posted 05 Mar 2007 at 9:10pm #
I used the SkyCaddie SG2 model for over a year and find that it was accurate only about 20% of the time. For what I paid plus the course subscription, it deserves to be in the trash. The customer service folk, when I could finally get a live person, were worthless. I recently bought the new Garmin GolfLogix GPS for less money than the SkyCaddie and it works right out of the box. The numbers match the sprinkler heads within 2 yards and it is easy to use and read. I play with a fellow who uses a sureshot and he is very pleased with both the color and the accuracy. SkyCaddie is all hype and promotion. They should have put their money into the product.
Posted 29 Mar 2007 at 11:40pm #
Buyer beware of SkyGolf!!! Last year on their web site I bought one of their SkyGolf GPS units for use with a PDA. In less than 6 months, without warning, they removed access for course downloads and stopped all support for my unit. When I contacted someone in customer service they told me that the units had been discontinued almost 3 years ago and they had no intention of supporting the unit that I bought from them just 5 months earlier. This company could care less about customer support and has no problem unloading their old shelf stock on you and then pulling the plug on support! How long do you think they will support the next model?
I wouldn't buy another unit from them even if it was accurate to an inch!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 07 Apr 2007 at 10:24am #
I don't understand why so many of you think you need "to the pin" measurements. I mean are you tour pros? Go with the skycaddie.
Posted 07 Apr 2007 at 8:53pm #
Jeff said on April 7, 2007:
Because you don't have to be a Tour pro to be good enough to know the difference between 143 and 148.
Posted 13 Apr 2007 at 1:12am #
** Disclosure: I work for SkyGolf **
Any time I hear of yardages are off by 7 or 10 yards, it's almost always that the SkyCaddie is displaying the distance in meters instead of yards.
Mac support is a problem. We're Mac fans and would love to support it but we can't get drivers for some of the internal chips we use. We've had many customers sucessfully use windows emulators on Intel Macs without any problems. This is the best bet if you have a Mac.
When we map a course, we put a golf professional on the ground with a very acurate backpack GPS setup. We map courses all over the world every day so in the unlikely event your course isn't currently in our database, chances are it will be soon.
We don't map the pin location because the location of the pin changes frequently.
As for the PDA product, I can't speak to the exact amount of time from the last unit sold to when we discontinued it was but I know it was more than 5 months. We turned off the PDA service on Nov. 17th 2006 and I know for sure we hadn't sold one after March 2006 for sure. I'm sure it's possible someone got hold of one from some other channel closer to the cut off date, but not directly from us.
As for why we discontinued it's use; The product is dependent on the Palm V PDA. This unit has been unsupported by Palm for more than three years. This is what the service rep was referring to, not that we had discontinued it three years ago. Most Palm V devices are five years old or more and starting to fail. It's also getting very hard to find parts when they break.
For all these reasons and the fact that it required an entire seperate server system to keep the PDA system going, we discontinued it. The final straw was that more SG2 SkyCaddies connected to our site in one hour than PDAs did in a year.
Posted 15 Apr 2007 at 5:15pm #
Dear Sand Trap,
THANKS SO MUCH for a forum for actual customers to review these range-finding products! I am currently considering getting one for the 07 season, and the feedback on this site was in a word:
PRICELESS!
Posted 17 Apr 2007 at 3:16pm #
Another GPS measuring product you may want to look into if you are shopping for GPS devices/software is StarCaddy GPS. It is useful for people that already have a PDA and a GPS device (ie Handspring with GPS attachment or PDA with blue tooth GPS). I already had a PDA and I got a blue tooth off Ebay cheap so all I needed was the GPS software. This may be a cheaper alternative than buying a whole unit combined subscription fees (Skygolf and or sure shot) . Only drawback with Starcaddy is that you buy each course. Good thing is that when you buy it, it's yours to keep. The accuracy is as accurate as any of the other GPS devices as they all use the same satellites and similar protocols (NMEA or Sirf).
Starcaddy has a good library of courses and if there is a course not listed just e-mail them and they will map it for you.
I find that GPS most useful from off the fairway where yardage markers cannot be found and poorly marked par 3s where the tee boxes are often moved week to week.
There are drawbacks to any GPS system especially for premapped courses offered by the vendors: If the date that the course has been mapped is very old and the course has since made changes to green locations etc. Then the readings will be inaccurate no matter what GPS you are using. The only remedy is if your GPS system has the option of self mapping where you can re-record the the coordinates yourself or have the vendor remap the course (StarCaddy did do this for me on one of the courses I purchased that was outdated).
In the end the GPS has helped but I wouldn't say it's a huge game changer especially if you play on courses that are already well marked yardage wise. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up with fiddling with the device which can be distracting from the preshot routine and rhythm of the game and can be more detrimental than having precise yardage measurements from the GPS.
my 2 cents.
Posted 17 Apr 2007 at 11:11pm #
I have recently purchase an SG4. In two instances on the same day, I compared to a friend using an SG2 and his reading was 7 yards different than mine. Later with a friend who also recently bought an SG4, on one hole I was 7 yards longer than my friend's reading and on the very next hole, I was 6 yards shorter than my friends' reading. There was plenty of time for the units to settle in.
To me, this is a very serious accuracy issue as the difference is 1/2 to a full club.
Not completely satisfied with this device...may go back to my Busnell.
Here's the response I received from SkyCaddie:
"This is a common misunderstanding; I hope I can make this as clear as possible to help you understand "GPS Rounding effect". Each SkyCaddie is communicating with different sets of satellites in space. These SATs are calculating your location using different information. If you and your partner stand in the same location for a few more seconds you will find that the yardages will slowly round down to within just a few yards each other. The SATs are calculating your LAT and LONG as well as your velocity. This occurs quite often when two users are in the same cart or in different carts traveling on different paths on the same hole. Please notice that the yardages will round down to 1-2 yards within a few moments."
My experience differs from the response I received.
Posted 21 Apr 2007 at 12:39am #
While I found this site interesting, it did nothing to convince me one way or another what range aid to purchase. It seems that they all have their limitations. I'm not surprised to see more complaints about SkyCaddie as they far out number other devices. I guess I'll just keep doing it the old fashion way for the time being.
Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 2:42pm #
I Love My SG4! But I need someone to go to Real Del Mar in Mexico (Before Rosarito) and Map the course for me! Come one someone. Upload it to the SkyGolf web site! please!
All I want is the center of the green! Do it! I'll gave you 2 months....ready...GO!
Posted 26 Apr 2007 at 1:38pm #
First, does it work? The qualified answer is yes. It does give adequate info to the green and if the course has been mapped it MAY give you info to hazards, etc. On mapped courses with 4 stars, some do not include the hazards, sand traps, etc. Of course to get this you must pay $29.95 per year. Also if you want the SG2 to work when you start play it is a good idea to turn it on at least 1/2 hour prior to tee time. Which brings up the next problem - battery life. When my unit was new, a fully charged battery would give about 6 hours of use. After having the SG2 9 months though, I was lucky to get 4 1/2 to 5 hours out of the battery. However it usualy did last a full round. Now after 14 months, a FULLY CHARGED battery last about 1 HOUR. Contacted SkyCaddie and was informed by their customer service that “THE BATTERY LIFE IS NORMALLY 9-12 MONTHS†(their words). The fix is to buy a new battery from them for $49.95. This makes the annual cost for owning an SG2 $80. I haven’t even mentioned their rediculous web site or no Macintosh support, etc. My suggestion - don’t waste your money. Buy the Bushnell.
Posted 27 Apr 2007 at 11:39pm #
As the author of this discussion has mentioned, he is a software developer and IT consultant, I too am of the same profession and I have never had such a terrible time with any other software, as when I try to download my playlists to my device. It is extremely frustrating to have to attempt several times to download my play list. I have attempted to communicate suggested changes to the process to the company and I get a simple email response...gee we are sorry, the developers are working on...well obviously the developers are not testing or using their own software. Let's hope they get it correct some day soon.
Thanks for the forum.
Posted 28 Apr 2007 at 9:45am #
Just thought I'd vent my frustrations as well. It took me over an hour to renew my subscription, update the SkyCaddie browser and download a couple of courses. Granted I'm using Virtual PC on a Mac, but sheesh... their web interface is the worst I've ever dealt with.
Posted 28 Apr 2007 at 10:39am #
I have used skycaddie for about 1 year....works as advertised except...I am now on 4th unit (which they exchanged rapidly) always the same problen ...the lock or mark distance button stops functioning...they admit poor design..I asked if they would trade my unit in for their best unit and they declined..going to purchase a golflogix unit !!!
Posted 28 Apr 2007 at 11:48pm #
Thanks everyone for the valuable information, i too am trying to decide between bushnell and skycaddie. From the looks of this forum, i am definately not going with the skycaddie. I didn't read one positive post about the skycaddie. I guess Skygolf has a long way to come. My biggest concern when purchasing a Bushnell is the accuaracy of the reading.
I am a 2 handicap and i could definately benfit from the bushnell as long as it is accurate.
Hey you......experienced bushnell users
Give me your unbiased opinion on the accuracy of the read out
If your shooting a laser at a flagstick, whats to say you are actually hitting the flagstick and not the green or whatever it may be 7 yards behind the flag
thanks everyone
Posted 29 Apr 2007 at 8:04am #
Jason in Myrtle said on April 28, 2007:
That doesn't happen. For one, aim it at the flag. Two, the aiming circle is quite small. You can point it at the lip of a bunker accurately. I've even pointed it at a ball 150 yards away in the fairway and gotten a good reading.
Posted 29 Apr 2007 at 4:02pm #
I love my SkyCaddie that attaches to a Palm PDA. I find it accurate and it has improved my game. However, your facts are not right regarding your comments below. I bought it in June 2006 from the Skygolf website. Without warning, the PDA course site became unavailable in November. I would have appreciated notification of a week to go on and purchase any additional courses before it shut down. That was a lousy deal. I may eventually buy another SG unit but please don't justify poor customer service with the fact that the volume was small. If you want to correct the matter, make the server available for 1 week for PDA users to purchase courses (at $10 a pop!!!)
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 10:04am #
I should expand on my comments regarding the website and downloading. Once I finally do get the course information downloaded, after a frustrating time, the data displayed and the views displayed are quite satisfying and useful. Most of the guys in my foursomes have used the info to speed play and eliminate the 'professional' step off the distance golfer who ends up slowing down the pace of play for everyone in the group and those behind.
Although the GPS systems may be off by a yard or two...we have day jobs and are not on the Pro Tour and it is good enough to help us. Especially, on lay up shots, determining how far is to carry the water, or to lay up to water. Just fix the website and the downloading process. Gee, if Itunes can do it for music, you certainly can make it easier to download golf course info.
Posted 02 May 2007 at 5:57pm #
I have had a Bushnell rangefinder for years - model "Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour Laser Rangefinder." I recommend it highly.
Process: Walk up to my ball (I normally walk). Pull rangefinder out of pocket in my bag. Aim at flag or other object (bunker, front of green, tree). Press the button and then get read the distance. I can move the rangefinder around and it will give me a continuous reading of distance. Put the rangefinder back in golf bag pocket.
Advantages:
It is small - will fit in a small pocket on the side of my bag
I can use it with one or two hands. Two hands are better if your hands are unsteady.
Gives me distances from plus 250 down to 30 yards
Quick - aim, press the button, and read the distance.
I can aim at the flag, and once it is ranging, I then can then move to the front of the green to figure out how much space I have between the flag and front of green or flag and bunker.
No need to find sprinklers. This is especially good for me, as I am in the rough a bit.
Disadvantages:
If I am more than 200 yards away, and the flag is not flapping, sometimes hard to get a reading. But I then read a bunker or the green surface itself, which for me is good enough from 200 plus yards.
If I am behind an object or can’t see the flag – I can’t get a reading.
I would highly recommend the Bushnell products. Also you can get one on an auction site for well under $300.
Posted 03 May 2007 at 1:05pm #
Dang. I'm quite shocked. Either everyone who works at Bushnell entered in their comments against the SkyCaddie, or people are just not happy with it. I wish they say what Model of the SkyCaddie they are using (SG1, SG2, SG3, SG4).
I'm not a great golfer. I have fun out there. but with my Sky Caddie SG4; I have finally broken 100 twice in a row (95) on two different courses. clap clap clap.
Golf is fun again! I can glance at the screen, and hit the ball. no more looking around all over the place. And it's a must for "lay up" and water holes.
All I have to say is to try each model yourself I guess. How's that's for a friendly suggestion?
Posted 03 May 2007 at 2:16pm #
Sorry... just bought an SG4 yesterday.. I was VERY disappointed at the way the whole membership thing was presented. I mean, even if I map the course myself (and I think all I can do is map front, middle, and back of green.. no other info) I can't save it anywhere except SkyGolf's site. If I terminate my membership, I am left with up to five courses on my unit... and if the unit fails, I have to start all over again. Not being able to 'purchase' a course and save it on your own computer equipment is a real shortcoming. The fact is that they are locking you in for your golfing life. If you play only a couple of courses, you pay year after year after year for the same info.... not sure that's right. Am I alone here?? or does anyone share the same feelings. I mean the SkyCaddie has a lots of glitz (nice glitz I might add) but only if you continue to pay that annual membership.
Posted 04 May 2007 at 6:16pm #
After trying to "request a course", they confirmed my request by showing all of the fields I had just completed as empty, and showed someone else's email address instead of my own. What do they do with my information,, give it to some else?
When I asked how to get a replacement rubber cover for the USB port, they directed me to the accessories page, which sells cases, mounts, etc. There was no mention of "sorry it broke after using twice.......we'll send you a replacement."
This seems to be a company of semi-skilled people, working 9-5, monday to friday, and don't bother them with minor details.
Golf Buddy, or any other system is starting to look pretty good, in spite of what the paid pro's are saying.
Posted 06 May 2007 at 12:52pm #
When I play other courses that haven't been loaded, my score goes up at least 5 strokes. I don't want to leave home without it! I highly recommend the Sky Caddie.
Posted 12 May 2007 at 7:23pm #
Has anyone used Parallels to connect an iMac to SkyGolf? Windows (via Parallels) won't recognize my unit. Any suggestions would be helpful. Parallels has tried - but today's message from them said some USB's just won't talk to Windows. Too bad SkyGolf doesn't believe Mac is a viable platform!
New Mexico SkyCaddie courses seem to be pretty accurate when compared to sprinkler heads.
Posted 13 May 2007 at 9:08pm #
I am a complete technical novice. Am I correct that with a rangefinder such as Bushnell you can aim at any object and you will get the exact distance to that object? And, if you use a GPS system, you don't get the exact distance to the pin? If these statements are correct, why would one want a GPS system?
Posted 13 May 2007 at 9:46pm #
DMSB:
You are correct in that you aim the laser and it gives you a very exact distance - most times within half a yard. I cannot speak with exactitude to a GPS, but the reason I am not getting one, is that the courses I play are not in the database, beyond front and back of the green.. Since a green can be quite large, I need to know the distance to the front and back, AND to the pin. Since the GPS can't measure to the pin (hole positions are changed often), I do not want it. Also you have to pay a subscription to use the GPS features.
Now the ultimate device would be a GPS, with distance to all hazards and the front and back of the green, combined with a laser to give me the exact distance to the pin.
Posted 14 May 2007 at 10:10am #
Anonymous said on April 13, 2007:
unfortunately, this is not a viable solution for a company that has cornered the market. to say that you can't get drivers from your hardware supplier tells me you should start looking for new supplier. i can't believe with the market skygolf has that they are not able to get their hardware suppliers to support the mac. this is 2007 & i think skygolf should be more forward thinking in their product development if they plan on growing/retaining their market leadership.
people are very intolerant to these typical excuses that some companies still advocate. it would be understandable 5-10 yrs ago, but the mac market is one of the fastest secondary platform markets out there & there will be a day when mac support will be a requirement to stay viable in future markets.
was really looking forward to buying the sg3 (replaceable battery one) as my friend who owns the sg2 assured me they should support the mac. oh well, some companies still don't get it.
Posted 17 May 2007 at 5:46pm #
Just wanted to provide some input on the SG3 model.
I have had mine for about 2 months and I have played a half dozen different courses using it. I have not had any issues with the accuracy of the readings, and can happily state that being confident about a distance really increases my likelihood of hitting the shot! I don't take or rely on readings under 90 yards, FYI.
The unit itself has been dependable, though it occassionally (it's happened twice so far) stops receiving coordinates and displaces distances as blank. The simple remedy was to power down and then turn it on again ... after a few minutes, it was receiving coordinates again.
Though it is a pain to always carry fresh AA batteries, it seems a better solution that the built-in rechargeable battery in the SG4 for two reasons -- you gotta remember to recharge it (my history with a cell phone suggests I am not capable of this), and rechargeable batteries eventually loose their capacity and have to be (expensively) replaced.
My main gripe with the SkyCaddie is with an incredibly hard to use web site! The user interface for searching for golf courses is just awful. There is no search per so, you have to drill down via region, then state, then city, to locate the course. I usually have to locate and add a course more than once before it ends up ready to be downloaded to the unit.
Bottom line -- I like the product a lot and it has really helped my game. But it could and should be better!
Posted 18 May 2007 at 8:00am #
I owned the bushnell yardage pro tour for two years and just upgraded the Pinseeker 1500 (it has automatic 'pin locator' technology that lets you know if it has acquired a small target vs the backround the pro tour did not). I travel a lot and play a lot of courses I have never seen. You can't imagine how valuable it is to just point and get a distance. Occasionally you struggle to find a target that will give you a good distance but there is always something adjacent to your target to give you an approximate distance.
After owning the pro tour for a year, I got rather sloppy with handling it. I even got into the habit of dropping it on the ground after I get a yardage. It still works great!
I too am a software developer and the range finder doesn't require pre-existing course maps, subscriptions, web use, downloads; just point and click and read your yardage. If the battery is working, you have yardages. No need to worry about satelite acquisition, rebooting, etc. I have enough to struggle with on the golf course without dealing with technical hassles.
I am a single digit handicap and I think the 'stroke' saving benefits of these units are way overstated. I think it might be more a matter of confidence. I wish I could save 3 to 5 strokes by using one of these things.
Hit 'em well