Review: uPro Golf GPS

[mruseless]

I've now played 4 rounds with the uPro. Its got some good points and some bad, I suppose this is like any new device, especially one that is from a brand new company.

The Good
- Distances are right on.
- Basic mode gives you a quick, easy to read view of distance to the green and distance to reach and carry hazards.
- Mark feature allows you to measure the length of your shots. Sometimes gives erroneous readings. However, this only happened when I kept the uPro in my pocket, so maybe buttons were being pressed by accident.
- Aerial view of the hole is awesome. Like looking at a yardage book, with continuously updating distances. There is a small red diamond that marks your position on the hole and moves with you. I almost ran into a 150 yard pole because I was so fascinated with watching the little diamond track my position on the satellite view! Hazards like bunkers are marked front and back and also update continuously.
- Measure Mode lets you get a measurement to any point on the hole. I have used it to find the distance back into the fairway, but you really need a tree or something on the satellite image to reference. I have also used it to find distances not mapped by the company, like a layup distance to the front of a creek.
- Trans-reflective screen is easy to see in Basic View even in bright sunlight. However, in Pro Mode, it can be difficult to see. You need to experiment with the viewing angle to get it right. I've found that in bright sunlight, you can see the screen best if you are angling it just off where the sun would be reflecting into your eyes. Or shade the screen with your hand.
- No subscriptions! You pay only for the courses you want. Courses cost the same no matter where in the country (and eventually the world) they are located. You never have to buy a course twice, even if you upgrade the device or have to replace the unit (lost, stolen, broken). Courses are expensive if you buy them one at a time. One course costs $10 (3 credits), but if you buy 150 credits ($120), that comes to only $2.40 per Pro course. I bought 150 credits, and I probably won't ever have to buy credits again (at least not for a very long time).


The Bad
- One course had strangely mapped points on a couple holes. Some don't make sense (you can tell they haven't played the course!) I sent an email to support and hopefully they will ask for my input in selecting better distance markers.
- Sync is VERY slow. I timed it, and to sync and download 1 course took over 10 minutes. Be patient.
- When syncing, the status box shows up in front of all other windows (on Windows XP) and cannot be moved to the back. So your computer is effectively stuck doing one thing for 10 minutes.
- No subscriptions. I put this item in both The Good and The Bad because it depends on your point of view. If you play a whole lot of courses (more than 50), then it could get quite expensive. But I play only about 15 courses on a regular basis, plus about 3 or so each year on a vacation trip.
- Distances do not automatically update if you are using the measure function in Pro Mode. You have to either exit measure mode, or switch back to basic mode to get an update distance.
- Not all courses are mapped yet. In Denver, about 50% of the courses are mapped. But of the 15-20 I play regularly, about 90% are mapped. Many of those that are not mapped yet are scheduled to be mapped in 2008. There is a schedule on uPro's website ( www.uprogps.com ). And if you choose an unmapped course as your home course, they will have it mapped in 4 business days, guaranteed. I would recommend checking all the courses you play before buying this device.


The Ugly
- The software needs a little work--freezes up from time to time. During the first two rounds, it froze up once in each round. While annoying, all you have to do is hold the power button down for 8 seconds to force a power-off, then turn it back on. Of course, the re-boot process and getting back to your current hole takes a couple minutes. Their customer service department claims a firmware update will be available "in the next few weeks". I turned off the "automatic hole advance", and this seemed to fix the problem. The last two rounds were freeze-up free after changing this setting. The automatic hole advance is unnecessary in my opinion. From the "Green View", you can simply press the up button to advance to the next hole, or press the down button to go to the previous hole.


Suggestions
- Create a graphical overlay for the aerial views, or figure out a way to make them higher contrast. The Pro Mode can be somewhat difficult to see in bright sunlight.
- Faster downloading/sync
- Find and fix the bugs in the software that cause the freeze-ups!
- If the upcoming software can mark every ball location, its only a matter of time before it will keep your score, shot-by-shot. On the uPro website they state that additional software to keep score will be available by late summer 2008. Of course, if it freezes up and you lose data then such a feature is worthless.


The Bottom Line
This is a very new company and a very new product. Like most new products, they have a few bugs to work out. I'm going to stick with them and hopefully they will be committed to fixing the problems. If a year goes by and the same problems exist, I might regret this purchase. But right now I'm pretty darn happy with it!

[n3xt]

So Mr Useless, what made you decide to go with uPro vs Sky Caddie, or Sonocaddie or any of the others? Are the Denver City courses mapped? How much is the unit?

I'm about at the end of my current Sky Caddie year and with it costing me money to get it repaired for the 2nd time I'm looking at my options.

[ITgolfHack]

Thanks for the review. I plan on getting something like this next year and it's always good to hear from people who are actually using it.

[mruseless]

  n3xt said:

So Mr Useless, what made you decide to go with uPro vs Sky Caddie, or Sonocaddie or any of the others? Are the Denver City courses mapped? How much is the unit?

I decided to try it for a few reasons: The satellite views are way cool, much easier for me to look at than the SkyCaddie display which can be confusing at first. Second, its really small. It measures about 4" x 2" by about 5/8" thick. It easily slips into my pocket. Third, I liked the idea of not having a subscription. And lastly, I figured that a new company would be working really hard to improve the product and might have better customer service than SkyGolf.

I checked a bunch of courses in Denver before I bought it. City Park, Kennedy, Overland, Park Hill, Wellshire, and Willis Case are all mapped. The Aurora courses are also mapped except Meadow Hills and Fitzsimons. And many of the south end courses are mapped including Highlands Ranch GC, The Links at Highlands Ranch, Raccoon Creek, Foothills, and Fox Hollow. The unit cost me $399 at GolfSmith, plus the $120 I paid for 50 courses through uPro's website. But as I said in my review, I won't have to pay anything else for several years. And there are other course plans you can buy. I think 20 courses (60 credits) is $80.

  ITgolfHack said:

Thanks for the review. I plan on getting something like this next year and it's always good to hear from people who are actually using it.

I plan to post updates as I use it more, and as the issues get addressed by uPlay.

[MPS67]

Thanks for the review Mr. Useless!

I suppose you should change your name to Mr. Useful

I have the iGolf unit and am somewhat happy with it. But it's fairly simple and I may want to upgrade to a more versatile unit in a year or two. I like the GUI of your GPS unit. Please let me know how the batteries hold up once you use it a few more times.

Thanks,

Mark

[Abs777]

I am going to get either SkyCaddy SG5 or Upro. I have been reading reviews and am really torn. If anyone can add some insight that would be great. If someone has used both and can tell me the negatives that would really help. How about Sonocaddie? My birthday is coming up and the wife is going to get me one, just don't know which one is the best.

Thanks Guys

[cwcaesar]

Thanks for the review. I was looking into a GPS and this looks like a refreshing alternative. I will definitely have to give this one a try before I make the decision to buy.

[ITgolfHack]

  Abs777 said:

I am going to get either SkyCaddy SG5 or Upro. I have been reading reviews and am really torn. If anyone can add some insight that would be great. If someone has used both and can tell me the negatives that would really help. How about Sonocaddie? My birthday is coming up and the wife is going to get me one, just don't know which one is the best.

My father has a skycaddy and a lot of courses that are close to us just aren't available for it. I know you can map your own, but that seems like a little too much work for a device you paid $400+ for.

One device might be better then another in a thousand ways, but if you can't get your favorite course on it, it's going to spend most of it's time sitting at home.

[MonkeyClaw]

  Abs777 said:

I am going to get either SkyCaddy SG5 or Upro. I have been reading reviews and am really torn. If anyone can add some insight that would be great. If someone has used both and can tell me the negatives that would really help. How about Sonocaddie? My birthday is coming up and the wife is going to get me one, just don't know which one is the best.

I have the Sonocaddie and played a couple of rounds with it so far. I'm very happy with it. The layout of the hole is very handy, as you can see what hazards are where, and the yardage to them. Especially handy with doglegs that you can't see around. Unfortunately the distance to the end of the leg isn't mapped, at least on the course I play. I'll be adding them soon though. It also gives distance to the front, middle and back of the green. Some people want distance to the pin, but my course moves the pin placement every few days to keep the greens fresh. Distance to the pin would be pretty useless if they weren't all mapped. Front, middle and back works fine if you remember to look at the pin placement before you start your round.

As with all of the devices, if your courses aren't mapped it's of limited (or no) use. Mapping your own course is a PITA. Their support has been good, although I'm still waiting after a week for them to map a course. It's not one I play, but one I will play at some point.

[mruseless]

  MonkeyClaw said:

I have the Sonocaddie and played a couple of rounds with it so far. I'm very happy with it. The layout of the hole is very handy, as you can see what hazards are where, and the yardage to them. Especially handy with doglegs that you can't see around. Unfortunately the distance to the end of the leg isn't mapped, at least on the course I play. I'll be adding them soon though. It also gives distance to the front, middle and back of the green. Some people want distance to the pin, but my course moves the pin placement every few days to keep the greens fresh. Distance to the pin would be pretty useless if they weren't all mapped. Front, middle and back works fine if you remember to look at the pin placement before you start your round.

The SkyCaddie and the uPro both have ways to guesstimate the hole location. They both use a sort of point measuring tool that allows you to measure to the approximate location based on your visual estimate. But of course its just an estimate.

The SkyCaddie is a little better in this regard. It gives you a graphic of the shape of the green, and you can move the center point to where you think the pin is located. The uPro uses a measuring tool, so you have to move the measure point to the pin location each time you switch to that view. However, unless I'm chipping, I almost always aim for the center of the green, or the largest/easiest area to hit. So the uPro doesn't bother me in that regard. As for mapped courses, uPro is adding them all the time. I would think that by next season they will have a lot more than they have now.

[mruseless]

I also wanted to post an update about some of the weird points that are mapped using the uPro (in my review). I emailed customer support about this, and they fixed it immediately and reposted the course.

That's a good sign that they care about what users think!

[nitsua]

If things freeze on you, remember what you were doing, and what hole you were on. Then call UPro support and let them know. They can usually fix the issue if they know exactly when and how it happened.

[nitsua]

Also, when purchasing a UPro, make sure that you choose a 'Home Course' that has not yet been mapped. You can download any course you want as your free course (you do not have to download your 'Home Course'), but choosing one that has not been mapped gets that course done in 4 days, and adds to the list of mapped courses.

[Norm3333]

Thank you for posting this thread. I had no idea about this product. I have been going back and forth on the skycaddie vs laser.

I went to the uPro website and viewed the demo. I was blown away. It is exactly what I have been looking for.

I rally appreciate your personal observations. If you have anymore, no matter how insignificant you might think they are, please post. $400 is a lot of money to commit and I would like to know as much as I can.

[mruseless]

  Norm3333 said:

Thank you for posting this thread. I had no idea about this product. I have been going back and forth on the skycaddie vs laser.

There is one more thing. The charging/sync cable for the uPro is a mini-USB cable. This was important to me because I hate proprietary chargers and cables. I've also ready several threads somewhere about people who have had trouble with some other GPS units and the charging cable. If you want a new cable, you have to pay for it from the company. With the uPro, you can use any mini-USB cable.

One more update too: I have played a couple more rounds since my review, and I have not had a single freeze-up since I turned off the "Automatic Hole Advance" feature.

[Norm3333]

  mruseless said:

There is one more thing. The charging/sync cable for the uPro is a mini-USB cable. This was important to me because I hate proprietary chargers and cables. I've also ready several threads somewhere about people who have had trouble with some other GPS units and the charging cable. If you want a new cable, you have to pay for it from the company. With the uPro, you can use any mini-USB cable.

Did turning off the auto hole update hurt its performance? How did it updat to the next hole?

One more question, from the demo, there seems to be a lot of features. How long did it take you to become proficient using it on the course?

[mruseless]

  Norm3333 said:

Did turning off the auto hole update hurt its performance? How did it updat to the next hole?

It didn't affect its performance at all. I actually found the feature to be annoying, since I was sometimes trying to measure a shot into the green, and it kept popping up a little box saying "would you like to start the next hole?". I would have to answer "NO", then finish my measurement. Then I would have to manually advance it to the next hole anyway. This also happened sometimes when I was still about 30 yards from the green, or off to the side.

Manually advancing the hole is really easy. All you have to do is go to Green View, then hit the up key. You can go back to the previous hole by pressing the down key.

  Norm3333 said:

One more question, from the demo, there seems to be a lot of features. How long did it take you to become proficient using it on the course?

Only about one or two rounds. There are a lot of features, but its pretty simple to use. When you first start a hole, you get a flyover view, but can skip all or part of it by hitting the right LCD key (the right button directly below the screen). Then you are in Green View, which is what I use the most. The side button switches back and forth from Pro mode to Basic mode, and in Pro mode I mainly just use the center button which toggles between three aerial views: green, fairway, and the entire hole.

I've found that I don't really use the Hazard View very much. This is the Basic mode view that is comparable to what you get with a SkyCaddie. It lists the hazards and the corresponding yardages to reach and to carry. But I find its more intuitive to just switch to Pro mode and see the yardages on the aerial view. I have found that the yardage points aren't always mapped very well, since they do the mapping from an aerial picture rather than by walking the course. So the measure feature is very useful. You press the measure button, and then use the up, down, right, and left buttons to move the marker to anywhere you like, and the yardage is displayed. I use this for measuring to the corner of doglegs, layup shots, and approximate distances to the pin.

[nitsua]

  Norm3333 said:

Did turning off the auto hole update hurt its performance? How did it updat to the next hole?

I also turned off the auto hole update option. It was annoying.