Sky Caddie or Range Finder

[Mr3Putt]

A few more Skycaddy reviews...


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Beware of the unknown., May 6, 2007
By Shawn Muench "Golf Addict" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I have had a SG3 for about six months and am starting to regret it. First of all, the infomercial skips over the fact that you have to have a yearly membership to obtain course information. They should give you the first five for free or free access to your home state. Strike one. Connecting to the website is very tedious, is not user friendly and doesn't work every time. Strike two. About 20% of the time the unit just locks up during use and you have no choice but to pull the batteries, reinstall them and restart the unit. Not very convenient when your are in the middle of a round. Strike three. Sadly, I think that this is a terrible execution of a really good idea. Strongly consider a laser rangefinder before getting sucked in by SkyGolf.
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9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars SkyCaddie vs Bushnell Laser Range Finder, May 21, 2006
By J. York (Arab, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Hands down the Bushnell laser products are much more accurate, quicker, and dependable. I didn't mind the price of the Sky Golf product or the subscription fee, but the accuracy is sometimes off 5-10 yards which is totally unacceptable. I plan on either selling mine or storing it until they upgrade the software to improve the accuracy. If you are an avid golfer looking for a dependable product which is fun to use, this definately is not it. Save your money and step off your own distance or use something else. Golf is frustrating enough without wasting your money on this.
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11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Poor Quality and "Zero Customer Service", April 14, 2006
By The Fiddler (New Orleans) - See all my reviews
Does the unit work??,...Well yes to a degree. It takes 6 holes to lock on to the satellites and then does a fair job of giving distances. The display is poor and though they say "up to 40 objects per hole" there is normally 2-4 objects per hole. All this depends upon the Skycaddie course recorder. The user (you) can not modify the course or add any objects that the course recorder didn't think was important.
Now the bad part. The unit attaches via button and belt clip (like a cell phone). My button (part that attaches to main unit) has died twice in the first 30 days. When it breaks again,...which it will often,..the unit will probably hit the dirt. This isn't good. But fear not. It will be packed away weeks trying to get in touch with Skygolf. And another week to get a replacement button (which has been modified even weaker than the original one). Now my replacement broke on the first time I clipped it to the belt. Now back to Skycaddie to get another. After being on hold for another hour, they need to transfer you to another tech that handles parts. This will take another hour. You then get a message to leave a message. Normally within a week someone will call you back. By 'normally', I mean about 35% of the time you leave messages they return them. Would I buy another,... duh,.... NO!

New info.
About a month after buying the caddie it started loosing the satellite connection. It was a very random thing. Turn it off and back on again would sometimes restore the connection. After about 4 months of owning the caddie, my score was going up about 5 strokes a game when it didn't work correctly because of frustration with the unit. The people I would be playing with would say " turn the thing off and play. Stop messing around and wasting time with that thing!" Well finally I sent it back to be repaired. It came back not syncing at all! It went back again to Skycaddie. It came back with the case broken. Now, five months after I bought it, it went back to Skycaddie and they replaced it with a different one. Finally it worked correctly! It would get partial sync in about 1 hole and total sync by 3 holes. The new one had two sided tape under the button so it wouldn't let the button fall off if it broke. So far it hasn't broken the button, but, I almost never use the clip. I just hold it when diving the cart and place it in the cup-holder when shooting. The new one has lasted a year and the battery goes dead after about 5 hours. It now starts losing the satellite connection when the battery has 2 bars (1/3 power left).

Conclusion: It is fairly helpful IF it is working correctly. Different units read different distances when placed in the same spot ( 1 at a time so that they are not next to each other). The differences very by about 1-5 yards. Mine always reads the same distance to the same spot. (remember it reads most accurate after it has achieved all the satellites). Mine takes about 10 minutes to achieve full satellite connection. So its time to get a new battery, buy a new one year subscription (about $100 bucks for both).
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1.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Buy!, January 25, 2007
By KL (Northern CA) - See all my reviews
I'm not one to bash a product, but this one deserves it. Please read some of the other reviews as well as this one. I bought this product as a gift for my father, who is an avid golfer. Even though I thought it was ridiculous that you have to pay an extra fee for access to course information online (can't they give us the first year free or something??), I was willing to suck that up.

I tried over the course of several weeks to get the product to work as advertised. At first, the website was down, and then for some reason, the product couldn't connect to the site. I tried all sorts of things to get this to work (BTW, I work in an IT related field, so while not a technical support expert, I have experience on computers), and even combed the FAQs and Google'd for any solutions out there. Nothing worked. The product was a complete dud.

Customer support was also a complete zero. They never answered the phone, and sent generic emails as a response. I strongly advise against this product.
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[gogolfing]

I've had my Bushnell since Christmas, and played 7 rounds with it. I really like it. One of my playing partner has a SkyCaddie and it can lose its signal, and there are times where I laser a flag and his yardage is 10-15 yards off the laser. When I used to get yardages from him, I often questioned the accuaracy of it; no doing this with the laser. As for distance, I was 232 out on a par five yesterday for my second shot, and I got the yardage immediately; there was a water hazard on the right, and I got a reading to the front of the hazard and its carry. All three distances took me less than 10 seconds to get.

[uniongolf]

bushnells are the best choice. Much more reliable. You wont have to worry about if the course your playing is available for the gps or not. All it takes is some practice aiming the thing then ur fine.

[Mr3Putt]

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

Hey Gogolfing, out of 149 Amazon reviews for your 1500 Pinseeker, only 2 are 1 star.

149 Reviews
5 star: 80% (120)
4 star: 16% (25)
3 star: 1% (2)
2 star: (0)
1 star: 1% (2)

One got a defective device, the other guy was ticked at the shipping charge.

5 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars cost over $400 and totally useless piece of junk, November 21, 2007
By A. Zhang (statesboro, ga United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
It only worked for a few times on a golf course. Now I can only get a reading within 100 yard and no reading beyond that. I changed the batteries and won't work either. I paid over $400 for this piece of junk.
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3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Sorry to Disappoint, June 22, 2008
By Bordercolliegolfer (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews
Sorry to disappoint new potential buyers for this item, but after agonizing for many days on whether to spend the $338 for the Pinseeker 1500, I took all the good reviews to heart and dialed in my "Place Order." Only then did I find out that there would be $40 added for shipping. After calling Beach Camera for clarification, I was told that they do not even have the 1500 in stock. Amazon, get your act in order!
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[Titleist Man]

Is this all about skycaddy or any gps. If its any gps how about the upro. From what iv heard its very easy to use and the customer service is good.

[gogolfing]

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

If I had to rate mine I'd give it 5 out of 5 for sure.

[jrwingate6]

I think I'm going to go with a Rangefinder with pinseeker technology. I understand the line of sight thing and when you really think about it, if your behind a ton of trees and are dealing with a dog leg, why the hell do you need the distance to the green? Are you going to pop the ball over the trees or are you going to draw the hell out of the ball to get to the green? Probably not. I would much rather have the distance to the last tree on the dog leg so I know how much I need to carry the dog leg.

[Mr3Putt]

I think I'm going to go with a Rangefinder with pinseeker technology. I understand the line of sight thing and when you really think about it, if your behind a ton of trees and are dealing with a dog leg, why the hell do you need the distance to the green? Are you going to pop the ball over the trees or are you going to draw the hell out of the ball to get to the green? Probably not. I would much rather have the distance to the last tree on the dog leg so I know how much I need to carry the dog leg.

You won't regret that decision.

About all I would add is to make sure your Bushnell is not the V2 model. Although it works great, it eats batteries like M&M;'s. The 1500 or the Medalist versions have the same technology and use the much cheaper, longer lasting 9 volt transistor type batteries. The 1500 is available in a "tournament", or "slope" edition. I've tried them both, although the slope feature is neat, it's also pretty useless IMHO. Besides, if you're into any USGA sanctioned events, the slope version is disallowed under the rules.

[jrwingate6]

You won't regret that decision.

What does the slope version do?

[mkrolewski]

I have a golf guru gps and used last year for almost all of my playing. I am a techie nerd guy. I love the dynamic continous feedback that a GPS can give you. I like tracking my shots. It even helps find my ball eg I walk to 210 from the tee on the right edge of the fairway before I even start looking.

Unlike Mr3putt, I cannot say enough good things about my experience with this unit. It is not a skycaddie. It is a very nice GPS.

I never have lost the signal unless the battery died (User error). It acquired signal within 5 minutes (maybe sooner ) of powering up. This is great when you are about to tee up and realize the device is not on. My experience the downloaded courses is that this GPS is very accurate. It has outperformed the course marker (100 yd stake for instance). I currently believe the GPS over any course marker or other statement of distance. Since it displays distance up to and onto the green, I can attest to extremely accurate distances. The biggest error has been 3 feet. And most of the time, I am standing on the edge of the green and the GPS reads 0 (zero) feet. My only issues have been front and back nine have been reversed. That being fixed with an email, I have been good to go.

Golf guru has no subscription fees or limits to downloads. I personally carry 20 course (the B/W max) which covers almost all the courses I can afford to play at in my area. If I was smarter, I would create a bigger download list for north or south of my house. I generally head only on way or the other to play and I know when I set the tee time. If I abandon one course, I have a smaller set of courses in that area to go to.

The buttons and controls are very simple and extremely easy to use and very quick. The worst issue is forgetting to press a button.

The computer link has been great -- never an issue with the downloads. Software/firmware updates have been nearly flawless. Golf guru did have glitch with mapping an existing course (new feature at the time). But they made it better very quickly. My only complaint is that they add features, that I find while I am the course. The features are really great but I cannot alway take time to figure them out. Customer support is great, there is nothing I have heard that is not good from the company.

Golf guru like SkyCaddie allows you to move the pin and has perimeter information, so the front, center and back is the line from your current position thru the pin as it intersects the front and rear of the green perimeter. Most of the time, the default position is sufficient. I did the math and found that inside about 100 yards, one should move the pin to about where you think it is. It does improve your estimate. The GPS that only have F/B/C along the centerline of the course, have some issues inside 100 yards, especially if the green is particularly wide.

If you want to map a course yourself, golf guru allows mapping the green perimeter and 30 targets per hole. The targets are allowed a "to" and "carry" position -- so 60 points on the course. You cannot really map a creek running the length of a hole -- and a hazard that spans the hole is difficult ( may 3 points -- right, center , left ).

In mapping your own course, you can start with the work that Golf Guru did and add your own improvement or start from scratch. I have been too lazy to map any points.

The biggest missing point is corners on doglegs and some layup locations. I was using a bluetooth device and my pda. I worked on mapping a course and for most courses, the only thing that really matters is the green. I must not play too many courses with lots of fairway obstrucles, so not a lot to map. Like I said before, doglegs (corner and thru distances) are very useful. And a few courses, have a layup spot that I should mark. It would greatly improve my game when I make a mistake.

If you want a GPS, there are lots on the market. Get one with the features you like. And you should enjoy it.

[Jenks465]

What does the slope version do?

The slope version gives you an estimate of how much the slope of the ground is going to affect the distance the ball travels. It's a neat little feature and particularly helpful if you're playing a practice round for an event on a course you've not seen before (saves a couple of miss clubs in the first one or two rounds) but if you're using a range finder in the tournament proper you have to use one without that feature so you'd have to buy a second!

I also prefer the range finder to the GPS unit as I prefer the greater accuracy level involved and the ability to take a distance to anything that I see (e.g. layups you can laser to the stream/ bunker and hit a club that won't reach). Occasionally front and back of green yardages are useful (I just use a normal yardage book when I need one!), but most of the time it's the pin thats the thing!

[VardonFlyer]

I'm trying to figure out which one I want to invest in. I know there are pro's and cons with both. I play about 3 times a week by myself and at least once a week in a charity best ball tournament with the same 4 guys. We are always arguing about how much yardage we have left and I think something like a GPS or Rangefinder would help us out big time.

Ive tried range finders, Golf Logix, UPRO, and SkyCaddie. SkyCaddie is the best in my opinion. Its the most convenient and accurate. I think it also has the best customer service and product reliability. range finders are often inaccurate, logix was a terrible product, and UPRO has to many bugs. I would go SkyCaddie, specifically the SG5. you won't be disappointed.

[Mr3Putt]

What does the slope version do?

The slope version adjusts your distance if the shot is playing uphill or downhill.

For example, if the straight line number to the flag is 150, but the hole is downhill, the slope version would give you two numbers... The 150 actual number, and the 138 "playing like" number. My buddy has one, he raves about it. Personally, I can tell if a shot is uphill or downhill, and can usually adjust just fine. Slope is just one of the considerations in playing a shot.

[MrGator]

sky caddie.... The SG5 is nice and has a color screen

[Mr3Putt]

I have a golf guru gps and used last year for almost all of my playing.

That's a nice review. I've heard other good things about the Golfguru. I think the no fee for downloads will eventually be the standard for these things. If my experience with my Skycaddy had been as good as yours with the guru, I'd probably still be using it (well, maybe still be using it, I really like my Medalist)

[socalsharky]

If you want to map a course yourself, golf guru allows mapping the green perimeter and 30 targets per hole. The targets are allowed a "to" and "carry" position -- so 60 points on the course. You cannot really map a creek running the length of a hole -- and a hazard that spans the hole is difficult ( may 3 points -- right, center , left ).

Could you use the mapping feature for the pins at your local driving range? I don't trust the yardages that they post, and it would be cool to map them out as another course, or a "hole". Obviously a laser rangefinder would excel at this task, but if there was a way to do it with a gps unit, that might clinch the deal. I could get out there one day right before they open or after they close and map the pins. Would it let you add labels to the target pins, like "red", "blue", etc? Probably too much to ask.

[jhawker23]

One more weighing in on the skycaddie... Love it and have had it for... I believe 3 years now. Not one problem with the unit after all this time. It lasts through the tosses to the ground, living 3 seasons a year in the bag and bouncing around in cart trays. Nothing bad to say about it at all.

[pachardos]

I would wait until they're cheaper than fairway woods. lol