Skycaddie or Intelligolf on a PDA

[Hackzaw]

I know these things have been discussed at length, and further the GPS vs Laser Rangefinder debate will never sieze...however, for my purposes, I'm drawn to the GPS tools, only for the statistical purpose. Ideally, I'd love to have both a GPS system and a laser rangefinder, but that's not only cost prohibitive, but time consuming, and perhaps overkill.

So, if the choice were narrowed to Skycaddie or Intelligolf (GPS software on a PDA), what are the pro's, con's and preference for each.

So far, in my research, it appears Skycaddie is just a little more refined to be an "on-course" aid. (Keep in mind, I've never actually seen or used either of these). If I'm not mistaken, Skycaddie shows the layout of the hole with the bunker locations, hazards, and proper shape of the green? I read about the rotating green feature of Skycaddie, so no matter where you are in relation to the green, the green will rotate and show you yardages, in the orientation you're facing. You still don't get "accurate" distance-to-the-pin position, correct? Skycaddie is strictly a golf-range tool; in other words, not versatile for anything else.

Intelligolf looks as though it's key feature is the stat tracking ability. I don't know what statistical ability the Skycaddie has. I'm guessing, but during play, I think Intelligolf just can tell you the distance to the center of the green. I think you can enter custom points i.e. front of green, back of green, certain hazards, etc. I believe the greens are also just shown as circles. Intelligolf doesn't show layup positions per se, unless they're custom marked, I believe. But where Intelligolf shines is with the statistics, particularly, when transferring the data back to the desktop. Of course, Intelligolf is used on a PDA, so the cost is quite reasonable since I've got a PDA already. I'd need the GPS unit and the software, so it would likely only cost half as much compared to the Skycaddie.

Thanks for any of your comments. As you can see, I'm undecided about each of these. For that matter, I'm still undecided about going with GPS versus a Laser Rangefinder period. In the end, I try to ask myself what I want out of the tool that will translate to better playing. Is it knowing "exact" yardage to the pin which would contribute to better playing (and I'm a 10.6 index, so I'm not that accurate, yet ;v])? Or would something that gave me "close-enough-for-my-purposes" to the pin, but which revealed the parts of my game that needed the most attention be the tool to get.

Perhaps this is the distinguishing factor in the debate of GPS versus Laser Rangefinders is that it's dependent on how good the golfer is, and what kind of accuracy they need. I'm not suggesting that any GPS isn't accurate, but unless I'm wrong, none of them give the exact yardage to the pin, right?

[Maverick]

The laser will give you EXACT yardage to the pin as long as you can send a beam to it and it send it back to you. The GPS (Sky Caddie) has measurements to the front, center, back..so yes, it won't be EXACT..but close enough +/- a few yards.

[puttmaster]

I will say that I purchased the sky caddie this past summer. What a difference it makes. I had always relied on old markers and the 150yd pines. If you actually just go walk the course before or during play...get your own measurements (where you consider front,middle,back) then you cant go wrong with these. You will have your own measurements to where you know you need to hit the shot. Alot of times your eyes decieve you. I have sat at the 100yd marker many times and said...man..no way is that 100yds. Sure enough it was or was not.

[GolferWolf]

im up in the air on this myself. (wow t his is an old post lol) I like all the features of Intelligolf, and the fact that course info can be feely downloaded, although this isnt including maps, which i think is fiarly important. So im lost.. Any more input on this?