In Search Of: Unbiased GPS reviews

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by golfingal

Apologies, I probably should have used a more politically correct word.  The main differences on the Garmins I found wanting were very small screen size (even on the big one), less bright, more difficult to move the layup marker (due to size) than most of the Android Apps.  Then you add in the extra navigation/visual features the apps offer on top like scrolling, zooming and more and ultimately the 10X (or more) price differential - the Garmins really fall short for me.

The good points of Garmins are the heavy duty build and super simplicity.  Side by side though (and I did this quite literally), my preference was the big bright EVO screen - regardless of price or other considerations.

Point taken.  I just have one more plus for the dedicated unit... try that phone app the next time you play in a steady rain.  I'm not familiar with a phone that's waterproof like my G5.

In the long run it's what one prefers.  I used to have a simple front - middle - back GPS which I supplemented with a laser.  Now I still have the laser, but I find that I almost never pull it out of the case because the G5 seems to cover all of my needs.

[golfingal]

Quote:

I just have one more plus for the dedicated unit... try that phone app the next time you play in a steady rain.  I'm not familiar with a phone that's waterproof like my G5.

In the long run it's what one prefers.  I used to have a simple front - middle - back GPS which I supplemented with a laser.  Now I still have the laser, but I find that I almost never pull it out of the case because the G5 seems to cover all of my needs.

That's another good one - goes kind of also hand in hand with the Garmin heavy duty build quality.  It is clearly more designed specifically for sports as opposed to a smart phone.

I'm still testing out some of these, but almost always want to know the laser yardage too if the shot is under 130 yards.  +/- even just 3 yards is huge if you're trying to hit it tight but still play safe and smart - and not be short or long.  I'd rather have a 10 foot putt than a 20.

[golfingal]

?

The basic Swing by Swing app is free.  The scorecard add-on is $12/yr and the Looper add-on (which includes the scorecard) is $47/yr.  As I detailed elsewhere, I got the Looper add-on but it was too distracting to me (although it did do everything it said it did) and I was able to get a full refund (and they even let me keep it for the rest of the year).  So I am a little confused about the $20 one time fee you mentioned.

Since you said that you want basic functionality I think the free version would suit you perfect.  Plus, I have had excellent battery stamina with it.  I start at 100% and have never been below 50% at the end of 18.

I like Swing by Swing but I may try some other free apps.

PS:  I appreciate you mentioning nrange - it looks nice - but unfortunately they didn't have 2 of the 3 courses I play regularly.

Sorry for the confusion - it was MY confusion.  The $20 fee is in fact a one time for nRange. I looked at so many of these I forgot which ones were which.

Battery Stamina was my biggest concern with running an app.  With nRange I also found excellent performance, using less than 1/2 of my stock EVO battery (as opposed to GolfLogix full drain).  I was also really messing around with the scorecard for probably 50% of the time it was on so it should be even better if I just forget that stuff and play.  As expected, I found using the scorecard to be a pain although conceptually accumulating my long term GIR, FWY, PUTTS etc. would be fun to see though I'm pretty aware of what I'm doing usually anyway and have a hand written system in place I keep every time I play (just don't keep them archived and totaled to see trends).

Missing courses - I ran into that with Swing X Swing too - probably the best thing is to keep at least a couple of these Apps to choose from as backups to one another in case a course is missing.  I'm going to try SxS on the course next and see if I find it useable - though I do still really like the nRange UI the best so far out of all the ones I've tried.  The SxS pinch/zoom feature is really nice - much better than the tiny buttons nRange has.  Though two finger turn/rotate would be nice.

I visited a new course yesterday (Pete Dye Golf Club - his personal signature course) and found that I only needed to know layup distances a couple of times during the entire round.  Any of these units would easily help calculate that...  (SxS didn't have this course)  I only made one mistake off of the 11th tee - due to not being able to see the full shape of the fairway.   GPS units don't show elevation - and there was a severe downslope over there I couldn't see.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by golfingal

Battery Stamina was my biggest concern with running an app.  With nRange I also found excellent performance, using less than 1/2 of my stock EVO battery (as opposed to GolfLogix full drain).  I was also really messing around with the scorecard for probably 50% of the time it was on so it should be even better if I just forget that stuff and play.  As expected, I found using the scorecard to be a pain although conceptually accumulating my long term GIR, FWY, PUTTS etc. would be fun to see though I'm pretty aware of what I'm doing usually anyway and have a hand written system in place I keep every time I play (just don't keep them archived and totaled to see trends).

Missing courses - I ran into that with Swing X Swing too - probably the best thing is to keep at least a couple of these Apps to choose from as backups to one another in case a course is missing.  I'm going to try SxS on the course next and see if I find it useable - though I do still really like the nRange UI the best so far out of all the ones I've tried.  The SxS pinch/zoom feature is really nice - much better than the tiny buttons nRange has.  Though two finger turn/rotate would be nice.

I visited a new course yesterday (Pete Dye Golf Club - his personal signature course) and found that I only needed to know layup distances a couple of times during the entire round.  Any of these units would easily help calculate that...  (SxS didn't have this course)  I only made one mistake off of the 11th tee - due to not being able to see the full shape of the fairway.   GPS units don't show elevation - and there was a severe downslope over there I couldn't see.

I was worried about battery life after reading a lot of reviews, but SxS (nice abbreviation) has been a very pleasant surprise.  I have a Motorola Droid X2 and starting out at 100% I have had between 50% and 70% left after 18 holes.

As far as missing courses, I think you have a good idea.  I am still looking at some other apps but so far I been lucky and SxS has the the ones I play.  But a backup app would be a good idea.

Good luck with your search and let us know if you find an app that you find to be exceptional

[newtogolf]

I like my uPro, but it can be a hassle synching it up on my desktop PC (much easier on laptop for some reason).  The battery life is excellent, but I don't mess with it much other than to keep score and get distances to hazards and green in basic mode.  The professional mode is useful, but it takes too long for me to get real benefit from it without slowing down everyone else.

[golfingal]

let us know if you find an app that you find to be exceptional

After trying it out on course today, sorry to report Swing By Swing seems to be lacking a user adjustable "layup" calculation.  Unless I completely missed something?

This is a very critical feature IMHO for course management on courses one is unfamiliar with - or if one gets in trouble and needs to hit an exact number to be smart and safe (or reach a good number going in) for the next shot.

If you look at the nRange App you'll see how that works.  This is also something found on all the Garmins and probably all other hardware boxes too - kind of a basic thing for golf GPS units...

Sure, S xS it's free.  Can't argue with that though!

[ghalfaire]

I have an old Sky Caddie SG3 and have been happy with it. It has a lot of nice features and a billion coursed available but as you said requires an annual fee.  But I have played with a lot of fellows that have different GPS systems and they all seem to be about the same accuracy (probably all have the same chip set and software for the GPS receiver and distance calculations).   But my observation is that other features and service are different and you just have to do the research and select the one best suited to your specific needs/desires.

[meenman]

Sometimes you get what you pay for. I have a Skycaddie SG5. Yes, it has a yearly fee. But when my Skycaddie was bricked during a software upgrade, a new one was at my door when I got home from work the next day. Their customer service is excellent - well worth that $30/year I spend.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by golfingal

After trying it out on course today, sorry to report Swing By Swing seems to be lacking a user adjustable "layup" calculation.  Unless I completely missed something?

This is a very critical feature IMHO for course management on courses one is unfamiliar with - or if one gets in trouble and needs to hit an exact number to be smart and safe (or reach a good number going in) for the next shot.

If you look at the nRange App you'll see how that works.  This is also something found on all the Garmins and probably all other hardware boxes too - kind of a basic thing for golf GPS units...

Sure, S xS it's free.  Can't argue with that though!

If you touch the screen at the spot you want to lay up to it gives you the layup distance and the distance from that point to the green.  Is that what you were looking for?  The one thing the basic version doesn't do that I would like is let you measure the distance of a shot you made.  On the other hand, until I could do this with another GPS I had delusions about how far I hit it.  Now reality has rudely intruded.  LOL

[Grumpter]

I just bought the Garmin G5 and have no trouble reading the yardages even though my sight is starting to get worse. Nice unit, very easy to use. I went with it over other units because I liked the reviews and it was a one time fee (though a little higher fee than i would like).

I looked into going the pone with app route but my carrier wants $30/month for their data plan. That killed that idea for me.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I just bought the Garmin G5 and have no trouble reading the yardages even though my sight is starting to get worse. Nice unit, very easy to use. I went with it over other units because I liked the reviews and it was a one time fee (though a little higher fee than i would like).

I looked into going the pone with app route but my carrier wants $30/month for their data plan. That killed that idea for me.

Yeah, the phone app is really only a good idea if you already have the smartphone and data plan for other purposes.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by golfingal

After trying it out on course today, sorry to report Swing By Swing seems to be lacking a user adjustable "layup" calculation.  Unless I completely missed something?

This is a very critical feature IMHO for course management on courses one is unfamiliar with - or if one gets in trouble and needs to hit an exact number to be smart and safe (or reach a good number going in) for the next shot.

If you look at the nRange App you'll see how that works.  This is also something found on all the Garmins and probably all other hardware boxes too - kind of a basic thing for golf GPS units...

Sure, S xS it's free.  Can't argue with that though!

I requested nRange to add my course and just was notified that they had.  So I am going to try it out today and will report back my comparison between it and SxS.

[Travis Giggy]

Hey guys,

I'm the founder of Swing by Swing Golf. I know the title of this thread is "unbiased gps reviews", so I apologize in advance if I'm overstepping my boundary. I am obviously biased... but I'll try to keep this reply to the facts.

I just wanted to comment on a couple of the things I read about SbS in this thread:

The basic free GPS range finder does calculate:

* Distance to pin (when you're on the course you see the distance in the top right corner of the app, and when you rotate the phone it appears in really large numbers),

* Front/back distances (When you click on the green pin or on the "Green" button at bottom, we zoom in on the green and show semi-circles with varying distances),

* Intermediate distances (by clicking anywhere on the satellite photo you see distance from where you are to that point, and distance from that point to the center of green)

Also,

* The scorecard module is $11.99 one time. It is not a yearly fee.

* The Looper membership includes a Club Tracker module to track the distance of every club in your bag and show a 3D flyover of your round afterward. And this IS a yearly membership fee.

* You can map your own course if it's not in the system. It takes about 10-15 minutes if you know the course layout. Or, you can pay us $7.99 to do it for you. We have 27,000 live courses in the system... still growing by a couple hundred per day.

If you've tried SbS and like it, I sure appreciate all the props you're giving. Thanks!

If you've tried SbS and don't like it, thanks for the positive feedback - we're busting our bootays every day to make it better! (And, your comments are what drive the future development of SbS, so I do truly appreciate the feedback)

Thanks!

Travis

[turtleback]

It would be nice if you added the ability to measure the distance of the shot in the basic version.  I know the Looper version does that, and a heck of a lot more, but sometime you just want to know how far your drive went without getting into tracking all of your clubs.  In the basic version you don't have to record and track those distances, just do them as a 1 off.

If you read my earlier comment you know that I got the Looper version but even though it did what you say it does I just found that as a practical matter I was letting myself get too distracted pressing the start and end and club and shape and I wasn't focusing on my golf.  I actually play better with the basic version.  But that was just because of me, not because of any deficiency on the Loopper version. I appreciated the lightening fast response to my request for the refund on the Looper option.

[Travis Giggy]

Hi turtleback,

Great idea.

I'll have a chat with my team to see what we can do here! I don't see why we can't - but here's the bad news: probably won't be able to happen until next Spring at least.

Our development timeframe is pretty large these days. (It is incredible the complexity involved with a simple module or re-design for mobile apps). Plus, one of the big problems we're facing these days is the "clutter" factor. It's hard to keep the app simple and usable but still add all the technology. Adding stuff like a one-off shot distance tracker is a fantastic idea - but we also need to keep the interface from looking like the cockpit of a 747.

Anyway, I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a one-off shot distance tracker. It is not advanced technology like Club Tracker, but still makes general users happy.

As far the Looper refund goes, I fully understand. It's not for everybody, and that's why we have the unconditional money-back guarantee. I'm just happy you gave it a shot.

Travis

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Travis Giggy

Hi turtleback,

Great idea.

I'll have a chat with my team to see what we can do here! I don't see why we can't - but here's the bad news: probably won't be able to happen until next Spring at least.

Our development timeframe is pretty large these days. (It is incredible the complexity involved with a simple module or re-design for mobile apps). Plus, one of the big problems we're facing these days is the "clutter" factor. It's hard to keep the app simple and usable but still add all the technology. Adding stuff like a one-off shot distance tracker is a fantastic idea - but we also need to keep the interface from looking like the cockpit of a 747.

Anyway, I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a one-off shot distance tracker. It is not advanced technology like Club Tracker, but still makes general users happy.

As far the Looper refund goes, I fully understand. It's not for everybody, and that's why we have the unconditional money-back guarantee. I'm just happy you gave it a shot.

Travis

If you compare the bottom of the screen with the Club Tracker activated to when it isn't activated you could put a "Shot Distance" button right where the Start button is on the Club Tracker screen.  The basic screen would still be less cluttered at the bottom than the Club Tracker active screen is now.  Just a thought.  Shot distance has become a pretty standard feature.  If I do end up switching to something else that would probably be the reason.

On the plus side, I love the way you do the green distances.  When a GPS just gives back, middle, and front distances you are dependent on how they define those things when the green is at all oddly shaped.  By doing the every 10 yard circles I feel like I can get a much better reading of the distance based on where the pin actually is.  It is sometimes a little misleading at first because the white circle sometimes is not really in the middle of the green, but I almost always toggle the green view on, see where the yardage circles actually are, and make the correction visually.  This very feature helped me pull the right club for my 3rd to a par 5 and helped me set up an 8 foot birdie putt (which, sadly, I missed).

[Elmer]

I purchased the Callaway Upro MX about a month ago. I have had no regrets. I must explain I purchased this item on Feebay for $130, when it retails for $199.
What I like about the item is I pulled it out of the box charged and used. All the courses I play are on there, no loading.
You only have to load and pay for the PRO mode, which includes fly overs....I dont need this.

The unit has what I need. It tells me my distance to the green and I can measure my distance on any club I hit. I can use the Go mode and move my target on the green to tell me the distance of the exact hole location.

This GPS also have the ability to keep stats, score, GIR etc.....but I disabled them.

It did exactly what I wanted out of the box distance to front/middle/back green. Bunkers and measure club distance.

I get2 18 hole rounds per charge and the charger is USB port or wall adaptor.