Ordered iGolf GPS Today

[Pa Jayhawk]

I finally got around to ordering the iGolf GPS today. Should ship today or tomorrow. This should give me time to check it out with the warranty now. 30 day money back, or 90 day replacement. I notice they have a new membership method. $10 for 25 courses. They also have a new mapping function to enter the initial information and point descriptions from the web and then just log the points when you get on the course, or modify them later from the file. Initially I will likely just plot my own and see how that goes.

We'll see how it works. I figure maybe I can tromp through the addition 6 inches of snow we got yesterday I'll post an initial review when I get it, and a further one after all the cr@p up here melts

edit 1 - I also heard the belt clips were cheap and easy to break. So I ordered 5 extra, and some screen protectors.

[warbirdlover]

I'm leaning toward SkyCaddie and I don't think you have to pay to download courses. (Just checked, yes you do). (What made you pick this one?

[Rockford35]

Uh, i'm not on board with this. Never have been. But I'm a cranky bugger.

How did guys play golf for the 100 years before these things? If you're halfway between the 150 and the 200, I'm willing to bet you're around 175 by my math.

And, if you're gonna nit pick over 3 yards, get on the Tour.

Most golf courses have great scorecards that outline greens and distances from major objects to help. Not to mention the fact that every sprinkler and post is marked.

This, next to golf sandals, would be my last purchase I would ever make, even if I had a million dollars.

This is totally my opinion, as I haven't bothered to check into these things much, as it really made no sense to me. Nothing personal. Well, maybe towards WBL.

R35

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by warbirdlover

I'm leaning toward SkyCaddie and I don't think you have to pay to download courses. (Just checked, yes you do). (What made you pick this one?

Alot of what you mentioned in having to pay each and every year. Being able to enter up to eight of your own points as well as front back and center of the green. None of the courses I play up here are on Skycaddie, so it would be pretty useless too me. Plus it saves them on your PC, as well as up to 40 on the device, so you really have no need for the site should they go Belly up. Can join once and download all the courses. Again, you keep them on the PC so if they go belly up you still have what you need.

Sorry Rock, the same way drivers and hikers got by for the same amount of time without a gps. They were simply less fortunate. I've only been playing golf for 6 years but have been buying Gadgets for much longer. This will be my 4th or 5th GPS. You keep hoing your drivers, I'll keep hoing my GPS's and range finders. Now I have one for hiking, one for driving, and one for golf. If they make one to locate my car keys, the phone, my beer, or for in bed I would likely buy one for that as well. My way of saying it is worth a couple bucks to not have to deal with hunting for sprinkler heads, and misplaced and hard to find things.

[MCDavis]

5 years from now someone will innocently decide to visit Rock by surprise one sunny day. When they arrive they'll find him sitting in a rocker on the front porch, surrounded by drivers, looking at the stats on his blackberry GPS, wearing nothing but FJ sandals, sunglasses, and a smile, muttering "Man, that Taylormade feels sweet...."

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

How did guys play golf for the 100 years before these things? If you're halfway between the 150 and the 200, I'm willing to bet you're around 175 by my math.

And, if you're gonna nit pick over 3 yards, get on the Tour.

... also your forget, some of us are less fortunate with the clubs. It is a little harder to judge when you are in the trees and cannot see the pin let alone the 150 mark, or at the 150 mark 2 fairways over and need something to remind you what green you are aiming at.

[warbirdlover]

Nothing personal. Well, maybe towards WBL.

R35

Well if it comes down to a SkyCaddie and a new FT-5 driver I'd obviously go with... ah... er....

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by Pa Jayhawk

... also your forget, some of us are less fortunate with the clubs. It is a little harder to judge when you are in the trees and cannot see the pin let alone the 150 mark, or at the 150 mark 2 fairways over and need something to remind you what green you are aiming at.

I suppose.

Funny story about "oof the beaten path". I work with field geologists, and every summer they go out to traverse the north of the province in search of gawd knows what.

Anyways, one of the guys that studies diamonds was out on traverse, and had field notes from the 60's that included coordinates for a huge glacial erratic that measured nearly 100 feet accross. That's a big ass stone. Anyways, he gets the GPS out one day, determined to find this legendary thing.

He and his assistant searched for 3 hours for this thing. No luck. I mean, it's not like it's a set of car keys. They had detailed maps, a GPS, coordinates that were verified by the map and detail vegetation photos.

I love stuff like that. Like, how do you lose a 10000 ton rock?

R35

[warbirdlover]

But they were Canucks, right?

[LyleG]

The great thing about these is the hazard distances. I really like to know the distance to the front of the hazard and the distance to clear it. On dog legs you know how many yards it is untill you run out of fairway. Good solid info the average guy just never had access to before, and for the price it was no brainer for me. Besides all the course in our city were set by sky caddie themselves as set by my clubs manager. So I know they are done right.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by LyleG

The great thing about these is the hazard distances. I really like to know the distance to the front of the hazard and the distance to clear it. On dog legs you know how many yards it is untill you run out of fairway. Good solid info the average guy just never had access to before, and for the price it was no brainer for me. Besides all the course in our city were set by sky caddie themselves as set by my clubs manager. So I know they are done right.

This is the main reason I want one. That and par 5's that you do not find many markings outside of 225 yards and need to know a safe place to lay up. It is amazing I have played my home course hundreds of times and just because of the way it is setup, there is always still a bit of question on distances on some of the holes. Actually there are a few where there has always been serious question on proper markings. They can have some pretty big distance changes on some of the holes based on long tee boxes, and long and narrow greens. You could have a 40 yard differential from one day to the other and if it is a narrow tilted green, having 7 points on the green and 4 on the course would be a big advantage. You can do front back and center and eight other points, but on most of the holes and specifically the par 3's I will be using 4-6 of those for extra green points. That and the fact that alot of the courses do not seem to mark Sprinkler heads as well as our old area.

My Range finder is pretty good and will still be used alot on seldom played courses, but this is primarily for my home course and more frequently played ones, just for convenience.

In this area there is only one course I have played that is on skycaddie, and it is now private. For this one, out of the 23 courses I play a bit and checked, 19 of them have GPS coverage. Although the quality of the points remains to be seen. I will likely join and download every course I have ever played or will play to my PC, then let the membership lapse after that. $29 for the first year, or $10 for 25. Right now it looks like they have just over 3000 courses, but allow uploads. I actually read one guy from the Golfsmith reviews found errors on a map, so in return for the updated data they gave him 6 free downloads. I also really like the new filemaker they added to their site, which is free but still in Beta. I already set it up and downloaded the file for my home course, which is not one of the ones listed but I would do my own anyways. Labeled the points so can just hit the button next time I go out. I then Printed the course layout from the course website and marked the points I need to log. I picture this going the way of Intelligolf, where they are not really trying to make money off the courses, but either the hardware or software for a Palm or PPC. In doing so they will likely end up with a Massive constantly updated Database. I would be leary to upload courses to Skycaddie knowing there is nothing in it for me, but just for their profit.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

I love stuff like that. Like, how do you lose a 10000 ton rock?

R35

... and to think, I can find a golf ball in the woods, buried in leaves with just my eyes in just a minute or two. Makes me proud.

Although I have been eying the Scout golf ball finder as another golf gadget. But it is more than I spend on golfballs in a year or two.

edit 1 - pretty interesting golf gadget for the Gadget Ho'. Endorsed by Nick Faldo.
http://www.scoutgolf.com/

edit 2 - I guess my new calling is to devise a combination GPS, Score Tracker, and Golf ball finder with a room service button for the Cart Girl. Would only have to carry one device, as it is beginning to look like I will need a trunk in my golf cart if I keep going at this rate. You only get 14 clubs, but unlimited gadgets.