Sky Caddie- Anyone ever use this?

[AaA]

Any members use one of these before?

http://www.skygolf.com/

I don't know what the full features are but the last two times I played I found myself wondering what the distance was to certain parts of the course. For example, wanting to know what the distance is to either of the fairway bunkers from the tee box.

Expensive little contraption, but I think it would be quite fun to use from time to tim.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Here is another you may look at.
iGolf GPS

I am thinking of ordering one in the next few days, possibly today. I was not fond of Skycaddie for the paid courses and lack of available courses in my area. Check their site, if the courses you play do not have a 3 to 4 star rating for download, it will only give you Front, Back and Center of green. There is only one course in my area out of about 40 courses that has more options, and that course has sense gone private. Plus I play my home course the majority so I will likely enter it in with the 8 other points.

A range finder is another viable option for around the same price, if you do a search on here you will find some links with interesting comparisons.

[AaA]

Cool. Thanks Jayhawk!

[chrisgaddy]

I just bought the SG3 and love it. My course uses sprinkler heads to mark distances and not having to search for them has cut my playing time considerably. I love the distances to carry hazards as well as lay-ups. I'm also keeping track of my drives - it was very handy when I was comparing 2 drivers - instead of hitting 2 shots off the tee, I used one on one hole, and the other on the next.

Like Jayhawk wrote, make sure your course is available. My club membership covers 2 golf courses, one is 4 stars, and the other is only 1. I've not played the 1 star with it but according to skycaddie, it only gives green distances.

[Bravo]

Two guys I play with regularly have SkyCaddy's and love them. Our course is very well marked and the Sky Caddy readings are usually within one yard of what is marked on the ground, so I think it must be a good product...

They get a nice benefit when playing an approach out of the rough and the nearest ground marker is quite a distance away.

Get your family to give you one as a present...

[Pa Jayhawk]

Copying from other thread

Originally Posted by FKA Pa Jayhawk

FYI, here is an interesting review and comparison sheet I ran accross. There is a 3rd model that looks nice, but too rich for my blood since I already track stats on Intelligolf
http://www.golferchronicles.com/03/g...rs-gps-review/

[Jules150]

Correct me if im wrong but i think you have to pay a yearly membership fee for it.

[AaA]

I figure the cost is certainly an issue. It does spark my interest, but if I'm going to spend a couple/few hundred, I'd rather put it towards a new iron set or driver. Not that I need either, but you know. Who knows anyway. I'm sure i'll find a way to reason why I should get one.

Thanks all!

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Jules150

Correct me if im wrong but i think you have to pay a yearly membership fee for it.

You do for the Skycaddie unless you choose to do just front, back and center of green. Although you can only store so many on the device prior to needing the site. iGolf has a yearly fee, although you do not have to if you choose to survey your own with up to 11 points, and can store them on your PC. Sureshot is free.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Another point that may prove to be mute, but is still a concern of mine. If Skycaddie every goes under, your device will be useless for anything other than front, back, and center. This is a business practice that will likely cause me never to buy their device. They use it to assure you continue yearly memberships by not allowing you to copy files to a PC, but in doing so you will be SOL should they not survive.

Edit 1- In fairness, I should add though, that from what I have read Skycaddie has by far the largest database of in depth courses. Which surprises me because they only have one in my area, and the other has about 90% of them. This is not to say that the ones on iGolf are not just front, back and Center, as they do not indicate the level as Skycaddie does. Although because iGolf allows uploads as well as surveying of courses, if they stick around I would be convinced they may end up with a much more in depth library of course. Plus you can likely join once, download all the course, and discontinue the membership.

[ezra76]

I heard that Skycaddie does not take elevation into account. It would be useless in the Northeast. Every course I play has 2-3 club elevation changes. From the 150 marker, last round, I used PW,9i,8i,7i and 6i. Am I mistaken... or is a rangefinder capable of discerning a 180-150 from a 130-150, while the Skycaddie is not.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by ezra76

I heard that Skycaddie does not take elevation into account. It would be useless in the Northeast. Every course I play has 2-3 club elevation changes. From the 150 marker, last round, I used PW,9i,8i,7i and 6i. Am I mistaken... or is a rangefinder capable of discerning a 180-150 from a 130-150, while the Skycaddie is not.

Not saying I would take the GPS over the range finder, as I own a range finder, and still feel it may be the better option of the two. But not only is the slope adjustment illegal in USGA play, the ones with slope adjustment run around $450 or more. I do not believe the any of the GPS units do this, which is kind of surprising since you only need to be tracking 2 satellites for distance and 3 to triangulate for elevation. Most GPS units any more will track up 12 or more satellites parallel at one time. So I guess the only issue is the firmware being set up to calculate the adjusted distance. Most Handheld GPS systems will infact track elevation.

Interesting concept they should look into.