iGolf GPS

[Pa Jayhawk]

Just thought I would pass this on, as it is that time of the year. Personally I have always said I prefer my Range Finder as it is more condusive to what I use it for. My main beef with Skycaddie is that you pay for the courses, and if your course is not there which all of the courses I regularly play are not, you get only front, and center of the green.

Well I was messing around with intelligolf and saw you get 3 other points and thought I might check out a GPS for my palm as they are only about $100. In doing so, and by looking for 3rd party software to rig with a Skycaddie, I ran accross another Golf GPS. It allows Front, back, center and 8 other entered points. So no need to pay for a commonly played course. Not yet sure the direction I will head between one for my Palm or this one, as I may find other uses for the one on my palm, but thought it was worth mentioning for the Christmas season. I certainly would opt for it over Skycaddie, and most of the reviews I saw were pretty decent. I may opt for this as I already have a very nice Garmin Navagation system for my car, and an handheld model for hiking.

edit 1 - forgot the link
http://www.igolf.com/igolfindivprods.php?prodid=2

Looks like you can order them from Golfsmith as well, but none of the stores in my area have them in stock.

 

[JoshinWA]

Wow!

Just for poops and giggles, I followed the link and checked this out. I went to the Golf Course section and tried out about twenty different courses within a 3 hour radius of Portland, OR. All but one of them had the GPS data, and only one wasn't listed (but it is a small, crappy course). I have to say - for $30/yr, if you just went on there and downloaded all your local courses and those that you some day plan to play, seems like a great deal... But of course, you still have to pay the $229 up front, but look for these on sale around Christmas or thereafter on eBay...

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Yeah, the only thing I am not sure of is how they plot the courses. I have heard they can plot one for you quickly, which leads me to believe it is done from prior GIS data. So I'm not sure how completely accurate they would be if the data isn't very recent. Then again, Skycaddie is likely the same. I think for courses I play alot I would do my own survey, which is what I really liked about this one and intelligolf. Intelligolfs are done and uploaded by the regular customers and downloaded for free but they don't have many right now with the GPS data plotted, as there are likely not many that use this and it is a fairly new function. The recent upgrade expanded the GPS functionality.

FYI, while I was playing around to look at the courses I found that you could click on the state and then type in only the first 2 digits of the zip code and it will pull up all the ones in that area. I was surprised that most in this area are mapped, with exception to my home course and one or two others.

I would likely do what you mentioned. Join once and download every course I would ever imagine playing.

 

[demon]

I'll leave the GPS in my Land Rover, I will only use laser range finders, I hate to pay for monthly or yearly fees. Once you own something like this you shouldnt have to pay for a monthly or yearly fee.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I'll leave the GPS in my Land Rover, I will only use laser range finders, I hate to pay for monthly or yearly fees. Once you own something like this you shouldnt have to pay for a monthly or yearly fee.

That was the main thing I liked about this one, there are no required fees. You can do it all on the device. Same with intelligolf for the palm.

I have the Bushnell yardage pro tour, so I am not convinced I really want one of these. No monthly fees was the main reason I went with the Range finder over the GPS, and the reason I never further looked at the GPS. Then again, around Christmas I always look for otherwise useless gadgets that do not really serve a better purpose than something I already own. I guess you could call me a "Gadget Ho". I already have a Garmin C550 Navagation System, a Garmin GPS III, and a range finder. Just what I need, another GPS for golf. It's a shame the III will not display in yards, I could rig it up to see how much use I would get. Although I have reached the point where I really only play 2-3 courses more than once a year, so a GPS may not be a bad thing and use the range finder for other less frequent ones and practice.

Although this does seem to be one of the most popular gift topics and debates on here around Christmas time, so this seems like a logical option.

One thing I have seen by a couple reviews is that the distance can jump around by as much as 5-6 yards while standing still. Not sure how much it will help your game if you get one with that kind of deviation.

 

[demon]

That was the main thing I liked about this one, there are no required fees. You can do it all on the device. Same with intelligolf for the palm.

I have the Bushnell yardage pro tour, so I am not convinced I really want one of these. No monthly fees was the main reason I went with the Range finder over the GPS, and the reason I never further looked at the GPS. Then again, around Christmas I always look for otherwise useless gadgets that do not really serve a better purpose than something I already own. I guess you could call me a "Gadget Ho". I already have a Garmin C550 Navagation System, a Garmin GPS III, and a range finder. Just what I need, another GPS for golf. It's a shame the III will not display in yards, I could rig it up to see how much use I would get. Although I have reached the point where I really only play 2-3 courses more than once a year, so a GPS may not be a bad thing and use the range finder for other less frequent ones and practice.

Although this does seem to be one of the most popular gift topics and debates on here around Christmas time, so this seems like a logical option.

One thing I have seen by a couple reviews is that the distance can jump around by as much as 5-6 yards while standing still. Not sure how much it will help your game if you get one with that kind of deviation.

I am also not sure how accurate the GPS is going to be over the laser range finder since I think GPS has an error of +/- 1 Meter (but it might have changed).

 

[wirehair]

I'm very happy with my Skycaddie. The thing I like most is the picture of the greens and distances to the front & back, not just the pins. It's also stupid easy to set up & use.

 

[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/golf-gps-wars-gps-review/