I am looking to buy a GPS. Has anyone used and had good or bad experiences with Caddy, Sure Shot or Sky Caddie

I own both the Sureshot and the Skycaddie.

Both have good and bad points. The Skycaddie has an excellent trolley bracket that keeps the unit visible and out of the way. The Sureshot is colour and has some good game analysis functions.

I have had a few problems downloading courses from the Skycaddie US servers, but a tweak of my mtu settings resolved this..though it might be a problem with my ISP.

One word of warning..bot the iCaddy and the Sureshot use the same UK datadase from Golf Plus and because this database was designed for the iCaddy, it only lists a maximum of 3 hazards per hole, regardless of how many there actually are! So even though the Sureshot supports up to 15 hazard points, the UK course database, will only list 3 per hole!

One of my units will appear in the ads here or on Ebay in the near future..I just haven't 100% decided which one yet!

Would you therefore suggest the Skycaddie. They now have 4 models out.

To be honest, I haven't decided. I like the colour screen of the Sureshot, but it's going to take some time to map the courses as comprehensively as the Skycaddie team seem to have done. I like the case, belt-clip and trolley bracket of the Skycaddie, as well as the multiple hazards and suggestions for where to lay up.

I have the Skycaddie SG2, but the SG3 & 4 seem to be quite a bit bigger

Clive, i have tried all but the SG3/4 but ended up with an iGolf after trying one in the States, and there is a forum just been set up for file sharing for UK users free of charge

Live to Golf...but doesn't the iGolf only support a max of 3 hazards per hole?

The iGolf allows up to 8 hazzards per hole plus obviosly the front/mid and rear of the green,
The GPS data can be a bit iffy for some of the others as John said, the data they use is from an aeriel photo, overlaid onto an ordenance survey map and the references taken from that, which having used a Golf plus Caddy did not give accurate readings and does not allow you to self map either.
I borrowed a buggy from the pro and mapped my home course in about 90m although you can also do it while playing as well.
i would not buy one that charges you every year to use it, or one that does not allow you to map yourself.

OK..so is the iGolf different from the Golf Plus iCaddy?

I've just had a look at the iGolf website and could you clear something up for me?

It would appear that the only courses available are those that have been mapped by users..Is this correct?

I could not see a professionally mapped database anywhere.

JC interesting point about max of 3 hazards for the Caddy /Sureshot systems..never noticed this, maybe cos I dont need/contemplate more info than this for any courses I play.Useful to know none the less.

I would find the distance to every bunker/hzrd on some holes eg at Chart Hills, off putting to say the least ! I love my Caddy and its defo improved my scores. I was also told the Caddy/Sureshot system geo positions using more satellites than other systems in the UK and thus gives faster readings and is a tad more accurate but suspect this is purely academic :)

I want to know more about the maximum of 3 hazards per hole. If for instance I was playing a par 5 with water off the tee then a bunker and then a stream would that be it? It wouldn't tell me there was another pond at the green or bunkers guarding left and right.

Kevé - That's right! Golf Plus selected the 3 "most prominent" hazards per hole. It might be that it shows the water from the tee, the stream and the pond near the green, but leaves out all the bunkers!

That's not quite as bad, but not as good as expected. I'm ordering one today anyway as it's the distance to the greens feature I'm most interested in anyway. If it's not what I'm after I'll sell it on Ebay.

What one are you ordering?

Hmmm...I just had a look at the Caddy demo and I'm not impressed.

It (the demo) only seems to show the distances TO a hazard..not what is needed to CARRY them.

Kind of defeats the object in my book!

John, the igolf is a different company to icaddy, on iGolf.com they map courses but only the US ones at present, at present the DIY mapping is the only way to use it, but that means you can map your carrys as well!

I have the Skycaddie, which is very popular in the states. I actually just sent 3 over to the UK for someone I met on Moongolfer. The transaction worked great and I got him a great deal for all of them. Let me know if you need one and I can try and help you out. I sent it over as "cheap gift" and he saved a good bit of cash. But the Sky caddie is defineatly the way to go

Derek,
From what I have read in the SkyCaddie brochures and online manuals and anything I can find on the web, the SkyCaddie ONLY allows you to SELF MAP the front, middle and back of each green. It does not allow you to self map any of the hazards for each hole.

The SkyCaddie looks like an excellent device, but for those of us whose courses havent been "4 star mapped" by SkyCaddie we need to self map....and if only front, middle and back of each green can be mapped then the skyCaddie has no advantage over any of the other units.

Can you confirm my belief that for self mapping purposes the user is limited to the three green points as I have described?

Thanks.

I have the SG1 which is pretty simple and I gives me yardage to the center of the green. I looks like the SG3 is the best one for the money and you are correct on the self mapping. I cant comment much on that becasue most of the courses in the US participate in the program. You would think more courses in the UK would get with this technology.

I agree that of the range the SG3 looks best VFM....and I really like the IntelliGreen feature. I know the guy who bought the devices off you and hopefully I'll get together with him soon to see how he finds it.

GPS is relatively new with regards to golf here in the UK. Indeed, there has been a considerable groundswell against the technology from golfers who believe that distance judgement is an art that is as much part of the game of golf as driving and putting! After all…course designers utilise many techniques in order to confuse a golfers judgement about how far away a potential target or hazard is.

I'm not sure it is the individual clubs' fault if courses are not mapped....the drive for this needs to come from the golfers to have their course mapped by the GPS rangefinder suppliers. I have made a couple of requests for my course to be mapped in the last three months by Skycaddie but it doesn’t appear to have happened yet. Though other systems operators have mapped my home course. If a supplier won't map a course despite several requests then they can't expect to pick up the equipment sales, which will go to someone else who has mapped the course or who offers a comprehensive self mapping facility within their device.

I believe that the business model that SkyCaddie are using primarily is based around gaining revenue from subscriptions, course downloads and software upgrades, hence they deliberately cripple their device with regards to its self mapping facilities to prevent potential users building up their own database of mapped courses and sharing them with their friends (it may not be obviously possible to share a self mapped course with another SkyCaddie user but I bet some clever tecchy geek figures it out!!!!). If I'm right then that is a pity, possibly understandable but a pity nonetheless.