Garmin GPS Receiver

I was one of their early adopters (way before USGA and R&A made them legal) and had their original SkyCaddie. Back then, it was a technological breakthrough and I benefitted (and my buddies) on the course. And last year I started my quest to find the latest golf GPS. Of course, the first place to look was at SkyCaddie. SG5 was their first color display, improved GPS reception, bigger display…but nothing really new in terms of features. I guess they figured they had the market cornered as their competition was range finders. Meanwhile, I was starting to get tired of their limitations such as I can only load 10 courses at a time, their customer service (or lack of) and their annual membership.

However, while they sat on their rear, this product sector evolved and other competitors jumped in. This year there are whole suite of new GPS with next generation features. I looked at uPro Golf (now owned by Callaway). Cool flyby like what you see on TV, but noticed from other users that it had several common issues mostly with their display and battery life. So my search continued. I then looked at OnPar Golf. It looked like my iPhone with the similar touchscreen and icons. That UI works for iPhone, but not for golf GPS. Then I looked at Bushnell Yardage Pro XCG. I thought this was it. It had everything I wanted, no major issues mentioned by other users/reviewers. One of my buddies bought one and I had a hands-on experience on a course. I was actually one click away from owning it (from Amazon, of course) and I decided to make one last google…and then I found Garmin’s Approach G5 unit. Yup, it’s most expensive GPS unit but it’s made by Garmin, the GPS expert. I’ve been very happy with their Nuvi GPS units. They currently have 9,400+ courses and they’re FREE. NO ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS! You simply download new courses from their web site and you can load all those courses on your unit so no more shuffling courses onto my unit. Best of all, it’s waterproof! Unlike Skycaddie, you’re not limited to the 40-targets on each hole (though,I typically only see a handful). You just drag a circle with your finger on a birds-eye-view and it will tell you how far you are to that. It also keeps scores up to 4 and you can download it to your PC afterwards. I also like that you use batteries instead of rechargeable. I lost count of time I forgot to charge my SkyCaddie and when my buddies call me last minutes I couldn’t use it the whole round. Now, I just keep spare batteries in my bag.

So, the bottom line is before you consider SkyCaddie units, research the other GPS models before plunking down your hard earned money. I’m confident that you’ll find one with much better features for a similar price. If you’re interested in the Garmin G5, there are ton of videos on YouTube so check them out! If money is not an option, then definitely go with Garmin Approach G5. Otherwise, the Bushnell Yardage Pro XCG is your best bet.

Also, for those that own iPhone 3G/3GS there are quite a few apps you can use to make your iPhone into Golf GPS. I’ve been tinkering with Golfshot (the $29.99 version. Don’t bother with their 99 cent version) and I have to say it’s damn good app. It even comes with statistical report so you know which part of your game you should be working on. But I’m sticking with my Garmin G5, because the Golfshot depletes my iPhone battery like crazy. My iPhone is not rugged and waterproof either so I’ll use it as my backup, but not as my main golf GPS.

Highly recommended. I read the previous comment and can not understand why he had any problems.

This unit is wonderful. Loaded like a charm. The Subscription was about $40 for a year and you can load 10 courses for this rate. There are higher subscription rates if you’d like to have more courses or even international courses. Change courses as often as you like.

This even had the specs for my favorite “remodeled” course which was finished in February. Very up-to-date info.

Accurate! Will measure to the center of the green and will even measure your drive distance. Problem is, when other people on the course see my skycaddie that all want to “play” with it. It can slow down the game.

I’ll admit it…I tried a cheaper product made by Garmin. It locked up every three or four rounds. After trying three units I gave up and bought the SG5. It works great. The color screen is very easy to read in the sun. The charge lasts longer than I expected, usually three full rounds at least. My only complaint is that it’s a little bigger than some of it’s competitors. You can’t slip it into your pocket to take a swing. But I’ve used it for six months and it’s performed flawlessly. If you are thinking of saving a little money, I would not recommend any of the models with black and white screens (SG2.5, SG3, SG4). They are very hard to read in the sun; you have to constantly rotate the screen around to catch just the right angle. Although it lacks the features of the higher models, the SG2, with it’s black-on-green screen, is easier to read. If you are thinking of buying anything but the SG5, I’d strongly recommend that you find someone who has the model you’re considering, and check out the screen in the bright sunlight.

I have owned my SG5 now for about a year. There is no comparison. I work in a local golf shop here in Colorado and we have brought several of the competitors into the store and eventually sold them on eBay because of the inferior performance.

Easy to read, easy to use, durable, all the info you would ever want for your game. And with the updates coming out throughout this year, it will be even better. The new score keeping upgrade is great, and when the 3d fly-over views of the holes come, that will be just awesome!

Don’t wast your money on a “wanna-be” like uPro, Golf buddy, etc. Spend your money wisely and get a SkyCaddie!

I had an SG3 that served me well for 2 years, but I wanted to upgrade to the color SG5. I have been using it now for about 4 months and really can’t say anything bad about it. Lately the foursome I have been playing with 3 of us have a GPS unit and 1 has a Laser System. I’m the only one with a SkyCaddie, the other 2 GPS units are different brands but are new color models in the $300 to $400 range, and both have the touch screen features. I won’t name those brands,since I don’t own them, and to be honest I’m glad I don’t own them. What we started to notice is that about 75% of the time the 3 GPS units all had different yardage, anywhere from 3 yards to up to a max of 14 yards. The one constant was that my buddy with the laser always had the same yardage as me with my SG5. What was also interesting is that when we all used our 3 different GPS units to mark the distane of one of our shots, we all got the same distance for the shot, no variance. The other 2 GPS units don’t charge a yearly fee for their course database, I do pay an annual fee of $29.95 for all the courses in CA. The other 2 guys started to do some investigating why their units seemed to be inaccurate at times. The conclusion that we all reached is that SkyCaddie is the only manufacture that actually has people out there walking the courses and recording the data based on where they are standing in relationship to the GPS readings they get. Seems the other companies base their measurements on ariel data and mapping programs. Here is a quote from one of those manufacturers in their FAQ section regarding how they collect their data: “The (product name) golf course data is collected from aerial and satellite imagery from various vendors. We then use that imagery to digitize the course feature. Once complete, course routing and scorecard information is assigned for each hole”. Also if you read the fine print that free course data without a fee could someday have a fee, “At the current time, we are offering map updates to include new and updated courses at no charge. At some point in the future, it is possible that (company name)will begin to charge a nominal fee for course updates”. Again they aren’t saying you will defiantly be paying a fee someday, just that it is possible. Probably the lawyers had them throw that in just to cover their butts, so its probably not a concern. Last Saturday the other 2 guys both showed up with a new SG5 (bought on Amazon), their other units are now listed on Ebay. And we all have the same yardage now all the time. Our buddy with the laser gets his measurement to the pin and it takes in account the slope, nice if you can see the pin. Also my hands shake too much when using the laser. The SG5 won’t improve your game if you don’t have consistent distances nailed down with your clubs, but if you do you will see more balls on the green, not short or off the green.

One other thing is all these guys that complain about how the SG5 won’t load up on their computer or freeze up and have too be returned. I don’t pay attention to those reviews, some of these folks have messed up or old systems or aren’t computer literate to follow directions. And yes calling SkyCaddie support is not a pleasant experience, if you do more talking then listening. I have found that if I email in my question support gives me a detailed and accurate answer within anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple hours.

My experience and that of my friends is that free course data may not be as accurate as the information from SkyCaddie, it’s worth $29 a year to get accuracy.

My sky caddie is a little over a yr. old. Other than the significant annual cost for downloading courses, it was OK. It should also be noted that they will delete all courses from you sky caddie if you do not pay your annual “dues”!!! This also happen to one of our bag boys @ our club as he was playing golf with his sky caddie. My wife’s sky caddie was also “turned off” and all courses deleted!!!.
Recently they completely changed software that was easy to use and simple to download courses. The new software (I downloaded the sofware three times after deleting the original before redownloading.)does not even begin to work. E-mails to tech. support go unanswered. So if you are thinking about buying a sky caddie be careful

We all know that this thing works OK & gives reasonable accurate yardage to the green. BUT-the customer support is pathetic! Difficult software that works marginal at best, requires yearly fees and when I upgraded my service & paid $20 only to find out it was only good for 2 months. When I call “customer support” “if you can get through”, they are very argumentative & condescending.

Very pleased with the performance of this product. A great tool for a golfer wishing to reduce his/her score.

When compared to an on site GPS system, amazingly accurate.

I just purchased an SG5 for myself as a christmas present and i am sure glad i did. This little gadget is awesome and very easy to use even though this is the first Skycaddie i have ever had. I did my research and like a previous reviewer said, you can’t beat Skycaddie for the amount of courses they offer. Not only that but in the 2 weeks i’ve had it they have updated the pc software and the firmware on the device twice to add more features. This is one of the best investments i’ve made to help with my golf game. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a golf gps, you won’t be sorry.