any body use one of those gps caddie gadgets? i saw different ones, skycaddie etc. and was wondering

A. are they any use

B. do you have to pay a subscription to use them even after youve bought them

have a search through the forum David as this comes up quite a bit.

People have different views on usefulness and prices range from free to quite a lot upfront + subscriptions. Plenty of choice about.

Hi David, I use a snooper sapphire gps and would not be without it now as it's like having a 15 th club in your bag. The sapphire has free course downloads for life unlike most others that require a subscription or course fee. I also use freecaddie on my smartphone and find it just as accurate and  is a free download if you have one of these phones.

I've used Lasers and GPS and find GPS to be the best, much quicker and easier to use. I really like the Skycaddie, so easy to use, so accurate and has a bunch of cool features if you want to get technically into it. Only downside is a minimum of £29 a year subscription but as this fee pays towards keeping the course information accurate and the developments of software updates and new features, plus acts as your warranty I think its a good thing.

Tried other GPS devices but have found them to lack in the accuracy of the Skycaddie or not offer the wealth of features. Some GPS on the market are quite shocking and how they obtain their information would make your hair curl.

cheers guys food for thought.

Hi Guys

Just joined and first post. 

 I use a free app on my iphone. I think its brilliant. I can get any course i want all over Uk, Europe and the rest of the world and there are no download fees or subscriptions. its completely free.

On the downside its very inconvenient taking it out of my pocket all the time and if I leave it on during the round it only lasts 7 holes before my phone battery gives up the ghost. 

I've had a look around for a cradle to fit on my golf trolley and some way of keeping the battery charged up. But I don't really know what I need.

Has anybody got any ideas?

The new motocaddy S3 has a USB charging port to power GPS devices and iphones etc. on the course.  Bit pricey at the moment but proves it can be done....

Murray,

I also use a gps app on my iphone (freecaddie).  If you fully charge your iphone before going out, switch off the auto-lock and exit the app between shots (you can access it again as you approach your ball) then it will get you all the way around

Might not get ME all the way round Chris

Must download that app.

Has anyone got the iSwing video app for the iPhone? Supposed to tell you whether you're swinging on plane. I've downloaded it and meant to test it out at the N v S but forgot in the heat of competition!

I use TeeToGreen for iPhone. It's only about £8. Very handy.

Keeps score for you and 3 playing partners as well as the GPS stuff for any course.

Whats really great about it is if there is no course info, you can go on to their website and program the info in yourself and it takes literally 10 minutes.

Option to e-mail the scorecard at the end of the round.

Pretty damn good I must say.

yip i use my iphone thanks to mr millichip who very kindly shown me how to get it i thought they were all at a charge but its totally free and very acurate ,the battery lasts a full round easily when fully charged has chris says .

David

I have a sureshot gps its fantastic. It comes with a free download of 3 courses which are not interchangeable. I however went for 10 courses interchangable this should be enough. If im playing somewhere new then I delete 1 and add new course. It says the battery will last 36 holes but if i forget to charge it, it runs out after about 12 holes. But it may well do 36 in 1 day as it always has loads of charge still in it after 18 holes. My membership costs £20 a year or £40 for 3 years. I find ir very accurate so it give confidence in club choice. I dont use it for scoring as I fill the card in anyway but it does count your scoring if you want. Never really looked around at other types of gps but did have a range finder but not east to use and could not pick up flag if trees or bushes were behind. Have a look around, listen to other users of similar gismos. But I would highly reconmend sureshot.

Dave CAC handed Geordi

I have got freecaddie on the iphone must say never had a problem with the battery just click the power button after everyshot then when you unlock the phone it is still there running in the background.

 I have found a huge flaw with the program the yardages are no where near for my new golf club at whychwood, luckily there are yardages on every sprinkler head so it's not needed to much but it would be usuful to get it working. Does anyone know if you can contact anyonne at free caddie to let them know?

Gary your problem I see a lot with people using apps on phones. The GPS chip in the phone is nowhere near accurate enough compared to an actual GPS Rangefinder and the apps if free, probably aren't mapped accurately by someone who has stepped foot on the course. More likely they using google images and stuff which are very unreliable.

Honestly people buy an actual Golf Sat Nav rather then waste time on Mobile Phones, remember phones are supposed to be banned on the course. Would you buy a Golf GPS and then want it to make phonecalls or text people? No of course not so don't by a mobile phone wanting it to be a Professional Caddie.

Sorry Chris, gotta disagree.  I downloaded my free app as I thought I had nothing to lose and tried it out on a course I had only played a couple of times before.  I found that the readings compared well with a "genuine" golf gps.  I also found that when stood on the 150 marker, the reading was no more than 1-2 yards our (well within tolerance).  I also tried walking from 150 to the green to see what happened.  The app read 150 to the front as I stepped to the edge of the green.

My personal view is that while you may get a more accurate view from a "proper" gps, the free apps are close enough to give you the guidance the typical amateur is after

I have had a Sky Caddie SG5 since 2008.

When I started to use it, the guys with me just didn't like it. I put it away for a while than last year I renewed my membership when I play at a course in Kenya. It was great and since then I use it like my own personal caddie like the pros. The funny thing is that the guys now ask me, so what do you have the distance as ?????

You have to trust it as well, I look at where the pins are on the day and try and let the ball roll to the green rather than land it as I cannot spin the ball.

I pay £39.99 per year as I play abroad every so often.

I have to say I agree with Chris Perry on this one.

As I said above, I use TeeToGreen on the iPhone and it's accurate and useful. Just as accurate, in fact, as the Skycaddie my dad uses, and we have compared them on a number of courses.

What I find most useful about it, is the ease of which one can program the information into the app. I can map any course on the planet (for free, no subscription) and I can map it to suit my game.

In other words I can measure where my ideal layups are, where I can drive to and so forth. It's completely personalised.

Sorry Christopher, but to suggest that the iPhone (or indeed SmartPhones in general) are simply for phoning and texting is false. Phones in 1999 made calls and texts. In 2010, they pretty much do everything but clean your dishes. But I'm sure there's an app somewhere to help you do even that...

GreenfinderGPS is my prefferred weapon of choice used it this weekend on my blackberry (other phone options are available) it cost £26 a year and is very good nice & east to use and nice and accurate, it gives you distances to Front Centre and back of green plus both distances to, and carry distances to bunkers ect plus the option of an aerial view which allows you to work out your positioning which i felt assisted me with my course management, i won the tourny with a round of 80 and won nearest the pin. All partly down to good course management. 

been using skydroid for a while now on my Motorola milestone. Costs 1 dollar, you can map any course you like and whilst playing you get google maps overlay and can touch the screen to get the distance to anywhere (eg that huge bunker in the distance etc). Accuracy is spot on with my courses yardage markers and I played 27 holes last weekend and the battery was still half full.

Best one dollar I spent

I have to agree with other posters that the iphone is more than a telephone. I have used my app (mycaddypro) on 3 different courses and it is helping my game no end. However whilst I agree that you can conserve battery life by switching on and off at each hole I find it a bit of a pain.

I posted last week asking about mounts and charging. I met a guy at my club on Saturday who had his iphone on a proper mount and he had it wired through his electric trolley battery. It meant he was able to leave his phone with the lock switched off and his information was in constant view. He told me he arrived at the course that morning with a 30% charge on his phone and came of the course with 100%.

In my opinion this kit makes the iphone better than any other gps kit out there considering the apps are free and and there are no subscription fees.

Unfortunately he couldn't remember where he bought the kit and I can't find it anywhere. If any one comes across this please let me know.

Bought this bit of kit on Friday :

 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Golf-Trolley-iphone-Integration-Kit-
/280509553368?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UKGolfTrolleys&hash=item414fac1ad8

Fi
tted it in 5 mins to my powacaddy and it changes the iphone from been useful but a bit fiddly to a fine gps system. Left the course with my phone fully charged.