Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 iGolf Caddie II opinion May 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
To start this off I have quite a bit of experience using hand held GPS units over more than 10 years such as Garmin(several models), Magellan(several models), & Standard Vertex. I have used these units for normal recreation use & for survey use in locating oil well sites. I know the normal error in these units as I have used government markers in several countries to confirm my GPS readings from the above units. In short while not an expert on GPS I am familiar with them. I have not used my iGolf Caddie II yet on the course but while at my work site I set up the TEST COURSE. What I was interested in was repeatability of the readings. In other words if a point is say 100 yards from the tee box will it be 100 yards this afternoon or tomorrow. For the test I used known points over several times each day over several days.It appears to me that the iGolf Caddie II unit has a average accuracy of +/- 2 yards. In other words I had a point at 58 meters from the "test tee box" for my first test.Over the test period the point in question was found to be between 56 to 60 yards. This means it could be 2 yards short of the original reading or 2 yards longer than the original reading. This is in the ballpark for the claimed accuracy of most GPS units on the market if WAAS is enabled. Much of my golf is played in Thailand where we use live caddies and I can tell you many have worked the same course for 10 years or more. Really iGolf is not needed in that environment. Now some of my golf is played in the middle east with no caddies. Now we do have sprinkler heads but sometimes its a hunt to find them. I can say that the iGolf would save time and be easier in a no caddies environment. As far as the accuracy I think its reasonable for the mid to high handicap golfer. Lets be honest for the average golfer +/- 4 yards is pretty close for the accuracy we have with our irons. Now for the low handicapper it might not be so great. One feature the unit has is when it stops moving it locks the display on the number when stopped. Well as normal GPS units take a few seconds or even a minute or so to lock on and correct them selves. With the feature I think some accuracy is lost. While I did not use this on a golf course I feel my results are useful in that I spent quite a bit of time with fixed points. My test were in clear open areas in the middle of the desert. Tree's, clouds, rain,etc or anything blocking the view can have a effect on the accuracy of the unit. Is this a useful tool for the average hacker thats to lazy to find a sprinkler head or plays where there are no yardage markers- YES. Besides I love gadgets! I have not tried any of the file downloads from iGolf so I cannot confirm the accuracy of the data.
 Good but has weaknesses March 7, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
In general, there are things to like about the unit. It does what it advertises. I easily found my courses and got them on the unit quickly. The readout is easy to read, it does wander at times but will stabilize after a couple of seconds. The unit is light and I bought an IGolf case that makes it easier to carry around. I have not tried to add any distinct course features nor have I experienced any that were un-mapped.
On the negative side: the belt clip is fragile. I broke it off after the second round. The IGolf site has replacements in quantities of 1, 3 and 5 which tells me I am not the first person to break them. Second, the unit uses a great deal of power. The first batteries lasted just over two rounds. I used others that lasted less than a round (might have been low quality). The web site claims batteries will last ~2.5 rounds. In the summer I will play 2-4 rounds a week will go through a lot AAs. I guess I need to stock up at Costco and carry them in my car.
Pretty good unit but not without its weaknesses.
 can't get my home course mapped February 22, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Igolf says that when you get their gps you can add one course which they don't offer, and they will map it for you. My home course was not in their database and I've requested they map it. A couple months now and they haven't done it. When I ask for a date they give me vague answers and I have little confidence that it will ever be done.
iGolf II Very Helpful & Accurate January 7, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The weather broke and I was finally able to take my new iGolf II to the course. My partner and I checked its measurements against the course's in-ground markers and found the iGolf to be very accurate. I was surprised, quite frankly, how helpful the iGolf was in strategy and club selection. What I especially liked about the iGolf II was the shot measurement feature which allowed me to see exactly how far (or short!) I was hitting clubs. What we found too often was we "didn't have a club for that distance in our bags." We also had fun by calling out the distance we thought a shot was, as we always do, and then comparing our estimation against the iGolf. We weren't always very accurate! Although my score for this first round using my iGolf II was no better than usual, I am sure that as the golfing season comes, my game can't help but improve. I'd recommend the iGolf II to any golfer. While fun to use, it's more than a toy.
Excellent Once You Get It Up and Running November 30, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I would have rated the iGolf GPS Caddie 5 stars, except that (1) the manual is weak in a few important areas; (2) the software installation wizard does not "self-start" when you run the CD (as almost all other software CD's do); and (3) the terminology on your PC screen, in the manual, and on the Caddie's display all differ in minor but confusing ways. It took me a fair amount of playing around with various functions in Windows (which I hate), but by using my head plus getting clues from the manual, I was able to get the software installed succcessfully.
Badly written software instructions are a pet peeve of mine, so I downrated the product. Interestingly, the manual's instructions on how to use the unit are clear and accurate. My guess is that techies wrote the parts about installing the software, and golfers wrote the parts about how to use the unit. (I can say this, because I used to be a techie.)
Once you're on the golf course, the unit is a pleasure to own, a 5-star product.
Here are some of the things I like most:
--Its price. It's simply cheaper than competing units offering the same functionality.
--It works. It does exactly what it says it will do: gives you the distance to the front, center, and back of the green you are going for. That's all I need to have confidence in club selection. I particularly like the precision inside 100 yards, where course markers are rare. I use 4 wedges with about 15 yards difference between them, so knowing I'm, say, 80 yards away rather than 90 is important to me. No more mid-swing "is this the right club?" doubts, guaranteed to screw you up.
--No more hunting for sprinkler heads or other course markers. No more pacing forward or backward from such markers. No more guessing at how your distance varies from the nearest sprinkler head because you are 20 yards to the right of it. No more trying to envision concentric circles around the green to adjust for the fact that you're off to the side ("I wonder what that sprinkler head would say if it were on my line instead of over there?")
--It lets you play faster and with more confidence. It's fun helping out your golfing buddies by giving them their distances when they can't find a sprinkler head.
--Operation of the unit is simple and intuitive. The manual does a good job of describing operation. It's a quick, clear read, and everything works as described. You'll only need to read it once for each function, the operation is intuitive once you have that background. The handheld unit itself is very well designed, with just three buttons: one to turn it on and off; one to navigate between menus and advance from one hole to the next; and an "escape" button that takes you to the previous screen...so you can't get trapped inside layers of menus.
--The Web site is clear, simple, and very fairly priced. For $30, you get a one-year membership. A huge advantage over the Sky Caddy subscription model, iGolf allows you to keep the courses in your computer. For the $30, you get 50 download credits (one course per credit). You also get one "mapping" credit, so you can have them map a golf course for you if it doesn't happen to be in their database. The handheld unit itself holds 10 courses, but you can download 50 to your PC and then just transfer them into and out of the handheld as needed. Once you download a course, you own that data. You don't have to maintain a subscription to keep using it. The 50-course limit more than covers my forseeable needs. We have separate winter and summer homes, so I'll have a "southern" set and a "northern" set. Within a year, I'll have downloaded all the courses I need. (So far I've downloaded 4 courses from iGolf.)
--The download includes not only the GPS data, but the course's scorecard. So as you push the button to advance to the next hole, up pops the hole number, yardage, par, and handicap for that hole. When you are downloading a course, the Web site displays the scorecard, so you can check and be sure it matches the actual printed scorecard before you download it. (Then when you are playing, you select on the handheld which tees you are playing from...that's how the unit knows what yardage to display for each hole.)
Bottom line, I think this is a fine product and service at a fair price. I have not yet mapped out my own course, nor marked hazards on particular holes, nor used the other functions that are available. I may do some of this over time. I will probably use it to measure how far I hit my drives and other clubs. But that's all gravy...the main function of the unit is to give you your distance, and it does that well. The display could not be clearer. It's simple black-and-white, with very clear letters and numbers.
A couple of notes:
One reviewer complained that the displayed distance keeps changing or drifting. I've noticed that a couple of times on an occasional hole. If that happens, just flick the button to the previous hole, then flick it back to your hole. The unit will give you a fresh, stable reading.
The manual is weak in its description of how to download a course from your PC to the handheld. Do this: (1) On your PC desktop, click the iGolf "transfer" icon. (2) This brings up a "Caddie Sync Software" box with several tabs. Click the "Send Golf Course" tab. (3) There are then three steps shown in a box that appears on your PC screen. Step 1 is accurate. Step 2 is accurate. Step 3 is misdescribed. Ignore the two things it tells you to select on the handheld...they don't exist. Instead, select "Sync Handheld" from the main menu on the handheld. On your PC, just press the "Send" button. The handheld's display will switch from "Waiting" to "Active" (this is not mentioned in the manual). The download will take place (it takes maybe 30 seconds for one course). When it's done, the top box on your PC will say "TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL" and the handheld will say "Closed." The course data is now in your handheld unit.
If I could, I would give this 4.5 stars. I've downrated it only for the incomplete/incorrect manual instructions. Now that it's up and running, I'm very glad I bought it.
|
