igolf gps caddie ii

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-07
Only $200 per YEAR!!!
I really thought I had gotten over when my wife found the iGolf GPS Caddie for only $170 on ebay. Compared to the others this was a steal. I loaded it, took it to the course (several courses in fact), and it worked great. Eleven months after my purchase, I get on the first tee only to find an error stating that there is no course info. The device had dumped all of the courses I had loaded. Later that night I reloaded the courses and took it out that weekend with no problem. The following weekend it had dumped all the data again.
I called iGolf Product Service to find that my 1 year warranty was from DATE OF MANUFACTURE, not date of purchase, and was therefore not covered. I was told my only options were to load the info before each round or purchase a refurbished unit for $150. My response to them was that they left out my third option, which is to go with Sky Caddie!
I will be sure to tell EVERYONE I ever play with not to buy an iGolf product.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-06
Handy golf tool
The iGolf GPS Caddie II is a handy tool that helps me with my golf round. No longer do I have to guess the distance and which club to use. This is especially true when I'm under 100 yards and have few markers in which to gage the remaining distance. Knowing the distance boosts my confidence and probably shaves a few strokes off my round.

My iGolf unit is accurate to within a yard or two relative to the permanent distance markers layed out on the fairway. And I haven't yet experienced the situation that I've read from other users where they report that the distance reading floats off when they're stationary. It's simple to use with it's joystick-like middle button, which allows me to easily select and toggle through all of the necessary sections and fields on the display.

The only disappointment, and reason I submitted a rating of four stars instead of five, is due to the inaccuracy of some of the courses available for download. Of the three that I've tried so far, it appears that the person responsible for mapping the course mixed up the hole numbers. I'm guessing that this was probably someone who was contracted by iGolf to map the courses using satellite imagery, and he or she wasn't paying enough attention in coinciding the hole number on the score card with the actual hole on the course. For the courses that I play frequently, it's not a big problem as I can either request iGolf to remap them, or I can simply map them myself, which is a easy enough to do. But for the courses that I'll visit for the first time, it's going to be a hit or miss as far as whether the mapping is correct and if I'll be able to enjoy the benefits the iGolf unit will provide.

Rating:
Date: 2008-05-09
iGolf Caddie II opinion
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.

Rating:
Date: 2008-03-07
Good but has weaknesses
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.

Rating:
Date: 2008-02-22
can't get my home course mapped
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.

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