SkyCaddie SG5....Thoughts??

tdinbr

Water hazards are tough!
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So the inlaws gave me a SkyCaddie SG5 as a Christmas gift. Haven't had a chance to use it on the course yet but I have already got it set up and paid the money for all US courses.
Already did a search on the forums here and found a little bit of info on SkyCaddie as a whole. I realize they are useless unless you pay the yearly fee and that seems to be the major knock on them from forum members.
Just curious for those that actually have and use the SG5 model. Likes? Dislikes?
What makes it different than the SGX model? Is that just the newest version?
 
I've had the SG5 ever since it came out. I like it a lot. I think the graphics on the SGX are better and you can also keep more stats on the SGX. The SG5 only tracks Fairways, GIR, and putts. The SGX you can actually put what club you hit from each shot. As far as giving the distances, the SG5 is great. I wouldn't mind getting the SGX, but that's more just me being a technology junkie and always wanting the latest model. I've never had any problems with the SG5 though.
 
I'm using the SG5 and have no complaints. Gives me good accurate yardages and that's all that matters.
 
I had the SG5 and it worked quite well. Just found that for the same money, I could have another device, with just as many or more features and did not have an annual fee. Add to that that the company as a whole rubbed me the wrong way by marketing and entire product (SGX) on a major feature and then they never released that feature and will not answer any questions about it or accept refunds based on it. That is more personal preference about them as a whole though.

For the same or less money, I can get a Bushnell XGC Pro, with better battery life and have all the courses built right into the unit.
 
I had the SG5 and it worked quite well. Just found that for the same money, I could have another device, with just as many or more features and did not have an annual fee. Add to that that the company as a whole rubbed me the wrong way by marketing and entire product (SGX) on a major feature and then they never released that feature and will not answer any questions about it or accept refunds based on it. That is more personal preference about them as a whole though.

For the same or less money, I can get a Bushnell XGC Pro, with better battery life and have all the courses built right into the unit.

JB I saw this mentioned in another thread about the features they never released on the SGX. What was it? Just curious as I think I have an idea.
 
I had the SG5 and it worked quite well. Just found that for the same money, I could have another device, with just as many or more features and did not have an annual fee. Add to that that the company as a whole rubbed me the wrong way by marketing and entire product (SGX) on a major feature and then they never released that feature and will not answer any questions about it or accept refunds based on it. That is more personal preference about them as a whole though.

For the same or less money, I can get a Bushnell XGC Pro, with better battery life and have all the courses built right into the unit.

I saw your comments in the other thread regarding them "becoming a brick" and I do agree. However, since I received it as a gift I don't feel so bad about paying the fee for a year or 2.
 
JB I saw this mentioned in another thread about the features they never released on the SGX. What was it? Just curious as I think I have an idea.

The entire idea of adding distances to every club and in my opinion the entire basis of their release of that product.

While I liked the SG5, for the money it is hard to recommend a product that does the exact same thing as other devices that cost less year after year.
 
I have the SG5. I like it a lot. There may be more feature heavy products out there, but I got mine on a closeout deal. I really like it for use in a cart with the mount.
 
The entire idea of adding distances to every club and in my opinion the entire basis of their release of that product.

While I liked the SG5, for the money it is hard to recommend a product that does the exact same thing as other devices that cost less year after year.

Ok yeah I do remember reading that. Thanks
 
I've owned the SG5 for a season now and although it works well I would much rather have a range finder. It gives you all the numbers you need to know but it will never give you the exact distance to the pin, which I would rather have. I've play along people who have range finders and there can be up to a 5 yard difference. At times they put a white, or middle pin, on the flag and you have to trust that for your distance. If you got a lazy person who didn't want to change the flag and it's actually back or front it makes your thought process different. Overall it's a good product but for me personal I want to get a range finder.
 
I use a Bushnell V2 along with a Neo GPS unit - it is much the same hardware that Bushnell merged into one unit with their hybrid gps/laser. I have been using it with no fees and excellent results for 3 or 4 years now. The yardages I get back from the Neo are more accurate than most reported by other much more expensive units that my playing partners pull out, not sure why, but when I bought it I was told that the Neo had one of the best gps chips made at that time. This was 3 or 4 years ago, before Bushnell acquired the Neo gps from iGolf.
 
I use an sg5 and like it. 30 bucks is a case o b--r. I like that I can track scores and whatnot. Something I am unaware of any laser finders doin. Sure it sucks paying every year, but it is minimal if you using it in a certain location. Although I really want to get an bushnell hybrid. I am not holding out, my gps works alright. Disadvantages, when cloudy you get bad reception. It's a PITA!
 
Great GPS. Simple and straightforward. Unfortunately I had to upgrade to the sgx because the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore, but in my mind the best gps on the market. SGX is great as well, just more $$.
 
I got a Neo+, Garmin Approach S1, and a SkyCaddie 3.5 for Christmas. (Little tip. Don't tell everyone that you know you want the same thing for Christmas).

Anyway, traded in all of them for a SG5 (and some other goodies) and played my first round with it today. I can say that I'm not the happiest camper about the yearly fee, but you do get some small perks for the dough you drop. Keeping track of stats online and seeing your FIR, GIR, and PPR after you play a round is pretty helpful.

Usually my scores are dictated by my driver as when it's off it is WAY off. And being in the crud with no yardage markers makes for a bad round of golf.

Today my driver was about as off as it gets, but being able to have yardages to good layup points or knowing distance to the green so I could pick a proper club for a bit of a fancy shot really helped today. I only hit 2 fairways today. That's right...2. But I pulled an 82 out of my butt with the help of my SG5.

I agree with JB. There are units that do the same things for free out there. And therefore I really have no argument as to why this would be a "top" choice. But it doesn't change the fact that it is an extremely accurate and handy little device.
 
Do all skycaddies or GPS's have a yearly rate? Because later this month i'm looking too buy something like this all i want is the yard too the pin, not much more without all the little things / the yearly fee. But i want one thats right on the yards i've heard some are 5-10 off :S

Thanks
 
Do all skycaddies or GPS's have a yearly rate? Because later this month i'm looking too buy something like this all i want is the yard too the pin, not much more without all the little things / the yearly fee. But i want one thats right on the yards i've heard some are 5-10 off :S

Thanks

No gps will giver you yardage to the pin, just to the front, center and back of the green. Sounds kilter the bushnell geo or izzo swami might be what you are looking for.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
 
Do all skycaddies or GPS's have a yearly rate? Because later this month i'm looking too buy something like this all i want is the yard too the pin, not much more without all the little things / the yearly fee. But i want one thats right on the yards i've heard some are 5-10 off :S

Thanks

No in fact it appears most do not outside of skycaddie anymore. If you check out our home page reviews, we discuss accuracy.
 
As far as I know, all skycaddies do require the annual fee. They have different tiers you can choose from. For example, you can choose the tier that only allows those courses in your state, or all US courses, etc. It's not perfect. I've found that there are times when the yardage may be off. But for the most part, yardages are good.
 
The Bushnell Hybrid is the only other yardage device that I would really want. I like know the yardage to the back of the green. I really like how easy the skycaddie is to use. The only thing that I really dislike is that sometimes it takes a second to reset to the correct yardage.
 
Thanks for all the responses, really appreciate it!

Looks like I'll be able to get a round in tomorrow and will be using my S5 for the first time. Will post with my thoughts on it after I get a chance to actually use it on the course.
 
So I got to play a round with the SG5 finally. Here are some of my thoughts after my first use:

Where the hell did my scorecard go? I used the scoring option and kept my score for the round but after turning it off I cannot find it anywhere. Does it not save it automatically?

Screen was a little hard to see in direct sunlight. Had to use the shade of the cart or my shadow to see it at times. That's not a suprise though.

I didn't like the way the display never showed where I actually was on the hole, just the overhead view of the hole itself. I did like the Intelligreen feature though. Very helpful.

Yardages and hazards were well defined and seemed to be accurate. Kind of a pain to learn the SkyCaddie "language" for all the abbreviations they use.

I had to start on the back 9 b/c of a member tournament they had going off on the front. No problem with the SkyCaddie starting on 10. However, when I finished on 9 it wouldn't let me finish the round. Just kept going to hole #10 even though I had scores on all 18 holes. Maybe that's why it didn't keep my scorecard?

The only stats it keeps are score, putts and fairway hit/miss, left/right. Golfshot has that beat by a miles so I prefer Golfshot on that.

I had printed out the instruction manual so I knew basically all the features before I used it but some of the things were counter intuitive. I guess I will use the SC5 for my yardages and keep using Golfshot to keep my scores and stats.
 
The entire idea of adding distances to every club and in my opinion the entire basis of their release of that product.

While I liked the SG5, for the money it is hard to recommend a product that does the exact same thing as other devices that cost less year after year.

Oh right, you might have just prevented me from buying one then. Are you saying that you can't get it to tell you what yardages you're hitting each club?
If not then I'll get a Bushnell hybrid instead
 
So I got to play a round with the SG5 finally. Here are some of my thoughts after my first use:

Where the hell did my scorecard go? I used the scoring option and kept my score for the round but after turning it off I cannot find it anywhere. Does it not save it automatically?

Screen was a little hard to see in direct sunlight. Had to use the shade of the cart or my shadow to see it at times. That's not a suprise though.

I didn't like the way the display never showed where I actually was on the hole, just the overhead view of the hole itself. I did like the Intelligreen feature though. Very helpful.

Yardages and hazards were well defined and seemed to be accurate. Kind of a pain to learn the SkyCaddie "language" for all the abbreviations they use.

I had to start on the back 9 b/c of a member tournament they had going off on the front. No problem with the SkyCaddie starting on 10. However, when I finished on 9 it wouldn't let me finish the round. Just kept going to hole #10 even though I had scores on all 18 holes. Maybe that's why it didn't keep my scorecard?

The only stats it keeps are score, putts and fairway hit/miss, left/right. Golfshot has that beat by a miles so I prefer Golfshot on that.

I had printed out the instruction manual so I knew basically all the features before I used it but some of the things were counter intuitive. I guess I will use the SC5 for my yardages and keep using Golfshot to keep my scores and stats.

You can't go back and see your previous round, as far as I know. It does save them and the only way to view your round is when you upload it on to the website. Like I said I only used it for one season so far but that's the only way I was ever able to see my past rounds. Maybe someone knows a little more than I do that can help.
 
Oh right, you might have just prevented me from buying one then. Are you saying that you can't get it to tell you what yardages you're hitting each club?
If not then I'll get a Bushnell hybrid instead

There is a "Marking" feature that tells you how far you have hit a shot from point X to point Y but it doesn't ask you what club you used. GolfShot has this feature and does ask you to enter the club you used for the shot and keeps it on record as an average distance with that club.
 
You can't go back and see your previous round, as far as I know. It does save them and the only way to view your round is when you upload it on to the website. Like I said I only used it for one season so far but that's the only way I was ever able to see my past rounds. Maybe someone knows a little more than I do that can help.

I thought that might be the case. Didn't have a chance to upload the info from my round. Will try it out tonite. Thanks for the info!
 
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