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Golf GPS devices or phone Apps

SuperStroke
I had it on my BB and now on my android... I think it works pretty well and the paid version offers all sorts of stat tracking that will automatically synch with the "clubhouse" on their website. The UI wasn't great on my BB but it works great on touch screen phones. Give the free version a try to see if you like it. I've tried a couple other gps apps and I like this one the best. You won't get any of the stat tracking with the free version (i dont think) but at least you can get an idea of what you're dealing with. Most of the other golf apps offer trials so you can check them out as well but I didnt find any i liked as much as this one. One thing to take note of is that this isn't a one time fee. They charge $20 / year to keep all the features.

Hawk said:
I had it on my blackberry. Some will tell you otherwise, but phone GPS apps eat up your battery. You may have enough battery to finish a round, but it's very likely that you won't be able to actually use it as a phone much before or after.

You can get a cheap GPS like the Neo or Swami by Izzo that will be better imo.
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I'm not going to disagree that a lot of gps apps drain the battery but i didnt have a problem with this one on my BB. I had a 9700 and definitely noticed a drain when using other non-golf gps apps but this one left me quite a bit of battery left. The battery on that phone was great though. It lasted forever. I can't say the same for my droid charge. I played a round the other day and my battery was toast by the end of it. You definitely need to remember to put it in sleep mode when you arent looking at it. To be fair though... If i'm doing anything on my new phone for 4 hours, my battery is done. The screen on it is awesome but absolutely destroys the battery. So I don't know if i can definitely blame it on this app.
 
I have used the Golflogix free app and it works great for me...been considering paying the $20 for the upgrade or using one of the other apps, Golfshot. If anyone has used both at full strength, what were your impressions of both.
 
Personally, I love the golflogix app for my iPhone 4. Great app, can do a lot, just wish their website was a bitter more user friendly.

Example; Took my phone off the charger at 6:30am this morning, used this app for my league tonight, and I currently have 46% battery left.
 
I agree that anything running on your phone for 4 hours will kill the battery, but that's really my point. If you want to use your phone as a phone before or after your round, be prepared to be disappointed. Some will say that they have no issues, but I've tried a couple apps and they basically ate my battery alive.

If you buy the full version (it was around $30-40 for me), you could spend a bit more and get something that is just there for GPS. I recently got 4.5 rounds out of my Bushnell XGC and that has almost any feature you could ask for. Plus, I was able to use my phone as a phone without hooking it up to battery cables, etc.
 
I use it as well without much battery drainage. I think the area you're in has a lot to do with how much juice it takes. For example, one of the courses I play has little to no coverage out there, and I usually can't make it through a round of golf with the app. Then I have another course where cell signals are great, and I think I could probably get 2 rounds in on the battery. Just a theory though.
 
^ Your theory is correct. How easy/hard it is for your phone to get a gps signal is a big factor in battery life with these apps.
 
Hawk said:
I agree that anything running on your phone for 4 hours will kill the battery, but that's really my point. If you want to use your phone as a phone before or after your round, be prepared to be disappointed. Some will say that they have no issues, but I've tried a couple apps and they basically ate my battery alive.

If you buy the full version (it was around $30-40 for me), you could spend a bit more and get something that is just there for GPS. I recently got 4.5 rounds out of my Bushnell XGC and that has almost any feature you could ask for. Plus, I was able to use my phone as a phone without hooking it up to battery cables, etc.
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not arguing. if i didnt have other things on my golf list (new putter, wedges, driver, etc) i'd probably get a dedicated gps unit. I was just trying to give the OP some thoughts on the app. I'm curious what BB you had though because like i said my 9700 stood up to using this app. In the end it probably depends on the phone and you're right a dedicated gps is probably a better solution but it's not in the cards for everyone.
 
easy_13 said:
^ Your theory is correct. How easy/hard it is for your phone to get a gps signal is a big factor in battery life with these apps.
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without a doubt. but a gps signal is easier to get than a cell signal (in my experience). this app does not need a cell signal. when i had my BB with tmobile, there's a local course in the mountains that was a complete dead zone for my cell. I realized that if i started the app before i lost coverage it would still work. it does download some stuff when you first pick the course but after that it's all on the gps.

sorry for the DP.
 
It was a Storm, which has the large screen. Screen time is battery time for the big ones, it seems.

I don't disagree that it can be a low-cost alternative. I was just pointing out the possible negatives and that you can get a no-frills GPS in the $60-$90 range.
 
hey no problem hawk.. like i said i would rather a dedicated gps but i can get by now with this so i'm good. for this app i think it comes down to the phone. you had a storm with a large screen and i have an android now. they both kill the battery but my 9700 didnt. so it's not an app issue it's a device issue which i'm sure you don't see in the dedicated devices because they arent trying to have a fancy screen.

just out of curiosity (in case i do move to dedicated gps device), do they offer some sort of stat tracking or is it just gps? one of the features i like about golflogix is all the stat tracking they offer you.
 
Centre said:
hey no problem hawk.. like i said i would rather a dedicated gps but i can get by now with this so i'm good. for this app i think it comes down to the phone. you had a storm with a large screen and i have an android now. they both kill the battery but my 9700 didnt. so it's not an app issue it's a device issue which i'm sure you don't see in the dedicated devices because they arent trying to have a fancy screen.

just out of curiosity (in case i do move to dedicated gps device), do they offer some sort of stat tracking or is it just gps? one of the features i like about golflogix is all the stat tracking they offer you.
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Some do and some don't. The higher end ones will. My Bushnell XGC gives your score, putts, and how many birdies, pars, bogeys, etc you had during a round. Others will expand on that quite a bit. I agree that your phone can determine your battery drain.

Like I said, just throwing the other side of the equation out there. I wish I'd just saved the $40 and put it towards the XGC. Everybody's different though.
 
cheers hawk. I'm glad the OP is getting both sides of the story. I may jump ship at some point but I'm content right now because i have other purchases in mind. that seemore putter being first among them. as soon as i can decide which one to get.
 
Centre said:
cheers hawk. I'm glad the OP is getting both sides of the story. I may jump ship at some point but I'm content right now because i have other purchases in mind. that seemore putter being first among them. as soon as i can decide which one to get.
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Nothing wrong with priorities!
 
I feel the same way. I have the $20 version on my iphone4. I have a mophie battery case on the phone so it really does effect the life of my battery. I am abel to keep my stats from the rounds I use it for. The free version is not bad either

war.eagle said:
Personally, I love the golflogix app for my iPhone 4. Great app, can do a lot, just wish their website was a bitter more user friendly.

Example; Took my phone off the charger at 6:30am this morning, used this app for my league tonight, and I currently have 46% battery left.
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I use Golfshot on my iPhone 4 and if I make sure to use the powe saving feature in the app, I generally only lose 15-20% of my battery life in a 4 hour round.
 
FYI, If you have an HTC Droid phone with the latest firmware update it will no longer work. It will put your phone into airplane mode when trying to load. It has been over 1 month I hope they fix soon, or I'm requesting my credit card to get my $20 back. Before this happened it worked great, keeps good stats, and also has a nice website where you can challenge friends, etc.
 
fupresti said:
I use Golfshot on my iPhone 4 and if I make sure to use the powe saving feature in the app, I generally only lose 15-20% of my battery life in a 4 hour round.
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Same for me I love this app have about 45 rounds this year. I also downloaded the free version of golfplan as it uses the stats in golfshot gps. To tell you what you need to work on for me it's the short game.


Sent from my iPhone
 
For what its worth you can track stats on the free version. I only have the free version and I track fairways, GIRs, putts, and penalty strokes. There are othe stats to track as well.
 
Since its free and I have already downloaded it I think I will give it a fair shot. If it drains my battery too much or I get addicted to checking yardages then I will probably pony up for a better gps unit that isn't on my phone. Thanks for all of your help!
 
The nrange Golf GPS on BB works very well!

It calculates GIR, Fairways hit, etc.

Very Cool
 
bowl37 said:
FYI, If you have an HTC Droid phone with the latest firmware update it will no longer work. It will put your phone into airplane mode when trying to load. It has been over 1 month I hope they fix soon, or I'm requesting my credit card to get my $20 back. Before this happened it worked great, keeps good stats, and also has a nice website where you can challenge friends, etc.
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I guess they read this thread as today the update came out to finally fix the htc issue.
 
ken419 said:
It's not that hard on your battery as long as you use the lock button to turn your screen off in between shots. I used the free version of GolfLogix for the first time Sunday and only used about 12% of my battery for 9 holes.
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This is absolutely correct. All you need to do is turn it off before putting it back in your pocket. I finish the round with 50% battery life remaining every time and my phone is 20 months old so battery is probably not as strong as it once was.
 
kapsularian said:
Looking to buy a golf GPS. Let me know your opinion if you have one or if the ones you can buy for your iphone are any good? I have heard that the Garmin Approach G5 is the best. Thanks for the help.
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Thanks for all of the advice. I went with the GolfShot GPS for iphone. Mostly because it came highly rated and was a lot cheaper at $35 than a couple of hundred for a stand alone unit. Only complaint so far is that it is hard to tell on some courses what you are looking at if the image was taken during the winter when the grass is dormant. Otherwise very much like the functionality of it, did take a little getting use to.
 
kapsularian said:
Thanks for all of the advice. I went with the GolfShot GPS for iphone. Mostly because it came highly rated and was a lot cheaper at $35 than a couple of hundred for a stand alone unit. Only complaint so far is that it is hard to tell on some courses what you are looking at if the image was taken during the winter when the grass is dormant. Otherwise very much like the functionality of it, did take a little getting use to.
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Did you check out golflogix for the iPhone? I have both and really Ike the golflogix


Brought to by iPhone 4 powered by Tapatalk
 
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