Earlier this year, we had a feature story on the Voice Caddie SL1 device, which was a hybrid GPS and Laser. It became an instant classic, with it’s throwback aesthetics combined with some features not found anywhere else such as green undulation and more. Today the Voice Caddie SL2 Hybrid GPS and Laser Rangefinder is launching and fresh off the PGA Championship where nearly two dozen of them were in the bags of the best in the world.
Kicking it off with the aesthetics, the SL2 is a pretty big departure from the SL1, without losing any of it’s “coolness”. Rather than the light brown faux leather wrap around the sides, it is stark white. While this could of course lead to getting a bit dirty, we did a simple wipe off test after using it a bit and it cleaned up really well. The silver has a different take as well with perforated front end, while the eye cap features the same texture. The front end was black previously and now has a really nice wood look to it. Honestly we were concerned with the looks upon hearing about a sequel, only because they nailed the SL1, but Voice Caddie didn’t stray too far and the improvements are really well done.
The shining light of the Voice Caddie SL2 is of course its function and they took a stellar unit and made it even better. Starting with the laser side of this hybrid GPS device, the optics are both brighter and clearer. The 6x optical magnification works at over 1000 yards for you long hitters and it has the usual suspects such as continuous scan mode and vibration lock on pin. An interesting note to the laser is the view adjusts based on the clarity of the day. Playing in bright, normal conditions and a full color clear display exists. Playing in foggy or darker conditions, as a dew sweeper perhaps? The Voice Caddie SL2 creates a different view thanks to its two color OLED viewer. This was tested out and worked extremely well, which honestly surprised us. Rounding out the laser side of the feature list, is their Slope function, which compared nicely to other models we tested in giving what seems to be a very accurate number based on elevation changes.
The previous SL1 took the hybrid GPS market and turned it on its head with the green undulation feature. The Voice Caddie SL2 changes the game even further. Like the previous model, directly below the viewfinder on the device is a small screen. Previously that had your simple GPS distance numbers as well as the incredibly cool green undulation feature. The SL2 ups the ante and adds a full featured GPS.
We will kick off the description with what Voice Caddie calls Smart Course View. As you can see by the image below, this is all about learning and understanding the course better. Full previews of the hole, distances to the hazards or bunkers. Selecting a point on the screen for a distance as well as a pretty nifty Auto View which gives you useful information such as driving landing area as well as hazards in the same screen. Basically taking a full featured GPS watch and dropping it into your rangefinder in a way that is unprecedented. What took us back even further is that in testing, the software is pretty zippy too. We didn’t have sluggish software where you tap and wait a few seconds, it was all happening in near real time.
Jumping from Smart Course View to Active Green View, we get a little of what we had previously, but in a presentation that is significantly better. Active Green View shows off green undulation and the entire look is intuitive and more realistic. You can move the pin around various areas of the green if for some reason it is not accurate, although in our testing it was spot on each time we used it. The best part of the new Active Green View is just that, it’s active. So the green will rotate on the screen based on where you are (shown below).
When we thought “this is the pinnacle”, as the SL1 was rolled out, Voice Caddie says hold my beer and they launch a hybrid device that is unlike anything we have seen before it as a followup.
All of these features are great, but the million dollar question is did it work? Yes. Accuracy of the laser was to be expected and spot on in comparison to other devices. The GPS functions were surprisingly incredibly accurate and just as important zippy to use. Nobody wants to spend 60-90 seconds fiddling with a device over a shot. Or better described, the golfers playing behind you don’t want that. This was intuitive, quick and all it took was a glance in most cases to have a ton of pertinent information.
Currently the course layout and green undulation is available for over 13,000 courses in the US and 15,000 worldwide, but that is going up weekly as the company updates the data library. We were fortunate in that both courses this was tested at had both Active Green and Smart Course working and functional. A full list of courses is available and broken down by the features on their website.
The Voice Caddie SL2 is a marvel in technology features and should be available beginning this week with a price tag of $599. More information can be found on their website at www.voicecaddie.com.
Any day now it should be up.
Thank you!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Laser Rangefinder Archives – Voice Caddie
voicecaddie.com
I dont NEED it either but damn do I want it!
I’m looking at the $617 in my DraftKings account right now thinking……. Free rangefinder????
I just pinned it to my bag for my next round to try it out at the home course.
It feels like what Garmin was trying to do in the Z80 and Z82, but smarter and with better optics. The green undulation data is a sick feature if it’s available at your local course.
Yep that’s definitely free now!
View attachment 9012596
After seeing your pics in the last event this is I am strongly pondering this. I want to get one in hand first but it is checking all the boxes!
The previous gen wasn’t ugly by any means, but this definitely wins in the looks category.
@JB Couple of questions: 1. Does the display turn off when it’s sitting unused? 2. How does it compare size wise to say a Bushnell Tour v4/5?
Ya know, I am not sure if the display turns off as I don’t remember. But we are headed out late this afternoon for 6 holes or so and will bring it and test it out for you.
Size wise it is similar if not slightly smaller. But going off memory.
It appeared to stay on today. At least when I was glancing at it it was on and giving me distances.
The Bushnell Pro XE accounts for altitude, temps. But most of the time, I’m at sea level to 1k feet and one can account for temps after a few shots.
But the SL2 gives you so much good info and graphics – let’s you see the hole.
Back in town, I can update you.
I have not had a single issue with the device, but have also remembered to charge it after a round. I got 36 holes out of it recently though with no issues.
I really enjoy the hole layout, and if I wore a watch when I played, I could get similar with a laser and one of their watches I am sure. But all in one, works pretty darn well.
The owner of it was on the same page as me with the charging of the battery, would like to have the Laser work on a regular battery and the GPS work on a rechargeable battery.
The GPS works well and all (even the smaller) courses near me have been mapped. Interestingly, a green book is still quicker to look at than the GPS device, but it’s more convenient in that it’s all in one.
Two areas of improvement:
1) Better off switch (it has an auto off but sometimes is a bit flaky)
2) Faster satellite acquisition – sometimes it takes a few mins for the satellite to be acquired.
They seem SO useful.
Anyone have any good feedback for me to help in my decision? My bushnell is running fine but I’d love to try something new and pass this on to my buddy who lost his.
It still works really good for me. I have since switched much of my time to their latest model, because I just love the speed of it, but the GPS functions and such make this a blast. The one area that I think it could improve is better instructions on button layout to make sure to turn off (you exit golf mode) so that you don’t kill your battery.
@Jman raves about his, but I think the GPS feature is so freaking cool.
It’s all very tempting.
This thing may not be as fast as the new version touted but it is classy. The gps is really nice and if your course has the greens heat map it’s awesome. Like JB said make sure that you exit golf mode or you want have it next round.
It does stink that there is no magnet though.
hahaha, I tend to goldfish a bit after a round of golf so turning off golf mode could be a problem ?
Great stuff. How are you liking the battery life?
Totally agree. when i was playing back to back days i can get two rounds maybe even part of a third. But if you don’t exit golf mode you won’t make it past 1.