Golf Buddy GPS keeps it simple
There's only one thing you really need to know about the Golf Buddy, and it is Golf Buddy's biggest plus. You don't have to do anything to use Golf Buddy except turn it on. I took an immediate liking to it for that reason, having just dueled with my home PC trying to get set up on a competitor's model that required downloading files and then, when I finally slogged through that, discovered I needed to cough up another $35 to access course maps.
The Golf Buddy keeps it simple, stupid. Which works for me. All I do is turn it on once I arrive at the golf course I'm playing, the Golf Buddy uses GPS to figure out where I am, and the course is loaded into my system. The company claims to have 20,000 courses on tap worldwide. The graphics are relatively rudimentary, but that's immaterial. It's the numbers that matter. The view screen serves up the back, middle and front yardages to each green. If you want to know how far it is to a certain target, like a fairway bunker, you just hit the toggle switch and you get a list of yardages to the pertinent targets. That's really all there is to it.
I can't swear to the level of accuracy that Golf Buddy provides but in five rounds of use (I used the Tour edition, with color screen, above right) I haven't had any what-the-hell moments. Its yardages have always been in line with the numbers I've gotten off the 150 stakes or sprinkler heads on the courses I've played. Also, I was able to get two 18-hole rounds in before having to recharge the Golf Buddy unit.
The Golf Buddy, golfbuddyglobal.com, $429.99
Posted by: Jake | Jul 12, 2009 9:10:40 PM
I like the simplicity of The Golf Buddy, but price seems pretty steep at $429.99. I recently purchased a BlackBerry STORM and discovered so many GPS applications available for tracking yardages that I lost interest in purchasing a "dedicated" device. I downloaded BBGPSGolf, a free application available online,and discovered that it performs all of the functions you've identified with The Golf Buddy. Now, I am not affiliated with the software developer, but I sure as heck like the fact that a FREE application running on a device that I'd use anyway can provide all of the fuctionality of a dedicated device. You may want to explore this application, as well as the many others available for a nominal fee, for the benefit of the many BlackBerry, iPhone, and other SmartPhone users amongst your readership.
Posted by: Rick Wiegman | Jul 26, 2009 1:51:19 PM
I have tried 2 different tour golf buddy's to try and get the "Mark" to work to no avail. Can anyone help. Golf buddy customer service is worthless.
Posted by: Alfred Jensen | Sep 16, 2009 6:33:10 PM
Wish I could help but i've found the same thing you did. Impossible customer service and Don't give a darn attitude