There are sev­eral low cost golf GPS sys­tems avail­able to those of us on a tight bud­get. These sys­tems are still highly ben­e­fi­cial to your game with­out break­ing your pock­et­book. This arti­cle sum­ma­rizes what to expect and not expect from low cost golf GPS systems.

Expect

• The dis­tance to the front, mid­dle and back of every green. This is far and away the most impor­tant fea­ture of a golf GPS system.
• Smaller monot­one dis­plays that aver­age 80 x 120 pix­els in size. No color dis­plays on the low cost systems.
• Holds a smaller num­ber of courses at one time.
• Full func­tion­al­ity WITHOUT a sub­scrip­tion fee. Even the low cost golf GPS sys­tems either give you a free course down­load or the abil­ity to map your own course.

Don’t Expect

• A color display
• Hole lay­outs, aer­ial views or hole fly-bys.
• The abil­ity to deter­mine yardage to any­where on the hole from where you are at. Low cost golf GPS sys­tems only show the dis­tance to front, mid­dle and back of greens. Some sys­tems also let you add a few cus­tom points per hole.
• Pre­loaded courses. Most low cost GPS sys­tems allow you to down­load courses from a list of thou­sands with a sub­scrip­tion fee but they do not come pre­loaded with courses.

A low cost golf GPS sys­tem will improve your game. It has the most impor­tant fea­ture of show­ing the crit­i­cal dis­tances to the front, cen­ter and back of every green. Hit­ting greens more accu­rately is one of the eas­i­est ways to lower your score. If you are will­ing to map your own course, you can enjoy the ben­e­fits of a golf GPS sys­tem for under $200 with­out the need for a sub­scrip­tion fee. Check out the Golf GPS Sys­tems page to buy one today!

Tech­no­rati Tags: Golf GPS Systems

One of the more recent tech­no­log­i­cal advances in golf GPS sys­tems has been the incor­po­ra­tion of the touch­screen. Touch­screens now allow you pin­point the dis­tance to any spot on the hole from where you are at. They also let you drag the flag around the green to deter­mine exact dis­tances to the hole. This fea­ture is espe­cially use­ful on large greens. Most touch­screens are also larger and brighter which improves readability.

The two most pop­u­lar touch­screen golf GPS sys­tems out on the mar­ket today are the Garmin Approach G5 and the OnPar Golf Touch­screen GPS. Both of these are high end sys­tems with all of the fea­tures you would expect. Although they have a higher pur­chase price than some other sys­tems, nei­ther the Approach G5 or the Onpar require an annual sub­scrip­tion fee which will save you money in the long run.

One word of cau­tion with either of these units. Please check the manufacturer’s web­site to insure that your favorite course is avail­able. These sys­tems are top notch but occa­sional receive poor reviews from peo­ple who buy the units with­out check­ing only to find that their course is not imme­di­ately available.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Golf GPS Systems

The ini­tial pur­chase price may be only part of the total cost of a golf GPS sys­tem. Most golf GPS sys­tems require you to pay a sub­scrip­tion fee to down­load courses. It is impor­tant to inves­ti­gate the sub­scrip­tion fees when deter­min­ing what golf GPS sys­tem to buy.

Be sure to ask the fol­low­ing questions!

• Is a sub­scrip­tion fee required to down­load courses?

Some golf GPS sys­tems give you a few (usu­ally 1–5) course down­loads for free. If you wish to down­load addi­tional courses a sub­scrip­tion fee is required. Some golf GPS sys­tems with a higher ini­tial pur­chase price do not require a sub­scrip­tion fee.

• Is the sub­scrip­tion fee annual or lifetime?

Most sub­scrip­tions are on an annual basis but a few sys­tems offer a one-time life­time fee. The cost dif­fer­ence could be sub­stan­tial if you plan on keep­ing your golf GPS sys­tem for a few years.

• Can you map your own courses?

Most golf GPS sys­tems, even entry level ones, allow you to map at least front, mid­dle and back of every green on a course. Many also allow you to add addi­tional way­points for haz­ards, etc. With a lit­tle ini­tial work, you can map your courses for free.

• Are the courses you play avail­able for download?

This ques­tion needs to be asked whether a sub­scrip­tion fee is required or not. Be sure to check the course list of the golf GPS sys­tem you are con­sid­er­ing to ver­ify your courses are avail­able. You can ask that courses be added to the list but this some­times can take months.

There’s no doubt a golf GPS sys­tem can improve your game. It is impor­tant to inves­ti­gate the sub­scrip­tion options before you buy to insure you are get­ting the sys­tem best suited for you.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Golf GPS Systems

A golf GPS sys­tem can help a golfer at any skill level improve their game. While there are golfers at var­ied skill lev­els, there are also golfers at var­ied income lev­els. Luck­ily for us there are golf GPS sys­tems for every budget.

Under $200

One of the least expen­sive yet fully func­tional GPS units is the iGolf neo Pock­et­size Golf GPS. Like most of the low cost units, the iGolf neo does not have a graph­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the course. It shows the num­ber of yards remain­ing to your target. But isn’t that really all you need?

The iGolf neo shows the dis­tance to the front, cen­ter and back of every green. It also let’s you add four points of your own to each hole! You can add points to show the dis­tance to doglegs, bunkers, water haz­ards, etc.

You can also use the iGolf neo to show the dis­tance of your last shot. This is a great fea­ture to fine tune how far you actu­ally hit each club.

The iGolf neo can store up to 10 courses at one time. You have the abil­ity to map a course so there is no need for an annual sub­scrip­tion. If you would like to down­load courses, there is a $34.95 annual sub­scrip­tion fee through iGolf.

$200-$400

Mov­ing up to a higher price range will get you a GPS with more options. The Sono­cad­die V300 has a 2.2” high res­o­lu­tion color LCD which gives you a 3-D look at the hole. It will give you the dis­tance to the front, cen­ter and back of every green along bunkers, water haz­ards and layups. You can also per­son­al­ize each hole by adding addi­tional waypoints.

The Sono­cad­die V300 also shows the dis­tance of your last shot but it doesn’t stop there. It also tracks your shots so you can play back your round later. What a great tool for improv­ing your course man­age­ment! A dig­i­tal score­card and game analy­sis round out a full set of features.

Pos­si­bly the best fea­ture is that the first 5 courses you want to put on the GPS unit are free! No more courses? No prob­lem! There are 3 sub­scrip­tion plans avail­able to down­load more courses. The Sono­cad­die V300 can hold up to 30 courses.

Over $400

If you are going to spend over $400 on a golf GPS sys­tem, it bet­ter deliver! The Garmin Approach G5 does not dis­ap­point! It fea­tures a 3” touch­screen dis­play and a water­proof hous­ing. Garmin is a leader in GPS technology.

The Garmin Approach G5 shows the dis­tance to the front, cen­ter and back of every green plus haz­ards. That is just the begin­ning. Touch any­where on the screen and see the exact yardage to that point! The Approach G5 also lets you drag the flag to every­where on the green to where you see it allow­ing you to pin­point the exact yardage to the hole! You can also dig­i­tally keep score for your foresome.

The Garmin Approach G5 comes loaded with thou­sands of golf courses from around the

United States. There is no annual sub­scrip­tion fee required! Courses are con­tin­u­ally added which you can down­load from Garmin.com.

The imme­di­ate ben­e­fits from a golf GPS sys­tem are unde­ni­able. With more and more GPS units com­ing on the mar­ket, there is sure to be one in your budget.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Golf GPS Systems