It depends.

Many peo­ple are under the impres­sion that you must pay an annual sub­scrip­tion fee to use most golf GPS sys­tems. Some golf GPS sys­tems do not even offer annual sub­scrip­tions. They either offer the courses for free or require the user to pur­chase the courses on an indi­vid­ual basis. Remem­ber that just because a golf GPS sys­tem offers the courses for free, it does not mean you are not pay­ing for them. These are higher priced sys­tems so the cost of the courses is built into the ini­tial price.

Tech­ni­cally, none of the golf GPS sys­tems that have annual sub­scrip­tions require a sub­scrip­tion to fully use the device. They either give you at least one free course down­load or allow you to map your own courses. You may need to buy an annual sub­scrip­tion if you wish to use your GPS on many courses and the num­ber of free courses are not enough. Sub­se­quently, you may need an annual sub­scrip­tion if your GPS allows you to map your own course but you would rather down­load courses instead.

Do not let the fear of annual sub­scrip­tions stop you from buy­ing a golf GPS sys­tem. You can bypass the need for an annual sub­scrip­tion with a lit­tle home­work. An entry or mid level sys­tem might fit your needs if you only wish to use your GPS on one course or you are will­ing to map your own courses. Or by upgrad­ing to a higher end sys­tem, you’ll not only get addi­tional ben­e­fi­cial fea­tures but you will also by able to down­load courses for free with­out an annual subscription.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Golf GPS Systems