Customer Reviews

GPS Golf Guru 4 Precise GPS/PDA Golf Rangefinder with Multi-application capabilities

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've had my Guru for about a month. I compared it to all of the Sky Caddie models as well as some of the other smaller vendors before purchasing.

First off, it works great. Follow the Quick Start directions and you'll be off and running in no time. I like that it automatically checks for the latest firmware release and downloads that to your Guru (if needed) everytime you hook it up to download new courses.

It is the smallest unit out there -- a little bigger than my Palm Centro but nice and thin/lite. I carry it in my back pocket and pull it out like a yardage book before every shot. It doesn't get smashed if I sit in the cart either :-)

I didn't buy the Sky Caddie for the following reasons:
1. Size -- it's a little bigger/fatter than the Guru
2. Annual Fees -- who wants to pay $50/year ??
3. Satellite Acquisition -- these things only work well if they're able to sync to enough Satellites to be accurate. I'd heard from a few friends that they no longer use their Sky Caddies because they would lose "sync" too many times to be useful/trusted. Guru syncs fast and connects to more Satellites.

The Guru has far fewer courses than the Sky Caddie but they've been able to map all of the courses I've requested (at least 5) in less than 7 days -- certainly acceptable to me.

One other suggestion if you have a Guru and a Garmin Nuvi (360 is what I have)-- the A/C charger works for both (if you're like me, it's hard to keep all of my cords/chargers tagged, etc). Save the $20 from Golf Guru and use your Garmin charger.

In a nutshell, if you want a fairly simple device that works great and fits in your pocket, The Guru is the one for you. When you're on the course, fancy color graphics aren't going to lower your score -- quick, accurate info at your fingertips will ...

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Update 6/13/10 -- This review is for the Golf Guru G002 (not the G004 as displayed here).

Just got mine and played my first round with it this weekend - very impressed with operation and ease of use. Unit is small (cell phone size) Course download was easy (and free) and once I turned it on there was little to do other than switch between views - information presented on the screen is thorough and useful and I am pleased that I can read it without my reading glasses. I am going to look for a carrying case to attach it to my bag but otherwise it just needs more courses loaded. I have not personally used the competing products (SkyCaddie, Garmin, etc.) but I would recommend this on the basis of cost and ease of use.

First, I have to say that the customer service for this company is amazing. I ordered the golf guru through amazon.com because I had a gift card. I wanted the carrying case but it wasn't offered on the amazon.com website. So I purchased the carrying case through their own website on the same day. Unfortunatly, I was going to have to pay shipping on both products since they were not purchased together. I received an email the next day telling me that they noticed I made 2 seperate purchases and they would ship them together and only charge me for shipping on the golf guru unit and not the carrying case. I knew right away this was going to be a great company to deal with.

Second, I loved the golf guru as soon as I got it. It is so easy to use and download the courses I wanted. The screen functions are easy to see and use. I love that you can map a course out if you want to. My friend has the Sky caddie and he gets no reception at several courses we play in Long Island...I am able to get reception on every couse every time.

Third, the statistics portion is awesome. As you play your round it will ask you at the end of each hole for your score, if you made GIR, FIR, and how many putts. At the end of the round you will get all your stats for the round, % of GIR, % of FIR, and avg. putts per hole. This is very handy if your into keeping stats.

Lastly, I would recommend this product to anyone who wants to know "how far away am I" which is just about everyone.

GREAT PRODUCT, VERY VERY HAPPY.

This GPS has a lot of features for the price. Accuracy is excellent - it uses 16 channels compared to most others using 12, holds 20 courses as compared to most others holding 10. Customer service is top notch. Number of available courses is growing quickly. If your course isn't available, you have can request that it be added with an estimated turn around of 7 days.

I too am waiting for a carrying case or cart/belt clip to be available. In the meantime, it fits nicely into my Bagboy Express 180 push carts accessory compartment.

I'm very satisfied with this GPS. Best bang for the buck in my opinion.

I bought the gps golf guru about a month ago. At first I was disappointed as only one course out of the six that I regularly play was mapped. I sent in a request for them to map the other courses and within two weeks all of them were available. One of them had the front and back nines reversed, but that was due to the course having been renumbered some time ago. Again, within a week of my notifying them the correction was made. I THINK THAT IS GREAT SERVICE, and would recommend this item to everyone.

I owned an iGolf GPS Caddie. It's a good basic unit that provides front, center and back distances to the green. After a year, the internal memory would not retain the stored courses. iGolf technical support stated that my only option was to buy another unit or download the courses everytime I play. That was unacceptable, so I bought a GPS Golf Guru. For the same price, this is a much better product. Not only does it give distances to the green, but it keeps your scores and statistics that can be uploaded for your USGA handicap. This unit was obviously designed by golfers for golfers. It works naturally as you play your round. From the tee, I like the initial view, it displays the distance to the pin, and distances to all the obstacles that are marked. When I'm ready for my approach shot, I switch to the secondary view, which gives the distances to the front, back and pin, as well as an outline of the green where you can determine the actual distance to the pin by moving the icon to the flag position. As you come off the green, it automatically goes to scoring for that hole and you put in your score, number of putts, green in regulation (GIR) and fairway in regulation (FIR). You do that for every hole and it only takes seconds. At anytime you can look at the scorecard or the stats for the round. This is more than a GPS unit. It displays the battery level, signal strength and time. It's a built in rechargeable battery, so you do not have to purchase batteries separately. The initial screen has the owner's name and telephone number, so if lost, the owner can be contacted. The best feature is the free unlimited course downloads and if your course isn't available they will add it within a week. Sweet!

I have been using my Guru for a while. Every aspect of the device is great. Never a glitch. The best part is their customer service. They answer the phone and resolve any problem with lightning speed. The software is continually upgraded and new features added without having to buy a new unit. And they are in Austin, Tx. not New Delhi. All downloads are free til the end of 2011. When I needed a course mapped, it took 3 days. This is the most for your money in the field.

I read a lot of reviews before deciding on GolfGuru as my GPS of choice. Hands down the customer service at this company is A-One. If you have to call, you speak to a real person after selecting which department you want, that alone is refreshing, they even spoke my language!
I had a problem trying to map my own course and kept getting a 999 yard ghost reading for a 320 yard hole.
I received a replacement unit today, just in case there was something wrong with my initial one, which I am sending back.
The President of Golf Guru even emailed me saying that he was made aware by his customer service unit of the possible problem and guaranteed they would investigate what happened and fix it. I have a feeling the problem was with the mapper and not the device. It is refreshing to see customer service like we all hope to find in a company we do business with, to many fail to meet their own reported standards, not this one.
The device itself is compact, rugged and after a few minutes playing around with the various option buttons easy to use. Set up is almost too easy, downloading the courses only requires you register at their web site, select the GC's from a list, then sync the software (that you have to install) and device plugged into a USB port. It took me 10 minutes to install the software, register, select the GC's I wanted and download them to my GPS unit. I asked them to map a GC not listed and it took about 6 days until I could download it. No, as in ZERO, yearly dues is another positive feature.
There are many different GPS brands on the market, all of which are pretty good. What sets GolfGuru apart is the little things, such a SUPER customer service, compact design and no annual fees.

I am quite pleased with the Golf Guru unit. My first GPS Golf Unit was a Sky Caddie II. The GPS Golf Guru has much superior ergonomics and more features.

I have been able to download courses for everywhere I play regularly. When I submitted a request to add Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach, the course was made available in 24 hours. Harbor Park took over 7 days, but it is now on my unit. I am travelling to Maui next week and every course I am interested in playing has been transferred to the Golf Guru GPS Device.

The GolfGuru provides distances to reach and clear obstacles on the course, keeps score and statistics such as GIR & Putts.

The only reason I don't give this device 5 stars is that the screen is at the bottom with the navigation buttons placed above the screen. I can't wrap my mind around placing the screen a the bottom and reaching over the screen to make my selections. Other than that minor nit, it is a very useful intuitive tool for the golf course.

I think it is a given that most golf GPS units provide reasonably accurate distances from a given point on a golf course to the front/middle/back of a green. The better units allow you to position the pin on the green to match its position on a given round, providing distance to the pin, not just the front/middle/back of a green. The best available units also provide 1) graphical hole depictions that show bunkers, hazards, etc. and the related distances to them, and 2) provide a method for tracking shot distances so you can determine how far you hit various clubs during actual playing conditions.
After spending weeks researching the myriad golf GPS units on the market, I followed the usually reliable Amazon user recommendations and purchased a Golf Guru 4. Boy was I disappointed! First it does not come with the desired graphical hole depictions. Rather they have to be purchased for approximately $8 per course. Second, even after you purchase one of their AerVu maps you find that their usefulness is restricted by the small screen size. Another serious flaw is that the shot tracking feature is minimalist at best. It is awkward to use, and worst of all, it does not provide a way to track or upload the data. Rather you have to record the information by hand after each round. UGH! Finally after using the unit for a dozen rounds I found that it repeatedly experienced freeze-ups (3 or 4 times per round). Needless to say I returned the unit.
I then purchased an OnPar unit. It turns out to be a much better unit in all regards.
It provides absolutely free, great graphical depictions for over 10,000 courses (with 1000 more being added each month). Furthermore, although the screen sizes are comparable, the OnPar unit provides the ability to easily "zoom-in" on each hole to get very accurate distances to any point on a hazard, bunker, etc.. The OnPar unit also has an easy to use feature for tracking shot distances. It then tracks the last 18 rounds worth of data and can even, if you want, based upon this data suggest the club to use for each shot. Finally, the OnPar unit provides a simple feature that allows you to create your own distance marks on any given hole. These marks can be used to identify locations like the end of a flat area on a fairway, or the carry distance for a water hazard, etc.. To be fair the Golf Guru 4 has a similar feature.
I found that both units are readable in full sunlight, although it helps to move them into the shade to read them. Each unit holds a charge that lasts several rounds. Each unit provides separate views of the green for each hole, and the ability to drag the pin around to its actual location on a given round in order to provide the distance to the pin, not just the front/middle/back of the green.
In summary, the OnPar golf GPS unit is as good or better than a Golf Guru 4 in every regard. It provides great graphical depictions for free. It has an easy-to-use zoom feature that allows the user to get very accurate distances to every point on each hole. Finally the OnPar unit has a nifty feature for tracking the distance of your shots.
The clear winner of this comparison is the OnPar.