Customer Reviews

Sonocaddie V100 Pocket Golf GPS

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What more can one want. This is a great device and the price is right and very accurate. Lifetime course downloads for $30.00 and easy to use software. It has the information that you need (Distance to green and hazards). I don't need to pay extra money for bragging rights and functions I don't need or use. Most golfers I play with that have GPS units only use the basics.

Very easy to use. Have been able to easily add yardages to trees and front and back of canals etc. Seems to be as accurate as the Golflogix. Get about 4 rounds per charge. Happy with the Sonocaddie.

My husband has another brand (well-known and twice as expensive) and this little jewel will do all the things his will do. I can "mark" any shot to see how far I hit it. Surprising how much further you THINK you hit it than you actually do. Of course it tells me imediately how far to the front middle and center of the green I am. (It actually does this much faster than my husband's older GPS.) I appreciate how small the unit is, it fits in a pocket or the tray of my walking cart easily. The yardage numbers are big enough to read easily with the possible exception of when you are in trying to read the reference points (distance to bunkers, water, trees). I have no troble but others might. Although this does not advance itself to the next hole, it is not inconvenient to do that myself and much less annoying than using a unit which wants to move to the next hole faster than you (my husband's GPS). You can map your own courses or download your first 5 courses for free but you can upgrade for more courses anytime for a $30 one-time fee. The unit will hold 10 courses. I am doing fine so far with just my 3 local courses. I don't know how long it will go between charges. I usually bring it in after two or three rounds and charge it. (His will only do 1 and a half rounds.) It's very easy to set up and use even for a non-techie like me. I would definately recommend it to a friend or buy one for the husband when/if his dies.

The V100 GPS unit is one of the less expensive GPS units, however, if you are looking for a device that is easy to use, accurate and that does not break the bank in monthly or yearly subscription fees, then this one might be for you.

There are a couple of idiosyncrasies with it that you do need to know about however. First is that when you download a course from Sonocaddie's website, be sure and check the details. If that course doesn't have information listed as to origin of the information for you chosen course, it is probably empty of all information other than the course name. I downloaded Cedar Pines (local 9-hole course close to Wichita, Kansas) and though it shows up in the menu...it has NO yardages and only one Hole. I tried mapping that course manually and it wouldn't allow me to move past hole #1. It's no big deal for if you just start a "New Course" you can go ahead and map it manually. However, if you downloaded the course and it was empty, you will have to delete the course you downloaded from your GPS AND you will have burned up one of the initial 5 free course selections.

Again, that is not a big deal because most people will opt for the $30 one-time subscription that allows unlimited downloads.

When mapping fairway "targets" (hazards) from the Fairway View, the V100 shows you three lanes that represent the left rough, the fairway and the right rough. There are three positions in each "lane" to specify the type of hazard and supposedly, their relative distance from the green. HOWEVER, instead of having the potential of marking 9 fairway targets per hole, you have ONLY 3. You can place those three in any of the "lanes" but you can put only one in each of those relative positions from the green. For instance, you cannot put more than one target in the furthest position from the green even though one is in the right rough and the other in the left or in the fairway. Attempts to do so will erase the one previously entered. I did not see that limitation documented in any of the manuals nor in any of the reviews of the V100 that I'd found.

That really is the only "negative" comments I have about the little unit.

It is very good about locking onto satellites in my area even in cloudy weather (actually was misting the first time I used it and I was locked onto 9 satellites!)

After mapping the Cedar Pines course, I found the data provided by the GPS to be very accurate as confirmed by both checking it against Tee Box yardages and also by stepping off the distances on a couple of PAR 3's.

The "Mark" function seems to be accurate also as checked by stepping off the yardage from the point of the shot and the location of the ball after the strike. Unfortunately, my shots were not NEARLY as long as I'd convinced myself they were! Need to work on that <LOL>

The displayed data (yardages) are easily read. The fonts are large and contrast is high.

This little unit will show you every distance you will ever need, and allow you to change and add points on any course at will. It is wonderfully simple to use and to also mark and and measure each shot you take. Once you know the real distance each club makes your accuracy will go up and your scores down. And rather than trying to hit as far as you can on every shot you have the information you need to manage the course and hit each shot the right distance to avoid the hazards. It also tracks your play and after a round will display your progress around the course and show you the spots you stayed at to take the next shot.

The biggest news is the outstanding Customer Service and Mapping Support. Response is typically overnight, and mapping requests for changes or new courses are handled promptly. They really do want to improve their data and look to work with users rather than ignore them. The belt clip with my unit was hard to undo, but they mailed me a new one instantaneously. The birdie lifetime service for $29.95 gives you personal space on their server to store you course modifications and previous tracking records so you never need worry about losing the data on your V100 unit.

I am totally satisfied with my unit and have to wonder why anyone would pay 3 times the price for units with little additional function.

For a simple Golf GPS it works great --- The only thing I don't like is you have to manually advance it to the next hole. Other then that, it's a heck of a deal for $100.

I really like this little GPS unit. It's small yet easy to read and gives me all the information I need. I usually play local courses in my area so I don't need all the fancy stuff but when I do play new courses, it gives me distance to three locations on the green and hazzards on the fairway. That's really all I need. It also has a setting to measure the distance of each shot. I know it stays charged for at least 3 rounds. That's about how many rounds it takes to use 1 of the three bars and that's when I re-charge it so I don't really know how namy rounds it will stay charged? I have checked it with friends GPS units and it is always the exact same or within a yard or two of their fancy units and they all have to pay a yearly free. I always use my yardage and have never had a problem. This unit has a minimal one time fee and then your done! So far, I have never had less than 7 satallite connections and it is usuall 9 or more. The software loaded on my computer with no problems and is easy to us. I have only had to contact the company one time and they were very helpful and friendly. I got to a service tech within one minute and my question was answered and I was done in less than five minutes with a little friendly conversation thrown in along the way. If you don't have to keep up with the Joneses and just want a good GPS with minimal informaton, then this is the unit for you, and me!

I've had this GPS for nearly 2 years.

Pros:

1) Size - small and fits easily into your pocket.

2) No subscriptions - 29.95 gets you unlimited course downloads, let's you store your top 30 courses online, and 10 courses on the GPS. There seems to be a decent array of courses available, though any courses built in the last 4-5 years don't seem to be on there.

3) Simplicity - very easy to use, especially the distance information and marking shot distance.

4) Ability to course map.

5) Battery life is above average

6) Display is clear and works well in most conditions.

7) Durable - I've dropped it a couple times on hard surfaces and it works fine.

Cons:

1) Distances on courses can vary compared to other GPS units. Have compared #s to friends GPS units while playing and often the V100 was the most disparate compared to the others, generally by 3-5 yards.

2) Distances to hazards on most courses I've played are often inaccurate.

3) On at least 3 courses I've downloaded, I showed up at the course and the course information would not work (i.e., I would get 999 on every hole). There are courses supposedly mapped, but you can never know for sure until you get to the course.

4) Course mapping is a little bit of a pain and not something you can do in seconds while you play a round, despite what the instructions may say.

5) Customer services is average - when I've emailed to ask questions I often get form-email answers. A great example was when I requested a course to be mapped and the response was something my 6 year old nephew could write.

6) The belt clip that comes with it is kinda cheap and the clip loses it's grip after a while.

7) No ability to keep your score information.

To me, for basic information about distances to the green, it's fine. But the consistency of information, especially to hazards as well as the fact that courses in the database sometimes do not work and can't be confirmed prior to going to the course to me makes it not worth it and why I'm in the market for a new one. For just a few bucks more, units like the Calloway uPro, or the Bushnell Neo and a few others are better values for the money.

I was finally able to use my Christmas present....Sonocaddie V100. I was impressed. I had done a lot of research on all the golf gps units out there and chose the V100 over all the others and I am not disappointed. The three big pluses the V100 offers is low price, internal re-chargeable battery, and no annual fees. I did opt for the birdie package (one time $30 fee) so I have lifetime downloads of any course. The unit holds 10 courses and your on-line folder with Sonocaddie allows you to store 30 courses.

My main concern for a yardage indicator was just that.......give me the yardage. I do not need to see the hole layout as the only courses I play are in my backyard and I am familiar with their layouts. Plus, you do have the option of adding your own "marks" for each hole. The options are somewhat limited....bunkers, trees, OB, creek and pond. It would be nice if more icons are available, for example: cart path on a dog-leg, or a pole, etc.

Bottom line...the V100 performed flawlessly. I played a course today with gps in the cart and I truly believe the V100 was more accurate. I do not particularly like the belt clip provided so the unit was in my pocket all day except when it was used.......it stayed on, the yardage was displayed when I pulled it out of my pocket, and did not lose a signal.

If your main concern with a golf gps is yardage, I dont think you can go wrong with this unit. One note is that the loading of the software for downloading courses did not like me using google chrome as my browser. Once I switched to IE7 on vista, I was on my way.

I would definitely purchase this unit again and recommend to my golfing partners.

I purchased this GPS over the winter and just had my first chance to try it out, I could not be more pleased. This GPS was very easy to read, gave very accurate yardage and helps to speed up your game, no looking for markers. One course that I play was not mapped so I contacted Sonocaddie, a person actually answered the phone, I e-mailed a scorecard to them and had the course for download in 3 days. My friend had just purchased a Callaway GPS for $250.00 plus a $50.00 download and aside from his having pretty pictures of the course they both did the same thing. In my opinion you can not go wrong with this product.