Garmin Approach G5 Touchscreen Golf GPS (Old Version)
Garmin Approach G5 Touchscreen Golf GPS (Old Version)
You Save : $259.99 (52%)
Item Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Give your game a boost of self-confidence with Garmin's Method G5, a rugged, waterproof, touchscreen golf GPS packed with thousands of pre-loaded golf course maps. Method makes use of a high-sensitivity GPS receiver to measure person shot distances and show the precise yardage to fairways, hazards, and greens.
Give your golf game a increase of confidence with the Strategy G5.
Eradicate guesswork from your game by keeping score digitally, obtaining correct yardage readings, and way more. (Click images to enlarge.)
Built for GolfersWeighing in at just six.eight ounces with batteries and boasting a transflective color three-inch touchscreen, the Method is your featherweight fairway guide regardless of the lighting conditions. IPX7 waterproofing signifies that the device can withstand accidental immersion as well--but thankfully, you are going to be avoiding water hazards, of course.
Remove the GuessworkThe Strategy displays and updates your precise position on stunningly detailed, preloaded course maps all through the United States. Click to see Garmin's present Method G5 course listing. Approach's very sensitive GPS receiver pinpoints your position and removes guesswork from your game. And as you move, Approach automatically updates your position, so you'll normally know your yardage. There is no subscription or setup charges, and Strategy is compliant with USGA guidelines.
Touch Your TargetNeed to measure distances for your next shot? Touch any point on the sunlight-readable display, and Method shows the precise distance to that precise spot--fairway hazard landing location or the front, middle, and back of the green.
Get on the GreenZero in on the pin with Approach's Green View. Just tap the flag on the map to zoom in on the green--then you can drag the flag to position it where you see it, giving you more correct yardage.
Keep Score DigitallyApproach doubles as a digital scorecard for your foursome. Just after the game, you can save and review the scores on your personal computer at home.
Add More CoursesGarmin is regularly adding way more courses to their map information, as well as updating and enhancing their course maps for Approach G5. Download the most current courses from Garmin.com.
What is in the BoxApproach G5, belt clip, USB cable, speedy begin manual
NOTE: You can now update your Strategy G5 with new stat tracking software program that records putts per round, fairways hit and greens in regulation. It also tracks club distance averages and is still incredibly very easy to use. Go to www.garmin.com/golf to get this absolutely free computer software update for your Approach G5.
You Save : $259.99 (52%)
Technical Details
- Rugged, waterproof golf GPS unit with 3-inch sunlight-readable touschreen display
- Preloaded U.S. course maps, including fairways, hazards, and greens
- No annual fee; new maps available for download from Garmin.com
- Measure shot distance with highly sensitive readings to eliminate guesswork from your game
- Digital scorecard for up to four players; save and review the scores on your computer at home
Consumer Reviews
I've owned a SkyCaddie SG3 for some time and, weary of its annual fees, glacial operating speed, and pedestrian display, I decided to go color. I purchased the Garmin Method G5, but its display is particularly troublesome to see in normal outdoor circumstances. So I also bought the Callaway uPro. I played an whole round on my property course, with all 3 GPS units mounted on the cart. My findings:
Build top quality: All 3 units are rugged, with excellent fit-and-finish. The Garmin gets the nod, considering that it's waterproof. The Callaway is water-resistant, and you can acquire a watertight skin for an outrageous $24.99 to shield it additional. The SkyCaddie is not advised for use in the rain.
Size: The Callaway uPro is the smallest and thinnest, about the size of an LG Chocolate phone. The SG3 is related height and width to the uPro, but considerably thicker and heavier. The most significant of all is the Garmin, the size of an iPhone and four instances as thick. It is wide, heavy, and not really good for the pocket.
Accuracy: The three units correctly mapped my dwelling course, agreeing on practically all distances (within 6 yards of every other) and hazards.
GPS acquisition: The old-technology SG3 takes forever to acquire GPS, at times much more than five minutes. Each the Garmin and the uPro acquire satellites just about immediately. The uPro has technologies that, as soon as it locks onto satellites, it actually keeps them. Just after locking on, I took the unit indoors, and even put it in my pants pocket. It by no means had to re-acquire. Advantage: uPro.
Acquiring courses: The Garmin wins handily. All ten,000+ out there courses come preloaded in its 1GB memory. No annual charges, no paid memberships. The Garmin Method G5 supplied each course I cared to search. Of course, your mileage can differ.
To make the most of your SkyCaddie, you will need to pay for an annual membership on their web site, and download courses individually. Some SkyCaddie memberships let you to download as various courses as you want from all over the planet...nonetheless, the unit's paltry memory will only hold a few at a time. The uPro also demands that you sign up on their web-site (no annual memberships, even though). With the uPro, Standard Mode (an alphanumeric color screen that resembles that of a SkyCaddie) is zero cost for unlimited courses. For Pro Mode (the nifty aerial photography view of every course) you spend for only the courses you wish to play, a la carte. Your initially Pro Mode course is no cost.
Information: All units show distances to the front/middle/back of greens. The SG3 also shows hazards on the exact same screen, but it does not give you hazard carry distances, like the uPro does. The Garmin shows the entire hole, which includes hazards. But showing the whole hole indicates that the illustrations of hazards are tiny, as is the accompanying yardage text. Coupled with the Garmin's dim display, it really is fairly useless. Curiously, the Garmin apparently doesn't contemplate trees to be obstacles, so they're not represented at all on the graphical display. The uPro (in Pro Mode) shows every single tree and hazard - in fact, the entire hole, as photographed from satellite. It is like viewing my actual course (such as my property!) from above. There is absolutely absolutely nothing like it.
On the property screen, both the SG3 and the uPro also give you the time of day, battery strength, and GPS signal strength. The Garmin gives you none of the above. You will need to briefly press the power button to see the time. It also shows a battery icon, but that under no circumstances moved in the course of my round.
Battery: The Garmin and SG3 each take AA batteries, no matter whether alkaline, NiMh rechargeable, or lithium ion. With any AA sort, both units readily total at least two rounds. The uPro uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Unlike SkyCaddie models that use internal lithium ion batteries, which are a actual horror show to replace (SkyCaddie recommends you send the unit back), the Callaway uPro battery effortlessly drops in. Callaway says it takes three hours to charge, but it did not take me anyplace near that long. UPro battery life is six-12 hours, depending on how vibrant you set the display's backlight. With my display settings (see Display, beneath), I readily completed a round with lots to spare. As far as battery preferences go: For some, consistently recharging and altering out AAs is a grind. For other people, recharging (and eventually, re-buying) internal lithium-ion batteries ($27 for the uPro) is just as negative, in particular considering that the battery can leave you high and dry mid-round if you forget to charge it the night prior to. To every single his own.
Display: The SG3 is monochrome, so it does not stand a opportunity. Its display is dim and boring, but it does give you a button on the side for a backlight. The screen sizes on the SG3 and uPro are practically identical. The Garmin's touchscreen display is almost iPhone-large, and drop-dead beautiful...when you happen to be at house. Take it outside, and it washes out to the point of uselessness. Worse but, to save power, the display occasions out a handful of seconds soon after you touch it, making it even dimmer. You touch the screen to wake it up, but when you touch the screen, the unit thinks you want to measure a distance, so the measurement feature pops up. You require to hit the "Done" button to exit that. There is no way to boost the screen timeout or disable the screen dimming function. Also, due to the fact the Garmin is a touchscreen, it's a enormous fingerprint magnet, so it only looks pretty for the very first hole. The uPro wins the display contest handily, with a bright and functional screen. You can play two methods: graphically (Pro Mode), showing the course through aerial photography, or with big, bright alphanumeric text (Simple Mode). Because golf courses have especially low contrast (lots of green color and not considerably else), I defaulted to the Standard Mode for simple and easy readability. For the aerial view, you can always hit the Pro Mode button on the side of the unit, as it really is considerably a great deal more useful about the green. The uPro's default setting is to power-save the display soon after (I believe) 45 seconds. In contrast to the Garmin, which dims its display, the uPro goes blank till you hit a button, which is an huge buzzkill. Fortunately, you can get around this. You can change to a longer timeout, or disable standby altogether. As the uPro has a especially bright display, what I did was take the backlight down to 25% (from a default 70%), and disabled standby entirely. I quickly completed a round with plenty of battery life to spare this way. The uPro and the Garmin use a reflective LCD technology that basically tends to make the display brighter in direct sunlight. The uPro's version of this technology worked far far better than the Garmin's. The only time the Garmin display looked remotely readable was when you aimed it straight at the sun.
Just for fun, I took along my iPod Touch 2G, to evaluate all the displays outdoors. I figured that the iPod's conventional LCD wouldn't compete with the reflective technology of the Garmin and the uPro. Incorrect. The iPod destroyed both of them. It wasn't even close. So, if you have an iPhone (the iPod Touch won't do GPS), you could want to look into the golf GPS apps at the App Store. If you do make a decision to use an iPhone, just don't forget, it will not stand up to getting dropped, kicked, and tossed around like these three ruggedized units, and it for positive ain't the least bit water-resistant.
Hole-to-Hole: The easier SkyCaddie wins here. It automatically advances to the subsequent hole. If there's any confusion (you happen to be playing past the current hole, for example), it'll ask you if you want to move to the next hole. If you happen to be starting on Number ten, for example, the SkyCaddie tends to make that selection less difficult as nicely, with a grid from which you can select holes by way of cursor. The Callaway Auto Hole Advance is sort of a drag. If you're anyplace near the green, Auto-Advance jumps to the next hole. You can not measure your 40-yard pitch to the existing green. And when they say Auto, they mean Auto. In Auto-Advance mode, there is no way to back up to the current hole, or any preceding hole, for that matter. The only way out is to go to either Manual Advance, or Manual Advance With Prompt (it asks you to press the center button to advance). Hitting a button on each and every hole is tedious. The Garmin Auto-Advances sequentially, but if you jump around (skipping a couple of holes to get about slow play), you will need to touch the screen arrows for every hole advance.
Settings: The Garmin offers you nearly absolutely nothing to customize, as it is both very intelligently developed and extremely automated. It would have been great to be able to crank the screen brightness, or at least extend the timeout. Each the SG3 and the uPro give you a host of settings to mess with, such as screen brightness (contrast only with the SG3), hole advance preferences, and considerably additional.
Expense of ownership: The Garmin and uPro are color, so they're not affordable. If you want to evaluate apples to apples, you could go to the color SkyCaddie SG5, but be advised that the SG3, SG4, and SG5 are practically identical in functionality, screen size - generally, Anything - so you are paying just about $150 a lot more for color alone, which is the price of a complete 20-inch color Television. (My SG3 is discontinued, so now I'm quoting price tag from the replacement SG4.) Couple that with the stunning wow element of each the Garmin and the uPro, and the best-of-the-line color SkyCaddie SG5 is a terrible deal. To the SkyCaddie's price of ownership, add their totally outrageous annual membership charges. SkyCaddie also charges ridiculous sums of revenue for stuff like plastic cart mounts and batteries. The Garmin wins here, hands-down, with all accessible courses preloaded into memory. No fees whatsoever! For accessories, RAM Mounts tends to make a rock-solid, somewhat reasonably-priced cart mount for the Garmin. The uPro, although not requiring you to spend for a membership, makes you download each and every course. They're all totally free, if you want to... Read more›
My son and I used this on a neighborhood course for the initial time and it performed fantastic. No a great deal more looking for markers or taking the time to walk off an estimate (er, OK - especially when I am not in the fairway). We have some large greens thankfully and getting in a position to just move the flag on the device for a a lot a great deal more accurate reading is super. Also, those handful of terrific drives I had - the G5 made it very simple to get the exact yardage (did not break any records though). Only 1 of my 7 (normal house area) courses is not programmed in yet but I see it's on schedule in the subsequent update. If yours is not, simply let Garmin know like I did. Wonderful unit, now if only my golf got improved :-)
Update note: At this time (four/26) I downloaded Garmins most recent course database to the device and now all my courses are on the market.
You Save : $259.99 (52%)
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