Sonocaddie XV2 Personal Golf GPS

Sonocaddie, A leader in Golf GPS
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have purchased the Sonocaddie and used if through a dozen rounds and side by side with a competitor, “G—logix”. I believe the Sonocaddie to be superior in features and accuracies. Unlike it’s competitor 1)I pay no download fees or membership 2)I can remap or plot various hazards, lay up points or special notations(I determine the areas of note on the whole, not some limited satellite mapper)3)customer service is outstanding and with the one year warranty my first unit was defective and upon returning it I received by return shipping a brand new unit…email exchanges were pleasant and professional. 4)Sonocaddie has a price advantage as well.

If I had to offer some constructive recommendations I’d suggest an automatic advancement to the next hole since the unit is clearly aware of its location and could/should advance to the next hole. I’s suggest they also consider a mounting bracket for a golf cart…..picking nits here as most universal mounts and clips could readily accomodate this unit.

Don’t believe you can go wrong with the Sonocaddie as to quality, accuracy, price and customer service

Steve

Probably OK product
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Bought this as a Father’s Day gift after doing online research. The good news is that my husband said I did pick the best product that he could tell, but I did pick the wrong model. This model was fairly hard to read the screen, so he is returning it and has already purchased the next model up… has a color screen which makes it easier to read.

Accurate, easy to use, good value.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve used the Sonocaddie XV2 for two seasons now both here (New Jersey) and in Myrtle Beach. I had the first generation Skycaddie and returned it after a month because it was unreliable (frequently did not pick up satelites). The SV2 has been great. It always picks up at least 6 satellites and is highly accurate with distances. I rarely have had an experience where I could not find a course in their online database and when I could not, the courses I requested were added quickly. Downloading of courses is a snap and can be done from any PC, which makes traveling easy if you have access to teh Internet.

The unit has never so much as hicupped, though sometimes with a lower amount of satellites it can take a few seconds to ‘lock in’ your distances. Very light, easy to use and handy with the included belt clip. The unit is powered by regular aaa batteries, which I feel is better than the GPS units you have to charge ’cause you can always carry spare batteries but a 110 volt outlet is rare on a golf course. I get at least a half dozen rounds out of a set of aaa batts. Free course downloads as well (no subscriptions).

The only downside is that the unit can be difficult to read in dim very conditions, though the contrast is adjustable. That said I highly recommend the Sonocaddie SV2.

Incomplete
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I have had my Sonocaddie for about 3 days and can’t get it to download any courses! I can log in to the website, but that’s about as far as I got. The instructions are fuzzy and incomplete for those who aren’t computer savvy. The frustration is that I ordered the unit to use over the 4th of July Holiday, and when I ran into problems, upon contacting Sonocadie I found they were closed for the week due to the holiday. Not much help here. I did however get to log in and when I found the course I play about 40% of my rounds at wasn’t mapped, so I sent in a request to “get er done”. Well, the response was that it isn’t in their GPS base, and they can’t plot the course, but that I could do it with my hand held unit (which I can’t get to work). So, why would I pay to do it myself? So now what? Well, I am hoping to be able to return the unit for a refund. The lessons learned are that if I have to go through this kind of expense and frustration just to of get accurate distance, I’ll stick with sprinkler heads and yardage markers and instead of GPS, use the money on lessons or equipment that you can really use without a computer!!!

Best Yet
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is probably the easiest to use golf GPS on the market. It is very easy to read outdoors and is extremely accurate. Adding or deleting reference points is a snap. The only thing I had trouble with was downloading my home course. The reason I’m writing this review is to give you a few hints so you won’t have the same trouble I did.

First…..You MUST use Internet Explorer as your browser when you sign on to the Sonocaddie web site. Neither Firefox nor Netscape nor any other browser will work. You can sign on with them, but nothing happens when you try to download a course.

Second….If you’ve installed the Sonocaddie drivers and still can’t download a course (it will constantly tell you to load the drivers, even if you just did it!), then go directly to FAQ.

Third….After you’ve adjusted your security rating and the ActiveX controls (per the FAQ), you’re probably home free.

It only took seconds to download my course after those adjustments. Don’t give up. It seems cumbersome, but it’s worth it.

The XV2 has all the features you’ll need to take a couple of strokes off your score. It’s not in color and doesn’t show an overhead view of the holes, but it is packed with reference points that will help your club selection.

Everyone likes the free course downloads and I’m one of them, that’s for sure. Put this little gem on your Christmas or birthday list, it’s a winner.

Update: Had some trouble downloading a course and finally contacted customer service ([...]) and am impressed. Jess got back to me within a day and was extremely helpful. I give her 6 stars!!!

Sonocaddie XV2
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Sonocaddie XV2 Personal Golf GPS

Great device… Not too keen on the white/orange color, but it works well. Once you use it a few times, it does seem to lock on to satelites a little faster. It’s not sirf star 3 as most auto gps’s, so it’s a little slower, but not big deal, just start it up a 5 minutes before you play. The large orange buttons are (1) to check drive distance (2) change between fairway/green view. Drive distance, you hit the right button once to mark your tee position, then once you get to the ball, hit it again for yardage. The left button toggles between f/c/b green yardages and hit it again for fairway/obstacle view. For a lot of municipal courses in Los Angeles, it’s been pretty accurate, compared with a friends skycaddie and we were very close most of the time. The only bad thing is the plastic lcd screen cover scratches easily… always put the cover on before throwing in your golf bag. I had to repolish it with some plastic polish. Other then that, it had all the courses i play in hawaii and california and it’s free to download, and yes it does sometimes not download the first time, but i never have problems getting the course i want. The device is easy to use and even if the course is off a little, just remap it yourself so it’ll be ready the next time. Some people are thrown off by such a little inconvenience. Yes skycaddie maps all their courses by people, but you’re paying for it… for the lower price i don’t mind. Plus people can upload the courses they mapped so you can choose on popular courses between updated maps that someone has uploaded. Overall a thumbs up.

Great GPS
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This golf GPS acquires a signal fast and has proven to be very accurate. I also love the fact that you have access to all US courses (via their website) without paying an annual fee. The display is very readable in daylight and the batteries last for about 5 rounds or more depending on how slow you play. I also have a skycaddie and I like this unit more.

Easy to get up to speed with
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Having researched many different GPS units that gave me more that just distances I selected the Sonocaddie Unit. I’m and 11 hdcp golfer and wanted to improve distance readings. The set up and course loading was straight forward. Now having used it on the course I can say that it was easy to use and gave me critical distances. In addition I was able to add in new information in the flow of the game. Here in New Mexico I easily pulled in 10 GPS signals and the distances were right on. After this experience I look forward to seeing how the unit holds up which is why I just rated it 4 of 5.

Great GPS device
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I recently purchased the Sonocaddie XV2, and I love it. There are absolutly no membership fees, all of the courses I play were mapped and available for download except for one (which was a short par-3 9-hole course that I was able to map myself very easily), and their customer service was great the one time I had to use them. It’s not in color, but definitely does its job.

Easy To Use
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I`ve had my Sonocaddie for about two months and find it vey easy to use and accurate.It has been used on three golf courses so far. I had a proplem downloading the courses initially into my computer because I did not have Win Zip but after a call to customer service , which answered on the first ring I might add, I was able to download a free version , and have had no problems since. A friend has Sky Caddie and is sorry he made that choice because of the charge for downloading courses and it takes forever to get through to customer servce.