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We Tried It

GPS Units Put to the Test

This Article Features Photo Zoom

IZZO GOLF SWAMI
At first we struggled to upload courses onto the Swami by Izzo Golf because we’re on a Mac, and the Swami is only PC compatible. (It doesn’t work on a Mac’s Parallels Desktop. Luckily we found an old PC, thanks to our tech guy.)

Don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles from the Swami. Its simple, black-and-white screen only gives front, center and back yardages (it doesn’t measure your shots, and there’s no hole map), but the yardages were on the money. A big plus is its rechargeable Li-Ion battery that lasts 12 hours. You can’t turn on the Swami until you’re at the golf course, which is a great way to preserve its battery life.

It’s lightweight, basic, holds 10 courses at a time and has a database of 12,000 courses. Plus it’s easy to attach to your belt, and being light and unobtrusive is a real bonus when you want to access yardages immediately. Its plastic casing and limited capabilities beg the question: Will it come down in price? Cost: $150 | More Info: izzo.com

SONOCADDIE V300
The sturdy, waterproof-screen Sonocaddie V300 shows an overhead view of the hole with yardages listed down the right-hand side of the screen with lines pointing to the front edge of each hazard. This simple display made it easy to know exactly how far away we were from trouble.

A close-up view of the green made it a breeze to see our exact distance from the front, middle and back of the green.

We found it a bit too big to put in our pocket, but it fit nicely into our cart’s cup holder. Stores up to 30 courses. Its rechargeable battery lasts for 15 hours. PC only. Cost: $399 | More Info: sonocaddie.com