Golf GPS units are designed to give golfers an edge by providing accurate yardage reading to targets and hazards on the course. With GPS units, unlike rangefinders, they provide distances to ‘known’ targets (as opposed to aiming them at a target).
For example a GPS unit typically provides yardages to the front, center and back of the green, but cannot target the actually flag stick, since it will change from day to day.
Consumer & User Reviews & Ratings
| Laser Rangefinder | Rating | Price | Tourn. Legal | Typical User Comment |
| Bushnell Yardage Pro GPS | 7.5/10 | click to see |
Yes | “the simplistic nature of this by Bushnell is nice” |
| Garmin GolfLogix GPS | 8/10 | click to see |
Yes | “the Toyota Corolla of golf GPS units: dependable & consistent” |
| Golf Buddy Pro GPS | 5/10 | click to see best price |
Yes | “many complaints about accuracy of the yardages” |
| iGolf GPS Caddie II | 7/10 | click to see |
Yes | “The iGolf does it’s job and comes at a very reasonable price” |
| SkyCaddie SG2.5 Golf GPS | 5/10 | click to see |
Yes | “SkyCaddie SG2.5 owners regret their decisions due to poor support” |
| SkyCaddie SG4 Golf GPS | 4.5/10 | click to see |
Yes | “While is small and light with a nice screen, people have had issues with installation.” |
| SkyCaddie SG5 Golf GPS | 5.5/ 10 | click to see best price |
Yes | “Yardages are fast and accurate. On customer service – they ARE terrible.” |
| Sonocaddie V300 Personal Golf GPS | 8/10 | click to see best price |
Yes | “The Sonocaddie V300 GPS unit has delighted the majority of users.” |
| Sureshot GPS Golf | 6.5/10 | click to see best price |
Yes | “Very simple to use and very intuitive. I found the stats feature absolutely awesome.” |
| Upro Golf GPS (new) | 7/10 | click to see best price |
Yes | “The aerial fly overs can give you a serious edge when playing a new course” |
Some golfers comment that knowing the front, center, back distances are much more valuable since it encourages intelligent shot making rather than just trying to knock down pins, which gets a lot of amateur golfers in trouble.
Below are ratings and links to full consumer reviews for the most popular golf GPS units on the market. Prices may be lower than presented below (click to see the latest price).
Key Factors for Golf GPS Units
1.) Satellite Availability
Golf GPS units use overhead satellites to receive their current placement in the world and relative distance to the known objects on the course. One of their strengths is that you don’t need a direct line of site to determine the yardage to a target. If you are in the wrong fairway or behind a bunch of trees, you can still find the distance to the pin you are aiming at, even if you can’t see it.
The downside is that if you are under a canopy of trees, you won’t get the satellite signal, but it shouldn’t be too hard to guesstimate in this situation.
2.) Course Mapping
Courses must be “mapped” to be able to present you with distances. Some of the units require an ongoing or one-time fee to provide you with access to the mapped courses.
The quality of mappings can also vary, as some are done from satellite images and some are walked and mapped by hand by professional mappers.
Almost all units allow you to self-map a course, so if your course is not available you can play it once and mark positions and then you will have all the distances available the next time you play.
Golf GPS units are different than golf laser rangefinders, which provide line of sight distance measurements and do not require course mappings or satellite connections. See our laser rangefinders reviews page.
If you don’t see the model you’re interested in, you may want to check out this link: Top Golf GPS Units.
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