SkyCaddie = Explorist?

[Rye_n_Coke]

Does Magellan (Thales) make the SkyCaddie? It looks just like an Explorist. Anybody know if a firmware change would turn an explorist into a SkyCaddie?

 

http://www.buy.golfusa.com/viewItem.asp?It...LF&Search=N

[+monahmat]

Does Magellan (Thales) make the SkyCaddie? It looks just like an Explorist.

 

I can't say for sure but I would definitely assume so. And boy is that expensive. I have a Explorist 500 and paid no where near that. I also think that one of the big problems with this would be map availability for the courses your playing. I think I'll research this a bit more. I am an avid golfer and had thought about something like this myself. Even if you did not have maps but just stored the center of the greens as waypoints you be able use it as a range finder without much trouble.

[+user13371]

...I am an avid golfer and had thought about something like this myself. Even if you did not have maps but just stored the center of the greens as waypoints you be able use it as a range finder without much trouble.

You wouldn't even need to walk the course, if Google Earth or Microsoft Live Maps/Virtual Earth has good imagery. You could set waypoints on each hole ahead of time and download them to any GPS - Magellan, GArmin, SkyCaddy, etc...

 

Re SkyCaddy being expensive ... typical when someone takes a general purpose product and markets it for a "special purpose" instead. That's why I buy tools & safety glasses at hardware stores instead of bike shops.

[+user13371]

I handled the SG4 SkyCaddie at a Sharper Image store today. No doubt about it, this is a re-badged Explorist 400 with specialized firmware - selling for about $350.

 

The SG3 is an Explorist 210 (lacks the SD card slot and uses AA batteries), but I don't know the price of that model.

 

A few thoughts:

 

- The SkyGolf business model includes subscription fees to download course layouts for where you want to play. It's not enough to double the price of the GPS, they want a yearly fee for data

 

- This kind of specialized product hints at why Magellan is getting so fussy about letting just anyone download firmware for any model (they now require you to register your GPS model and serial number and will only let you download the matching firmware).

 

If I could turn my Explorist 400 North America into a 400 Europe, or a Sky Caddie, or (insert notional super-cool specialized GPS product here) just by flashing the firmware, they would lose a lot of potential profit.