Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
- 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
Give your game a boost of confidence with Garmin’s Approach G5, a rugged, waterproof, touchscreen golf GPS packed with thousands of pre-loaded golf course maps. Approach uses a high-sensitivity GPS receiver to measure individual shot distances and show the exact yardage to fairways, hazards, and greens. Give your golf game a boost of confidence with the Approach G5. Eliminate guesswork from your game by keeping score digitally, getting accurate yardage readings, and more. (Click
Rating: 
(out of 75 reviews)
List Price: $ 499.99
Price: Too low to display
Custom Wooden Golf Sign- Born to Golf, Forced to Work. | US $21.50 End Date: Thursday May-24-2012 21:26:42 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $21.50 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Question by AnAm-DaMc: What’s the difference between the VW Golf “GL TDI” and the “GLS TDI”?
2000 Volkswagen Golf GL TDI
and the
2000 Volkswagen Golf GLS TDI
What’s the difference between them?
Best answer:
Answer by Doug W
just options.
Give your answer to this question below!
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Review by Tech Nut for Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
Rating:
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 Approach G5, but its display is very difficult to see in normal outdoor conditions. So I also purchased the Callaway uPro. I played an entire round on my home course, with all three GPS units mounted on the cart. My findings:
Build quality: All three units are rugged, with great fit-and-finish. The Garmin gets the nod, because it’s waterproof. The Callaway is water-resistant, and you can purchase a watertight skin for an outrageous $24.99 to protect it further. The SkyCaddie is not recommended 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 similar height and width to the uPro, but much thicker and heavier. The biggest of all is the Garmin, the size of an iPhone and four times as thick. It’s wide, heavy, and not good for the pocket.
Accuracy: The three units properly mapped my home course, agreeing on nearly all distances (within 6 yards of each other) and hazards.
GPS acquisition: The old-technology SG3 takes forever to acquire GPS, sometimes more than five minutes. Both the Garmin and the uPro acquire satellites almost instantly. The uPro has technology that, once it locks onto satellites, it really keeps them. After locking on, I took the unit indoors, and even put it in my pants pocket. It never had to re-acquire. Advantage: uPro.
Getting courses: The Garmin wins handily. All 10,000+ available courses come preloaded in its 1GB memory. No annual fees, no paid memberships. The Garmin Approach G5 offered every course I cared to search. Of course, your mileage may vary.
To make the most of your SkyCaddie, you need to pay for an annual membership on their website, and download courses individually. Some SkyCaddie memberships allow you to download as many courses as you want from all over the world…however, the unit’s paltry memory will only hold a few at a time. The uPro also requires that you sign up on their website (no annual memberships, though). With the uPro, Basic Mode (an alphanumeric color screen that resembles that of a SkyCaddie) is free for unlimited courses. For Pro Mode (the nifty aerial photography view of each course) you pay for only the courses you wish to play, a la carte. Your first Pro Mode course is free.
Information: All units show distances to the front/middle/back of greens. The SG3 also shows hazards on the same screen, but it doesn’t give you hazard carry distances, like the uPro does. The Garmin shows the entire hole, including hazards. But showing the entire hole means that the illustrations of hazards are tiny, as is the accompanying yardage text. Coupled with the Garmin’s dim display, it’s pretty useless. Curiously, the Garmin apparently doesn’t consider trees to be obstacles, so they’re not represented at all on the graphical display. The uPro (in Pro Mode) shows every tree and hazard – in fact, the entire hole, as photographed from satellite. It’s like viewing my actual course (including my house!) from above. There’s absolutely nothing like it.
On the home 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 need to briefly press the power button to see the time. It also shows a battery icon, but that never moved during my round.
Battery: The Garmin and SG3 both take AA batteries, whether alkaline, NiMh rechargeable, or lithium ion. With any AA type, both units easily complete at least two rounds. The uPro uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Unlike SkyCaddie models that use internal lithium ion batteries, which are a real horror show to replace (SkyCaddie recommends you send the unit back), the Callaway uPro battery easily drops in. Callaway says it takes three hours to charge, but it didn’t take me anywhere near that long. UPro battery life is 6-12 hours, depending on how bright you set the display’s backlight. With my display settings (see Display, below), I easily completed a round with plenty to spare. As far as battery preferences go: For some, constantly recharging and changing out AAs is a grind. For others, recharging (and eventually, re-purchasing) internal lithium-ion batteries ($27 for the uPro) is just as bad, especially considering that the battery can leave you high and dry mid-round if you forget to charge it the night before. To each his own.
Display: The SG3 is monochrome, so it doesn’t stand a chance. 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 nearly identical. The Garmin’s touchscreen display is nearly iPhone-big, and drop-dead gorgeous…when you’re at home. Take it outside, and it washes out to the point of uselessness. Worse yet, to save power, the display times out a few seconds 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 need to hit the “Done” button to exit that. There’s no way to increase the screen timeout or disable the screen dimming feature. Also, since the Garmin is a touchscreen, it’s a massive fingerprint magnet, so it only looks pretty for the first hole. The uPro wins the display contest handily, with a bright and functional screen. You can play two ways: graphically (Pro Mode), showing the course via aerial photography, or with big, bright alphanumeric text (Basic Mode). Since golf courses have very low contrast (lots of green color and not much else), I defaulted to the Basic Mode for easy readability. For the aerial view, you can always hit the Pro Mode button on the side of the unit, as it’s much more useful around the green. The uPro’s default setting is to power-save the display after (I think) 45 seconds. Unlike the Garmin, which dims its display, the uPro goes blank until you hit a button, which is an enormous buzzkill. Fortunately, you can get around this. You can change to a longer timeout, or disable standby altogether. As the uPro has a very bright display, what I did was take the backlight down to 25% (from a default 70%), and disabled standby completely. I easily completed a round with plenty of battery life to spare this way. The uPro and the Garmin use a reflective LCD technology that actually makes the display brighter in direct sunlight. The uPro’s version of this technology worked far better than the Garmin’s. The only time the Garmin display looked remotely readable was when you aimed it directly at the sun.
Just for fun, I took along my iPod Touch 2G, to compare 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. Wrong. 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 may want to look into the golf GPS apps at the App Store. If you do decide to use an iPhone, just remember, it won’t stand up to being dropped, kicked, and tossed around like these three ruggedized units, and it for sure ain’t the least bit water-resistant.
Hole-to-Hole: The simpler SkyCaddie wins here. It automatically advances to the next hole. If there’s any confusion (you’re playing past the current hole, for example), it’ll ask you if you want to move to the next hole. If you’re starting on Number 10, for example, the SkyCaddie makes that selection easier as well, with a grid from which you can select holes via cursor. The Callaway Auto Hole Advance is kind of a drag. If you’re anywhere near the green, Auto-Advance jumps to the next hole. You can’t measure your 40-yard pitch to the current green. And when they say Auto, they mean Auto. In Auto-Advance mode, there’s no way to back up to the current hole, or any previous 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 hole is tedious. The Garmin Auto-Advances sequentially, but if you jump around (skipping a couple of holes to get around slow play), you need to touch the screen arrows for each hole advance.
Settings: The Garmin gives you almost nothing to customize, as it is both very intelligently designed and extremely automated. It would have been nice to be able to crank the screen brightness, or at least extend the timeout. Both the SG3 and the uPro give you a host of settings to mess with, including screen brightness (contrast only with the SG3), hole advance preferences, and much more.
Cost of ownership: The Garmin and uPro are color, so they’re not cheap. If you want to compare apples to apples, you could go to the color SkyCaddie SG5, but be advised that the SG3, SG4, and SG5 are virtually identical in functionality, screen size – basically, EVERYTHING – so you’re paying almost $150 more for color alone, which is the cost of a whole 20-inch color TV. (My SG3 is discontinued, so now I’m quoting price from the replacement SG4.) Couple that with the amazing wow factor of both the Garmin and the uPro, and the top-of-the-line color SkyCaddie SG5 is a terrible deal. To the SkyCaddie’s cost of ownership, add their totally outrageous annual membership fees. SkyCaddie also charges ridiculous sums of money for stuff like plastic cart mounts and batteries. The Garmin wins here, hands-down, with all available courses preloaded into memory. No fees whatsoever! For accessories, RAM Mounts makes a rock-solid, relatively reasonably-priced cart mount for the Garmin. The uPro, while not requiring you to pay for a membership, makes you download each course. They’re all free, if you want to use only Basic Mode. But if you want what makes the unit famous and awesome, which is Pro Mode video previews and flyovers of each hole, you need to pay. If you go for a 20-course package, for example, that’s $60. It’s still cheaper for most people than SkyCaddie, because there’s no annual fee. And the more courses you buy, the cheaper it gets per course. However, uPro accessories such as cart mounts are rarely discounted, and you’ll pay more for their little plastic add-ons than you would pay for a complete multi-handset cordless phone system or a new DVD player.
Extras: Each unit has (or will soon have, in the uPro’s case) the ability to track scores and aggregate player information. I don’t use any of that stuff. No amount of button-pushing or touch-screening could beat the ease and speed of marking stuff down with a pencil.
Wow Factor: The SkyCaddie is deadly dull, with zero Wow Factor, but highly functional. One would think the Garmin, with its big, beautiful touchscreen, would win. However, the screen is just too dim to view the image-based interface in normal outdoor lighting. The Callaway uPro, with its unique video flyovers of every hole, is the winner. While the flyovers may not be great outdoors (golf courses are green-on-green-on-green, so there’s little contrast), they’re great for previewing new courses in your home before you travel. Beyond that, the uPro comes with several preloaded video tutorials to help you get the most from the unit, and an earbud is in the box, so you can listen to the video narration. Voice Recognition, to allow you to change settings, holes, etc. by voice command, is built into the Callaway uPro, and they say it’ll be activated by late 2009.
Summary: Not one of these units is perfect, but the Callaway uPro is the runaway winner. It’s simple to use, highly customizable, deadly accurate, super-fast, and gorgeous to view. 2nd place goes to the SkyCaddie, even with its monochrome screen, pokey operation, and 20th Century technology. The Garmin comes in last, even though it’s the most sophisticated, intelligent, beautiful, automated piece, made by people who really know GPS. The thing is just too dim to use outdoors.
Review by Techman for Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
Knowing exact distance (to target, hazards, etc) seems to help build confidence and my game has improved significantly. Played a local private club today (Fazio design), the Approach G5 was so convenient and accurate that our caddy ended up using my GPS instead of his laser range finder. Have not tried Lithium batteries yet, Energizer Max AA lasted 27 holes, Duracell Coppertop lasted longer, 2-3 rounds. Only thing I have not figured out yet is that since my home club has 27 holes, I had to quit each time after first 9 and restart the round by choosing another 9 hole course instead of playing 18 continuously. Maybe time to read the manual 
Rating:
Bought the unit after reading good reviews here. I downloaded the latest database and was pleased to find that it covers all local courses. Very easy to use with touch screen, still have not had to read the manual yet after 5 rounds
Update (7/1/09). Tried Lithium AA batteries from Energizer, after 4 rounds the indicator still shows 3/4 power left. Also, the latest database has 9400 courses!
Review by B. Conover for Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
Rating:
I received the Garmin Approach G5 GPS golf unit from my husband as a gift several weeks ago. We had debated between this unit and the Upro but finally decided on the Garmin because it seemed more intuitive and quick to use on the golf course. It only has one real button used to turn it on or off (also used to lock/unlock the screen) and everything else is controlled via the touch screen.
I had checked and most of my local courses were already mapped. I’ve used it for at least 10 rounds and have found it to be very easy to use and the distances are quite accurate. It acquires satellites quickly. I like the ability to place the flag where it actually is. I also like to be able to measure my shots (although I always think I’m hitting a longer shot than I actually do but that’s not the unit’s fault).
I really enjoy keeping score on the Garmin – also a very intuitive process.
I have played rounds where someone in my group has used a rangefinder and I find the Garmin to be just as accurate and much quicker to use – I just look at the screen to see the distance to the flag without having to line it up or press any buttons.
The screen is easy to read in sunlight even with my polarized sunglasses.
I have been using rechargeable AA batteries and find they last over two rounds.
I like the sturdiness of the unit and don’t feel I have to be delicate with it. Occasionally, I have placed it in my pocket and have not found it to interfere with my swing.
I found a few bunkers missing in the mapping of my local course and I sent a request to Garmin from their website to correct these. I also requested two courses (which I play occasionally) to be mapped.
Overall, I am really enjoying using this unit and have found it very helpful in determining distances that I was semi-clueless about before.
Update: There were some bunkers missing on the Garmin G5 mapping of my home course. I had contacted Garmin sometime in June to indicate which holes should be corrected. Today I downloaded a new course update (7/1) and found the bunkers on my course had been corrected. Very good response by Garmin.
Review by Succcessful Investor for Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
Rating:
I played my first round with the Garmin Approach G5 today. I was very satisfied.
Strong points:
–finds satellites quickly
–lists golf courses by order of how far you are from them…closest first…makes finding local courses easy (you can also type in names, but I don’t see why you’d do it this way)
–automatic hole advance worked flawlessly
–tap-screen feature to zero in on the green and the area around the green (incluing traps and stuff) was very helpful…I used it on most holes
–distances to hazards like traps was very helpful…it’s good knowing that you can aim at a trap (because you know you can’t reach it)
–tap-screen feature to “place” the flag on the green is very useful…greens can be quite large, and there can be a 1-club difference between hitting to a front flag rather than a rear flag…I credit it with getting me a par on a long par-3 by indicating to use an extra club for a rear pin position
–with July’s update, there are 4400 courses mapped out
–all courses are stored in the device, not on your PC
–monthly course updates are free, never(?) a subscription fee nor disabling of courses you’ve already received…this makes up for the initial high price of the unit, in my opinion
–course downloads are handled by Garmin as a “purchase” of an item that costs $0.00, very straightforward once you understand that’s what’s happening
–once the unit is registered and you “purchase” this month’s course updates, the downloading process itself took only about 5 minutes, which seems remarkable for 4400 courses
–color screen easily visible in bright outdoor light
–very sturdy and waterproof
–only one physical buttton (on-off switch)
–all other functions are handled by the touchscreen, and everything was pretty intuitive
–measuring a shot was easy and fun (I do hit my 3-wood as far as I thought)
A couple of drawbacks:
–I walk and carry my clubs, and was not satisfied with using the belt clip to attach to my bag; I was afraid it would snap off
–Clipping the belt clip to your belt makes the unit hang in an unuseable position…you’d have to keep unclipping it
–It seems a little too big to put in your pocket without noticing it
–So I’ve ordered the separate slipcase with caribiner clip to hold it to my bag…I think I’ll feel more confident with that setup
–Got just one round out of pair of batteries…you’ll definitely want to order a couple sets of rechargeable batteries and a recharging device
–Quick-start booklet contains little information…it tells nothing about the initial steps of registering your unit online, how to find the serial number, or how to order course updates
–That said, the website has all the clues you need, although a few were hard to find and not entriely intuitive
Overall, my first impression is very positive. I formerly used a first-generation unit from iGolf, which just gave distances to the green. On this unit, the course map showing the shape of the hole, distances to hazards, closeup of the green, and ability to place the pin anywhere on the green were big improvements.
Review by Todd B. for Garmin Approach G5 GPS-Enabled Golf Handheld
Rating:
I’ve used the Garmin approach for several rounds so far. I generally score in the low to mid 80s on average difficulty courses (slope 124-126). I have not had experience with any other golf GPS device. My decision to purchase the Garmin Approach was based on golf course map availability for my area, durability in wet weather, screen view on bright days, and the reviews of others. I live in Chicago and found that every course I could think of in the area, city to suburbs, was included in the list of courses mapped. Once I had the Garmin Approach out on the golf course, my first thought was to gain the trust of the GPS. As I played my first round with the Approach I continually made comparisons to the yardage markers on the course, and found the displayed information on the GPS to be very accurate (within a yard or two). I paced off several hundred yard lengths and compared the number of paces to the GPS and, again, the device was very accurate…or vice versa, my paces were very accurate in comparison to the GPS : ). I’ve gone through this routine for every course I’ve played so far, with similar results. I have not had any issues with viewing the GPS display on bright days. As other reviews mention, the Garmin goes through a set of batteries in about two rounds so rechargeable batteries are a must. I purchased a set of four Enloop AA rechargeable batteries (the Approach requires two AA batteries) that claim up to 1,000 recharges per battery. That works out to be roughly 80 years of use out of a four pack of batteries if you play 50 rounds a year….suffice it to say, battery life is not a problem if you use rechargables. The auto hole change has worked flawlessly on every course. Green size is displayed accurately and the ability to move the pin to the actual location on the green is extremely helpful as many greens could be 30 or 40 yards deep….or more. As has been mentioned in other reviews, the touch screen is great and the menu is intuitive. I often use the movable crosshairs to locate a target that is 100 yards from the pin as this is the ideal position for a full 60 deg. wedge into the green for me. The shot measuring feature is easy to use and works well. Once you have set the shot measuring feature to start measuring your shot, you can navigate back to the course view so that you can study the map to plan your next shot (or help others in your foursome with yardages) while you walk to your ball. When you get to your ball, switch back to “measure shot” and it will display your shot distance. I choose not to use the belt clip (or carabiner clip) for the Approach because the device is small enough to put in my pocket or throw into one of the small pockets in my bag.
The Garmin Approach G5 is an extremely useful tool and I am pleased with the accuracy of the information it provides. I can’t claim that it has lowered my scores but I will say that it has changed my club selection on many occasions as I am still in the habit of determining club selection in my head based on the center-of-green. With the adjustable pin location, the GPS lets you know exactly how large the greens are and often times I will change my club selection by one or two clubs. No more guess work on distances, or where to hit the ball (or where not to hit the ball) on errant shots into the rough or next fairway. Sand and water hazards are displayed accurately. All said, I am extremely pleased with the Garmin Approach and ultimately I believe most serious golfers will have a golf GPS in their bags as prices drop.
“S”
In the US at least, the standard equipment differed. The base GL had manual window regulators vs the power window regulators of the GLS model. In addition, the GLS had a front arm rest, heated mirrors and upgraded interior trim and cruise control. (we are discussing the 2000 Golf GL TDi/GLS TDi)
GLS models had options such as: power sunroof, Monsoon sound system and heated seats, plus optional alloy wheels that weren’t available as factory options on the base GL model. Mechanically, the two trim levels are exactly the same; 1.9 turbo diesel motor that generates 90 BHP, with 155 ft.lbs torque @ 1900 rpm.
Hope this helps, a car nut