Rangefinder for the Blackberry

[jayda]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

this is great news!

Now let me try on my 8130...

[focal]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

It's been a few months now, anymore feedback on this? I just downloaded the demo (5 demo rounds). Looks solid and is a great deal at $30/year.

I hit the links Sunday to try it out and will sure to pay the annual fee if it's as good as it says it is.

I am a feel player, and usually get a good feel for yardage as long as I walk by markers every so often. On a new course in carts, I'm pretty lost, this should help a lot.

[laxgolf]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

Is this like the Golflogix GPS? I'm deinitely intrigued.

[sellis]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

It's been a few months now, anymore feedback on this? I just downloaded the demo (5 demo rounds). Looks solid and is a great deal at $30/year.

I hit the links Sunday to try it out and will sure to pay the annual fee if it's as good as it says it is.

I am a feel player, and usually get a good feel for yardage as long as I walk by markers every so often. On a new course in carts, I'm pretty lost, this should help a lot.

I found that the built-in GPS module for the Blackberry is kind of crappy and not very accurate. This product would probably work well if you bought a better GPS adapter for the Blackberry (which are available) but I went with a different solution.

[Onin3]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

HI there Steve, I was trying to sell my buddy on it. He has a Bell BB- 8703, will it work on that. Is Brampton Golf Club in it?

Thanks

Hi Steve,

I work for Itinerant Software. We are in the process of adding new courses all the time. You can request courses directly on our website:

http://www.itinerantsoftware.com/products/courseRequest

I will get Copetown Woods marked on Monday.

Thanks,

Trevor

Hi Trevor, sorry for calling you Steve

Do you need to have a constant web connection on the Blackberry to run it while using the GPS, meaning a connection to the web while out on the course? The guy at the pro shop told me he thought you did, that didnt make sense to me.
I'm out of luck as I have the 8700 but my buddy has a GPS on his BB.

Thanks,.

RB

Steve,

We have marked Copetown Woods and it is now available in GreenFinder:

http://www.itinerantsoftware.com/pro...ovince=Ontario

In regards to using an external bluetooth GPS receiver, it does work, but you need to make sure your BlackBerry is running OS version 4.2.1 or later.

Trevor

[Hombre Lefty]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

a technical question though, the difference between the gps hardware on a blackberry and that on a dedicated gps golf receiver is that the gps receiver looks at more satellites (12 i believe) than the BB (which looks at 4 i think)... so this makes me suspect the accuracy of a blackberry's GPS will be nowhere near as accurate as a dedicated golf gps, and that's something the golf gps software can't fix because it's part of the bb hardware (or so i suspect). Maybe the gentleman from itinerant can comment on that and (hopefully) tell me i'm wrong in thinking that? I have a Blackberry now, and my gps on google maps is only accurate up to 200 meters which is ok for driving but not golfing....

[focal]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

a technical question though, the difference between the gps hardware on a blackberry and that on a dedicated gps golf receiver is that the gps receiver looks at more satellites (12 i believe) than the BB (which looks at 4 i think)... so this makes me suspect the accuracy of a blackberry's GPS will be nowhere near as accurate as a dedicated golf gps, and that's something the golf gps software can't fix because it's part of the bb hardware (or so i suspect). Maybe the gentleman from itinerant can comment on that and (hopefully) tell me i'm wrong in thinking that? I have a Blackberry now, and my gps on google maps is only accurate up to 200 meters which is ok for driving but not golfing....

I'm playing my home course Sunday which is pretty well marked. I'll have a lot of comparisons to check out the accuracy.

[ttimbeck]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

You do not need a constant web connection. You only use the data connection to download the course at the beginning. After that you are just using GPS. It doesn't work on the 8703 because the GPS isn't accurate enough. You need a 8800, 8820, 8830, 8310, 8330, 8110 or 8130.

HI there Steve, I was trying to sell my buddy on it. He has a Bell BB- 8703, will it work on that. Is Brampton Golf Club in it?

Thanks



Hi Trevor, sorry for calling you Steve

Do you need to have a constant web connection on the Blackberry to run it while using the GPS, meaning a connection to the web while out on the course? The guy at the pro shop told me he thought you did, that didnt make sense to me.
I'm out of luck as I have the 8700 but my buddy has a GPS on his BB.

Thanks,.

RB

It depends on the model of BlackBerry, but with the 8800, 8820, 8310 and 8110 the accuracy is usually 1-3 yards. There is a review of GreenFinder in the July/August issue of Golf For Women, and in their testing they said the accuracy was always under 4 yards.

Google maps can use GPS but it can also use the location of the nearest cell tower, which obviously doesn't provide very good accuracy.

But the only way to know for sure is to try it out. You can sign up for a 5 round free trial on our website:

http://www.GreenFinderGPS.com

a technical question though, the difference between the gps hardware on a blackberry and that on a dedicated gps golf receiver is that the gps receiver looks at more satellites (12 i believe) than the BB (which looks at 4 i think)... so this makes me suspect the accuracy of a blackberry's GPS will be nowhere near as accurate as a dedicated golf gps, and that's something the golf gps software can't fix because it's part of the bb hardware (or so i suspect). Maybe the gentleman from itinerant can comment on that and (hopefully) tell me i'm wrong in thinking that? I have a Blackberry now, and my gps on google maps is only accurate up to 200 meters which is ok for driving but not golfing....

[ondadl]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

Just got the 8330, and, depending whether gps actually works or not, will give this a go at Royal Woodbine tomorrow and report back.

[Haps]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

Hmm getting close to replacing my phone. This may sway me towards a BB. Although I'm on bell and that new Samsung phone looks interesting.

ttimbeck anyway you can swing us a special discount for TGN members?

[ondadl]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

Just got the 8330, and, depending whether gps actually works or not, will give this a go at Royal Woodbine tomorrow and report back.

Reporting back...

The software was incredibly easy to download and use, other than when I closed the program to make a call after 3 holes, and then had to use up another one of my free rounds to reconnect. The tracking system itself was accurate to about 10 yards. Even with my curve lying on the ground, the distance was still wavering quite a bit. Distance at the 100, 150, and 200 markers was also within 10 yards. The biggest problem for me was in the amount of battery power the phone uses with this software. I had more than half of a charge, and by the 12th hole, a very slow 4 hours in, my phone was so low that it automatically shut off all of my frequencies.

Would I use it again? For fun, yes, but my gauge is probably within 10-15 yards anyway. I couldn't see myself paying for a subscription because almost all of the courses I play on their roster already have gps in their carts. I am more than willing to blame the inaccuracy of the yards on the blackberry device itself, and not this secondary application. Very cool software, no doubt, but be sure to bring your phone charger for the way home.

[torontodude]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

The tracking system itself was accurate to about 10 yards

That's too much IMO. 30 feet!

[ttimbeck]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

Reporting back...

The software was incredibly easy to download and use, other than when I closed the program to make a call after 3 holes, and then had to use up another one of my free rounds to reconnect. The tracking system itself was accurate to about 10 yards. Even with my curve lying on the ground, the distance was still wavering quite a bit. Distance at the 100, 150, and 200 markers was also within 10 yards. The biggest problem for me was in the amount of battery power the phone uses with this software. I had more than half of a charge, and by the 12th hole, a very slow 4 hours in, my phone was so low that it automatically shut off all of my frequencies.

Would I use it again? For fun, yes, but my gauge is probably within 10-15 yards anyway. I couldn't see myself paying for a subscription because almost all of the courses I play on their roster already have gps in their carts. I am more than willing to blame the inaccuracy of the yards on the blackberry device itself, and not this secondary application. Very cool software, no doubt, but be sure to bring your phone charger for the way home.

Unfortunately, GreenFinder is only as accurate as the device it is running on . The accuracy of the 8330 is usually 1-10 yards - as you observed. If you are using the 8110, 8310, 8800 or 8820, the accuracy is usually 1-3 yards.

While using GreenFinder you can press the red End key (right of the trackball) to switch out of GreenFinder to make a call or check email. Then when you click on the icon it resumes where you left off.

Battery usage also depends on the device. On the 8800 series a round uses about 30%. On the 8300 series it uses about 40%. On the 8100 series it uses about 45%.

Hmm getting close to replacing my phone. This may sway me towards a BB. Although I'm on bell and that new Samsung phone looks interesting.

ttimbeck anyway you can swing us a special discount for TGN members?

Head on over and sign up for the BlackBerry Owners Lounge and check out their promotions page for a 50% off discount on GreenFinder:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/ownersl...Fpromotions%2F

[seabird]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

i have the 8310 and used my first free trial round last week as osprey valley. i also had a golf buddy which i was trying out.

by the 4th hole i switched off the golf buddy b/c it was having problems with reception while the BB was great. the best thing about the BB is that it is in colour, bigger display and i really liked the layout i.e. big numbers that are easy to read.

biggest concern was battery life - i used for most of the round and while it did last the entire round, my battery didn't have much left by the end. wondering if there is some way to switch in a back up batter w/o losing the round.

if the battery thing could be figured out...this is a winner.

btw - returned the golf buddy.

[hotshotsgolffanatic]

Re: Rangefinder for the Blackberry

not to hijack the thread, anyone know if a version for the iphone will be out soon?