Kitty

I bought and used a Sky Caddie unit all season long. It is abit pricey but I thought it was a very good unit. I had no problem with my unit at all. I disagree with other reviews that said it was hard to read the screen print out on very sunny days. I had no problem at all reading the screen print out. I bought the leather case accessory in addition and I think this takes better care of the unit when it's covered. You can download maps from Sky Caddie's directory, but again you have to pay an annual membership fee to do so. You can map your own courses with the Sky Caddie without any fees. It only takes a few minutes on each hole to record the front,center and back distances of the green. The course does not have to have GPS for you to record on your own. You cannot put layup info on your own. To get layup info and the rotating green distances from your unit, you have to download from Sky Caddie's directory to get all these features. I did get a membership from my state and another state I visit. Downloading the 4 star courses from Sky Caddie's directory is really slick. The layup distances are great and the feature where the green rotates and gives you actual distance no matter how far left or right you are from the fairway is really neat.

Some tips that I have learned:
1. Turn the unit on immediately when you get to course, it takes some time
for the unit to find a satellite (5 to 10 min normally)

2. If you don't like to carry your unit on your belt, I put a strap around the
top part of my bag where I can put the holster on for the unit.

3. I find it better then the distance binoculars because no object in front of
you will stop from getting distances (hills, trees, etc)

4. One really neat feature is marking the distance on how far you hit your shots. Finding out Driver/Fairway Wood distances were great, but it really helps to find out what distances you are really hitting your irons to the greens (all irons)

I would give it a thumbs up. Speed of play is really great with this unit, you know your yardages immediately - there is no looking for sprinkler heads, in-ground yardage plates, etc. Get to your ball and fire with confidence to the yardages you are hitting too.
Good Luck