****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
***Four year update***I am pleased to report that this unit still works after 4 years. The only thing I have repaired is adding a new battery. The newer 6000 version (2 buddies have it after seeing my old version) battery lasts for 3-4 rounds. This has been a great unit.My initial review of this IZZO is as follows: Upon receiving it, I charged the unit with the USB cord provided. I mounted the belt clip stud to the unit and tried the belt clip. The unit snaps into place and releases with a "button". All seemed good. I took it out for the first time to a local course. I attached the unit to my belt with the clip. It was a men's club event with a shotgun start. We drove cross country to the far reaches of the course. I reached for the IZZO and it was GONE. I had not even used it once. The unit had unsnapped from the belt clip and was nowhere to be found. Luckily golf is still an honorable sport in our area and another player turned it into the pro shop. The course marshall actually brought it to me after missing only 3 holes of use. Wow what a way to start a round. So, I wouldn't trust the belt clip again. Fool me once...The unit itself is fairly easy to use, but the course selection guide print is very small. Probably fine for 25 year olds, but if you're over 50, not so good. The hole yardages however are large enough to read without assistance from eye wear. The course selector did not indicate 2 of our local courses initially. I had to do an update on the IZZO website which took about 1 hour as it updates over 28000 courses. It now showed one of our major courses where as when I received it, it did not.I have had an issue with the power button not responding a couple of times. When I finished the first round with it, I turned the unit off. The round was 4 1/2 hours. When I got home a half hour later, I tried to turn the unit on, but it would not initiate. The battery was dead. After charging it, it turned back on. I'll have to see if this is a problem with the unit or battery.I will try to update this after I spend more time with it.*Update*I have now used this unit several times and it has worked very well. I raised it to 4 stars from the initial 3. I went 5 weeks without using it and left it with a full charge. When I went to use it after 5 weeks, the battery was dead. I recharged it, but this must have some sort of parasitic loss when it sits. Just an FYI."One Year Update"Well after almost one year of use, this device has been worth the four star rating. It's beginning to show signs that the battery may be failing. Sometimes when I charge it, the battery signal just blinks instead of progressively showing that it's charging. After unplugging it and then replugging it in, it starts to charge normally. The unit also doesn't show accurately all hazards on the courses. Last week there was a hidden creek across a fairway that was not indicated, causing a "donated" golf ball to the parent course. Whoops. Other than that it has proven a valuable asset, especially when playing a course for the first time. It would be really nice if it displayed an overhead view of the golf hole like the Garmin unit.This is very small and light golf GPS compared to the old reliable Garmin 8 I had for a number of years, which I loved until it stopped being able to download courses. So now had to get another unit and purchased a fairly good priced Garmin for my wife a year prior to my Garmin dying and took it out a few times and it offered things she wanted that are great, but too small to read for me without reader glasses and I dislike having pictures of a courses hole set up all together! Golf is played by yardages, skill and feel. Came across this Izzo brand on Amazon and after searching online for what I wanted this unit is what I decided to go with reluctantly, only because I have used Garmin for so many years. Well the Izzo backlit screen is very bright in any sunlight condition making it easy to see and being so small of a unit in size the numeric reading are quite large to see easily! I am very impressed with the accurate yardages this unit offers comlared to all the course markings I have tested so far. Here is what I do not like about this unit and other than these two things the GPS is superior for all the needs I want in a GPS. I dislike that this unit really has a poor layup yardage I was used to having with my OLD GARMIN 8 unit. It has yardages for sand trap yardages and water to which I am not convinced yet that they are as accurate as what it is telling you. Then the biggest diappointment I was spoiled to have with the Garmin was having a layup option for my next shot on par 5 holes you could not reach. The Garmin old as it was gave you great yardage selections to give you the options you wanted in choosing the right club to layup with and this Izzo fails miserably not offering this even though it offers sand trap hazzards for yardages to guess by only! The Garmin would do this for water, traps and layup yardages easily. Hard to believe a unit this new with today technology coild not offer what old old old Garmin offered in this category! Aside from these two flaws rhis unit is awesome and love having it for ease in a GPS. I use a GPS for yardages. I do not want pictures of holes and pin locations. To me this takes away from what golf is all about and yardages is all that should be required to play this great game! Izzo thank you for still offering a GPS unit for yardages alone and please continue to do so, but just ask to offer more for layup yardages in the future!It is a good piece of kit. Have used it several times the ability to page up to see distance to hazards water/ bunkers is great. Friends have watches that do not have this aid. Well impressed.I purchased this GPS deeming it handy when visiting golf courses other than my own. I found it very helpful when I visited Mullingar two months ago but on a recent visit to Castlebar the course didn't appear on the display whilst Scurmore (a course I never heard of) was listed. Another problem with the GPS is that ocassionally the display fogs up.Good bold display,easily readable even in strong sunlight with middle aged eyes.Battery life 2+ rounds,distances to green accurate.Picks up new courses quickly.Downside doesn't seem to pick up hazards very well,water hazards often not shown , expect this is down to the quality and frequency of mapping.Good value for money.This GPS does not follow on to next hole automatically even making sure I have stood on previous green as recommended by maker.also little rubber seal on rear which covers battery lead whilst not in use was always loose and eventually of c ourselves it fell off on its own s o now lost.Great gadget for my husband. No hassle, easy to use and view.
