Saturday I had a chance to play 9 holes with the V500. In the parking lot while getting my shoes etc. organized I turned it on and it picked up satellite fix in a minute or so. Rather than choose my course from the preloaded course list, used the Search function on the main screen. The course I was at came up in about 10 seconds or less.

I rode a golf cart and used a drink holder cart mount, which fit the drink holder very securely and kept the V500 in plain view at all times- a few times I took it out to the ball with me in my pocket and it was very unobtrusive. Even with the golf cart, and straying all over the fairway, the Automatic Hole Advance worked 100% of the time, by the time we got to the next tee it had advanced. Very reliable.

But- this required entering the score before leaving the greenside area- if the hole advanced before entering the score I simply had to hit the ‘back’ button once to back up one screen- and enter the score for the last hole, then hitting the next hole button. Something I easily adjusted to. After getting in the cart, bring up the scorecard and enter the score- a total of two touches on the touch screen. (I used the regular scorecard and not the ‘pro’ version where sand saves etc are entered for later analysis.) Entering the score before leaving the green takes all of two touches on the touch screen, (touch “Score” icon, then touch the number of strokes) taking only a couple of extra seconds before driving to the next tee box.

Because it was a new unit- I continually compared the yardages against known spots on the course (150 and 100 marks, marked sprinkler head, etc). The yardages were right on 100%. On one par three the whole group needed to use my yardage because there was absolutely no marker on the tee area. All 4 in the group chose the right club (not all hit the green though they all had the right distance!) based on the V500 yardage.

I used the “Touch Point” yardage feature a couple of times, once for a layup and once around a long dog leg right where I couldn’t see the green and need to plan the next 2 shots. This feature is very powerful and helped me get to both of those greens in regulation.

Pros-

1) Preloaded – meaning I am done paying for this and don’t have to pay fees for the next 3 years.- I needed to take a membership which was free and also gave me a free satellite package just for signing up.

2) Full color layout with lots of detail, the walking man icon shows you exactly where ‘you’ are on the fairway at any given point in time, accurate yardages, easy touch screen.

3) Fits nicely in my cart mount, and also in the pocket. Easily operated with one hand.

Cons-

The only ‘con’ is that I didn’t have the time on the backlight set to last longer than 15 seconds (choose from 15-30-60 seconds, or “always on”) so I had to hit the touch screen to turn the light back on. When I did this I activated the ‘touch point’ feature and had to wait 5 seconds for the screen to return to the regular view. I learned to tap the top of the screen to light it up without activating any of the features. When the backlight is off it isn’t easy to see the screen in the bright sun, but it’s perfectly viewable in bright sun when the backlight is on.

I haven’t tried the satellite view yet or the flyover, but at this point I give it 5 stars.
Rating: 5 / 5

I also downloaded two satellite images of the two local courses I play most. Absolutely horrible and useless. Washed out, hazy and generally lousy images, nothing like what you see on their website.

If you don’t care about the course maps, but just use the basic yardage screens, I’m sure it’s fine, but my XV2 does that now. At $400.00 a pop, Sonocaddie should have gotten this right before their release of teh V500. Perhaps sometime down the road I’ll demo the V500 again and see what improvements they’ve made. Meantime, this one is being returned.
Rating: 1 / 5