GPS Can Aid Your Golf Game and Find Your Dog

Oct. 15, 2005 — -- As recently as 1993, the Global Positioning System (GPS) was the exclusive domain of military tacticians and professional navigators. But now, this high-tech system of satellites can locate anyone and anything anywhere, for almost any reason.

Garmin eTrex Legend C ($250)
http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexLegendc/index.jsp

Want to get directions or just figure out where you are? This traditional guidance/map device comes in a tiny package and gets you where you're going.

The Garmin eTrex is 2.2 inches by 4.2 inches, and weighs only 5.6 ounces, so it fits in your pocket. Maps can be loaded onto the device from a computer, and it has custom mounting brackets for a car or mountain bike. It offers turn-by-turn directions for driving and scalable maps for off-road activities. AA batteries are required, and the joystick interface is fairly simple to use.

SkyCaddie ($349)
http://www.skygolfgps.com/

The SkyCaddie tells golfers exactly how far they are from the pin. The satellite system and GPS receiver locate you on the course, compare your location to the known location of the pin, and relay the distance between these two points to the handheld device. This is crucial for serious golfers, since the distance to the hole helps them choose the correct club. The SkyCaddie has thousands of courses programmed into its database, and you can manually add an uncharted course to your unit.

The USGA has just made electronic rangefinders (like the SkyCaddie, laser distance finders, and cart-based GPS systems) legal for use when posting handicap scores.

Wherifone ($150, plus $20-$45 per month, depending on calling plan)
http://www.wherify.com/html/solutions.asp?pageId=80

Although it's not available until winter, the Wherifone is such a great device, we had to include it. For kids, it's a cell phone. For parents, it's electronic peace of mind. The Wherifone is a kid-sized cell phone that has a GPS locator built in. Kids go out with the phone, and parents can check their location at a password-protected Web site. Anyone can make a call to the phone, but it has a limited number of pre-programmed buttons for dialing out. Dial-out numbers have to be entered online (there are four programmable autodial buttons, and the fifth autodial button is reserved for 911), and there is no numeric keypad. The idea is to limit call-out phone numbers to those that are approved by mom and dad, keeping kids from chatting their way to a big cell phone bill.