Arccos whats the difference

[davetja]

I purchased a subscription of the latest Gen 3 Arccos as many friends were raving about it. I found it wound me up and I spent more time fiddling with the app than concentrating on my game, it was regularly missing shots, even drives and was useless on the green (which didn't necessarily bother me as much as missing drives/irons).  It turns out that the friends enjoying using it are all IOS, i'm using Android and suspect that may be the key problem.

Anyway I absolutely love the concept but playing maybe twenty to thirty times a year there's no way I would spend £99 a year on the subs on such a flaky product.  I now understand they are bringing out the link may may actually resolve my concerns.

My question is therefore what is the difference between the non subscription Gen2 and Gen3 . There appear to be plenty for sale on ebay however iuf I go for the Gen2 how will I differenciate between tat and Gen1? 

Thanks and apologies if a bit rambling... 

[Rchang]

You pay more upfront for Gen 2, but then do not have to do subscription services going forward. Otherwise all the same. Not likely to change what you’ve not liked so far

[TR1PTIK]

Gen2 sensors were slimmed down from Gen1 and will work with the new Arccos Caddie Link (Gen 1 sensors do not - it's right there on the product page). Both Gen1 and Gen2 sensors do not require an annual subscription. Gen3 sensors by nearly all measures are the exact same as Gen2 except for the firmware. Arccos has stated in a previous press release that firmware will be the differentiator between Gen2 and Gen3 (at least for the time being). Arccos has also stated that Gen2 products will continue to be supported. 

Here's a link to their FAQ page: https://www.arccosgolf.com/pages/arccos-caddie-smart-sensors-frequently-asked-questions

EDIT: After reading your post again, I thought I should provide a bit about my experience with Arccos. Disclaimer: I'm an iOS user. I first tried Arccos a few years ago (I'm fairly certain it was right after Gen2 was released). At the time I was a Game Golf user and was happy with their product, but I wanted the advanced analytics that Arccos provides - primarily Strokes Gained.

I think I used Arccos for a couple of months playing once or twice a week and was very unhappy. I experienced lots of missing shots compared to GG and I ran into a few mapping errors that I had to get corrected through Arccos Support (btw, their support is top-notch). I eventually sold Arccos and went back to GG, but as time went on and it became clear that GG was falling severely behind and at risk of closing their doors I decided to give Arccos another chance (after a brief experiment with Shot Scope).

I purchased the Gen2 sensors in the fall of last year and while I do still experience missed shots I find it is no less than what I experienced with Game Golf and every so often Arccos completely nails it with zero missed shots for a round.

So while I wouldn't expect it, it is remotely possible you could see some improvement through new sensors. Arccos is constantly working on their product which is - at least partially - why they switched to a subscription service. I don't think it was necessarily that I received bad product the first time around, but that they continued to support and improve the product making it more usable.

I'm not sure what your expectations are, but I'll caution you by saying none of the shot tracking systems I have used are perfect at recording shots. There will always be some missing data that you need to fill in if you want to get the most of it.

My advice, keep your score and perhaps some basic stats on a scorecard and then at the turn, end of your round, or anytime you find yourself waiting on a group ahead, look at Arccos and fill in the blanks. There's really no need to look at it and edit after every single hole. That will just distract from your round, potentially irritate your playing partners, and slow down your pace of play.

[davetja]

Thanks for that in-depth experience summary. I mentioned this because I have half a dozen friends using iOS and say it's good, I know no one using Android. Rash time I played it missed at least three drives and ten irons which is useless. I expected it to be poor on putting and that didn't worry me but I was using it for scoring so whilst my score looked good even with the manually added putts it was often wrong.
My question was more around the fact that it's "flaky" I want to buy it without subscription hence gen 2, I will also buy the new link when I'm able to get one in the hope that will resolve the missed long club shots.
Therefore I really wanted to know how to identify a gen 2 on eBay as most people sell gen 1 or 3?
Thanks

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk

[TR1PTIK]

9 hours ago, davetja said:

Therefore I really wanted to know how to identify a gen 2 on eBay as most people sell gen 1 or 3?

On the Arccos FAQ page linked above, they mention product packaging as one of the differences so as long as the seller is posting actual pictures of the product it should be easy to spot the difference. Also consider that Gen2 sensors were originally called Arccos 360 before they changed it to Arccos Caddie. Note: Arccos 360 products will be older Gen2 products which means the sensor batteries may not last as long as Gen2 sensors under the Arccos Caddie name.

[MaxEntropy]

On 7/26/2020 at 3:08 AM, davetja said:

Thanks for that in-depth experience summary. I mentioned this because I have half a dozen friends using iOS and say it's good, I know no one using Android. Rash time I played it missed at least three drives and ten irons which is useless. I expected it to be poor on putting and that didn't worry me but I was using it for scoring so whilst my score looked good even with the manually added putts it was often wrong.
My question was more around the fact that it's "flaky" I want to buy it without subscription hence gen 2, I will also buy the new link when I'm able to get one in the hope that will resolve the missed long club shots.
Therefore I really wanted to know how to identify a gen 2 on eBay as most people sell gen 1 or 3?
Thanks

Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk
 

I am a gen 2 Android user. The only real issue I have had was the well-known Samsung battery drain issue. That seems to have somewhat been resolved with an update a couple months ago as I can now easily make it through a round with my Samsung. I had been using an old phone with no sim card (another Android) with no real issue other than I had to be careful not to pay attention to the "plays like" info since wind, etc. was not updating real time. The weather was stuck on whatever it was the last time I was on wifi (usually the night before). I almost never have any missed shots and most that are missed are my 5i, which is likely the least-used club in my bag, so I'm tempted to believe it is a borderline faulty sensor, but I don't find it a big deal. Adding a shot when it does miss it is quick and easy, especially since I know to double-check when I hit a 5i.

I'm not a software developer, but as I understand it, the development process is easier for Apple since the hardware/software is nearly the same. To get to the same development level for Android with multiple hardware manufacturers and most throwing their UI on top of the base Android is likely too expensive to justify the effort. It sucks, but I get it. With that said, I have never even seen the iOS version so can't comment on the differences.

[fozcycle]

I used Arccos for over 100 rounds and was excited about the iOS app onthe iWatch so I upgraded my Gen1 iWatch to a Gen 3.   It was working fine for about a dozen rounds then it started locking up on my home course after about 13 holes.   I contacted the support staff and they sorta helped but as it kept happening, the support staff quit helping me.....being rather upset over the ordeal and paying a bunch for a new iWatch with an app that was not working properly, I dumped Arccos and switched to Shot Scope.  I really liked the analytics of the Arccos but if it wont work with my iWatch when they said it would, it is no good for me.

[TBT]

I used Arccos for over 100 rounds and was excited about the iOS app onthe iWatch so I upgraded my Gen1 iWatch to a Gen 3.   It was working fine for about a dozen rounds then it started locking up on my home course after about 13 holes.   I contacted the support staff and they sorta helped but as it kept happening, the support staff quit helping me.....being rather upset over the ordeal and paying a bunch for a new iWatch with an app that was not working properly, I dumped Arccos and switched to Shot Scope.  I really liked the analytics of the Arccos but if it wont work with my iWatch when they said it would, it is no good for me.

I had the same issue with my I watch...it worked for a few rounds and then it just stopped working.

I quit using it because I was missing too many shots and was spending too much time trying to edit shots to get a clear picture of my round.


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[Stamos86]

I am an Android (Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus) user and have been using Arccos for about 8 months. I have not had an issue with excessive missed shots. It will generally miss 0-2 a round and those are usually putts. Since it uses your phone's microphone, I always make sure to have my phone upside down in my pocket so that the sound is less impeded for my swings. That is really the only advice I can think of. Do you take practice swings often? I always take a couple, and that may be giving it more of a chance to pick up the swing.