Best GPS Golf Watch for $200

My Skycaddie watch will now only last 9 holes. I want to replace it this Christmas. Any recommendations?

I have a Bushnell Excel watch that does everything I need. The main reason I got it was the battery life. After more than two years it still gets in two rounds of golf. Excellent feature set too.

Garmin S20

I'm getting a Scope Shot soon... It was on sale for like $130. Not as feature rich as the G20 but it does record all your shots for you and helps you track stats if you're into that.

I heard great things about the Garmin S20. I'm actually planning to buy one.

I'm not sure that you can do better than a S20 for value.

S20 are $129.95 at Golf Galaxy, I just ordered mine. I really don't like watches, but I am prone to leave things and walk off, so a watch will help.

Got mine today(S20) and I am very impressed so far. The quality compared to the GB2 is off the charts, this is an amazing watch for the money. Very good job Garmin. I hope to play tomorrow and give it the real test. I turned it on and it is fast compared to the GB2. It found out where I was, an offered the local courses, very nice. Chose the one I hope to play and the first hole popped right up.

Shot Scope V2. On sale for $119 right now.

Good to hear. I just today bought one "like new" off eBay for $90 total.

I had a Bushnell Ion that was pretty good but I hated wearing a watch while playing. I'm tryin again because the S20 shows the back edge of the green. I have a rangefinder but could never quite tell how much room I had behind the pin and as a result of being overly careful was too often (way) short.

Also the front and back of fairway bunkers will help too.

And the features about how far one walks, etc. will be interesting to see.

All I want for now is the yardage. I had two errors today, not sure how. Got a bad reading on a par 5, and it jumped to the next hole, on hole 10 to 11, for some reason. Bumped a button, who knows. Overall I am very pleased with it. I had my Golf Buddy Two along for the ride and my friends Swami Izzo, a very cheap GPS. The Izzo did great, imagine that. Not quite as accurate as the S20, but close all the time. The Golf Buddy was on another planet, very disappointed in it. It was usually 20 yards off, horrible. I am still learning how to operate the S20, so those errors are probably mine. I really like this watch. It is loaded with features. I will use scoring next time.

I've had the S20 for a few years now. Battery still lasts all week in watch mode and then 36 on the weekend until needing a charge. The face is getting pretty beat up, and have had to replace the band a few times, but no reason to upgrade at this point. I found the shot tracking very annoying, and it would usually miss a shot here and there, so gave up on that a long time ago, but otherwise very pleased.

@platgolf - you might have bumped the "Up" button accidentally, or depending on the routing of the course you were on you might have gone too close to the next tee box and it assumed you were finished with current hole and beginning next.

It is easy to do with a jacket on. Played today and starting to get used to it. I agree on the score keeping, jumps to much. This is one cool watch for the money though. I finished a round today and it showed me how far I walked, nice. It did not jump any holes today and I know how to advance the holes now. So nice having a watch this accurate. I pulled it off after a few holes while wearing the jacket, and placed it on the cart trolley. Very accurate and highly recommended. Played nine and used 13% of the battery, and it charges very fast. this is far superior to Golf Buddy 2. I will probably throw the GB2 in the trash.

I used the S20 for the first time yesterday and really liked it. I agree that the buttons may get inadvertendly pushed by either your jacket or glove. For me it was my glove. But luckily, any bumps just took it to the watch screen. It was comfortable and very light. I do wear watches daily but nice to know I dind't feel this at all and didn't affect my swing. I only used the gps and odometer feature and loved the fact that the gps updates dynamically as I walk. (This is my first one so not sure if that is typical for all watches.)

I did jump around holes a bit at the end of my day and wasn't quite sure how to advance holes. After I finished the 18th, I wanted to do a 10/9 (parallel to the 18th) loops and the gps still thought I was on the 18th. How do you advance holes? I saw it mentioned just a couple of responses above. Thanks!

The left buttons should do that.

Vivoactive 3 is $130 on Amazon and tracks all kinds of activities. Golf app gives yardage, hazards, scores etc. Also you get notifications, long battery life etc.

Played today and the S20 was awesome. It's accuracy makes the game fun. I usually don't wear it, just hook it on the Clic Gear cart with the card holder as in the photo. My buddies Swami does not read the River Club, so we used mine. For what I need the S10 would have done. I have no desire for a laser anymore, and may sell it. I am using 13% of battery life playing nine, nice.

Hard to beat the Garmin, leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else and at $129 a easy decision, lots of choices out there but clearly Garmin is the best quality and at that price!

Saturday played at the Grey Stone golf course in Dickson, Tn and the Garmin S20 was money. I even kept score on it and it did great. This has been my best golf buy ever.

Got my S20 during the BF specials and have played with it a few times and agree, it works great! I have been playing around w/ the shot tracking function as well and really enjoy looking back at the round. Is it perfect? Of course not and I don't plan on getting the CT10 to help but it catches most of the full swings while I go back later to input the shorter chips later in the app or website. You can also go back later to update any shots missed, clubs selection, etc making it easy to adjust for the occassional mulligan :). The inputs it asks you after each hole take literally less than 5 seconds. I usually walk so I do those as I walk towards the next tee. I can see this potentially being a distraction if you're being social with your group, etc but I like the fuction and glad I got this rather than the S10. Battery is great so far as well, just less than 90% on a full round while using scoring and shot tracking.

Dang, those Christmas prices on the S20 are gone. I paid $129 and it is now $179. I hope those who wanted one got it already.

I've got an S20 that I'm willing to part with.

Mint condition. I only used it once.

I thought I could get along with wearing the watch but it annoys me. Can't play with anything on my wrists or hands.

Clicgear has a GPS watch holder mount (sold at Amazon for $10 https://www.amazon.com/Clicgear-GPS-Watch-Holder-Mount/dp/B00EDXTPR4?ref_=ast_sto_dp )

that easily allows you to attach any GPS watch to most carts. I attach my S20 to my Costco cart handle.

Whatever you do, stay away from the Shot Scope v2. In the year I used it, I went through at least 4 watches as they are constructed very poorly. ShotScope was fantastic with their warranty and replaced them each time for free, but watches shouldn't fall apart after 10 rounds.

In the end I bought an Apple watch and I'm pretty happy with the app options for golf.

+1 for the S20, although I have the G10 which is just the unit sans watch strap. I clip it to my belt or use a carabiner.

I have had great luck with the S20. I really like the hazard feature as it helped me get a par on a par 5. I needed the start so I could lay up, and it also gave the end of the hazard as well. Plus, the hazard feature is very easy to use. I really should have gotten the G10 as I don't wear watches as I don't like wearing them. Now I have gotten used to it so now it is not a problem. I would guess the G10 has the hazard option. A friend bough a Swami 5000 and it is no where near as accurate. I told him to get the 6000 if he got one, and he doesn't listen. He knew how much I like the S20, so that is on him.