Thinking about a GPS watch

[neild76]

What is everyone's favorite GPS watch?

 

What is the latest and greatest/most advanced.

 

Will I every use any of the extra bells and whistles, or do I just need the basic yardages to the green?

 

Thanks.

[Gollie]

My favorite GPS watch is my "daily driver" the Garmin Fenix 3. I only ever take it off in the shower (so it does not get soap on it) and to charge it.

 

I walk to get my steps daily, run, cycle, ski, hike and golf using the watch. It has an app for each activity plus many more.

 

Have been with Garmin since 2009 with various GPS watches. The Fenix 3 is the best by far. Looking to get the Fenix 3 HR for Christmas. Quality devices that Garmin has supported constantly since I received it a year ago.

[Wedge]

I'm a Bushnell Neo X user. It's been on my wrist for about 3 years now. Works flawlessly. It's seen at least a couple dozen different courses and has never failed me. Battery life is outstanding. I could play sun-up to sundown with no problem.

[Geaux Gators]

I have a Garmin S6. I used to have an S1. it was great, and is still going strong, when/if my son ever decides to play. My S6 is a little less "straight forward" but I think its perfect. I have an apple watch, and I honestly hate the Golf GPS apps i have used so far, I think the Garmin is so much simpler to use, i think its probably more acurate than the readings on my phone. I have always double checked my numbers with my groups different rangefinders, and my Garmin is alway the closest to it. I have not used a Bushnell, but one of my regular partners just got one and says its great, his S1 had finally given up the ghost after about 3 or 4 years.

 

 

 

edit:

I did try the bluetooth aspect of this one, and i absolutely HATED it, it went off for everything and the battery just absolutely died like nobodys biz niz....

 

after I turned that feature off, I love it.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

I have the Bushnell neo-x and think it's great. Long battery life and accurate. Only downside is they measure to fixed points of the front and back of the green. They have newer models like the neo-xs and something else now, also great with long battery life.

 

I switched to a Garmin X40 this year because I wanted an all in one golf and a heart rate fitness device for daily wear. I wrote a fairly comprehensive review in an X40 thread, but overall I like it. Auto shot, score and stat tracking works well and provides interesting data. Provides hazard distances, but to be honest I rarely look at hazards. Much shorter battery life than the Bushnell but still plenty for 18 plus holes.

 

If I wasn't interested in the fitness monitoring, then I'd probably recommend Bushnell or the Garmin s20.

[Mathwiz]

Garmin S20. Garmin does faster yardage updating than Bushnell. I had a Neo X. I hated getting to my ball in the fairway and standing there waiting for it to update the current yardage. The S20 has the scorecard, fairways hit, GIR, and number of putts built in. It gives layup numbers. Hazard distances. It also gives a summary at the end of the round as far as how many fairways hit, greens in regulation and putts. It also has a measure how far you hit the last shot feature that is easy to do. How long the round took to play. When you get home , plug it in to the computer and it will upload your round and display stats from your recent rounds in graph style.

 

It also does several more functions, but I'm not interested in them at this time. Maybe later.

[oldschooltarheel]

I use Garmin S4... love the three yardages I need most... front, back and middle of the green.. helps me know how much club to clear the front and easy to look down at your wrist... quick and efficient .. great battery life

[oldschoolrocker]

As one Oldschool to another, thanks for the tip, I am in the market for a GPS watch.

[quarterskins]

I have a Neo XS. I like it a lot, but it's not perfect. The fixed point FMB doesn't bother me. It's easy enough to interpolate. But I usually use my laser within about 175 yds anyway. If I could only have a watch or a laser, I'd choose the watch. It's so fast. Refresh is 3 seconds, which seems plenty fast enough to me. Battery lasts just about 2 rounds. If I play a 4.5 hour round and don't charge it before the next round it usually loses battery before the end of the second round. I like the shot measurement. It's quick and easy. The watch is really great from fw wood range; just look at the watch and select a club. Worst thing is that most of the hazards shown are greenside bunkers. With FMB of the green, I don't think I ever care about greenside bunker distance. I'd much rather have a lot of fairway bunker info, but it's always skinny on that compared to greenside.

[Schex]

Any update on your selection neil?

[ray9898]

I have a Golf Buddy WT3 that has performed well over the past year.

[cristphoto]

Has anyone done an update on the Bushnell Neo X? I have one that's a couple years old and I recall you couldn't select just the course(s) to update but had to update all. Is it difficult? Does the Bushnell site have clear instructions? Thanks for any help.

[Cwing]

In to follow recommendations.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Has anyone done an update on the Bushnell Neo X? I have one that's a couple years old and I recall you couldn't select just the course(s) to update but had to update all. Is it difficult? Does the Bushnell site have clear instructions? Thanks for any help.

 

Yes I have, it was kind of quirky but worked --- I had a beef with Bushnell (igolf) and how they only allowed single course updates. Meaning you have to know what course needs to be updated and then update them 1 by 1. The user has NO knowledge of what courses may have been updated, so I was told by support, "just to update before you play them." To me that is kind of stupid and defeats the purpose of having 30K courses stored on your device if have to update it to play the course. I suggested to them that they should list the date updated on their website for each course, so the user can browse before you play it and check to see if there had been any recent updates--- don't know if it was ever done. I was also told that bulk DB updates were technically difficult, however I find it odd that Garmin manages to do it.

 

But honestly there were a couple of many courses that had mapping issues. I reported them and they were promptly resolved and ready for me to download to my watch. The issue is that no one else would know those maps were ever updated! Again kind of stupid.

 

In my opinion maps are now mature enough that they don't get updated that often anymore, so I didn't let that issue bug me too long. Overall I liked the Neo-X a lot.

 

I've since moved to a Garmin X-40 for fitness and golf, and that does have bulk map updates which seem to come about quarterly, so that resolves my map update issue I had with the Neo-X. However the X40, being a very new product with new features, brings along another host of technical quirks. Nothing is perfect, technology is evolving rapidly and quirks are inevitable and I've just come to accept the good with the bad.

[cristphoto]

Thanks. So now you can update a course one at a time? When I got mine the salesman said it was all or nothing. The silly thing is you wouldn't know that changes to the course have occurred until you play - then it's too late. Luckily most courses don't modify their layout very often.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Thanks. So now you can update a course one at a time? When I got mine the salesman said it was all or nothing. The silly thing is you wouldn't know that changes to the course have occurred until you play - then it's too late. Luckily most courses don't modify their layout very often.

 

Yes-- you can update one at a time. The sales person didn't know what they were talking about. This has always been available since it was first sold. There has never been an option to update all.

 

Here is the documentation http://bushnellgolf....ate-process.pdf. I haven't visited the iGolf update site www.bushnell.igolf.com in a long time since I really didn't have a need to update any courses on a regular basis....plus now I have a Garmin.

 

Maybe they changed the site, but I found it odd that they didn't tell you if/when a course was updated. For instance at one course I played in Canada, the first time there the device had the course in the device but would error out and not load the course. I reported it and to their credit they had it fixed in less than a week and notified me that I could load the update to my device. I did, and the next time I played there the Neo-x worked just find. Unfortunately no one else will know you need to update that course till they experience the issue.

 

Good luck.

[joergensen]

Pebble 2 SE ($69.95) with Game Golf app ($0). Unbeatable functionality at unbeatable price.

[Geaux Gators]

The Pebble paired with the Golf Pad GPS app is also great. you have to upgrade to the premium version of the app, but its less than 20 dollars. I prefer the Garmin watch for its information and accuracy. But if it was down to what is the most cost efficient? My old pebble and the phone i already owned would have been hard to beat. I don't personally care for the Game golf app when it came to the watch readouts. never could get it to change holes from my watch. but this was already after i had gone to the Game Golf Live and the apple watch. The watch was a gift, or i would still have my pebble steele

[ronnbee]

Bushnell neo

[OLD_BONES]

Garmin S20

[Johnny Stroke]

Does anyone have opinions for Garmin S20 vs S4?

 

Thanks!

[TruGolfer]

Two new products I'm eyeing --

 

Garmin S60 Golf GPS Watch

Huawei Watch 2 Classic + Golfshot Pro

 

One is a dedicated golf watch with some smart watch functionality. The other is a full-featured smart watch with some golf functionality (via smartphone golf app).

 

Decision, decision... :swoon:

[ilovenewtech]

Think you have to look at the new Shot Scope V2 which was released yesterday.

 

www.shotscope.com

 

I am a V1 user and the performance tracking is brilliant, GPS functionality looks very good and it is a lot of watch for the price.

 

Worth considering.

[tyorke1]

I have the original tomtom, simple and works well and customer service is fantastic.

[High Plains Driver]

Bushnell Neo XS on my bag and it works very well. I am very satisfied with it.

[Pi5seeker]

Scheels had the Garmin S20 on sale for $150 last week. I was tempted to buy 1 and sell my rangefinder.

[Little Ned]

Does anyone have opinions for Garmin S20 vs S4?

 

Thanks!

Interested in this as well.

[Dpavs]

For me it went this way... a lot of additional bells and whistles are not needed. Need distance to greens, hazards and layups and that is about it. Tried a watch... ok but ended up hanging it on my bag most of the time as I did not like having it on my wrist while I was playing. Switched to a Garmin Approach G10... absolute bliss. Inexpensive, has everything I needed and more... can hang it on my bag, put it my pocket or hang from a belt loop. As long as the G10 is around I will never go back to a watch..period.

[Big Ben]

I have the original tomtom, simple and works well and customer service is fantastic.

I've been checking out the Tom Tom Golfer 2 seems cool but I worry about the shot tracking seeing practice swings, etc. I don't understand how it auto tracks each shot. Defintely has a sleek modern design looks sharp. BB

[Johnny_Fairway]

I use the Golf Buddy voice 2. I keep it on my belt and give the button a tap as I slide my bag off my shoulder upon arrival at my ball.

 

Very unobtrusive and is accurate enough for my purposes. The default is center of the green, but it also gives front and back.