Samsung Gear S3 as a Golf GPS watch review

TScottTX · January 16, 2017

In my never ending search for the perfect Golf GPS watch I setup my new Samsung Gear S3 Frontier LTE last night, loaded a couple of golf apps and headed to the course this morning. Skies were sunny and temp hit ~60 degrees when I finished around 12:30.

The watch was set to cellular, no Bluetooth connection so your battery results may vary. Started with 100% battery and after a 3½ hour round I had 64% left. I fiddled a lot with the watch, watch face always on and received a few text messages.

The apps loaded were Golf NAVI and Smart Caddie, both free from the Galaxy Store, both are standalone apps that need no smartphone link as long as you download the course before you leave an internet connection. With my LTE cellular connection, the courses downloaded at the course. There are other apps available: Golf Pad and Hole19 which are also free to download but need to be paired with your smart watch. I also took along my iPhone and ran Golfshot Plus for yardage comparisons.

I’ve also owned and used various Garmin watches in the past, the Approach S6, S20 and X40. Although I liked them, they were good only for golf and notifications from them, ie texts and phone calls, disappeared quickly and the vibration was hard for me to feel. I also gave the Apple Watch Series 2 a go but there was no real standalone app for it. To be able to use its GPS chip you had to turn bluetooth off and thus had no contact with your phone for calls or text messages. Kind of defeated the purpose of a smartphone watch. The Samsung Gear S3, on the other hand, alerted me to text messages that I could easily answer. Phone calls are a snap. Bottom side however was that the Samsung Gear S3 was a little hard to see in the bright sun. I could easily see the center green yardage but the front and back readings were too small to see in the bright sun. Next time out I’ll try turning up the screen brightness but today I was concerned with battery life. My screen brightness level was set to 7.

Now, to the accuracy. I was a bit disappointed in Smart Caddie, at first, as the yardages were 10 to 20 yards below the reading from Golfshot. I’ve been using Golfshot for years and the yardages from Golfshot on my course are pretty close to the markers. Well, once I got home I noticed that I had Smart Caddie set to meters rather than yards and once I did the conversions the numbers were very close. Golf NAVI was spot on in yardage, maybe even more accurate that Golfshot. Golf NAVI also showed the elevation change from your location to the green. Maybe not so accurate but pretty cool nonetheless.

Attached are a couple of pics from the teeing area of our 9^th green. You’ll see the marker at 129 yds, Golfshot shows 126 yds, Smart Caddie at 121 meters = 132 yds and Golf NAVI spot on at 129 yds. Results were similar around the course at fairway markers and 150 poles.

Golf NAVI has a screen named “green” that just says coming soon so that sounds encouraging. Neither Gear S3 app showed yardages other than front/center/back so some hazards and layup distances would be nice. Both apps would do scorekeeping but just score and putts, no provision for other stats or your buddies score.

All said the Gear S3 with its cellular connection will fit my needs perfectly. Leave the phone at home, be able to get important calls or messages and get accurate readings to the green. Hopefully as time goes on the apps will mature and become even more useful.

cz13X4 · January 16, 2017

When I had an s3 watch I couldn't get the thing to work properly for almost every app it had or my phone had. Even Samsung gave up. Nice to see it is working for you! Wish the one I had did that.

Nick081974 · January 16, 2017

Did the apps you were using automatically advance holes when moving to next hole?

What are your inputs on the interaction with the he iPhone and S3 now that Samsung made it compatible? I have an Apple Watch and to be honest don't care for it and never wear it so have been looking at getting rid of it.

Thanks

TScottTX · January 17, 2017

Did the apps you were using automatically advance holes when moving to next hole?

What are your inputs on the interaction with the he iPhone and S3 now that Samsung made it compatible? I have an Apple Watch and to be honest don't care for it and never wear it so have been looking at getting rid of it.

Thanks

Both apps wanted you to input your score (or X out) at the end of the hole and would then advance to the next hole. Personally. I don't use the scorekeeper function and would like an option to not use it and have the watch auto advance to the next hole.

As far as S3 and iPhone interaction - I didn't like it at all and that's why I set the watch us as a "standalone" to the cellular network. When using via the IOS app you can't answer a text message and other functions are limited. Most annoying is that the apps available to download are VERY limited. An example is that although free, neither of the golf GPS apps are available! To get around this, I set the watch up as a standalone, implemented AT&T's Numbersync and then connected to a cheap android pre-paid phone (didn't even need to buy a plan) to download and install the apps I wanted to the watch. I don't get notifications from the iPhone this way but I do get a wearable that receives and makes phone calls and text messages and functions well as a golf GPS watch.

JOIslander · August 5, 2017

I use smart caddie on gear 3 frontier every round and I've found it quite accurate. When I stand on the course markers it's always exactly what the markers say, and I've never flown a pin with it (I've come up short, but that's due to my poor shot.)

I'm not good enough to use yardage to the yard anyways, so just by having a close estimate to the pin works wonders for my game because I'm just trying to gain consistency in girs and 2 putts. So far so good.