GPS Watches

[Bsudgolf]

I've been thinking about a new Golf watch. Which is the better one or would I be better off getting a smart watch and using an app like the Grint on it? 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Bsudgolf

[NCDuffer]

Over the years I’ve used a Garmin handheld unit, an Apple Watch with a few different apps, a Bushnell watch,  and now on a ShotScope V3.  I found the golf watches do better on battery life.  Some apps can really eat up the Apple Watch battery, some use the phone GPS to save Watch battery, but then you need to be near your phone for accurate  displayed distances.  The apps are slick and can do a lot of things, but I tired of the hiccups.  Apple has updates and then the app needs an update.  I like to track my stats, so I used GolfPad with tags. I really liked it, but the V3 doesn’t have the update concerns, rarely ever misses a shot or putt, and so far has been bulletproof.  The one thing I miss with the V3 is the plays like distance that automatically figured  elevation, temperature, humidity, and wind.  The wind compensation I thought might have been a little “iffy” as wind is constantly changing, but  elevation and temp/humidity I thought were spot in.  If you know what golf features you want, start evaluating your options there.  If not, Apps are cheap to free, minimalist to robust with features, so you could try different ones and figure out what you like.  I’m a right tool for the job, it just needs to work every time kind of guy, so my V3 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon even though I miss the compensation tool.

[spacecowboy]

I’ve owned Golf specific watches, gps handheld units, etc.  

 

for me, the best so far has been a Garmin Vivoactive.  I had a 3 and now a 4. You can pick them up cheap used, usually under $100.  The battery life is incredible, as I get over 2 18 hole rounds out of my vivoactive 4 and I wear it daily in between. 
 

it’s just front/middle/back as far as yardages.  I believe it has hazards, but I don’t rely on it for that.  Also keeps score, but I rarely use that.  
 

Pretty decent looking for an everyday watch, and if I ever had the urge to go for a run, it has multiple functions for other sports. 
 

 

[Triple Lindy]

I have the Garmin S62 and it works great for getting distances at a glance. Need the distance to clear a hazard? Just touch the screen and your target. Distance to greens is based on center, front and back, not pin, so take that into consideration.

 

It also tracks each shot by sensing ball contact. After the shot, it asks what club you hit. You can then look at the app and see every shot, the distance, and club. You can see average distance by club, as well as max.

 

The app is finicky though. I have trouble ending a round, but always figure it out, usually when I want to go look at the scorecard. This started after an update. I’ve also noticed distance off the tee seems to be off after the update. For example, I recently played a course that had a 200 yard carry over water (per the S62). My drive was well over, probably around 240 carry. When reviewing the round, Garmin showed a total 201 yard drive, which would have put my ball in the water. Plus, even though number of putts is entered after each hole, no putting data is tracked, which is dumb. 

Just as a GPS, the S62 is great. The app needs work.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Triple Lindy

[Bsudgolf]

13 minutes ago, spacecowboy said:

I’ve owned Golf specific watches, gps handheld units, etc.  

 

for me, the best so far has been a Garmin Vivoactive.  I had a 3 and now a 4. You can pick them up cheap used, usually under $100.  The battery life is incredible, as I get over 2 18 hole rounds out of my vivoactive 4 and I wear it daily in between. 
 

it’s just front/middle/back as far as yardages.  I believe it has hazards, but I don’t rely on it for that.  Also keeps score, but I rarely use that.  
 

Pretty decent looking for an everyday watch, and if I ever had the urge to go for a run, it has multiple functions for other sports. 
 

 

I have the Vivoactive 3 and have been using it for quite sometime. I just thought maybe it's time for an upgrade. I do like the scorecard feature because I like sharing my scorecards. Really front middle back is all I need. As for as hazards I like using my range finder for those. 

[Bsudgolf]

16 minutes ago, Triple Lindy said:

I have the Garmin S62 and it works great for getting distances at a glance. Need the distance to clear a hazard? Just touch the screen and your target. Distance to greens is based on center, front and back, not pin, so take that into consideration.

 

It also tracks each shot by sensing ball contact. After the shot, it asks what club you hit. You can then look at the app and see every shot, the distance, and club. You can see average distance by club, as well as max.

 

The app is finicky though. I have trouble ending a round, but always figure it out, usually when I want to go look at the scorecard. This started after an update. I’ve also noticed distance off the tee seems to be off after the update. For example, I recently played a course that had a 200 yard carry over water (per the S62). My drive was well over, probably around 240 carry. When reviewing the round, Garmin showed a total 201 yard drive, which would have put my ball in the water. Plus, even though number of putts is entered after each hole, no putting data is tracked, which is dumb. 

Just as a GPS, the S62 is great. The app needs work.

 

This is just another reason why I think sometimes it's best to dump the GPS and just go strictly range finder. Sure you don't have all the stat tracking but at least all the yardages are gonna be accurate. I usually don't do shot tracking mainly all I do is Score, Putts, and Fairways hit. And my Vivoactive 3 does all those now. I just thought about an upgrade to something little better. 

[Triple Lindy]

1 hour ago, Bsudgolf said:

This is just another reason why I think sometimes it's best to dump the GPS and just go strictly range finder. Sure you don't have all the stat tracking but at least all the yardages are gonna be accurate. I usually don't do shot tracking mainly all I do is Score, Putts, and Fairways hit. And my Vivoactive 3 does all those now. I just thought about an upgrade to something little better. 

I don’t disagree, but I do like the convenience of the watch. I don’t have to mess around with focusing on a specific target. Plus, in our current heat, I’m not walking and I don’t have to deal with carrying a range finder to my ball, especially on CPO holes. But if you can live with an inexpensive range finder, it’s a lot less money, so that convenience comes at a heavy price.

[CactusGolf]

I've been using a Garmin golf watch since the S2 and would really struggle at this point using anything else.  Currently using the S62 (2nd season now) and will likely upgrade to the S70 next year or so when the prices drop a little bit.

 

The biggest benefit to me is the to hazard / cover hazard distances and the layup yardages as well as the average club distances that it tracks.  

 

I have a Venu 2 as an everyday watch, but I can't quite figure out how to use it for the golf function to have the same/similar usage as the S62.

Edited July 13, 2023 by CactusGolf

[dcmidnight]

1 minute ago, CactusGolf said:

I've been using a Garmin golf watch since the S2 and would really struggle at this point using anything else.  Currently using the S62 (2nd season now) and will likely upgrade to the S70 next year or so when the prices drop a little bit.

 

The biggest benefit to me is the to hazard / cover hazard distances and the layup yardages as well as the average club distances that it tracks.  

 

Same.

 

And also in all these years - I've never once used the shot tracking or the app. I dont feel like I'm missing out or getting cheated though, the S62 is really excellent.

[CactusGolf]

2 minutes ago, dcmidnight said:

 

Same.

 

And also in all these years - I've never once used the shot tracking or the app. I dont feel like I'm missing out or getting cheated though, the S62 is really excellent.

I've tried a few different apps and they all become cumbersome to use.  The last one I really tired to utilize was the Game Golf app, but that was several years ago now when it still had functionality.

[Dan13]

I’ve used a Vivoactive 3 for the last 5 years. Battery life is down to about half so also thinking about what is next. Biggest gripe on the non-golf Garmin watches is they only save 5 courses locally. With multiple 9’s and other courses I play frequently I am not good at downloading ahead of time and frequently play without using it at all unintentionally. 

 

Been using my phone when the watch is dead or I didn’t download a course. Works fine, easy to identify hazards etc. but miss the convenience of looking at my wrist and not having to pull out my phone (and use its battery). 

 

For S70 money I think it’s worth it to spend just a bit more and get the fenix series. The navigation features would be worth it for me. That said I’m not willing to spend that much on watch right now so looking at the Instinct 2 Solar (fantastic battery life with some navigation but same limitation on downloading courses - and the look isn’t for everyone) or just going with the S42. I would consider the S62 but as a daily it’’s size is off putting for someone with smaller wrists.  I would prefer to stay in a 42-45 size. 

[Pepperturbo]

I was using/wearing Garmin Fenix 5 series smartwatch, but now using Fenix 6 Sapphire for more reasons than Golf, though the golf functions are outstanding.  Also use Approach Z82 GPS/Laser which is remarkable in itself.  Garmin also provides an iPhone app, but it's only used to provide windage data to Z82.  I have multiple premium watches, but they haven't been used since my first Fenix.

 

All depends on what a person wants to spend.

[Dan13]

The fenix 6 does not have touch screen correct? But there is a way to use touch targeting? 

[phil75070]

If one is looking for just a golf GPS watch with no shot tracking, Shot Scope just introduced their G5. It looks really nice for a pretty decent price!

[AzRoger]

I used the Garmin Vivoactive for a long time and liked it, picked up an Apple Watch Series 8 for almost nothing as part of a health study so started using that. I use a rangefinder for most approach shots to the green but like a GPS for layups and the scorecard, don't care much about stats. Been using the TaylorMade golf app on the Apple watch and like it a lot, it's free for the basic features that I use, there's a fee for advanced stats. Use ~30-40% of the Apple Watch battery for 18 holes.

[puresurfr]

Im using a Garmin Epix2, it links up to the satellite super fast and it also doubles as an activity tracker, it has a OLED screen and the battery lasts forever !!!! I charge this watch about once once every 2 weeks

[Lobby]

I’ve got a Garmin Venu SQ 2

 

but I’m not happy with it.  It keeps crap time.  I’m going back and forth with Garmin on this, but no resolution yet

[Lobby]

On 7/13/2023 at 8:31 PM, Lobby said:

I’ve got a Garmin Venu SQ 2

 

but I’m not happy with it.  It keeps crap time.  I’m going back and forth with Garmin on this, but no resolution yet

I sent a video of how the Venu SQ 2 was behaving as a time piece to Garmin.

Apparently, they fixed the problem.   My Venu is working perfectly now.  

I played golf with it Saturday and it was very accurate on yardage.   I would recommend this watch without hesitation now.

[fsusp]

For years, I wore a Garmin—last had the S62. The battery life was wonderful. The GPS mapping was good. But, I never used all of the other stuff like the app and shot tracking because I was an Arccos user. Having two things going was too much for me. 
 

 I chose to stay with Arccos because I have been a user for years and have more than 25.5k shots tracked. It should be a lot more but I hated having a phone in my pocket. And often, I would forget to charge the Link before a round. 
 

So, I’m now experimenting with an Apple ultra watch. I stayed away from Apple Watches because I didn’t like how they looked—still not a huge fan of the Ultra, but it’s better. 
 

So far, it has been good. Not great. But, I do like that it can do an Arccos round right on my wrist. And it solves my desire to simplify to just one shot tracking platform. 
 

So, it’s been somewhat of a functional over looks compromise for me. I have not sold my Garmin yet, just in case in the long term I don’t like the Ultra.