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What do you look for in a GPS Watch?

The Indoor Golf Shop
As I am a ground reader mostly. I only employ my gps watch when I have left the reservation...But first priority is volume of courses loaded up.
 
I've been using a shot scope for data collection but it also gives you f/m/b as well as distance to hazards. I do use a Bushnell and a GPS app on phone during a round as well. Love having a ton of info especially when playing an unfamiliar course.
 
I love my Garmin S60 I bought factory refurbished. The battery life is good enough for me but will probably upgrade to a S62 when factory refurbished units are finally available.
 
GolfTravelDude said:
As I am a ground reader mostly. I only employ my gps watch when I have left the reservation...But first priority is volume of courses loaded up.
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My current Garmin watch (Forerunner 935) requires that you manually download/add courses through the Garmin Connect Mobile app; the one I'm upgrading to (Fenix 6 Pro) has 42,000 golf courses worldwide preloaded (as do all their current golf-specific watches, I believe).
 
Love the green slopes of that JB posted.

Not a watch fan! I have a small garmin smart watch for fitness tracking and messages. Too small for golf and hate the idea of something bigger or two watches. Love my Arccos system.
 
Have an S20 and just ordered an S62. Love the watch. Faster that a laser and it gives me the info I need.
 
I have a Garmin S20. It provides me the information that I need - F/M/B and distance to hazards.
 
Wow, this thread is making me rethink my need for a new golf watch. Looks like it boils down to two watches, the Garmin S62 or the Voice Caddie T8. I do not know how much good the very small screen for putting would be, so I am leaning towards the Garmin S62. The ability to have the club selection recommendations seem to be a game changer for me, but it is very expensive, and not sure if you also need to buy the tracking sensors to get the club distances.
 
blazinden said:
@JB How do you like the T8. I'm trying to decide between the T8 and G1. I usually use a watch instead of a laser.
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I really like it. I liked the A2 also
 
ddec said:
GPS Watches have added a boatload of features in recent years. I remember being at the PGA Show years ago with @Canadan and we fell in love with that feature set that the TomTom watch added because it was different, but also presented really well. Now we have watches with big screens, some with hole overviews, slope readings, green readings, heart rate trackers, you name it.

My go-to unit is still a basic Bushnell Neo X watch that is older, gives me my distances to certain hazards, as well as the Front, Center, Back of green. It will track my pace of play and mileage. By today's standards, it is pretty bland but gets the job done. So tell me about your GPS Watch, what features you use, which ones you don't, and what you wish it had. When out looking for a replacement, what features, measurements, are you focusing on as a want/need?
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This is what I use also.
 
Snowman said:
My current Garmin watch (Forerunner 935) requires that you manually download/add courses through the Garmin Connect Mobile app; the one I'm upgrading to (Fenix 6 Pro) has 42,000 golf courses worldwide preloaded (as do all their current golf-specific watches, I believe).
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Why are you choosing the Fenis 6 Pro, @ Snowman? I am trying to learn about the various offerings.
 
Tenputt said:
Dumb question, @JB... What is the 143 measuring?
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There is nothing in hte instruction manual on it, but I believe it is my last shot, which would make sense, because that green is a par 5 I always lay up on.
 
Accurate distances good battery charge

that’s all i need distances to hazards is crucial as well
 
JB said:
There is nothing in hte instruction manual on it, but I believe it is my last shot, which would make sense, because that green is a par 5 I always lay up on.
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It does look like the measurement of your last shot. I had a similar icon on my Fenix 6 today (first time I've used it) and had no idea what it was at first, took me a couple holes to figure it out! My old Garmin watch didn't have that, so I was really puzzled by it at first. After I teed off and was walking around the tee box while the others hit I was seeing it fluctuate up and down...2, 10, 4, 8, then it started increasing as I drove down the fairway to my ball and the light bulb finally went off in my head.


Tenputt said:
Why are you choosing the Fenis 6 Pro, @ Snowman? I am trying to learn about the various offerings.
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I've used a Garmin Forerunner 935 for the last four years, really like it, and the Fenix 6 Pro is an upgrade from it with some newer, more advanced features added. It has about 90% of the features of the dedicated Garmin golf watches, which is plenty enough for my use. It gives you F/M/B distances to the green with a small graphical hole preview, has distances for hazards/layups, gives a "plays like" distance based on topography, tracks your shots and shows distance of last shot, keeps score and stats (fairways hit/missed, number of putts, penalty strokes). It can also prompt you for which club you used for each shot and will eventually start suggesting clubs as it learns your yardages, although I have those two functions turned off right now. All your rounds are uploaded to the Garmin Golf app on your phone, where you can go in and take a deeper dive into them. The Garmin Golf app has some useful statistical analysis, although not as in depth as something like The Grint - but I don't have to fiddle around with a phone during my round to track the stats, either. A few button presses as I walk off the green and it's done. I go in and edit the rounds afterward to enter which clubs I used, and the app will give you your average club distances if you do that (or use the function where it prompts you during the round - I might experiment with that eventually).

Beyond that, I like my "golf watch" to also be my everyday wear watch, activity and workout tracker, and the Fenix excels at all those things. It records a lot of health metrics (Heart rate, pulse oximeter, VO2max, sleep tracking/quality, respirations, stress level, "body battery", which tells you how rested/fatigued you are based on combined health metrics), etc. As a daily tracker, it tracks steps, floors climbed, calories burned, resting and max heart rate, how many intensity minutes you've gotten for the week, and I have it linked to another app so it tracks/graphs my daily weigh-ins on my Bluetooth scale.

It tracks almost any kind of workout you can imagine (including multisport workouts), with configurable data fields for your workouts so you can view just about any information you'd want. It has topo mapping and navigation (maps preloaded on the watch), altimeter/barometer/compass, weather forecasts, sunrise/sunset, configurable notifications (you can have it give you text messages, phone calls, calendar appointments, emails, social media notifications and a ton of other stuff from apps on your phone, although you can't respond to any of them like you can with an Apple Watch). Waterproof to 10 ATM (300 feet) - if I'm ever submerged that deep, my watch will be the least of my worries! :LOL:

Battery life is about 2 weeks in "smartwatch" mode, less depending on how much you use the GPS - a 4-hour round of golf will use about 20% of the battery. Bands are quickly interchangeable with no tools required and there are a ton of nice aftermarket bands available for it.
 
I have an older Garmin S6 which I bought used a number of years ago and actually is a pretty good watch gives me all the distances, I’m able to move the pin around on the green etc. The last two years I haven’t really used it much since I got a laser but I am starting to use it again in conjunction with the laser because I do find the importance of knowing the front and the back and how much green is in front of the pin or behind especially in terms of allowing for miss hits or imperfect shots. I also find knowing front and back important on shots under 100 yards when pitching or bump and running the ball in.

If I were to purchase a new watch, the features that my current watch have are sufficient but I would definitely like to get better graphics and a smaller, thinner profile.
 
Really liking some of these options pointed out by some. I am a more options and features the better. Having just the FMB and hazards would probably be enough, but I like the new features of club suggestions, slope yardage, and green heat layouts, that I would want them as well.

Really considering bagging my Apple Watch to a golf watch this season.
 
I dont have a GPS watch but may invest in one soon. I’m curious to see what follows the Garmin S62.
 
fuffle master said:
Really liking some of these options pointed out by some. I am a more options and features the better. Having just the FMB and hazards would probably be enough, but I like the new features of club suggestions, slope yardage, and green heat layouts, that I would want them as well.

Really considering bagging my Apple Watch to a golf watch this season.
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I wore an Apple Watch for two years before I went to the Garmin watch. I'm a huge Apple fan and love the way it integrates into the ecosystem (I have all Apple computers, iPads, iPhones, etc.). What I hate about the Apple Watch is its battery life and the touchscreen, which doesn't work well with wet/sweaty fingers, constantly leaves the screen smeared, and is subject to accidental touches that mess up what you're doing. I also like the native integration of a golf app in the Garmin better than using a third party app on the Apple Watch.

IMO, the Apple watch is an excellent smartwatch which does a passable job as a golf/fitness watch; the Garmin is an excellent golf/fitness watch which does a passable job as a smartwatch.
 
ULEWZ said:
Wow, this thread is making me rethink my need for a new golf watch. Looks like it boils down to two watches, the Garmin S62 or the Voice Caddie T8. I do not know how much good the very small screen for putting would be, so I am leaning towards the Garmin S62. The ability to have the club selection recommendations seem to be a game changer for me, but it is very expensive, and not sure if you also need to buy the tracking sensors to get the club distances.
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The S62 is on sale right now. I just upgraded my S20 this past week. No you don’t need the sensors as it asks the you which club you hit, than measures to your next shot. I’m not really sure the benefits of the sensor and I don’t like em on my grip.
 
Blade Man said:
The S62 is on sale right now. I just upgraded my S20 this past week. No you don’t need the sensors as it asks the you which club you hit, than measures to your next shot. I’m not really sure the benefits of the sensor and I don’t like em on my grip.
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Where are you seeing the S62 on sale? Seeing $499 online which I think is the regular price.
 
Briantime said:
Where are you seeing the S62 on sale? Seeing $499 online which I think is the regular price.
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Just looked and according to my wife it was a Father’s Day special. I ordered from Amazon but Garmin had the same price.
 
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