Golf GPS - handheld, watch, smartphone, smartwatch?

Was never a fan of playing with a watch, but I quickly got over it. I've had the Bushnell Neo-X for 2 seasons now. Battery life is excellent and the yardages are accurate.
 
Seriously look at the Neo Ghost if a watch isn't your thing.
 
I've been using a Golf Buddy Platinum for almost three years and would never trade it for a watch...

The watches seem to be the popular choice right now, I have a lot of friends who use them. To get the features I have in my Golf Buddy I'd have to get one of the new watches, for more than I paid for the Platinum but then I'd have a much smaller screen; and a watch tan-line.

The Platinum will give me a yardage to anywhere on a hole, distance to the front and back of all trouble, F/M/B green yardage, a very decent picture of the hole and close up of the green with bunkers. I can also track my strokes and measure yardages of any shots I hit.

The initial price wasn't horrible, it stays charged for 2+ rounds, it recognizes every course automatically and best of all, there are no additional fees or charges after initial purchase.

Funny thing is, all those guys with watches that I play with are always asking me for distance information on holes throughout the round - haha!

As good as this Golf Buddy is, and I doubt I'd ever give it up, I wish I had a laser device; exact distance to the pin is valuable info, as is distance to targets on a range.
 
I did the GolfLogix App last year but it sucked down my battery by mid back 9. For Xmas 2014 I asked for GolfSmith gift cards from people and I bought the Garmin S3. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better than using the app. I am not able to track stats like before but that's ok.
 
I have had the hand held GPS, and the phone ... I have to say my Garmin watch is the best! It is always ready available, easy to check ... I just use it to see distance to front, middle, and back, as well as to keep score. I don't really need to see the hole layout 99% of the time.
 
I use the Golf Logix app with my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. No issues with battery life. I also keep a MiFi wireless Hotspot in my bag, which definitely helps against battery drain.

I have a Neo X watch, but MUCH prefer the Stat keeping I can do with the app. Using the watch only, I also have to use the scorecard and keep stats. The app is more intuitive.
 
I have a Garmin S4 watch and for what I need, it does the job, giving me my F/M/B yardages, distances to dog-legs and distances to specific lay-up yardages in 50yd increments down to 100yds. It also has a green view where you can move the flag to get more accurate distances but I have never tried it as I am not good enough to hit my clubs a specific yardage

If you want to be able to see an overview of the hole then you will need a handheld device or phone app but here in the UK it can sometimes be difficult to get mobile data signal out on some courses so the apps didn't work too well when I tried it previously

If you have the chance to trial one, then give them a go and see which you prefer
 
My buddy uses his Garmin handheld, forget the model, and I use the app Hole 19 on my phone. He has said 5-6 times now he wishes he hadn't wasted the money on the GPS as the phone does what the GPS does for free and you can keep score and track things like FIR, GIR, total putts, etc.

I'll second Hole19. Great app with a lot of useful features.
 
For me, Golf Shot + iPhone 6 plus + Top flip leather cover = Yardage Book (in back pocket)

I'm going to have to agree. GolfShot GPS app is fantastic and a great price. The interactive maps are great. The score card at the end is full of statistics. I can definitely say it has helped my game. The distances compared to other watch and cart GPS electronics is very close. And like dciccoritti said it really is like a yardage book in your back pocket.

I also bought a bicycle handlebar smartphone mount for my smartphone and attached it to my push cart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I currently own a SkyCaddie Watch and just bought a SkyCaddie Linx watch, but haven't received it yet. I have tried the smartphone apps and they just destroy my battery, so the GPS watch is pretty awesome.

A couple of limitations that I have found with the the watch:
- No distances to doglegs.
- No distances to bunkers, layups, etc
- Skygolf must have mapped the course. Played on a newer course recently and they didn't have it mapped yet.

I believe the newer watches will take care of my first two limitations. Ideally I would have a gps watch and a laser rangefinder just in case the course isn't mapped or I need to determine distance to clear various targets.
 
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