2020 Official Member Review: SkyCaddie LX5 Watch

[GolfSpy MPR 10,203]

Some of golfers' favorite words:

• "It's in the hole!"
• "Split the fairway!"
• "You're dancing!"
• "It's dry."

(OK, that last one isn't the best news, but if you're in those circumstances....)

Let's add another to this list: "Pin high!" Who doesn't love the feeling of knowing the distance you've got, knowing you've got just the club for that distance, and hitting it exactly that far?

We've got TEN forum members who are going to see if the SkyCaddie LX5 GPS watch is going to be the best tool for them to hear "Pin high" just a little more often!

@AGutierrez7: Review

@ballplayer002003: Review

@JoshAndersonGolf: Review

@Josh Ross: Review

@knightsofnii: Review

@mikeanthony: Review

@MDGolfHacker: Review

@MrBandit: Review

@palvord: Review

@TCUFrog: Review

[AGutierrez7 135]

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Smartwatch – Official MGS Forum Review by AGutierrez7

Introduction:

Currently I am sitting around a 16 handicap and play almost every weekend, sometimes during the week. I like to know the numbers maybe more than others so that I can clear my mind of any club choice thoughts. Currently utilize quite a bit of technology (rangefinder, gps watch, and sometimes a phone app to record statistics).

Personal Questions: 

Region: Orlando/Merritt Island FL Area

How long I have been playing golf: Almost a year (used to play when I was young, so slowly getting back into it)

What kind of golfer I am: I do not hit the ball very far, better short game than my handicap portrays. I am making improvements on my ball striking and driving of the ball, both these areas are my weak points of my game.

Golf Questions: 

Handicap: ~15.7

Strengths/Weaknesses of my game: Strengths: short game, hybrids; weaknesses: tee ball, inconsistent iron play

WITB and why I chose them: Majority of my set is compiled of hand me downs; M3 Driver, Condor Golf 3W, 3H 4H Mizuno CLK, 5-PW M4 Irons, Sub70 48* SM5 56* SM6 60*, and Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball

Do I consider myself to be tech savvy: I would consider myself to be tech savvy (I'm 23 so I must be right?), but I can see the LX5 as being easy to use for the not so tech savvy

How I currently get my yardages: Use my Garmin vivoactive to get front, center, back (FCB) yardages and my NX7 Rangefinder to shoot pins occasionally

First Impressions: 

Tech Advances: 

• Patented Intelligreen technology provides exact shape of the green for distances to front, back and any point in between from your angle of approach

• SkyCaddie Pinpoint Technology provides ability to get distances to the pin on intelligreen interface

• Dynamic Holevue reveals critical distances to hazards, carries, and layups, can also zoom in on fairway for better view to identify safe zones and avoid hazards

• Dynamic Rangevue gives multiple yardage arcs that overlay fairway landing areas and greens

Preconceived Notions of SkyCaddie:

The only thing I know about SkyCaddie is the fact that they make a great launch monitor at a more affordable price, which my father currently owns and works incredibly well for him. I was not even aware that SkyCaddie made a watch until the opportunity to test one arrived at MGS. 

Grading: 

Looks & Feel (7 out of 10 points)

●      General Shape / Size / Fit

o      Shape: 3.5cm display size is perfect

o      Size: watch face is thick which took time to get used to especially because I am used to smaller face watches

o      Fit: fits great, extra watch strap that came with box helped greatly since I have smaller wrists

●      Customization

o      Couple of different watch faces that are available to choose from

●      Durability

o      Appears very durable, worked in pouring rain (although it did freeze on me for a hole, but seemed fine afterwards)

o      Prediction for long term: I do not foresee any issues with durability in the future, seems to be built very well and should last me awhile

●      Storage Cases

o      Watch box is well put together so that can be used as storage, which is what I will continue to use to store it when I am not using it

 

 

 

Setup (13 out of 15 points)

●      Watch Instructions

o      Instructions were clear and did not have any issues navigating through the watch, although initial setup did take a little bit of time to figure out (syncing process can be a bit sensitive)

●      Charging and Battery Performance

o      Charged quick (maybe ~30 min), battery lasted an entire round and was only at ~50% when I finished. I can actually get two rounds out of mine which I was impressed considering how frequent I was using it throughout both rounds. 

o      The cable is proprietary, essentially charges by attaching to the bottom of the watch face which seemed odd but I got used to it

●      Ask for Help or Search Online for Answers during Setup? 

o      Only consulted the user manual it came with if I got stuck, and I also looked up how to switch the watch face because I had forgotten how to   

●      Most Useful and Least Useful Metrics: 

○      Most useful: heart rate monitor (nice to monitor when on the course)

○      Least useful: watch face provides date, nice but not necessary because I only plan to use the watch when I am out on the course

 

Accuracy (14 out of 15 points)

●     Accurate Yardage

o     I really only used the FCB yardages so they appeared accurate when I checked pin yardage with my rangefinder

●      Distance Measurements Match Up with What I came up with? 

o    Does not factor wind or elevation so yardage matches pretty well with my rangefinder (does not factor elevation too) 

●      Are there any intermediate targets you have trouble getting distances for?

o    Did not struggle to get intermediate target distances, was able to get yardages to bunkers, water hazards, and lay up spots easily

o    Rarely had issues where I could not get extremely specific yardages

 

On-Course (26? out of 30 points)

●      Anything to Remember or Think About to use the Watch: 

o      I did not, the watch was pretty autonomous

o      Only had to switch holes but even the watch buzzed to prompt me

●     Did the Watch Interfere with my Golf Routine: 

o      Zero interference; watch was light enough where I could not feel it during any of my swings

●      How Intuitive was It?

o      Very intuitive, plenty of information to look at

o      I could easily swipe through the different screens to retrieve the information that I needed 

●      Did I enjoy using it? 

o      I enjoyed using it even if it was just to glance at FCB yardages

o      The yardages I could gather for bunkers, etc. was helpful to have and further helped to increase my confidence in my club choice

●      Compare and contrast to what I used to use:

o      The watch I was using only gave me FCB yardages and recorded my score (strokes only), so comparatively I could do way more with the LX5 than my previous watch (Garmin vivoactive)

o      I was able to record score along with FIR/GIR and putts where I was not able to do with my other watch

●      Do I Play Better or Worse Now:

o      Not sure yet, play was not altered either way during my first couple of rounds with it (only really used it to gather FCB yardages, hazard/lay up spot yardages, and to record score (w/ FIR/GIR and putts). 

o      Once I get enough rounds under my belt with this watch I will be able to better tell, especially after I fix up certain aspects of my game

 

Other (9 out of 10 points)

I will point out that it did take a decent amount of time to receive the watch, but I believe the wait was well worth it. The watch was packaged very well and the box you can keep it in is sturdy and designed nicely. I really enjoy the option of changing the watch face especially because the alternate faces are very well put together.

 

Play it or Trade it? 18 out of 20 points)

 

Moving forward I am going to be playing this watch. I believe that the watches capabilities are incredibly useful and will help me to make smarter course management decisions. I think that the information I can gather with this watch has helped me to play smarter golf so far. The only negative I can come up with to discourage me from using it would be the overall size, but I feel that I can get over that aspect of the watch over time.

 

The type of golfer I believe this watch is meant for is the golfer who  needs plenty of numbers to plan their shots from tee to green. The golfer who goes to their rangefinder frequently will benefit from the LX5 and its many features. I think I am that golfer which is why this watch fits me well and I have found it so useful in the rounds I have used it in.

TL;DR

 

In short, this $350 watch performs like you would expect a watch of that price to perform. Gives very accurate FCB yardages, plus an invaluable hole overview with hazard and lay up yardages. Additionally, the LX5 allows the user to alter the watch face to another snazzy watch face that may suit their eye (and style) better. The size may be a deterrent for those who dislike large and thick watch faces but may be able to get over that fact due to the lightweight feel the watch delivers.

 

Final Score: 87 out of 100

 

Thank you to MGS for the opportunity to test this watch! I am looking forward to coming back to this post to update everyone on how I am getting along with it. 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by AGutierrez7

[ballplayer002003 1,108]

 

SkyCaddie LX5 – Official MGS Forum Review by Ballplayer002003

Intro

I would first like to say THANK YOU to MyGolfSpy for giving me the opportunity to test out the SkyCaddie LX5 GPS watch.  I am humbled and honored to have been chosen as a 2020 tester.  Thank you again!

About me, that’s why you are here right?!  I am an avid GPS watch wearer.  Is that a word...wearer?  Well, I wear GPS watches as my primary distance device.  I bought the Garmin S20 a few years ago and that has been my go to for a while now.  I also have a Bushnell range finder that I will pull out on occasion.

As many of you know, I am one of a few members on here from Delaware.  I have been playing golf for over 20 years now, and would still not consider myself a “real” golfer.  I am still a baseball player at heart.  Being a former baseball player, I am aggressive, it is VERY RARE that I lay up.  Actually who am I kidding...I NEVER lay up. 

I am a single digit handicap, I think I have crept up to a 7 due to Covid and not getting out as much as I would like.  I guess there’s always next year to bring it back down to a 5 or below.  Anyway, I am a long ball hitter, and strike my woods and long irons fairly well and consistent. 

Now, as far as technology goes, I would say I am not a tech savvy person.  I mean I can operate my iPhone and Waze.  I have a Firestick, but I had to watch YouTube to find how it works.  However, I thought I had a leg up since I already use a golf watch so maybe I will go with a novice at best.  Yeah, that sounds better, I am a tech novice. 

First Impressions

“Golf’s Smartest, Brightest and Fastest watch, nothing comes close”.  This is their tag line, and I will have tons to say about it in the following paragraphs.  Clean, simple, athletic and stylish are all words I can us to describe my initial thoughts of this watch. I could wear this everyday.  

Now as stated on their webpage, “Golf’s Smartest, Brightest and Fastest watch, nothing comes close”....well it IS bright!  This watch has a very clear crisp display that is packed full of colors.  I loved this feature with the LX5.  The screen is large and easy to read in both full sun and dusk.  SkyCaddie hit a hole in one with the screen and resolution.  The face is large so someone with meaty fingers, like myself, will still have no problems navigating through the touch screen features.  I thought the face was large, but also thick.  The large face doesn’t bother me, in fact, I like it.  The part that bothered me was how thick this watch was.  It was like a mega stuffed oreo.

 

 

Looks & Feel (9 out of 10 points) 

I think the watch looks great.  You can choose between multiple watch face options ranging from a classic watch style to a more modern sleek face and anything in between.  This is the face I liked the most, again, there are multiple choices to suit everyone’s various tastes.  The strap is soft and snug and the watch is very light for its size.  I also am a fan of the beveled edges of this watch, another classic touch from SkyCaddie.

 

Setup (5 out of 15 points)

The LX5 was easy to set up straight out of the box.  Pretty straight forward, which is a bonus for me since again, I am a tech novice.  I am EXTREMELY impressed with how FAST this watch charges.  Actually the fast charging time is the only reason why I scored a 5 and not lower.  The faults for me are the battery life.  I had one round (granted it was a long round of 4.5 hours) that the watch went from 100% down to 1%.  I expect to have the battery last for at a MINIMUM of 2 rounds!   

Accuracy (12 out of 15 points)

I found the SkyCaddie watch to be fairly accurate, although I did get a couple of wacky numbers from time to time.  A lot of rounds I used my Garmin, the LX5 and my laser to see how close they all matched up.  For the most part they were all within about 5-6 yards from each other (except for this picture).  In today’s round, I shot 103 with the laser, however the LX5 showed 35  to the middle.  That should not happen.  I did however, like the ease of the shot distance tracker.

On-Course (10 out of 30 points)

For me, this really missed the mark.  I wanted to like this watch, it’s bright, big and beautiful.  But I had so much go wrong every time I used it.  “Golf’s Smartest, Brightest and Fastest watch, nothing comes close”.  Remember their tag line?  For starters, the watch takes way too long to find the course, even when it’s your home course.  This usually takes between 5-10 minutes.  I have also had days where the LX5 couldn’t find my home course even when I used it the day before.  So obviously not the fastest.  Once the course is found and you play a hole, if you are keeping score the score card pops up.  You enter your score by a plus and minus button which is easy.  It then asks about number of putts and fairway hit.  The watch will then either go onto the next hole or it may stay on the previous hole and you have to manually go back into the menu and tell it to go to the next hole.  This is annoying.  Another feature that I wish this watch did not have is the fact that if the watch THINKS you should be done a hole it will ask you by buzzing then the screen will display ARE YOU DONE WITH THIS HOLE?  Many times I am, and will say yes but then if you do that, you cannot enter your score, it automatically takes you to the next hole.  To enter your score you again, have to go back into the menu, scroll back to the previous hole and enter all the info and then tell the watch you are on the new hole again.  This is too much work.  Keep it simple.  I also found that the watch would shut off multiple times per round.  When this happens you then have to hit the resume button...well then it takes another 5-10 minutes to find the course again.  Unreal!  For me, I lost faith in this watch.  It wasn’t going to be ready with the information when I needed it quickly.  Something was always causing my focus to be on the watch and not the game.  

 

Miscellaneous (4 out of 10 points)

Why so low...well, for one you cannot receive any text alerts from your phone with this watch.  SkyCaddie is asking for $350 for this watch, for that, I want the option of receiving text alerts.  Secondly, I am not a fan of SkyCaddie charging a membership fee.  You get a 3 year membership included, but what happens after that?  Garmin doesn’t charge anything, not sure why SkyCaddie does.  Lastly, to get the full use of the LX5 you need to link it to the SkyCaddie App called SKYGOLF 360.  This is where the data of your round goes to be analyzed, but the app is very slow, much like the watch.  It is clunky and lags a great deal.  I would rather use The Grint to do all of this, it is much smoother. 

Play it or Trade it? (5 out of 20 points)

Trade trade trade.  No doubt.  Run away from this watch.  I had a member guest tourney this past weekend and after the third hole I took the watch off and put it in the bag.  It was too much of a hassle.  I like a few features of this watch but not enough to justify spending that kind of money. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, I cannot and will not recommend this watch.  I found the software to be too glitchy with very short battery life.  For the amount of money SkyCaddie is charging I want texting features, I want the software to be more user friendly, I want it to be faster, I want the battery to last more than 1 round and I want the watch to be a bit thinner.  For me, this watch is like making birdie on the first hole, your expectations get high, yet when reality sets in, you wind up not breaking 100.  

Final Score: 45 out of 100

[JoshAndersonGolf 2,684]

The Review 10/02/2020

 

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch – Official MGS Forum Review by JoshAndersonGolf

 

Intro

 

 

First, I would like to say thank you to MyGolfSpy for the opportunity to test the SkyCaddie LX5 watch.  I am a very avid golfer and golf is a part of my family.  I started golfing at the age of 3 with my father at our little public course in Pennsylvania.  From there I took to the game and decided I wanted to play golf over baseball and basketball, this was not a bad decision being 5’10”, slow and right handed.  As I got into high school, I played competitive golf and was able to play well enough to earn a scholarship to play golf at St. Bonaventure University.  I played all 4 years in the starting five and I still have some records on the books at SBU (Most wins 5 & lowest stroke average for a season 73.0)

I am now living in the Champaign, IL area with my wife and 2 children.  We belong to a local club and all of us golf.  I have been fortunate enough to 1, have a family that likes to golf and 2, have a job that lets me get out and practice.  What that I have been able to keep my handicap down where I like it and I am currently at a -2.9 index.  2020 has been a good year for me on the golf front as I have been able to win events in both Illinois and Indiana and I finish T-10 in the Illinois State Mid-Amateur. 

 

WITB:

Driver:  Taylormade M6

4 -Wood: Sub 70 pro 16*

3-Hybrid: Tour Edge Exotics

Irons: Sub 70 4-6 639 CB 7-PW 639 MB Nippon

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Wedges 50*, 54*, 60*

Putter: Taylormade Spider

Grips: Golf Pride Z-Cord Align

 

 First Impressions

This watch is big was my first thought.  When I opened the box, I was a little surprised at how big the watch is.  I have worn watches golfing before and this looked like it would be a huge change.  Once I got the watch on my wrist that changed.  This watch is light and the display is very bright and noticeable in any light.

On the golf course, this watch is very easy to use.  It did take a while the first time on the course to find the GPS but once it locked on it has not had any issues since.  I do like how you can change the face and how easily it keeps your steps for each day, I have used daily since I got the watch.  

 

 

Looks & Feel (8 out of 10 points)

This watch is larger than your average GPS watch but very light.  The band is one thing about this watch that I think makes it stand out.  I like how this watch does not move on my wrist.  Once on it stays put.  My only complaint with it is that the loops to hold the band in place move off the band thus causing it to catch on long sleeve.  It does not move in the swing and the buttons are out of the way so you do not hit them in the back swing.

Multiple face options are a nice touch as you can change the look of the watch consistently.

 

 Setup (15 out of 15 points)

Having been a Skygolf member for over 3 years now set up was easy.  This is my second watch from Skygolf and I have a Skytrak launch monitor.  The watch was almost ready to go out of the box as my account updated before the watch arrived.  I just made sure the watch had a full charge and was set up to the metrics I wanted (mainly yards).  I cannot speak for new members but the online customer service from Skygolf has been nothing but great.  This goes for all three products that I have and I do use the customer service more for the Skytrak than the watches. 

 

 

 

 Accuracy (11 out of 15 points)

This is where I start to lose faith in the watch as I play a lot of tournament golf and I am a fast player.  I have found at times the watch to be off as much as 35 yards.  I always laser my target and the points beyond so I know what type of trouble I could be find.  The watch is a little slow to keep up even walking having to wait for it to zero in on your point.  It is hard to get a photo of these issues using a laser.  The next time, I will try to get a photo of the card but I have had yardages to the flag that did not even fall with in the front to back yardages of the green on the watch.  

 

On-Course (25 out of 30 points)

This is where this watch should stand out above the others in the market.  There are so many features that I personally do not use just due to the fact I do not want to take the time to use them during a round of golf. 

I usually will set the watch up in the parking lot of the course so it has time to find my location and the golf course I am playing this day.  I have played almost 20 rounds with the watch on nine different courses.  Not all of the rounds saved due to being a scramble or such.  The watch usually takes about 10 mins to fully get your location and get the round set up.  Not a big deal if you have time to hit balls and practice before the round. 

Once the round started, you can easily swipe to view the entire hole or focus in on the green.  Now I do not used these features that often as most of the targets can be lasered or I know the courses and do not need to use it. 

The one feature I have been using and like is the score tracking.  It is so simple and easy to track fairways, greens and putts.  I always like to see my numbers after a round of golf and honestly I do not do much with those numbers but they are always nice to have.

I have played 36 holes with this watch multiple times in one day and that is all I can ask out of a GPS watch.  The one day was a ten-hour day and the watch died sometime after I walked off the 36^th hole.  I do not know if you can improve on that with the communication that is going on and the amount of detail you can get out of this watch.

 

 

Miscellaneous (9 out of 10 points)

I personally use this watch for more than just golf.  I use the steps in a day almost every day and I have started to wear the watch as an everyday watch.  It is light even though it is big.  I like not having to have an app to track my steps or heart rate and this information being right at my fingertips is great to have.

 

Play it or Trade it? (16 out of 20 points)

I will continue to use the watch as I pointed out I like to keep the score and when the watch is accurate, it helps to know the yardage to the front and back when the pin is tucked.   I do not like how slow the watch can be even when walking to get to the correct yardage and that for me is why I will always have a laser on my bag.  I can say this watch as more features than any watch that I have previously owned and it is not even close.  The screen is always easy to see, very bright even in the sun.

 

 

Conclusion

 

The SkyCaddie LX5 watch is by far the most advanced watch I have used.  The amount of data and detail in the watch for me has been unmatched.  The display is large and easy to see.  The only downfall is the accuracy and how fast the watch keeps up.  I feel a watch should be able to keep up when walking.  I can understand in a cart needing to catch up, but not when walking.  As I said, I will continue to use this watch even outside of golf.  I know the SkyCaddie products are all very good and this one does not disappoint.

 

Final Score: (84/100)

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by JoshAndersonGolf
added review

[Josh Ross 591]

The Review 10/04/2020

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch – Official MGS Forum Review by Josh Ross

Intro
I’m an avid golfer based in the mountains of North Georgia. I have been as low as a 5 handicap but currently reside in the 7-8 range. I’ve been golfing since I could hold a club but really got into it when I was 14 years old so I’ve been seriously playing for 16 years now. I also have a heart condition that doesn’t really limit me when it comes to golf, but it is something that I have to watch carefully and when I feel bad I have to log my heart rate. 

I play most of my golf at the course where I live, Whitepath Golf Course, but I often travel to other courses in the area. I have a goal of playing as many courses as possible and want to eventually play in all 50 states. With that being the case, I play a lot of new courses and often don’t really know what to expect when seeing a course for the first time. As a laser user, there are times where I miss out on knowing about trouble or knowing exactly how a hole will play because I can’t always see what lies ahead. Other than my time in the golf industry, I have spent most of my work life dealing with technology so I consider myself to be a pretty tech savvy person and couldn’t wait to get the LX5 in hand.

WITB:
Driver: Tour Edge Exotics EXS 220 9.5° Project X HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 60 6.0
3 Wood: Cobra SpeedZone 14.5° Project X HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 70 6.0
Hybrid: Mizuno CLK 19° Fujikura Speeder Evolution HB Stiff
Irons: Mizuno JPX 919 Tour 4-PW Project X LZ 6.0
Wedges: Edison Forged 49°, 53°, 57°
Putter:  L.A.B. Directed Force 2.1 34"
Ball: Snell MTB-X

First Impressions
“Golf’s Smartest, Brightest, and Fastest Watch” 

This is the first thing you see when you head to the SkyCaddie LX5 webpage. Well if that doesn’t get you excited for your first fully functional golf GPS I don’t know what will. Having never owned a GPS other than a ShotScope V3 that I only used twice and got rid of, I was jonesing to get my LX5 in and on my wrist. The few times I’ve had the chance to use a GPS unit I struggled with the screen brightness and sluggishness so it seemed this unit wouldn’t struggle with those at all.

When I first received the box, I opened it and realized the watch looked massive. I had decided I wanted to wear this as an everyday watch so I was concerned. As soon as I put it on though those concerns were gone because to me, it looked fairly normal on my wrist and was super light. So far, so good.

Grading 

Looks & Feel (9 out of 10 points)
Look, I’m sure it’ll be posted again and again but this watch is huge. From a GPS standpoint, this is very beneficial so you can see more on the screen. And you definitely want some real estate to see these graphics because they are great. I have loved seeing the entire hole layout and any trouble that may be ahead in beautiful detail. The watch has a premium feel and is well made. It has never bothered me while swinging and always stays in place. I do wish the band was a tad bit bigger because after I fasten it there isn’t much band left over but it hasn’t been a problem.

Setup (13 out of 15 points)
Setup was extremely easy, but I do deal with technology on a daily basis so most things like this are second nature to me. It did come pre-registered for us which was nice. Everything you could ever need is online and there is an app for the phone to sync courses and data. The app and overall UI on the online portal seem outdated and I wish they were different but they certainly work. The battery is possibly one of the best features on this watch as it lasts through two rounds of golf in one day. If used as an everyday watch, it easily lasts a week with no golf. I’m not a fan of the proprietary charger for obvious reasons but it gets the job done.

Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
If I didn’t have another course to play besides my own, this would have been a 0 out of 15. I want to start out this segment by saying to look at the courses you frequent and make sure they are mapped by Skycaddie themselves and not “Member Mapped” because in my experience, those are extremely inaccurate and lack almost all of the details that this watch can offer. Unfortunately my home course isn’t mapped by Skycaddie and it is very generic when used on the watch. Every hole looks the same, the greens are all circles, and distances are very inaccurate. I imagine the accuracy can differ from course to course depending on who mapped it, but it certainly wouldn’t be worth the price tag if you only played at “Member Mapped” courses. 

Moving on to courses in their database, I found the accuracy to be great. I compared to my laser rangefinder and it was always within a couple yards. It was great having distances to hazards, knowing how far it was to carry a creek running across the fairway, and having the IntelliGreen technology. This tech shows the exact shape of the greens and gives distances to front, back, and center from any point on the course. The front of the green is different depending on the angle you’re coming from so having the IntelliGreen was an intuitive feature.

On-Course (28 out of 30 points)
There isn’t much to say here, the watch performs as intended on the course. It does take a little longer to find a course than I thought it would, but I was never in jeopardy of being without it on the first hole. The screen is always easy to see, yardages update quickly, and as mentioned before the graphics are easy on the eyes. Golfing with a watch can be bothersome to some but I had no issues with it all. Anyone worried about pressing buttons during the swing shouldn’t think twice about it. It never happened for me and if it did, the buttons require a long press to do anything so a quick press wouldn’t cause a problem. The watch moves quickly from screen to screen if you’re wanting to switch screens to see different info. 

I only used the scorecard function once since I prefer to take a paper scorecard home but it worked perfectly fine and the stats it can provide post-round are nice.

Now, how has having this watch changed my game? Well I can attack the course differently and more confidently than ever before. There are no surprises on the course anymore and I’ve taken advantage of that by being less conservative when it makes sense. I can’t imagine playing without this on new and unfamiliar courses.

Miscellaneous (8 out of 10 points)
As I mentioned in the intro, I have a heart condition that sometimes requires me to track my heart rate. I waited until this section to bring up this function since it wasn’t golf related. Up until now I’ve had to have a pulse oximeter with me so I could track it whenever needed. I compared the readings from the watch to it and they are almost identical, certainly accurate enough for my use. This is a wonderful feature and has come in handy a few times already.

The only reason I deducted two points here is because it seems a few of my fellow testers received golf tees with their watch and some of us didn’t. I don’t need a couple of branded golf tees, but I felt it was odd that some of us received the nice add on and some of us didn’t.

Play it or Trade it? (18 out of 20 points)
Play it. This was an easy one for me. The golf part could be average and just having the heart rate sensor would make me wear this constantly. I didn’t have the issues some of the others did with battery life or sluggishness and for me it was a joy to use.

Conclusion
“Golf’s Smartest, Brightest, and Fastest Watch”

Did the LX5 live up to that statement? For me, it did without a doubt. The health features, the IntelliGreen technology, and the accuracy it offers tick the boxes for smartest. The fact you can see the screen on the brightest of days with no issue ticks the box for brightest, and the speed when transitioning from screen to screen is more than adequate. I have to say for me this watch lived up to the claims. Are there things I’d improve? Certainly. The app and web UI could use a refresh but they work just fine. And the best thing they could do for me and others in my shoes, is to get more courses added to the database.

Final Score: (89/100)

Huge thanks to MGS for this opportunity! I had a blast!

[knightsofnii 967]

SkyCaddie LX5 Watch Official MGS Forum Review by @knightsofnii

 

Intro

Hi, my name is Doug.  I’m from New Jersey, USA.  Thanks to MGS staff for this opportunity. ❤❤

       

This is my third product review.  Check out my other two here:

2019 Review:  Lynx Black Cat Irons

2019 Review:  Golf Pride Tour Velvet +4 Grips

NJ has a ton of golf courses.  My first few years I played countless rounds at the Crystal Springs resort courses.  My wife and I are now members at Basking Ridge CC.  It’s a couple exits north of Trump National.  Yes, on Friday and Sunday evening rounds, Trump flies directly over Basking Ridge.  Blackhawks, two or three Marine Ones, sometimes Osprey are part of the transport.   We were at the 8th tee when Trump flew directly overhead towards his Bedminster course to host the fundraiser that has been at the forefront of the Coronavirus coverage.

I play 2-3x per week.  I almost always keep score.  I don’t practice much.  At the range I usually end up just beating balls.  I do have a couple warmup routines If I get the time but I usually don’t try to work on something unless I’m repeatedly bad at a certain type of shot or putt.

My handicap over the past year has dropped from a 20 to a 14.8.   It has been on a steady decline since late summer 2019.   I found some unlocked power in my swing that has helped a ton with my iron shots.  I feel I’ve improved at putting and short game a little bit too.  I was hoping to get a couple more scores in and get it to 13.x, but my back went awry for the past week.  I’m feeling nearly better but there seems to be a bit of weakness in my back.  More stretching and PT exercises, I suppose.

 

Strengths of my game are putting, short pitches, layup shots where I’m not going for the green seem to work better, irons length, irons flying high and stopping within a few feet.  My weaknesses are driver distance and accuracy, getting chips to stop or to roll, sand (i have one sand shot). 

So here’s what’s in my bag:

• • Ping G400 Max, PX Evenflow 6.0s shaft.
  • Cobra Bio Cell 3W.  Project X PXV 6.0s   
  • Cobra AMP 3h, 19deg.  Oldest club in my bag next to the putter.
  • Cobra King Utility 4 @ 22.5 deg.  Great for long low punch shots
  • Mizuno JPX 825 Pro 5-PW.  Forged Mizunos with the CB help of JPX.  They’ve been in and out of my bag a couple times but haven’t let me down much.
  • Cleveland CBX 2 50deg wedge.   I wanted a little more help with the most used club in my bag next to the putter.
  • TM ATV 56/16.  The most bounce I’ve seen in a wedge, it’s mostly my sand wedge.
  • Walter Hagen MS2 mallet putter.  It looks like a Klingon spaceship.  I haven’t fiddled with putters other than cutting it some and adding a large grip.  I putt well, so my club upgrades focus has always been elsewhere.  You gotta keep one thing OG

Regarding my tech wizardry, I’d say I’m a little bit but not really a geek.  I have friends who nerd out way harder over gadgetry than I do.

Prior to this review, I had been using a Bushnell Tour V3 Rangefinder (no slope).  It works great. very reliable and fast.  During my last round it was missing from my bag.  My wife stole it!  On occasion, I would break out my old Garmin S3 watch. 

First Impressions

Packaging was decent, and minimalist for an electronic watch.  There was no cardboard ring holding it into form or anything.  I suppose less is more these days, with all the environmental concerns about excess materials that usually end up in dumps somewhere.  There was a small pamphlet, and to my surprise, it simply instructs the user to go to the Skygolf site and view the instructions online.  I suppose this also cuts down on excess waste paper.

This annoyed me at first, so I decided to just go at it on my own and figure it out.  I often do so, and end up wearing the tee shirt that says “i did it myself”, with some disaster scene in the background.  To my delight, the LX5 is just plain simple to use right out of the box.  Hook up the charger, and while it’s going, you can fiddle with it, or just wait an hour for the full charge.  I quickly found the “demo round” and went to work looking at each hole, switching modes from hole view to green view, etc.  I even played a few rounds prior to reading the online guides and manual.  When I got through it, there was little I had missed.  But, one thing I regret not learning about:  downloading courses.

When I started my first round, I switched it to golf mode while walking from the range to the first tee.   By the time I had teed off and was walking down the fairway, a good ten minutes had passed.  Granted, I had to talk to the starter, get ready, glove up, all of that stuff, while hopefully the LX5 was communicating with “SkyNet”.  So, while on the fairway, it finally finds Basking Ridge CC.  I select ok and it then takes another minute to load up.   All was well by my second shot.  While standing over the ball it started to hone in on my position, it appeared to have some lag.  I reached for my rangefinder and shot the pin.  The pin was in the center, it was 1-2yds different than what the LX5 was showing.  Ok, no worries, I played the round.  There was not much fuss from there on.  It works quite well.

Regarding the course download issue, I’ll elaborate on that later, as it’s not a “first impression.”  I will say that locating my few courses was simple via my SkyGolf360 account.  Once I had them selected for download on my account, I use the sync feature on the watch, and it pulled the course data onto the watch.  It just says it did it, so I suppose I trust that.

The watch is huge.  I believe the reason is its battery.  The battery lasts a long time, especially while not in golf mode.  It will go for days if not on the course.  While on the course, an 18 hole average round will pull it down to about 60%.  A league event or tournament round will pull it down to 45-55%.  I’ve never played 36 holes in a day, so no worries!

It is simple to charge, but the proprietary charger means I need to make sure not to lose yet another wire in my spaghetti bowl of a wires drawer.

 

SkyCaddie LX5 claims vs. my impressions:

• The hard wearing ceramic bezel is not only scratch and fade resistant but helps to retains that ‘new’ look for longer

The bezel is indeed still scratch free and shiny.  It is easier to clean debris and dirt off the bezel than off the face.

• Golf’s largest and brightest color touchscreen measuring 1.39” (3.5 cm)

The screen is considerably larger than my older Garmin, and larger than my Samsung smart-watch.

• Full HD graphics for stunning HoleVue® and IntelliGreen® imagery

The graphics are excellent for a golf watch.  Though, if they are indeed “HD”, then they are being seriously underutilized.  When I think HD I imagine this thing somehow tied into Google Maps and showing enhanced satellite views that look a bit more realistic (hmm, Patent Pending by me!).  The current graphics are on par with maybe a smartphone golf game.  However, with that said, they are the best golf hole displays I’ve ever seen on a watch.

• Powered by ultra-fast multi-core processor for instant response

Response time isn’t a strength with this watch.  In particular, starting rounds takes several minutes, even after saving your course as a favorite and syncing the watch.

• Preloaded with over 35,000 of SkyGolf's ground-verified, error-corrected maps for unmatched accuracy

This is a bit confusing.  It does indeed find your course.  So why, then, do they suggest you download your favorite courses?  Does it actually pull more course data to the watch for your saved favorites?  I haven’t noticed anything different in reaction time or yardage accuracy after adding my course.

• Zoom and pan for extra detail and precision targeting

It will zoom in to 2x.  The detail is the same just larger.  The panning works fine.  Being able to move your target around and getting target yardages is a big bonus.

• Patented IntelliGreen® provides exact shape of the green for distances to front, back and any point in between from your angle of approach

This is a neat feature, and being able to move the pin around is really neat.  You can also switch the view to show yardages from front, back, left, and right edges, and adjust them in 1yd increments.

• Digital scorecard and stats with SkyGolf® 360 Cloud

Keeping score is simple, and the SkyGolf 360 online account is excellent for saving scores and handicapping.  It is not an official USGA handicap source, however.

• Two user-replaceable, soft-touch silicon bands for comfort and best fit.

My watch came with one replacement band, the side with the adjustment holes.  The replacement band is shorter for further adjustability.

• Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi enabled

The Wi-Fi works great for the Sync function.  I have not tried syncing via bluetooth.

• Multiple watch faces

There are 7 watch face displays, some of which are quite nice.

• Fitness: Heart rate monitor and step counter with distances

I have found the heart rate monitor to be very inaccurate.  I did discover that while in heart rate mode, if I remove the watch and put it back on, it will then display an accurate pulse.  If I don’t do this, it starts off high and approaches 150bmp, even when I’m at rest.

• Battery life: Up to two rounds

This is true and probably its best feature.  Though it makes for a bulky watch.

• Includes 3-year worldwide membership providing real-time updates to over 35,000 ground verified course maps and SkyGolf 360 Cloud Service for performance tracking and analysis.

This is also true and a great feature.  I wonder what the rates will be like to renew in 3 years though.  SkyGolf is notorious for its pricey subscription based products, especially for the SkyTrak.  Hopefully that is not the case, and the subscription remains cheap.  You can, however, maintain a free account, you just can’t sync your watch, I believe.

• Free concierge setup service to include registration and activation when purchased at www.skygolf.com.

I already had an account, but SkyGolf added the LX5 to my account and upgraded me to the paid account.

 

 

Looks & Feel (8 out of 10 points)

It looks like a very large smart-watch.  If you like large black watches with rubber bands, this is the watch for you.   When the display is on, it has a few very nice digital time displays.  Here it is next to my Samsung Frontier S3, a very similar build, but the LX5 is far thicker. 

 It is the largest watch I’ve seen.  I gather the size is due to its battery.  Despite the size, it is light enough to not be troublesome.  Its width does, however, create a bit of interference with my glove.  I have to wear it 1-2 holes loose to pull it up over the end of the glove.

There is not much physical customization available.  It came with an extra strap that is shorter.  This appears to be more about function than looks.

It is built with materials and parts that lead me to believe it may have come from the same factory as my Samsung Frontier S3.  If that is the case, that particular watch took a direct impact to pavement at 21.7mph, and just got a few scratches and zero face damage.  It is water resistant and has not yet gotten scratched.

No storage case came with the watch.  The box it came in would suffice for a storage case; but, the packaging inside is minimalist, with no type of cradle for the watch.

 

 

Setup (13 out of 15 points)

Setup was easy.  There are a handful of short videos to get you started, and the actual manual is easy to follow along.  Had a small quick start guide come with the package, rather than a statement that said get the manual from the website, I may have read that on day one.

It charges very quickly, and the battery lasts a long time.  While golfing, the battery will drain, but it appears to be designed to withstand 2 18 hole rounds.  I’ve played 18 and when done it’s shown 45-60% life left.  When not in golf mode and not connected to anything, there is hardly any draw and can last nearly a week on a charge.  It has a neat magnetic end for the charger contacts; but, it’s a proprietary interface.  It’s annoying to have a collection of different cables for all my gadgetry.

I had no problems where I needed to look anything up or contact customer support.    Skygolf set up my account, which I actually already had, as I used to keep an unofficial handicap going on their site.  They added the watch to my account and loaded the 3 years of a premium membership, which is included if you buy the watch.  I thought I was going to have to contact them regarding the debris that collected on the face.  But, after posting about it here in the forum, and trying different things, I figured it out.

Going onto the online SkyGolf360 app and  searching and downloading favorite courses was simple, especially with the help from the user guide.

I suppose FIR/GIRs and putts are the most useful metric.  I know it can also log if you went left or right, but I haven’t used that, only hit or miss.  My Arccos tracker/app gives me so much more data, so I just refer to that.

 

Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)

The yardages are normally within 1-2 yds of my Garmin S2 and Bushnell.  I trust the Garmin S2 watch on my home course.  There is a bit of lag sometimes, so if the yardage seems off, give it a few more seconds to hone in.   When I measured shot distance, the two watches were within 1yd.  However, there were a few instances where the front/middle/back distances between SkyCaddie and Garmin were sometimes off by 3 to 5 yds.

 

I discovered that the courses should be downloaded to the watch.  When I first used it and it found the course and loaded it up, I assumed that was it.   After syncing my favorite courses to the watch, I played more and I didn’t have any instances where I thought the yardages appeared off.  I didn’t have to wait for the watch to hone in on my position.  I will do the SkyCaddie vs Garmin vs Bushnell shootout again soon.

It will show you reliable distances to hazards or layups, but it won’t default to them.  It will show you what it thinks are the best layup or best way over the hazard.  You can change the default layup distance in the settings.  It would be really neat if you could do this per course, per hole.  However, it’s easy to just drag the target to where you wish for it to be.  It will show you the next shot distance too, which is really nice for planning your intermediate shot.  I don’t use all of these features a lot;  I just need to get faster at using them, so I don’t feel like I’m holding anyone up.   Our 18th green is about 98 yds long.  I do have issue with that one, as the flag could be anywhere inside 90 yds.  It is hard to gauge where the pin is on the green from the tee.  Distances from the tee I play range from 135-200+.  I have made a note to check where the pin on that green is when I arrive.  If I know what tier of the green it is on, I can adjust pin placement with the watch, and get it close.  But I am most confident there using the laser rangefinder.

 

On-Course (21 out of 30 points)

After a couple rounds, I was familiar with most of the features.  I’m also keeping my score on it.   I definitely have to remember to get it fired up at least ten minutes prior to tee off, and this is not something that improved after downloading my courses.  

It doesn’t interfere with my normal golf routine; except when it’s still honing in on my location/actual yardage, then it took longer.  But it is no faster than using my laser rangefinder.  The extra size means it interferes with the cuff on my glove.  The glove will push the watch up my arm.  I have to loosen the watch 1-2 holes and then it sort of tips back on my forearm.   

It is pretty intuitive.  For the most part, I leave it in front/middle/back yardages, and bring up the more elaborate display when I need it.  It’s intuitive enough that I was able to figure out all the functionality without the instructions.   

I enjoy using the watch.  I also enjoy using the shot distance tracker. 

 

Arccos has that as well, but it’s nice to have that feature on hand, you just have to remember to use it, as time permits of course.  A lot of these things take a few seconds to bring up, and with playing with people I sometimes would forgo looking at some of the features to keep the pace going.  If you’re in a foursome, tee off 2nd or 3rd if you can.  That way you have a few seconds to dig into the extended features before your shot, and then after you crush a 199yd drive, you can mark it while someone else is teeing off.   You can also use that time to enter your previous score.   Having to add that strategy to my game until I get faster at using the watch is a bit of a disappointment when the aim of the device is to make the game easier.  

In the past I was mainly using my Bushnell Tour V3 Laser rangefinder.  The LX5 is not the exact distance to pin or distance to the bank of a bunker that I can get with a laser.  But, it will give me enough data that I can know where the pin is to within 1-2 yards.  It helps with intermediary hazards more so than a laser.  It helps with calculating a good layup also.

I don’t play any better or worse since using the watch.  I am more comfortable with it though, so we’ll see.

 

Miscellaneous (8 out of 10 points)

You need to fire up this thing early.  Give yourself 15minutes prior to the start of your round, it has taken upwards of 10 minutes to locate my course, and another minute or two to give actual data.  Just start up the new round while approaching the range when you warm up, or the putting green, even in the parking lot.   Otherwise you’ll be teeing off on the 2nd hole and still fiddling with getting it going. 

Some type of elastic band would be ideal for this watch, being the size it is, the glove pushes it back into your forearm.  Once or twice the glove has hit buttons and changed things up.  I may work on a 3d print of a gadget that will hold it on the handle of my pushcart.

When I mistakenly got the screen caked up with spray-sunscreen, it took a TON of work to remove the residue. 

I eventually got it all off by rubbing liquid hand soap onto the dampened screen liberally, multiple times, eventually scraping the remnants off with my fingernails while it was covered with hand soap.  There was, in fact, a warning specifically not to get any spray sunscreen onto the screen, but it seemed to have to do with DEET.  Either way it was annoying.  That doesn’t happen with my Samsung, which appears to have the same screen material.  

 

The online component, Skygolf 360, is nice.  You can sync your scores from your watch and they will upload to Skygolf 360.  When displayed on the site, the scores don’t require any modifications, other than if you didn’t adjust for ESC or something, or adjusting the slope/rating, or if you inputted the round type wrong.  The only gripe I had was, if you don’t delete old rounds off the watch, when you sync the watch, it uploads all the historical rounds again, then you have to find and delete duplicates.

I inputted all of my previous rounds from my USGA handicap (www.ghin.com), adjusted the slopes and ratings accordingly.  The Skygolf estimated handicap was within .2 of my actual GHIN handicap.  Both are now equal, as each site deals with 9 hole rounds differently.

 

 

Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)

Play it.

I did use it for my club championship.  Though, I found myself going to the laser rangefinder often, as I felt I could use it faster.  There is a learning curve to the watch, though it is an intuitive one.  As I get more expedient with it, I use it far more.  During my casual or solo rounds, I could really get into the features of this watch.  I think as time goes on I just need to learn to drive this thing some more, it’s getting cooler and cooler.

It's nice to keep score on, and I get the score logged while walking to the next hole, or nearly in the time it takes to write it down.  After a round just upload it.

It definitely gives me more useful data than I had prior.  Knowing distances to or over hazards is a big bonus, or knowing distances to certain spots on the green, if for instance I’m hitting from rough and I’m going to get more roll, I can set my target forward of the pin, etc.   I think every golfer can benefit from this watch.

If it were faster off the start, less interfering on the arm, easier to clean, and faster reaction for yardage displays, it would get a perfect score.  But the drawbacks aren't bad enough to keep me away.  

 

Conclusion

I got to play with caddies over a weekend when I got to play at Old Palm in FL.  It is incredible how much they know.  I had my old Garmin watch, and the caddy knew the yardages to within 1yd of the watch.  They saw things on the greens I’d never consider.  I’ve since learned a thing or two about reading greens, but distance wise, without a watch or a laser range finder, I feel lost.   I’ve gotten by by walking off yardages and stuff, but these devices are really handy and totally a part of my game now.

I’ve used a Garmin S2, a Bushnell Tour V3 laser rangefinder, and now the SkyCaddie LX5.   The LX5 gets more in depth than simply a yardage reader.   With the hole view and intelligreen features, you have access to yardages to or over hazards, layups, and different parts of the green.  The watch is large and bulky, but light and actually comfortable.  It does interfere a little with gloves, just wear it loose and push it up your arm a little.  I have been wearing it normally.  The additional step counter and heart rate sensor are a nice bonus:  I don’t need to switch to a fitness watch if I want to know my steps, and it’s also really cool to know how many steps you take golfing.

The battery lasts a long time.  It will indeed last for 2 rounds like they claim.  When not in golf mode, the battery will last several days.  The magnetic charger interface is nice, but having yet another proprietary charge wire around is annoying.  Don’t lose it!  Though, all my watches have proprietary charging interfaces.  That’s why it’s so annoying!

A drawback to the watch is the length of time it takes to start up a round, particularly locating your initial position and course.  It is way slower in this regard than my Garmin and also my Arccos tracker.  However, once its fired up, it’s ok.  It is not the fastest thing though.  You may find yourself waiting a few seconds after arriving at your ball for it to hone in on your position.  Though, I haven’t had any issue where it couldn’t find where I was, and I’ve played in full overcast, under trees, etc.

It comes with 3 years of SkyGolf360, where you can upload your scores and download your favorite courses, though why you have to download them is still confusing to me, since it says it’s already preloaded with over 20,000 courses and found mine no problem.  So the jury is still out on whether the watch reacts better with my course data downloaded to it.

Careful with getting any kind of spray sunscreen or bug spray on it, as stated in warnings.  It is very difficult to clean the debris off that these types of sprays attract. 

 

Final Score:  78 of 100

 

 

[mikeanthony 945]

[placeholder]

[MDGolfHacker 7,019]

The Review 10/4/2020

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch – Official MGS Forum Review by MDGolfHacker

Introduction:

My background can be found here when I was selected to test the Cobra F8 irons and if you’re interested on how I ended on the road that lead me to become a mediocre golfer   The only changes since then is that I’ve started to play more tennis, picked up a game called  pickleball and the clubs are now Mizuno MP-20’s from the Cobras F8’s!

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/24440-official-cobraconnect-challenge-2018/?do=findComment&comment=434131

 

Current Distance Methods:

My current distance method has been the Precision Pro NX-7 Pro Laser Range Finder with Slope.  You can see my review of it here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/19430-official-forum-member-review-precision-pro-nx7-laser-rangefinder/?do=findComment&comment=283085  If you are looking for a Laser Range Finder, I would highly recommend the NX-7 Pro for its feature set and price!

I also have used the following distance measuring devices throughout the years:

Bushnell 1500 Laser Range Finder

Nikon Laser Range Finder

SkyCaddie SG-5

Arccos

Pretty much every android GPS Golf App under the sun

I really like the accuracy of the NX-7 Pro.  You laser the flag or an object and boom you get a distance. The downside to this method is it doesn’t give you any leeway, how much room you have in front or the back of the green, clearance to go over a bunker, or lay-up yardages.  This is where GPS devices like the LX-5 come in.  Full disclosure - I had been a longtime SkyCaddie SG-5 user (7 years) but wanted to change it up a bit.

First Impressions:

When I first opened the watch, I was pretty impressed with the general look of the watch. It is styled like a diver’s watch with a bezel that looks like it would rotate.  The band is made of a rubberized material and SkyCaddie include another ½ band in the box for those that have smaller wrists (great thought to cover the range of wrist sizes out there). It was well packaged to prevent damage and it had a plastic cover on the face to prevent initial scratches.  The package came with instructions, the partial band for smaller wrists, and a PROPRIETARY charging cable. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the LX-5 out of box experience.

              

Grading 

Looks & Feel (9 out of 10 points) 

I had to dig around to find this but the watch IS NOT WATERPROOF! It may look like a diver’s watch, but doesn’t perform like one.  It is water resistant to what golfers would experience during a round (what that means is anyone’s guess).  The watch face is bigger than you would expect a watch to be.  This may be because everyone is use to an apple watch with the smaller face, but I appreciated the larger face when looking at yardages (yes, I’m at the stage in my life where I wear bifocals, LOL) and when having to use the touch interface with the watch.  When you first lift the watch up, you will notice how little the watch weighs.  A bit disconcerting, at first but makes total sense when you have it on your wrists for an entire round or during the swing.  It became second nature to me and didn’t bother me weight-wise.

The screen was bright and mostly visible even during the sunniest days. 

The band was comfortable for me and didn’t cause any rashes or rubbing during the rounds I played with it. One last note, if you are worried that you’ll accidentally hit the buttons during your round or swing, don’t.  There is a long press required on the menu button so it never exited the golf function when I was playing my round.

On another note, I fully charged the LX-5 and just put it aside for a week (truth be told, I went on a beach vacation and didn’t want to get the watch scratched up from the sand).  When I got home, it still had a 30% charge on the phone.  I also wore the watch out a few times and even with the larger watch face, it became second nature to wear.  It is stylish enough to wear out.

 

Setup (12 out of 15 points)

As a previous SkyCaddie SG-5 user, my experience might be a bit different than if you have never used a SkyCaddie product before. Turning the watch on, it was already pre-programmed with my account information.  SkyCaddie was generous enough to get our accounts setup for us (as part of the test) so most users will not have this done. When I first signed up for a SkyCaddie account many years ago, I remembered that it was fairly straight forward and painless so I expect it to be the same for the first time users.  You have multiple options to connect the watch to the internet – via Wi-Fi access point, via the cable provided and Bluetooth. I used Wi-Fi to connect the watch to the internet. A small note, on this – you won’t have a QWERTY based keyboard so you’ll be scrolling left and right to type your letters/numbers/characters to enter your password for your access point.  It’s a pain, but understandable with the limited space presented on the screen. I didn’t have any problems doing this and the letters were of acceptable size so I didn’t have to retouch the letters at all. Make sure you download the course before you get to the course.  It does take a few minutes to sync with the GPS to the course you are playing.  The one thing is a pain is that you still have to download the course to the watch instead of having it pre-programmed with the pre-mapped course.

Accuracy (11 out of 15 points)

The accuracy seemed on par with the NX-7 pro when the LX-5 was adjusted to approximately where the flag was on the green.  Where it really shined was on hidden approaches, and distances to hazards/objects.  Laying up to 100 yards for a comfortable wedge wasn’t a problem getting a distance to do so or carrying a hazard, the distance was fairly precise.  One thing that the LX-5 doesn’t take into account is any elevation changes so keep that in mind as well (The NX-7 Pro I was using for distance verification has a slope function so I had to turn that off a few times to get the distances to match up).  One other curious note, I was golfing with a buddy who has a SkyCaddie SX500 and on a par 3, there was a 10 yard difference from his reading and mine.  We both hadn’t moved the pin on the green as we had just rolled up to the tee box.  It happened one or two other times so I can’t begin to guess why this happened.

On-Course (25 out of 30 points)

The on course experience was great.  Easy to use so that it didn’t distract from my overall game.  You can move the points on the course so you can find distances to say a dogleg, or hazard.  The best thing you can do is go to the SkyCaddie Website and watch the videos on how to use the watch.  You can view them here:

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Again for me, The LX-5 didn’t bother me during the round at all.  I did have a problem at one point with my glove hand not working with the touch screen.  I thought it was the watch, but I was going a bit light on the touch portion as I didn’t want to break the screen, so after a few holes, I started to put a bit more pressure on the screen and voila, it started to work with the glove on. One slight hiccup, while moving the flag on the green, I had moved it to one of the edges on the screen and couldn’t get the flag to move back more towards the center, almost like it got stuck or my finger footprint wasn’t small so it was confusing the software.  I had to go back to a previous hole, then back to the current hole to reset it.  Only happened once but it was a pain to deal with especially near the green. As for GPS pickup, I only had one instance where there was a lag to pick up its GPS position on the course to give an accurate distance.

Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)

One of the concerns I have is the charging cable.  While it’s an awesome design, where it will automatically connect to the charging port on the bottom of the watch because it’s magnetic, it is a proprietary design so, if you break or lose the cable, you’ll need to ante up $20 for a replacement versus a USB Type C cable for $2. It’s not a smart watch replacement, so it has the GPS Golf function, a watch function, an alarm and a heart rate monitor and that’s about it.  For what it is marketed for, as a wrist based GPS device, it does it well.  It has basic stats – greens hit, fairways hits and putts.  There isn’t any automatic functions related to stat tracking and don’t expect Arccos level stats.  The watch integrates with SkyCaddie’s online SkyGolf 360 portal but again is limited to what stats you have available.    

  The only other point to mention is that you will need to pay a membership fee to use the device.  This was one of the things that turned me off of SkyCaddie after being with them for years so basically the device will not work without the membership active. They are running a few promotions right now.  The current $299.95 price includes a 3 year membership to SkyGolf 360 Pro or if you pay $349.90 you get 5 years.  It still has the need to download the course to the watch which in this day and age is a pain.  It is lessened though since it has multiple ways to do so, unlike the old SG-5 which could only update via a cable hooked up to a computer.

Play it or Trade it? (16 out of 20 points)

I like the SkyCaddie LX-5.  The one thing that I didn’t like about my previous SkyCaddie SG-5 is that it was a device I’d have to pull out to get my yardages, and with the LX-5, I simply look at my wrist and the yardages are provided. I will most likely keep on using it as it is a simple and convenient way to get accurate yardages.  Would I play it?  Yes, I would.

Conclusion

SkyCaddie has created a great GPS watch that can compete with those from Garmin and Bushnell.  It integrates well with its already established online stat tracking portal, SkyGolf 360 and has decent battery life.  I have no doubt that I would be able to play 2 rounds back to back with it.  too bad it doesn't integrate with any indoor golfing simulators (I kid about this point - ha ha ha)

    

Final Score: 80/100

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

MDGolfHacker

[MrBandit 369]

The Review 09/18/2020

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch – Official MGS Forum Review by jcorujo

Intro

I have been golfing for the past 17yrs, started after leaving the military and moving to San Francisco, I never expected to play golf. Everyone in my office played golf and they took me to a par 3 course in San Francisco and I remembering making par on the 4 hole (easy game, LOL) have been hook since.
Once I moved back to NYC , i began to play more and become more competitive and really get hooked on the game.
Now living in Texas , is a different game, HOT AF, and continue to improve my game.

I have used always used a golf watch, different brands , so I'm looking forward to compare the new SkyCaddie LX5. One of the reason I enjoy using GPS Watches is because I like to play different course, having a GPS watch that already has the course and get the basic information Front, Center and Back (lets face it, we are not professionals getting the exact yardage to the 75.2yds, we be lucky if we hit within 10yds of that consistently.)  Using Rangefinder has always been difficult, and I feel like is a bit slower to get your yardage.

I'm hoping this version of SkyCaddie LX5, can provide same ease of use to get Front, Center and Back, also a view of the course, to point out hazards that you would normally not see.

My game – Currently at 8.0 HC, up and down, struggle with concentration in the middle of the round causing silly mistakes, which escalates those numbers quickly.
Keep working on my short game and putting which shaves strokes every time, i get wrong yardage or wrong club. I have to compensate some how (Bad Caddying on myself of course)I 

WITB:
Driver:  PING G410 LST 9.0
3 -Wood: Cobra King SZ
4-Hybrid: Cobra King F9 Hybrid
Irons: Mizuno MP-18 MMC - 6-PW , w/SteelFiber i125
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 RAW - , 56, 60, Mizuno S18 Black - 50
Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Seven S, 34in

 

 

First Impressions

When you first open the box, you will notice this watch is bigger than your average GPS watch measuring at 1.39in and .63in thickness. This could be an issue for some people if you’re not used to wearing big face watches or wear the tiny faces of an iWatch. The watch is light, and you won’t even notice it’s on or interfere with your swing.
It comes with a smaller strap if the default one is too big for you.

The watch is ready to go out of the box, you will need to setup a SkyGolf account if you don’t have one already and you will need to select membership, yearly or 3 year.
Lucky for us testing it came with 3yr membership. This is one thing am not a fan off, I have used the GPS watches in the past that comes with all of the courses and not needing a membership.

 

You can use the demo mode on the watch to get familiar with the watch before heading to the course for the first time. (highly recommend)

The Display screen is bright and touch screen is very responsive, the HoleVue and RangeVue are very detail and you can pinpoint distance by just moving the curser. I was very happy with the battery life and how the map performed in different courses.  The hazard view shows you yardages to carry water, to the front of the bunker and end, how much fairway you have left. These features came in handy when I played a course I haven’t seen in a long time and getting this yardages in blind shots was HUGE!

       

Scoring option is very intuitive and easy to use. You can sync the watch via USB / Wifi up to the SkyGolf360  to view your score and gives you data base on your input.
       

  

Looks & Feel (9 out of 10 points)

Describe the following for the device:

●       General Shape is larger than your average GPS watch measuring at 1.39in and .63in thickness. But the watch is very light and you don’t even feel it on your wrist.
If you would like to use the watch as an everyday watch, it comes with Time, Alarms, Heart Rate step count
      

●       You have multiple screen face by pressing the screen and going left or right giving you different options

●       The watch feels sturdy, good materials. You don’t feel like is going to break If you drop it or bang it against something.

 

 Setup (12  out of 15 points)

●       The setup instructions online are intuitive and the video on the site are very helpful the get familiar with the watch and its features.
●       Watch charges within 30mins to full charge, the cable is proprietary magnetic, that plugs into any USB charger or computer. Don’t lose it.

●       Once you have your account setup in Skygolf and your device is register, you can then go to the SkyGolf350 and begin to search for the courses you want download into the watch.

This feature that I do not like.
1. You must know the courses you want to download and then search, and you only have a limit of 50 courses.
2. Good thing is that you can download the course via wi-fi is necessary without having to connect to your computer
 

●       Once the Sync is complete between the SkyGolf360 and your LX5 you will have access to those course once onsite.

 

 Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)

●       I played in 5 different course to compare yardage and accuracy, for the most par all of the course I played in the yardages where within 1-3 yds, compare the yardages with a range finder, on front, center and back, also to bunkers and end of fairway. This was very impressive.

●       In only 1 course the yardages where off, and they were off by 30-60yds. Played the course twice to make sure it wasn’t an anomaly but it was consistent off on the same 3 holes, the course has not change in years so, this should have not been an issue.

●       The HoleVue and RangeVue and extremely useful, as you can move the courser around to where you want to get yardages from the map will adjust the front, center, back numbers as you move around. This great when looking at blind shots and how far to the water or to clear.
        

 

 

On-Course (25 out of 30 points)

●       Once you are on the course, turn on the golf feature and let it find the course, for me it took approximate 5-10mins to get the course (seem to take longer than am used to) So don’t wait until you are the tee box to select the golf option and start the round.

●       The watch is so light that I didn’t even notice it on my wrist, and it didn’t interfere with my golf swing.

●       The watch is very intuitive to use, but if you spend a little time on the demo or the features videos before going to play you will find getting around the watch is a breeze and don’t have to over think.

●       The watch does keep a charge to play 2 rounds, I have tested this various times and its exactly 2 rounds and done.

●       Keeping score is easy and after the round you can upload to the SkyGold360 and keep track of your data.

●       By far is one of the best GPS watches I have used, the big screens, bright and very responsive moving around the screen.  Using the HoleVue is such a huge benefit.

●       Compare to my other brands I have used, the features, screen, accuracy is superb. Only thing I don’t like is the subscription and having to download you courses.

●       Do you play better or worse now that you’ve got a new method for yardages?
I have to say I have played better because I have better information on the yardages than I did before.

 

Miscellaneous (9 out of 10 points)

The only thing that would be a concern for me is the charger, since is proprietary magnetic cable. BUT, if you setup the Wifi connection this will not be an issue.

 

Play it or Trade it? (18 out of 20 points)

The LX5 will stay in my wrist and replace my other GPS Watch. This is an investment without a doubt and if you don’t like paying for yearly subscriptions on top of the price tag of the watch this may not be the unit for you. The functionality of the watch is fantastic and just getting the basic info of Front, Center and Back as the default screen is all you really need, and if you want a little more you have that option.
Battery life is awesome and if you like wearing as an everyday watch it works great also. Different display faces give you a different look.

 

Conclusion

The SkyCaddie LX5 is and excellent GPS watch, light with tons of relevant features to help you game move forward. Get the yardage you need, additional info if need it. Wifi sync is a nice feature not having to connect your USB cable to sync or update your watch.
Comparing it to a range finder you would be surprise your not that far off between a yard or 2 in most cases, the one thing that an range finder can’t do is see beyond line of sight, this is where the LX5 shines with the big screen, the ability to move around the screen to get yardage to that corner, tree, water, bunker etc..

Final Score: (86)

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by MrBandit
review upload

[palvord 3,540]

Intro
First, thank you MGS and SkyCaddie for the opportunity to test and review the LX5. It is a privilege to be able to put any product through its paces and bring value to the forum. I hope to always provide insight for you, the forum.

The Personal Questions
I’m a 12 handicapper hailing from Royal Oak, MI. I play most of my golf in northern Michigan. I’m beyond privileged with the course choices at my disposal.

I’m a quintessential 12 handicapper. Not amazing at any part of my game, but play well enough to know I need to work at my approach game and driving accuracy. I’m pasasble as a short game player, but I would not call myself great at that area of the game.

My bag is still made up of almost all clubs from Cobra Connect Challenge 3. I switched back to my Callaway Rogue after the challenge as that is a better weapon for me. If you’re not testing Cobra clubs when you get fit, you’re missing out. They make a quality product. Go look at the threads from CCC3 and CCC4. You’ll see what I mean.

When it comes to technology, I’m not a neanderthal, but I’m also not "hip" to the latest and greatest moves in the technology world. I am able to troubleshoot most tech problems that I run into at home with my computer, wifi, TV, etc. Beyond basic maintenance and following directions from YouTube videos, I’m not one to tinker with stuff to figure out how it works.

Before testing the LX5, I was getting all of my yardages from Arccos.

First Impressions
This watch has a big face, but is super light! The watch face is the same size as my Fossil Gen 3 smart watch, but .6 less ounces.



The watch came with a second strap so you could customize fit to your wrist, but I haven’t need to play with the extra strap as it fit perfectly.

The “angle” SkyCaddie is taking is that you have everything you want from a hand held distance device, but on your wrist. Specifically in the SkyCaddie world, it’s everything the SX400 and SX500 have to offer, but in a watch.

From the website: GOLF’S SMARTEST, BRIGHTEST AND FASTEST WATCH™ Next generation “smart” technology provides the closest thing to the award-winning SkyCaddie SX500 on your wrist.

Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
I was surprised with the size of the watch face compared to my only other experience with a golf watch being a Garmin S2. Yes, that old thing.

The display is very bright, and everything is easy to see and read. I cannot think of anything in the looks and feel department as a critique.

It fits on my wrist well, doesn’t move once tightened into place, is super light, and doesn’t interfere with my golf swing at all.

Setup (7 out of 15 points)

Out of the box, the instructions are easy to follow, but full setup takes a significant amount of time. 

I set up the watch using the provided charging cable and connecting it to the USB port on my laptop. You navigate through the SkyCaddie website to confirm registering the device, warranty, and are offered to purchase more upgrades on the membership length.

Then you move into setting up your SkyCaddie profile, downloading courses to the watch, and some other miscellaneous activities. Downloading and adding courses to the watch takes a large chunk of time. You have to search for courses, and each individual search takes 5 minutes to complete. (times may vary, but man there was significant lag time.) Once your courses are selected, you then add them to the watch.

There is an option to do these things over WiFi using the SkyCaddie app and bluetooth connection with the watch, but I found the app to be problematic.

Overall, I spent 2 hours setting up the watch out of the box. That seems to be too long of a time frame for a watch that has the option to use satellites, WiFi, bluetooth, and USB connections. As a user experience, I know that someone purchasing this watch from themselves would be let down by the leg work needed to get the watch ready to go before play begins.

Accuracy (10 out of 15 points)
Accuracy was spot on within 3-4 yards. My comparisons to Arccos never showed crazy differences that made me do a double take.

It did take an extra big of time for the yardages to load on the watch. The initial yardage on the screen was always too long, and then if you waited for 5-10 seconds, the real yardage would appear. It didn’t matter if I was walking or riding, the lag was pretty consistent.

That lag was tricky to learn, as Arccos would always have the correct yardage on the screen when pulled up.
 

I also needed to remember to calculate for wind and elevation on my own. It was nice actually to need to do some mental calculations to keep me present on the shot at hand.

On-Course (20 out of 30 points)
I learned quickly, when you arrive at the course, begin asking the watch to look for your location. It takes quite a bit of time for the watch to find where you’re at and give you the course options. Sometimes, I forgot to do that before the first hole, and would play the first hole without yardages.

My pre-shot routine completely changed switching from Arccos to the watch. Not needing to worry about data collection, and just looking for distances provided me extra time to look at the details the watch provides. 

Maneuvering through the various screens was easy with the taps on the sides or top/bottom of the screen. Triggering the ability to measure yardages to specific hazards or forced caries was simple, and maneuvering the target on the “green screen” was easy.

Tracking data can be done with the watch, but the stats are not really usable, the same way the data is from Arccos. All it tracks, if you choose to enter it is, your score along with fairways hit, missed in which direction, greens hit, and putts. That’s not a very robust picture of a golf round, especially compared to Arccos. 

There was an annoying “feature” of the watch during play. At some point during the play of a hole, the watch would vibrate asking if you were finished with the hole. The first round I used it, the watch never asked until I was actually done with the hole. I thought it was something the watch was doing to confirm it was time to move to the next hole.

Every round since, the vibration would occur at various times. Sometimes it would be as I was moving to the next hole, but for the most part, it would vibrate when I was near the green of the hole I was playing. There were a few times when it would vibrate when I was still waiting to hit my approach shot. That lack of intuition from a device that is talking to satellites was annoying.

Overall, my scores are basically the same from using Arccos to SkyCaddie. I do like not having my cellphone on my person for an entire round, and not needing to check if each shot was registered. I don’t like that I’m not able to get any extra data stored other than stuff I could manually track just as quickly. 

Miscellaneous (9 out of 10 points)
It’s really nice to have a watch that tracks your steps, and can track your heart rate if you need it. I like that it doesn’t look like a golf watch. I have been wearing it as an everyday watch, and will continue to do so.

The one downside that fits here is that the watch band is made up of a rubber strap that has grooves on the outside. It looks great, but collects dirt/sweat grime easily. It washes out just fine with soap and water, but if you aren’t paying attention, you can end up with a sloppy looking watch.

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points)

One of the questions we are asked in this section is, “Does the information provided help you play your best, or is it just nice to have?”

Overall, the information provided by the SkyCaddie LX5 does not help me play in a noticeably different way than when I use Arrcos. I was a 12 handicap before the LX5, and I am a 12 handicap now.

According to the enjoyment of my round, I enjoy playing golf more with the LX5 than with Arccos. I am able to just be in the moment golfing, rather than worrying and fiddling on my phone while potentially giving into distractions such as social media, sports updates, etc. 

If you want to collect and analyze detailed data in order to improve your game, this is not the watch for you. If you want to wear a range finder that allows you to see the entire hole, all the potential hazards, and the detailed dimensions of the green, this is the watch for you.

For me, I’m going to keep playing golf with the LX5, and wearing it as my daily watch. I can tolerate the lag when it is searching for the course and distances when in play, and most of the courses I play are already downloaded on the watch. 

I’ll probably start using Arccos purely for data collection by wearing the Link, and the LX5 for distances.

Conclusion
The LX5 is a superior watch to my previous golf watch, a Garmin S2. It is a fantastic everyday wear watch, and provides you plenty of details for your golfing experience.

Its biggest downside is that everything takes longer than you would think a piece of technology in 2020 should take. If you are not patient, this is not the watch for you.

Final Score: 76/100

 

 

 

[TCUFrog 445]

The Review 10/3/2020

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch – Official MGS Forum Review by TCUFrog

Intro

I'm based out Atlanta, GA where I was born and raised, but went to TCU for my Undergrad (hence my username) and lived in Fort Worth, TX for 7 years total so that's my second home and will always be one of my favorite cities in America. 

I don't remember any of my life without playing golf, but based on what my family says I started playing golf about 4 years old so this is year 21 of golf for me. I play a majority of my rounds in and around Atlanta primarily at Heritage Golf Links or Cherokee Country Club, but I also go on 3-5 golf trips a year to different and new courses. I travel for work (when COVID-19 isn't a thing) which gives me the opportunity to tag on golf trips to the end of work trips. While I typically average ~35 rounds a year with work travel being shutdown for a majority of this year, I've currently played 62 rounds so far in 2020. I've successfully dropped my handicap from a 10.9 at the start of the year to a 5.0 currently. 

Current Distance Methods:

I have a Bushnell V4 Rangefinder which I've been using for the last 2 years and rely on it heavily as I have been able to lock in some consistent distances especially with my mid and short irons. When I'm playing a new course, I find the rangefinder harder to trust though because I don't know the layout or where the miss is so I'm excited to see if the LX5 is accurate at providing me a better picture of the course and maybe cutting down on some mistakes by going for wider parts of the green or more center of the green.

Arccos often seems to be off by 5-10 yards even after adjusting for the pin location, so I'll also be testing to see if the LX5 is more accurate backing up SkyCaddie's claim. 

First Impressions

First opening this package after the long awaited delivery and watching UPS circle my apartment building all day only to drop the package the following morning, I was shocked by the size of the watch. It literally looked like a satellite dish with 2 silicon bands attached to the side. I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth packaging and small package size. It’s a very small thing, but I feel so often that golf companies waste a bunch of space or try to put too much information on the outside of the package. Turning it on, the backlighting of the watch was great which was a worry for me that it would be unusable on a sunny day or I would constantly be straining my eyes to read the information.

Grading 

Looks & Feel (4 out of 10 points) 

Again back to first impressions, this watch is MASSIVE. If you don’t mind a super thick watch face than this is definitely something you should look into, but I’m overall a skinnier guy (Former long-distance runner with smaller wrists). This watch is just way too big for me. I was barely able to hit 10 shots on the range with the watch on my wrist before I had to take it off and put it on my bag.

Overall, the watch face looks good and is a clean look. The ability to change the watch face also helps it be more functional than just a golf GPS if you’re looking for a watch to wear on and off the course. It’s obviously made well and feels sturdy in your hand.

Setup (10 out of 15 points)

After opening the package and turning on the watch, it was easy to understand the set-up process and how to get logged into SkyCaddie’s online account (the watch came pre-registered for us, so not sure if the registration process has any difficulties). Once set up online, it’s a simple type and look up course names for the courses you want to add. This is where I found the set up less than intuitive and lacking instruction in the packaging.

There are multiple options of how to add courses to the watch (wifi, Bluetooth, usb, etc.). To actually add the course, you need to go into the settings and turn one of those options on then start the process of downloading the course. While I didn’t find it confusing or struggle, this issue could easily be resolved by having a course download turn on option and then have the software automatically recognize which function you are trying to download through.

After you have the courses downloaded on the watch, it’s very simple and easy to start rounds and monitor all of the details while it is on. The battery performance for me far exceeded my expectations. I played 36 holes one day and left the watch on in-between rounds and still had 22% battery at the end of 36 holes.

Accuracy (6 out of 15 points)

This is really where it becomes a tale of two stories based on the course you’re playing. I played 5 different courses while using the watch for testing purposes. 3 were mapped by SkyCaddie’s proprietary mapping where people with GPS mapping tech physically walk the course and 2 were mapped using conventional satellite mapping technology.

The 3 that were mapped by SkyCaddie’s proprietary tech were mapped almost to perfection. Off by less than 5 yards from my Rangefinder almost every time. It was amazing technology to use and I definitely saw an uptick in my on course performance but more on that later. 

The 2 that were not mapped were so wildly inaccurate it became frustrating and led me to second guess even my rangefinder yardages. At one point, I was on a Par 3 where the watch told me 175 to the center of the green where the pin was relatively located. My range finder told me 142 to center of the green. I thought maybe the watch was delayed, so I waited a minute and still read that incorrect of a distance. It was very worrying and eventually so inaccurate it led me to question the readings I was getting on the appropriately mapped courses.

On-Course (27 out of 30 points)

This is really where the watch shines in my opinion. The on-course experience outside of the accuracy issues I experienced is truly phenomenal. The ability to play a course and see the layout and get distances to certain places allowed me to feel extremely confident while using the watch. I was never overwhelmed or surprised by a hole based on the layout. It’s also extremely easy to switch between multiple views between the course and green layouts and the front-center-back distance measurements.

I almost exclusively walk my rounds now, so being able to put the watch on my bag and have it just glow with numbers and data really allowed me to focus in on what I needed to do on the course and more or less kept me mentally in it when I was out of position on a hole. Being 245 out still on a par 4 after a bad drive didn’t feel as out of play when I was able to look at the watch hit a punch out to 110 yards and then get up and down from there to save par.

Back up to the accuracy portion, my play definitely improved on the mapped courses that I played before I experience the distance issues on non-mapped courses. I was hitting center green much more often than trying to go after pins. I would say this probably saw me save 2-4 strokes a round early on.

Miscellaneous (5 out of 10 points)

Something of note is the charging cable is a proprietary magnetic charging cable. While this seems like a good idea. It really becomes a pain if you’re traveling with the watch. It’s both another cord to remember and forget. It also doesn’t feel very sturdy and I would expect the cable to break and then that be another piece to have to replace. I’d much rather have a lightning plug in like all of my new devices and charge it that way.

The SkyCaddie 360 is a great data aggregator and monitor for any golfer who doesn’t have Arccos. It’s an intuitive addition to the watch.

Play it or Trade it? (12 out of 20 points)

Personally, this is a very easy decision for me. I’m trading this right away. The watch doesn’t fit my wrist, and I am consistently playing different and new courses. Having to worry about the accuracy of the watch on a course I’m not familiar with would definitely lead me to shoot higher scores and have a lack of trust in my numbers. Keeping the combination of my Rangefinder and Arccos for a visual representation of the hole is definitely my winning combination.

However, if you’re a golfer who plays a majority of their rounds on one course and that course is mapped, I’d say the user experience can’t be beat. I’d recommend you getting the watch or another SkyCaddie product ASAP. I think you’ll immediately start to gain confidence in your shots and utilizing the data on one course consistently will help you make less mistakes and therefore lower your scores.

Conclusion

I fully expect my score to be the lowest of any of the reviewers based on the fact that I wasn’t able to utilize the watch as a watch. The thickness of the band just inhibited my ability to swing the club. That combined with the inaccuracy of unmapped courses inhibited me from really trusting all that the product had to offer. If you have a smaller stature, I’d recommend looking into other options or one of the SX400 handheld product SkyCaddie has to offer.

If you’re constantly playing a mapped course and don’t mind a big watch face, you should be running to your local golf shop to buy one. This is packed with usable data that should help inform your golf game. If you have a smaller wrist, dislike playing with a watch, or am constantly playing new and different courses, I’d look into other options for your distance finding method.

Final Score: 64/100

[knightsofnii 967]

Thank you so much to the MGS forums staff!  I can't wait to get started on this

Having a good golf season so far.  Got some sand yips for a bit.  Maybe the watch can keep me out of more bunkers

 

 

[B.Boston 9,495]

Alright I'm gonna get a question or two fired out to you guys right away...

For those of you that currently use some shot tracking tech, Arccos or Shotscope etc.  Do you plan on using both during your rounds or can you see yourself not using the shot tracking features with the watch?

Who plans on using this also as an everyday watch? 

[TCUFrog 445]

17 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Alright I'm gonna get a question or two fired out to you guys right away...

For those of you that currently use some shot tracking tech, Arccos or Shotscope etc.  Do you plan on using both during your rounds or can you see yourself not using the shot tracking features with the watch?

Who plans on using this also as an everyday watch? 

I currently use my rangefinder for a majority of shots and then for blind shots I use my Arccos distances as well as to help with aim. While testing, I intend to use all 3 to compare numbers and accuracy. I'm extremely interested to see if there are any big differences between Arccos and the LX5 based on SkyCaddie's claim that they are more accurate because they walk the courses to map them instead of using aerial imagery. 

I won't be using this as an everyday watch since i wear my Apple Watch everyday and it has such good integration to my phone and laptop for work.

 

[Josh Ross 591]

Thanks again for this amazing opportunity! I can't wait to use this on all the different courses I play, none of them have GPS in the carts and most only use colored stripes on the cart path for distances. I currently use a Bushnell rangefinder for pin distances but it's awfully hard to get distances to hazards with it, especially on courses I haven't played. I'm a pretty aggressive player, always going for the pin unless I know there's trouble and it makes more sense to aim for the middle of the green. I rarely know this though, particularly in my tournaments when I'm unfamiliar with the course I'm playing so I can't imagine how valuable this is about to be! The rangefinder does have the slope option which is very useful where I live. There's no such thing as a flat hole out here so knowing how slope affects the yardages is extremely beneficial.

To answer @B.Boston, I ditched my Shot Scope V3 because I wasn't happy with it after a few rounds. I won't spoil what I'm comparing it against just yet, but I expect this to blow it out of the water.

And yes, this will be an everyday watch for me. I have to keep track of my heart rate because of a cardiac condition so this just made life so much easier for me with the built in monitor.

[MrBandit 369]

Introduction:

First off, thank you to MGS and SkyGolf for the opportunity to be a tester.

I have been golfing for the past 17yrs, started after leaving the military and moving to San Francisco, I never expected to play golf. Everyone in my office played golf and they took me to a par 3 course in San Francisco and I remembering making par on the 4 hole (easy game, LOL) have been hook since.
Once I moved back to NYC , i began to play more and become more competitive and really get hooked on the game.
Now living in Texas , is a different game, HOT AF, and continue to improve my game.

I have used always used a golf watch, different brands , so i'm looking forward to compare the new SkyCaddie LX5. One of the reason I enjoy using GPS Watches is because I like to play different course, having a GPS watch that already has the course and get the basic information Front, Center and Back (lets face it, we are not professionals getting the exact yardage to the 75.2yds, we be lucky if we hit within 10yds of that consistently.)  Using Rangefinder has always been difficult, and I feel like is a bit slower to get your yardage.

I'm hoping this version of SkyCaddie LX5, can provide same ease of use to get Front, Center and Back, also a view of the course, to point out hazards that you would normally not see.

My game – Currently at 8.8 HC, up and down, struggle with concentration in the middle of the round causing silly mistakes, which escalates those numbers quickly.
Keep working on my short game and putting which shaves strokes every time, i get wrong yardage or wrong club. I have to compensate some how (Bad Cadding on myself of course)I 

In the bag:
Driver:  PING G410 LST 9.0 with Tensei CK Orange 60 Stiff 
3 -Wood: Cobra King SZ with Tensei AV Blue Stiff
4-Hybrid: Cobra King F9 Hybrid
Irons: Mizuno MP-18 MMC - 6-PW , w/SteelFiber i125
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 RAW - , 56, 60, Mizuno S18 Black - 50
Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Seven S, 34in
Balls: TaylorMade TPx  & Snell MTB-X

[AGutierrez7 135]

18 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Alright I'm gonna get a question or two fired out to you guys right away...

For those of you that currently use some shot tracking tech, Arccos or Shotscope etc.  Do you plan on using both during your rounds or can you see yourself not using the shot tracking features with the watch?

Who plans on using this also as an everyday watch? 

No shot tracking tech for me at the moment, so I will be using the LX5 to its maximum ability. I will be definitely using it as an everyday watch because of the heart rate monitoring and step count/distance function. Also that watch looks smooth, so that's a bonus.

[Lacassem 9,319]

I also have a question on those that will be using everyday. Looks like a watch that would be "waterproof" I do not see anything on SkyCaddie website? Can A) anyone find out if this is actually waterproof and B) would you risk swimming with this?

For me if I ever get a watch it will be something like this that I can use for golf and multi-use because I do not really like things on my hands/wrist and I would have to wear it everyday to get used to it...That includes swimming.

[TCUFrog 445]

Let me start by saying a big thank you to MGS and SkyCaddie for the opportunity! Now time to get this party started.

Introduction:

I'm based out Atlanta, GA where I was born and raised, but went to TCU for my Undergrad (hence my username) and lived in Fort Worth, TX for 7 years total so that's my second home and will always be one of my favorite cities in America. 

I don't remember any of my life without playing golf, but based on what my family says I started playing golf about 4 years old so this is year 21 of golf for me. I play a majority of my rounds in and around Atlanta primarily at Heritage Golf Links or Cherokee Country Club, but I also go on 3-5 golf trips a year to different and new courses. I travel for work (when COVID-19 isn't a thing) which gives me the opportunity to tag on golf trips to the end of work trips. While I typically average ~35 rounds a year with work travel being shutdown for a majority of this year, I've currently played 62 rounds so far in 2020. I've successfully dropped my handicap from a 10.9 at the start of the year to a 5.0 currently. 

Being chosen at this time to test a product works out well for me and for making you extra jealous because on August 5th I'm boarding a flight to San Francisco for the North American Bucket List Trip. My brother, Dad, and I will be playing Pasatiempo, Spanish Bay, Spyglass, and the mecca of American Golf, Pebble Beach. I'm looking forward to providing you with jaw dropping photos of me wearing my LX5 overlooking the cliffs of Monterey.

Current Distance Methods:

I have a Bushnell V4 Rangefinder which I've been using for the last 2 years and rely on it heavily as I have been able to lock in some consistent distances especially with my mid and short irons. When I'm playing a new course, I find the rangefinder harder to trust though because I don't know the layout or where the miss is so I'm excited to see if the LX5 is accurate at providing me a better picture of the course and maybe cutting down on some mistakes by going for wider parts of the green or more center of the green.

Arccos often seems to be off by 5-10 yards even after adjusting for the pin location, so I'll also be testing to see if the LX5 is more accurate backing up SkyCaddie's claim. 

If there are any other items you would like to see me test or provide in the review, let me know and I'll be happy to provide my feedback. 

[Josh Ross 591]

26 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

I also have a question on those that will be using everyday. Looks like a watch that would be "waterproof" I do not see anything on SkyCaddie website? Can A) anyone find out if this is actually waterproof and B) would you risk swimming with this?

For me if I ever get a watch it will be something like this that I can use for golf and multi-use because I do not really like things on my hands/wrist and I would have to wear it everyday to get used to it...That includes swimming.

I was wondering about this too, I found on their website it is 3 ATM (30 meters) which means it is splash/rain resistant. Certainly don't want this around a bunch of water.