2020 Official Member Review: SkyCaddie LX5 Watch

[palvord]

Just a little addition to my thoughts on the watch.

I had not used the watch since my last round of golf in October. I charged the watch and powered it on today and had to reset the date and time. I didn't have to do that any other time the battery died after multiple rounds, so perhaps the long hibernation was a reset of everything.

Not the worst thing in the world to deal with, but a minor annoyance if you are pulling out the watch to play a round of golf and haven't had the time to make sure everything is up and running.

[MDGolfHacker]

I've actually worn my watch on and off through this past year whenever I went out. It's stylish enough and I did have a couple people come up to me and ask me about it so of course I told him about my golf spy and about the watch itself.

 

MDGolfHacker

[mikeanthony]

On 7/22/2020 at 10:27 AM, mikeanthony said:

[placeholder]

This is a long overdue final review and I apologize for my lack of participation in the SkyCaddie LX5 Watch testing. I won't go too much into detail about the watch for the 9 other reviewers have done that incredibly well and many of things they've said, both pros & cons, I agree with. 

First Impression: the LX5 watch really is a rather large watch, and I remember the initial disappointment when I opened the box and saw how big the face is. And as I mentioned in earlier postings, the LX5 certainly isn't an everyday watch nor would it be a date-night with my wife watch. But I will say that the LX5 is ridiculously light for a watch of it's size and I will 100% state that I did not feel the LX5 on my wrist at anytime during my golf rounds. I really didn't. 

Looks & Feel: (8 out of 10 pts) the watch is very light, the plastics used to build the watch don't feel too cheap, the wrist straps were comfortable (which they come in two sizes) ... but the watch face size lost points with me. I will add that the ability to switch around the face dial is very nice, with some very classy traditional face dials to choose from. 

Setup: (13 out of 15 pts) for me, this wasn't an issue at all. Trying to think back if I got frustrated during the initial setup (and I'm very impatient and easily frustrated) and don't recall anything other than thinking, "that was easy!"

Accuracy:  (12 out of 15 pts)  haven't used the watch in several months (which speaks to my overall feelings about the watch, which I'll touch on at the end). I do recall playing at a course up in Maine at Belgrade Lakes and having trouble with trusting either the distance from The Grint or LX5 ... eventually, the watch had the correct yardage. But during my cross comparisons with the The Grint for several rounds, I didn't notice significant yardage differences. 

On Course: (25 out of 30 pts) went back and forth on how to score and judge this portion of the review ... to me, I felt the most important items were that the watched worked, didn't lag, had no issues, was able to read the watch face/screen with no issues during high-noon sun or glare, was light on my wrist, and overall just a simple watch to use. A significant portion of the high score comes from the green slope reading feature. Not sure about the others, but I absolutely loved being able to see the contours and slopes of the greens from the watch. Being in Charleston and living within close proximity to the many Myrtle Beach courses, the green slope/contour feature was and is my fav part of the watch. To be fair, I recently charged and used the watch for a guys trip to Pinehurst about 2 weeks ago ... I've since bought a rangefinder, but I used the watch strictly for reading the greens for my approach shots. 

Miscellaneous: (6 out of 10 pts) don't have too much to add. The heart rate monitor and activity/steps feature is a nice plus, but it's something I didn't care for. Didn't really get into the additional data metrics/output features as well for it's just more analysis paralysis for me. I'll also want to point out that the battery life, IMO, is great ... along with charging back up to 100% rather quickly. 

Play It or Trade It: (12 out of 20 pts) I really wanted to like the watch, but for me and how I play the game and wanted to utilize the watch, it simply wasn't beneficial to me ... and it's a trade it at this point. And I'll touch on more below in the conclusion ...

Conclusion: I truly feel that the individual that would benefit the most from the LX5 watch is someone who plays much or almost all of their golf rounds as a walker. This is just an opinion, but I feel that the "less is more approach" certainly applies to the golfers that are strictly walkers ... be it bag carriers or cart pushers. For me, on the occasion that I'm walking a course, I'm focused on less distractions/clutter and focusing more on my tempo/rhythm and just enjoying myself. I feel the LX5 can check off a lot of boxes with its ease of use, its almost invisible feel on your wrist during play, tracks your heart rate and steps, and those times where our errant shots don't allow us to gun our rangefinders to a blind pin - the LX5 can get that number for you. 

If anything, SkyCaddie should look into creating a feature rich app that allows golfers to download the app to their respective smartphones and smartwatches ... for a fee that makes sense, and allow them to use everything that's available in the LX5 watch on a compatible smartwatch. 

Final Score: 76 out of 100

Again MGS, a huge (albeit, belated) thank you for allowing me to be a part of this review. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by mikeanthony

[mikeanthony]

On 4/15/2021 at 12:45 PM, Josh Ross said:

Bringing this review back up to the top for people to see now that we're getting into golf season. Our winter season was the worst for golf that I can remember. I usually get to play all winter for the most part but I think I only got out for 45 holes max. Things are looking good now though and I can't wait to get back on the course with my LX5! I'm still wearing it as my everyday watch and have no complaints! There was one hole recently that it randomly was giving a blatantly wrong yardage but the guy I was playing with said that hole had changed recently so I guess it just hadn't been updated.

If anybody is stumbling across this thread for the first time, be sure sure to check it out as it is packed with good info on this watch! Ask any questions and we'll be glad to help!

Ah man, 100% agree!

This past winter was certainly the worst that I can remember for Charleston ... cold, wet, rainy and literally no sun for weeks on end. My handicap and overall game took a beating from January thru March. 

[MDGolfHacker]

Okay guys,

  A few thoughts since I've been back golfing and using the watch. It really does add value when you know the back middle in front this in conjunction with the NX-7 Pro gave me a better picture on how to hit my approach shots because you know, sometimes you want to keep it below the hole instead of challenging yourself to those downhill or wild left to right breakers not saying that I was able to pull it off all the time but it made me think of the approach shots and what I really wanted to do with them. The watch has held up well and looks like it did when I first got it. Not a scratch on it but that's just me as I don't throw it in the bag and put it back on its charger religiously. One funny note, I was using it in a tournament this past Monday where the temps were 94 plus degrees and humidity around 60 to 70%. Needless to say it was a very very very slow round close to 6 and 1/2 hours. On the last hole, it started to rain a little bit. The LX-5 locked up and I couldn't get it to hard restart until 10 minutes later. I'm not sure what cause that issue but it worked fine in my league round yesterday. If you guys have any other questions feel free to ask as I'll be using this throughout this year for whatever rounds I can squeeze in.

 

MDGolfHacker

[MDGolfHacker]

Hey all,

  I also wanted to mention that SkyCaddy released significant updates to the LX5 today. I just received an email with all the changes. You can go to the following link: skygolf.com/lx5

 or view the snapshots I took below..

[Josh Ross]

I saw that email just a couple minutes ago, excited to get notifications from my phone on the watch now since I wear it every day! My charging cable got up and walked off apparently so I've been without the watch since yesterday, I need to find a new one ASAP!

[MDGolfHacker]

10 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

I saw that email just a couple minutes ago, excited to get notifications from my phone on the watch now since I wear it every day! My charging cable got up and walked off apparently so I've been without the watch since yesterday, I need to find a new one ASAP!

Ugh..yeah, one of the downsides of owning this LX5 is the proprietary charging cable. You can probably get one from skycaddie themselves or check eBay.

 

MDGolfHacker

[palvord]

My golf this year has been curtailed compared to last year, but the watch has been used every round. A feature that I should use more often is the hole layout to map out how far away certain hazards or dog legs are for tee shots and approach shots. Knowing on the tee box if a hazard is in range is a key element.

It's been interesting for me in my league play to see the folks that use a rangefinder and compare the yardages they get to the watch. I like that I have a broader yardage range in my head, rather than a precise number to the flag as there are too many variables that can prevent you from hitting the exact number. All I think about is being committed to making it past the front edge of the green, and that has helped me increase my GIR. Just a mental thought process I have that I wouldn't have with a rangefinder.

[MDGolfHacker]

Pavlord,

  I was the same way.  Left my watch at home during one league round and relied on my laser and I found that Even with an exact distance to the pin I really wanted to know what the distance was from the front of the green, over hazards, and to the back of the green to give me a better picture of what I had to work with even though I've played this course many times through the league over the years.

 

MDGolfHacker

[TCUfrog]

I am no longer using the watch because of it's size. It has 2 more years of free membership, and I'd be happy to ship it to someone who wants to use it. I can also transfer the membership to someone else. Let me know if you're interested.

[MDGolfHacker]

1 hour ago, TCUFrog said:

I am no longer using the watch because of it's size. It has 2 more years of free membership, and I'd be happy to ship it to someone who wants to use it. I can also transfer the membership to someone else. Let me know if you're interested.

Put it on the buy sell trade section. I don't have a problem with it's size as it's light enough to not be noticable during the swing for me.

 

MDGolfHacker

[MDGolfHacker]

Okay guys and gals I thought I would give a little update after using the watch for the last two weeks since upgrading it to the latest system version. I've never had a problem with the watch working but since the upgrade, I've had it locked up on me twice. First time, I thought it was because it was pretty hot out. That was the only thing that I could figure maybe cause the watch to overheat?? I had to force a reboot. The second time though was this week and it wasn't that hot. I was in the middle of entering a score when it locked up on me. I'm not sure what caused it but right now I would hold off on doing the upgrade unless you really need the features in the new version. I'll let you know when I play again throughout this week if there any other hiccups.

MDGolfHacker

 

 

[palvord]

11 hours ago, MDGolfHacker said:

Okay guys and gals I thought I would give a little update after using the watch for the last two weeks since upgrading it to the latest system version. I've never had a problem with the watch working but since the upgrade, I've had it locked up on me twice. First time, I thought it was because it was pretty hot out. That was the only thing that I could figure maybe cause the watch to overheat?? I had to force a reboot. The second time though was this week and it wasn't that hot. I was in the middle of entering a score when it locked up on me. I'm not sure what caused it but right now I would hold off on doing the upgrade unless you really need the features in the new version. I'll let you know when I play again throughout this week if there any other hiccups.

MDGolfHacker

 

 

That's interesting to hear. I did the update and have not had it freeze on me yet. Granted, I don't use it for scorekeeping, but have not had it freeze.

Would be curious if you play a round without using it for scorekeeping to see if it freezes again. Could narrow down the culprit.

[MDGolfHacker]

4 hours ago, palvord said:

That's interesting to hear. I did the update and have not had it freeze on me yet. Granted, I don't use it for scorekeeping, but have not had it freeze.

Would be curious if you play a round without using it for scorekeeping to see if it freezes again. Could narrow down the culprit.

I might do that as I may be playing two or three rounds this week.

 

MDGolfHacker

[MrBandit]

1 hour ago, MDGolfHacker said:

I might do that as I may be playing two or three rounds this week.

 

MDGolfHacker

I havent' had it freeze on me, but I did the upgrade, is nice new features.

[knightsofnii]

Can any of you LX5 users possibly help me figure out how to wake this thing up??

Its yardages were all over the map during the Great Smokescreen of the Northeast, and then went into this power cycling mode the next day

 

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/124Z6JS4b-g?feature=share4

[Josh Ross]

8 hours ago, knightsofnii said:

Can any of you LX5 users possibly help me figure out how to wake this thing up??

Its yardages were all over the map during the Great Smokescreen of the Northeast, and then went into this power cycling mode the next day

 

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/124Z6JS4b-g?feature=share4

Can't see the video, says it's private. But have you tried holding down the power button for like 10 seconds? That's supposed to soft reset it, I had to do it to mine recently.

[knightsofnii]

8 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

Can't see the video, says it's private. But have you tried holding down the power button for like 10 seconds? That's supposed to soft reset it, I had to do it to mine recently.

I've tried. It doesn't stay on long enough to shut it down.

 

Try the link again, I changed the settings 

[MDGolfHacker]

I would make sure it's fully charged before trying the reset.  Leave it on the charger for a bit.  On a separate note, my wife, in all her cleaning fury, "relocated" the proprietary charging cable somewhere else in the house, LOL...so I'll have to order another charger cable.

 

[Josh Ross]

4 hours ago, knightsofnii said:

I've tried. It doesn't stay on long enough to shut it down.

 

Try the link again, I changed the settings 

Wow, no idea what's going on there. Seems like it wants to turn on but doesn't have enough juice and the power cycling is keeping it from charging. May have to reach out to SkyCaddie for an answer on that one, but holding that power button down is supposed to force a soft reset even if it's power cycling.

[MDGolfHacker]

4 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

Wow, no idea what's going on there. Seems like it wants to turn on but doesn't have enough juice and the power cycling is keeping it from charging. May have to reach out to SkyCaddie for an answer on that one, but holding that power button down is supposed to force a soft reset even if it's power cycling.

Sounds like to me that there's a battery issue. Definitely reach out to sky caddy and see what they say about it.

[knightsofnii]

Got it awake by fiddling with the bottom button. I've discovered the top button may be dead. It doesn't have that tactile click to it anymore. 

I think I can get away with using it with just the bottom button. We'll see.  Since they gave these to us, I'm not sure they would warranty any part of it this far out, but contacting them anyway.

[knightsofnii]

Talked to customer support. Short story: they said that's unfortunate and recommended I buy a new one

To their credit, they gave me a killer watch that exceeded its warranty and survived probably over 200 rounds. 

Play it or Trade it? Play it! Until the wheels fall off

 

[knightsofnii]

On 6/17/2023 at 9:51 PM, knightsofnii said:

Talked to customer support. Short story: they said that's unfortunate and recommended I buy a new one

To their credit, they gave me a killer watch that exceeded its warranty and survived probably over 200 rounds. 

Play it or Trade it? Play it! Until the wheels fall off

 

 

So it's been a while, but I was never able to get the watch to fire up again after my last post. 

 

Thanks MGS, MGS Forum Staff and SkyCaddie for the opportunity to review the LX5. It was an amazing tool for the course, and I'm considering purchasing another one.