2020 Official Member Review: SkyCaddie LX5 Watch

[MDGolfHacker 7,496]

All,

 I also wanted to mention that with your LX-5 purchase, you also get a years subscription to Golf Magazine.  If you already have a subscription, it adds to it so it extends your subscription.  You can also decline the subscription and get $15 back in terms of a rebate.

 

MDGolfHacker

[knightsofnii 1,298]

My review is up!  Forgot to mention that

 

 

 

 

[JAGolfore 2,729]

How many of us will be playing winter golf and be able to use this watch all winter?  I know I will probably get a couple of rounds in between now and March, but no more than 10.  

[MDGolfHacker 7,496]

On 10/19/2020 at 9:31 AM, JoshAndersonGolf said:

How many of us will be playing winter golf and be able to use this watch all winter?  I know I will probably get a couple of rounds in between now and March, but no more than 10.  

I'll keep on using the watch until snow is on the ground

 

MDGolfHacker

[MrBandit 761]

12 hours ago, MDGolfHacker said:

I'll keep on using the watch until snow is on the ground

 

MDGolfHacker

Should be able to used year round!

[TCUFrog 526]

On 10/19/2020 at 9:31 AM, JoshAndersonGolf said:

How many of us will be playing winter golf and be able to use this watch all winter?  I know I will probably get a couple of rounds in between now and March, but no more than 10.  

Lucky enough to live in a state that has bearable golf weather year round

[palvord 3,642]

My golf season is over, but I'll be using the watch next season.

[Josh Ross 960]

On 10/19/2020 at 9:31 AM, JoshAndersonGolf said:

How many of us will be playing winter golf and be able to use this watch all winter?  I know I will probably get a couple of rounds in between now and March, but no more than 10.  

I never stop playing! Definitely getting some golf use all through the winter.

[knightsofnii 1,298]

I haven't golfed in a couple months, I've worn the watch here and there.  Since it's been sitting for some time now, now is the time to charge it back up and see what it's got since its hibernation

[MrBandit 761]

On 1/9/2021 at 4:54 PM, knightsofnii said:

I haven't golfed in a couple months, I've worn the watch here and there.  Since it's been sitting for some time now, now is the time to charge it back up and see what it's got since its hibernation

Should work just fine!

[AGutierrez7 168]

Droppin' a little update in here about how I am getting on with the LX5. I have been trying to figure out ways to use it without having to actually wear it (face is thick so looks real silly on me LOL). I tried attaching to the golf cart wheel which seemed to work really well, and I noticed that the watch's battery did not drain as much as it usually does. The only downside is that I did not use the watch as much as I normally would if I was wearing it. I was wearing my Apple Watch for basic FCB yardages and utilizing the LX5 for certain carry numbers on a few holes. Here is what the setup looked like in the golf cart.

 

I will more than likely continue to utilize the watch this way instead of wearing it. I will keep you guys posted on how it goes. 

[MDGolfHacker 7,496]

12 minutes ago, AGutierrez7 said:

Droppin' a little update in here about how I am getting on with the LX5. I have been trying to figure out ways to use it without having to actually wear it (face is thick so looks real silly on me LOL). I tried attaching to the golf cart wheel which seemed to work really well, and I noticed that the watch's battery did not drain as much as it usually does. The only downside is that I did not use the watch as much as I normally would if I was wearing it. I was wearing my Apple Watch for basic FCB yardages and utilizing the LX5 for certain carry numbers on a few holes. Here is what the setup looked like in the golf cart.

 

I will more than likely continue to utilize the watch this way instead of wearing it. I will keep you guys posted on how it goes. 

Love that course! I still wear the LX-5 when I go out which is rare these days with Covid.

 

MDGolfHacker

[Josh Ross 960]

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!

[palvord 3,642]

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 7,496]

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 1,130]

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 by mikeanthony

[mikeanthony 1,130]

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 7,496]

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 7,496]

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 960]

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!