The SkyCaddie Watch is their entry into the GPS Watch category. Light and easy to use the SkyCaddie watch gives you front, middle and back yardages quickly and easily from a clear display.
A lot of people wonder if it is easy to play with a GPS watch on and as someone who normally plays without a watch, I can say that after a while you hardly notice it is there. Even though it is fractionally larger than the comparative Garmin GPS watches, it is light at just 45 grams and the strap is comfortable with a little give in it to make it flexible as you move through the swing.
Given that it has a strap, you can also tie the watch to your bag strap or trolley handle if you prefer not to wear it on your wrist.
SkyCaddie are renowned for mapping every course on foot as part of their TruGround approach to measuring distances and therefore you can be very confident in the yardages the device provides. The only compromise between all devices of this size compared to the larger SkyCaddie models like the SGX and Breeze is the built in area is a little smaller and therefore may be a yard or so less accurate because of this. However that is the trade off for the benefit of the reduced size with any small GPS like this.
I have to say the ease of use of the GPS mode is excellent. Once you arrive at the course and select Golf from the menu it takes a few minutes to locate the course you are on, but so far it has been spot on every time, even at locations with more than one course. From there the hole auto-hole advance simply moves along as you go from one hole to the next and on the odd occasion when it hasn’t it is a simple click of the top or bottom buttons on the right hand side of the SkyCaddie Watch to quickly show the correct yardages for the next or previous hole which is one of the best manual adjustments I have seen.
Clicking the top left button on the course starts the shot marking mode so you can measure the carry or total distance of each shot. This is ideal for working out your actual carry distances and after setting it to start you just walk to where your ball is and look at the screen. Again one of the simplest measurement features around.
Battery life is in line with the competition but even the charging fully the night before and then putting in the golf bag overnight, it just made it through 2 rounds of golf in the same day. You should definitely turn off the GPS between rounds to conserve power as the GPS receiver is a major drain, as you would expect. If you did not use the GPS feature SkyCaddie say that it should run for up to 8 months between charges, but we have not verified that yet!
The USB charging cable features a clip at the end that connect to terminals on the back of the face and is light and charges the SkyCaddie watch in an hour or so.
Given what you have is a GPS device in a watch style that can tell the time rather than a watch that does GPS, there are other GPS related features for measuring time and distance such as an odometer for measuring distance and a stopwatch for timing those speed golf rounds. However these are more additional options as this is really an out and out golf GPS device.
As with all SkyCaddie devices you get 30 days of free use before you have to sign up to an annual membership to continue to use the device. This pays for the map updates but you should be aware of this extra commitment.
I am a fan of these smaller front/middle/back GPS devices as they are light, easy to use and carry and my preference is to use them with a laser to get the flag yardage for that day. Or if you have a pin-sheet or colour coded flags for distance at your course then the watch by itself is a good value for money option. In either scenario, the price point is just about right compared to a fully functional GPS device with maps of each hole showing hazards between the tee and green.