Garmin Approach G5 GPS-enabled Golf Handheld

Brand: Garmin
Feature

* Rugged, waterproof golf GPS unit with 3-inch sunlight-readable touschreen display
* Preloaded U.S. course maps, including fairways, hazards, and greens
* No annual fee; new maps available for download from Garmin website
* Measure shot distance with highly sensitive readings to eliminate guesswork from your game
* Digital scorecard for up to four players; save and review the scores on your computer at home

Product Description
Give your game a boost of confidence with Garmin’s Approach G5, a rugged, waterproof, touchscreen golf GPS packed with thousands of pre-loaded golf course maps. Approach uses a high-sensitivity GPS receiver to measure individual shot distances and show the exact yardage to fairways, hazards, and greens.

What’s in the Box
1. Approach G5
2. Belt clip
3. USB cable
4. Quick start manual

Garmin Approach G5 GPS-enabled Golf Handheld Review
The Garmin Approach is in my opinion the best GPS based golf rangefinder available. I have been using it for a month and find it accurate and easy to use. If you need an absolute yardage to the pin, this might not be for you. But for those golfers happy with yardages to the middle of the green there is nothing better. (It is possible to move the pin around in the detailed green view, but its a guesstimate as to where the actual pin is on the green. Useful for large greens or courses you know well.) The score card, shot measure, and preview course are all great features that work well enough, but don’t buy it for anything other than easy to read, accurate yardages from anywhere on the course to hazards and to the green. You don’t need line of sight to the pin like you do with the laser range finders. And there are NO additional fees. There is only one problem with this device; it is not rechargeable! This is the only reason I didn’t give it five stars. Alkaline batteries last a round and a half. I purchased two sets of rechargeable batteries, an absolute must. One set will last around two and a half rounds. That this thing doesn’t recharge as easy as a cell phone is a big let down. I guess you can’t have everything.

No downloads. No annual fees. Good battery life. Locates courses nearby. Easy to see screen. Touch screen and no instructions needed! I love it and am selling my (3) previous models to friends. This makes course management so simple when a tap on the screen shows distance of next shot instantly. Playing an unfamiliar course like you know it makes golf more fun.

We used one in our golf league group last night and I hit more greens than I normally do and shot four stokes better for nine than the week before. It was very accurate and especially helpful if you weren’t in the middle of the fairway and if you had a blind shot to the green where you couldn’t point a laser rangefinder. It definitely gives you an advantage. The guy carrying it eagle the last hole.

Bought this product a couple of weeks ago and had a couple of problems that need to be resolved. The touchscreen would not respond properly and after waiting about 20 minutes for tech support they walked me through the problem and fixed it. the other problem is that not all of the latest courses would download onto my Approach. After trying a re download with a tech and not being successful he transferred me to a software guy and he set it up so he could manipulate my computer with the approach connected. He did some magic and the full 82MB file downloaded. I have only used the gps once and am very pleased with its ease of use and visibility in sunlight.

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