Having been thoroughly impressed with the Shot Scope products I have seen of late, including the Pro ZR laser rangefinder and the X5 Golf GPS watch, I was pleased to see another arrive on my doorstep. This time it was the Shot Scope V5 Golf GPS watch, so let’s see if it can find a place amongst the best golf watches.
To be frank, this could easily be one of the shortest reviews I have ever written, as the V5 is the exact same product, with the exact same functionality as the X5, just with four buttons to navigate the menus as opposed to a touch screen. Thus, it is $50 cheaper, that’s it, review over!
On a serious note, that is essentially it though. Everything other than the touch screen is still present, and, if I am completely honest, I actually prefer the button navigation. It requires less precision and I made fewer errors.
As with the X5, the Shot Scope V5 Golf GPS watch comes preloaded with 36,000 golf courses and will give you accurate yardages to the front, middle, and back of any green along with hazards and run-outs. I cross-referenced the yardages with my Bushnell Tour V6 laser and was very impressed with the accuracy. I feel that when you go to GPS versus laser, you are accepting that you may get a few yards of discrepancy, however on the samples I took, at no point was the V5 watch any more than 2 yards away from the laser.
The full hole maps feature allows you to see a really clear and simple overview of the hole in front of you and really helps you visualize and come up with the right game plan. Green view and pin placement are other features that I really liked, making the V5 watch suitable for tournament play, even at the professional level where precise flag distances are crucial to my score.
The watch comes with 16 second-generation tracking tags, which allows you to take advantage of the excellent strokes gained statistics facility. I firmly believe that understanding strokes gained is the key to improvement for most golfers. The V5 watch makes this very easy to track and when viewing your results, you will be left in no doubt as to what to prioritize in your next practice session.
Another important point here is that there are no subscription fees. Hoorah! You simply pay your money, and get your device along with all of its excellent features. Simple, and a huge plus point for me.
The Shot Scope V5 GPS golf watch has a neat and tidy aesthetic, is intuitive to use, and has all the functionality you could ever ask for. I have always been a laser guy, and I will most likely stay that way, but the additional features and statistical element of the Shot Scope V5 Golf GPS watch has really got me thinking. One thing I will say is that if I do switch over to the watch side, this is where I will be starting.
