GolfBuddy WT5 GPS Watch Review – The GolfBuddy WT5 GPS watch may look different to the previous WT4 watch, but under the hood it offers the same functionality as its parent and also its WT3 grandparent.
GolfBuddy WT5 GPS Watch Review
So what is new? Well, it is also a whole 1 gram lighter, but I have to say that it does feel more than that thanks to a new lighter strap that is also a little more flexible around either side of the watch unit.
There is a choice of the black and blue colour scheme you see here or a white and orange version too, which I think looks pretty good.
The WT5 is also 2mm shallower and the screen is wider and taller and back to being the rectangle of the WT3, rather than the square of the WT4.
Whilst the WT4 was more stylish than the WT3 it was still pretty chunky and with the WT5, GolfBuddy continue to move in the right direction with a smaller unit that features more subtle curves. Better though they are, I am not sure they can really pass as off-course watches just yet.
Enough of the form, how about the function?
First off I had to charge the device up and the supplied USB cable with connecting cradle has also had the slimming treatment and was easy to clip onto the body of the WT5. There is no AC adaptor in the box now, which is no great loss as the two piece device was not going to win any ergonomic awards and I am sure most of us have enough adaptors to plug a USB cable into now.
Switching from watch to GPS mode got the WT5 searching for satellites and after about a minute I had a lock and the course I was playing came up on the screen.
One of the things I like about GolfBuddy is the large clear numbers and easy to understand display. On the main screen is the yardage to the middle, plus the front and back yardages below, which is ideal to have on one screen.
The front and back yardages adjust to the angle you are approaching the green from, which is also a great feature.
One of the differences from the WT4 is that one of the left hand buttons is now on the right. Pushing the bottom right button brings up distances to hazards and you scroll through the list if there are more than three.
Most GPS watches struggle to show hazard information clearly as they are handicapped by the screen size. However the GolfBuddy list with the icon, L or R for left or right and the distance is probably one of the best solutions.
Push and hold the middle right button and you are back on the hole information screen and from here if you push the left hand power button you bring up the Pin Placement view.
This aims to give you yardages to different pin positions on the green, but as all you can do is scroll around a list of nine arbitrary flags, then I am not convinced of its usefulness.
Push and hold the bottom left button and the scoring screen comes up and this keeps a running total of strokes and score relative to par. It is pretty easy to use, but there is no option for statistics on putting or fairways hit, or any way to analyse these over multiple rounds.
There are also several other useful functions like shot measurement, sunrise and sunset times and a GPS tracker to measure the distance you have covered whether you are playing golf or not.
To update the watch you do need to connect it to a computer to download software and course updates using the GolfBuddy connect website, which all works fine. Other more expensive GPS watches in the market can now do this via Bluetooth via a smart phone app, but this is not the market the WT5 is competing in.
The GolfBuddy WT5 does all the basics well in an entry level watch that is £20 cheaper than the WT4 and for that reason, plus the improved styling, it is the best GolfBuddy watch so far.
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Reviewed by Martin Hopley – Golfalot.com
