SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch

“Golf’s smartest, brightest and fastest watch” is how SkyGolf describes the new SkyCaddie LX5 GPS watch. With a 1.39″ touchscreen, full HD graphics, a range of features, and access to over 35,000 golf courses, the LX5 is pretty impressive. This was my first foray into modern SkyCaddie watches, and as a recent SkyCaddie SX400 convert, I was eager to see what the LX5 would be like.

Out of the Box

Straight out of the box, the SkyCaddie LX5 is pretty easy to get going from a functional standpoint. Most of your time will be setting up your SkyGolf 360 Pro membership and activating the device which gives you access to the course maps with real-time updates and SkyGolf 360 Cloud Service to track your performance. Good news, by purchasing the LX5 from SkyGolf, you get an automatic three year membership.

Once you’re through all of the membership and activation stuff, now you just need to get the basics setup. Simple things like, date, time, etc. Maybe most importantly, pick which watch face you want for the default non-golf setting. You really can’t go wrong with any of them, they all look slick. And if you get sick of one, just switch to one of the other options!

SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch Features

The SkyCaddie LX5 GPS watch is packed with quite a few nice features, so strap in. (Shout out for that killer unintended pun that I only noticed during editing.)

Full HD Touchscreen

While GPS watches have had colorful touchscreens for awhile, the LX5’s is one of the more vivid I’ve seen. The touchscreen is 1.39″ which is considerable for a golf watch and features the ability to zoom, pan, and shift on every hole.

HoleVue and IntelliGreen

HoleVue is a straightforward feature which gives you a graphical look at the entire hole as opposed to just listing features and distances to them. Oh wait, you like that listing feature?  The LX5 still does that too (picture in carousel at the end of the review). You can also drag and place a target to get distances to specific features or landing areas. By tapping the circle in the top left corner, the LX5 displays target arcs as well for more distance reads.

IntelliGreen displays a more detailed overhead view of the green as well as distances and views from where you’re playing your shot. This enables you to be more dialed in and confident in the shot you’re about to hit into the green.

Digital Scorecard

This is a pretty straightforward feature as well. Typically, the LX5 will ask you if you’re finished playing a hole and you’ll click “finished”. Then it will bring you to the scorecard to put your score in and it will also ask you if you hit the fairway, how many putts you took, and determine if you hit the GIR. After your round, you can save this score to the SkyGolf 360 Cloud Service so you can access and analyze your performance data anywhere.

Fitness

A common demand of smart watches these days is to track your steps and your heart rate. You can track both of these via the LX5 and make sure you’re getting your proper fitness goals in for the day.

There are refinements on some of the features mentioned throughout that I’ve also pictured in the carousel at the end. If you have any questions on those, let me know!

On-Course Performance

I don’t think I’m the pickiest golfer ever when it comes to the likes of golf GPS watches. My biggest requirements are to be accurate, fast, and easy to use. So far, the SkyCaddie LX5 legitimately delivers this in impressive fashion. The LX5 uses an “ultra-fast multi-core processor” for all of its computing which has been quick thus far. Linking up to the course can take a little bit, but once you do, the LX5 absolutely flies.

Part of “being quick” is also being able to quickly look at the screen and get all of the information you need fast. With the hole view, that’s certainly the case and the aforementioned ability to drag and drop for alternative distances helps speed up a lot of decision making. The bright HD graphics also make it easy to quickly look at the screen and process the information. That may seem like a small deal but it makes a huge difference.

Last but not least, the numbers are extremely accurate. This doesn’t surprise me as SkyGolf has always been reliable in providing accurate yardages with their devices. Each course is literally walked by a “SkyCaddie” to precisely record all features and distances. Updates are available to sync on a regular basis so it’s worth doing a quick sync before heading out.

Final Thoughts – SkyCaddie LX5 GPS Watch

The SkyCaddie LX5 GPS watch is a strong full-service golf watch. I’ve found in recent years that I’ve leaned toward SkyCaddie for GPS devices as I believe their mapping process to be the most diligent and the devices are fairly intuitive. I’ll be honest and admit that I’m not a smart watch guy so I can’t tell you how the LX5 fits into that area of my life, but for dedicated golf purposes and telling time, I’ve really enjoyed this watch. Will it knock the handheld SkyCaddie SX400 out of my bag? Time will tell, but so far I’m really enjoying golfing with the SkyCaddie LX5.

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