Garmin Approach G6 Handheld Touchscreen Golf Course GPS

 

Garmin Approach G6 Handheld Touchscreen Golf Course GPS

 

Technical Details

• Preloaded with over 25,000 worldwide courses - no subscriptions required.^Slim, rugged, waterproof design.^2.6" glove-friendly touchscreen display and adjustable backlight.

Consumer Reviews

My disclaimer: I am writing this assessment after one actual round and some playing around on Preview mode.
For the past two or so seasons, I have been a devoted user of the Callaway Upro Golf GPS product, the a single that game out just before the one particular with all the troubles. I am comparing the G6 to that device. General, I give the Garmin G6 (which I was seeking forward to significantly) four stars, it's a really good device, but not a property run.
For starters, the G6 is incredibly compact, lightweight and has a great feel to it. The best piece has a carbon-like look and the screen is quite possibly about 3 inches lengthy by about two. The screen is surely bright adequate to read outdoors (my round was on a vibrant sunny day) but not too bright that it gets washed out. The device came 75% charged with was good, and charged to 100 percent quite darn quick. It comes with a USB cable and an electric unit with 1 of those slide in adapters (where you slide in the plug). I charged it off my Mac personal computer devoid of incident. It came with a minimum of paper, just a brief pamphlet.
The Very first Round: I took the unit out for a 900 tee time, and have to say that it took longer than the Callaway to acquire the GPS. I turned it on and off a couple of instances to see if I could "jog" it into place, and just when I said screw it, I looked down 1 far more time, it acquired. It believed I was in Kansas City for a though just before figuring it out. In contrast, the Callaway UPRO acquired the sats substantially facter.
The appear and really feel of the graphics on the Garmin are far distinct than the Callaway. With the Callaway, it was a photo-realistic image superimposed on top of the GPS information. By contrast, the Garmin's graphics are cartoonish and not nearly as detailed. If you have put to use a single of their other devices, then you will be fine. It displays MOST of the data you want in acceptable style, it is just not as clean as the Callaway UPRO. A further factor the UPRO has that the Garmin lacks in distance measurements to difficulty. The Garmin will map to the bunkers pretty well, but if you are flying over some junk and want to know precisely how far until the junk or edge of it, you just see green.
The G6 does have, what the UPRO lacks, a touch screen. Navigating about the screen is pretty painless, but I by no means had difficulty moving the cursor around the screen on the UPRO, even though that wss frequently slow, specifically when obtaining a detailed distance from your ball position. It really is significantly simpler on the G6, though as far as I can tell, you genuinely only get three views on the Garmin. You get the zoomed out view, the zoomed in view and the green view. The zoomed out view is as well distant, and the zoomed in view may well be a small two close. What I couldn't figure out how to do (if the device permits it at all), is to scroll along the hole. If you can scroll the hole from tee to green, I couldn't figure out how to do it. Each and every time I tried to swipe down to scroll, as you would on an iPad or iPhone for example, it just moved the targeting circle all more than the screen, giving me handy new (and not helpful) yardages every single time. This frustrated me for the whole round. As I stated just before, the UPRO does a greater job at giving you an concept of distances to difficulty and bunkers right after your tee shot too.
The Garmin does a fine job at giving you intermediate distances when you lay up. The addition of the Red, Even though, Blue yardage arcs that the UPRO lacks is also a nice touch. You move the targeting reticle to the spot you are thinking of laying up to and it immediately calculates that distance and then the remaining distance to the green. This is far a great deal more fluid and flawless than the UPRO which took some time to calculate identical. That way, you can sort of figure out you want to hit "just a 7 iron" and instantly see exactly where it put you to a desired yardage, and go from there.
The green view is a bit of a disappointment, even so. And here, it falls below the UPRO once again. In green view, you CAN move the flag around which is very good (and just as uncomplicated on the UPRO), but distance presentation is a small confusing. It provides you distances, but only to the flag in the close up view (and possibly the back, I couldn't tell for confident).
Scorecard: It is a draw right here. I did have to pay $25 to acquire that functionality on the UPRO, but it really is out of the box on the G. The UPRO was the complete card, which you could constantly see, very easily see what you did going out and coming in and could scroll the entire card. The G6 opts for different presentation. You have to enter the score on just about every hole but don't get to see the complete card laid out. It calculates your +1 or +4 for the round, but it does not let you conveniently go back and see the entire card, and needs a couple of key presses. You press the button on the screen of the device to go to score card mode, you then press a further button that looks like a pencil to enter your score, and then you have to hit a couple of checkboxes and back arrows to get back to the key view so that you can advance or auto advance the unit. I didn't believe this was crucial. I could not basically hit the right arrow from the scorecard mode to advance to the next hole. More than all, tomato, tomoto. It may very well be that I just am utilized to what I know. In order to see your numeric total, you have to go to scorecard, and hit a unique button to bring up the detail screen.
Statistics Tracking: G6 wins right here, no contest. It such a discomfort on the UPRO, I by no means did it, and was one particular of the reasons, I was seeking forward to the G6. Ideal under your score it populates a numeric worth for putts (I believe the default is 2) and you move it up or down, for a fairly precise accounting. I was hoping to calculate other statistics, but I haven't but added clubs, for the reason that I think it will be too much trouble for what it's worth, and can require that you mark/measure every single shot. Alot more reading to do right here, so the jury is out. For some purpose, it had me hitting 10 out of 10 fairways, but I by no means entered anything or set anything up, and I absolutely didn't hit 100 percent of the fairways. Extra practice here is necessary. Update: I discovered the buttons on the hole view that show an arrow to the left and arrow down the middle and an arrow to the appropriate. All you have to do is hit the arrow to indicate you missed the fairway left or suitable or hit it. Ought to be fairly simple and easy and quickly to do on the subsequent round, so this looks like a nice feature. You can view the scorecard and the statistics you track on a computer system, by plugging in the Garmin to your Mac or Windows machine which will mount as a drive and you can see the viewers there which will put the documents into its html viewer for uncomplicated viewing.
Battery Life: G6 wins hands down once again. I do not know how a large number of rounds I will get out of a single charge, but I can tell you that it's 3-four extra than the UPRO very easily. My UPRO barely got a single round, so a lot so that I kept a USB plugged into my automobile and just kept it permanently in the console of my car. No doubt the photo realistic view eats some battery, as well as brining up the course which has to be a larger file than on the Garmin. The G6 charged quicker and when I took it dwelling to use the scrorecard viewer, it was still at 85 percent, indicating a pretty acceptable drain for a day on the course. Acquiring two or 3 rounds out of a charge will be pretty nice.
Courses: G6 wins once more. The largest cause I was seeking forward to the G6 was due to the fact it comes pre-loaded with 25,000 courses on the unit, no downloading or syncing. While Callaway upgraded me not too long ago with an "unlimited" account, I implemented to have to pay for the alot more detailed courses and still, regardless of the plan which is now unlimited, I have to engage in a lengthy and not altogether acceptable on a Mac, process of syncing courses. It was in no way rapid, and I could by no means figure out why it was taking so extended to add a single course. No such hassles with the G6. This, alone, might be purpose to go with the G6, it is a huge advantage to know I just have to pack and carry it.
Conclusions: The G6 has a better touch and really feel that the other units I have attempted, and once it acquires the GPS, it is lock solid. I in no way lost connectivity, and it performed nicely after the initial hiccup. I assume the answer is to turn it on a tiny earlier when I arrive at the course (which I under no circumstances did with the UPRO since its battery life was so sucky I didn't want to waste it while putting and chipping). I don't delight in the cartoonish graphics as nicely as the photo-realistic graphics I was implemented to, but honestly, it really is all about the numbers anyway and at some point also significantly knowledge is, well, as well substantially information. I liked the easy of the interface, making use of the touch screen to move around and to get a number of two shot distances with ease. The cartoony feel of the graphics made me less confident on distance to bunkers and to clear them, but we checked the yardages against a laser (with elevation adjustment) and they were spot on. The green view is the greatest disappointment, but I consider you will get utilized to it.
Strengths: tiny (sufficient to fit in a pocket), no dumb button presses even with the touch screen while in your pocket, touch screen, pre-loaded with courses, decent stat tracking, pretty effortless interface, outstanding battery life (it appears), correct numbers and competitive pricing.
Weaknesses: cartoonish graphic presentation lacking detailed distances to out of bounds and forced carries, numerous important presses for score keeping, was slow (in the one trial) to acquire the satellite, and not awesome green presentation.
UPDATE: following a few rounds, I nonetheless give the unit a 4 out of 5 stars. It really is like a triple, but not a residence run, and I nonetheless am struggling with the lack of photo realistic imagery. The numbers are solid, the unit is comparatively very easy to maneuver and the battery life is... Read more›

I've played two rounds with the G6 and I seriously like it - a lot.
I also own a Skycaddie SGX, but I began getting complications with the joystick and I did not like getting to know where I would be playing all the time which had an influence on playing unplanned rounds.
The unit is light in weight and especially effortless to carry or clip to you hip or pants pocket. It really is so light that various occasions it didn't feel like I had it in my pocket.
The screen is really vibrant and readable in sunlight but it is type of tiny. It is uncomplicated to navigate from hole layout, greens, meassure distance, layup points and the score card.
The unit is out of the box - prepared to use.
If you happen to be seeking for a unit that gives you the fundamental specifics with stats and a score card, then this unit is the one you will need to get. If you are searching for further specifics about the hole such as To and clear distance for sand traps, water and slopes on the green (some courses, not many) you may perhaps want to look at the Skycaddie as it really is extra detailed.
Nevertheless, I am obtaining that the G6 information and facts supplies me with the very same details I received from the SGX. I by no means employed all of the other particulars the SGX provides. I will say the SGX provides a great colorfull screen layout.

Related Product

Garmin Approach G3 Waterproof Touchscreen Golf GPS

SkyCaddie SG5 Golf GPS (Black)