Bushnell enters the golf GPS watch market with their neo+ watch, leveraging the same database (from their partner iGolf) that they use for their other GPS devices, the Hybrid, Yardage Pro XGC+, and neo+. The watch has exceptional course coverage, and comes preloaded with 25,000 courses, so you can take it right to the course (even better since the syncing process was not available at time of review!).

The neo+ watch provides distances only to the front, center and back of the green, but not hazard distances, and competes directly with the Garmin S1. In a slightly confusing turn, the neo+ watch shares the neo+ name with the handheld Bushnell neo+, but the handheld neo+ provides hazard information in addition to distances to the front, center and back of greens.

The Bushnell neo+ golf GPS watch is quite simple, providing the hole number, par, and distance information on the main screen. It does offer shot distance measurement, but there is no ability to record scores or statistics, and the only additional features are an odometer and an alarm.

The Bushnell neo+ golf GPS watch retails for $199.95 ($50 more than the handheld neo+), and includes course updates at no additional cost.

We favor the convenience of a watch for our GPS information, and the Bushnell neo+ watch is incredibly easy to use for simple front, center and back of the green distances. It’s not much of an advancement on the Garmin S1, which was released last year, as there are now competitive watches with more features (the Garmin S3 enables score tracking, the Expresso (ESN) WR62 provides distances to hazards, and the Motorola MOTOACTV Golf Edition does both), and the blocky styling of the neo+ watch is an acquired taste, but if basic functionality is all you’re looking for, the solid performance and extremely attractive price point place the Bushnell neo+ watch at the top of the list of devices to consider.

SCORE
88
GRADE
B+
Setup/Syncing
N/A
Course Availability
98
Ease of Use
98
Course Details
70
Features
80
Accuracy
89
Cost/Value
92

Pros:

Cons:

Retail price: $199.95
Three year total cost: $199.95
Availability: Discontinued. Replaced by the Bushenll NEO-X watch


N/A

SETUP/SYNCING

The Good: With courses pre-loaded, the only prerequisite to beginning play is charging the battery.

The Bad: No wall charger is provided, so the only way to charge the Bushnell neo+ golf GPS watch is by plugging the USB cable into your computer. The clip to attach the watch to the USB cable is a bit fickle. The promised syncing capability wasn’t yet available at the time of our testing (see below).

Bushnell neo+ Golf GPS Watch

Click for more images

Details:

What’s in the Box: The Bushnell neo+ golf GPS watch comes with:

Required Downloads:


98 / A+

COURSE AVAILABILITY

Critical Golf Test: The Bushnell neo+ watch leverages the course database from Bushnell’s partner, iGolf. Course coverage is 98%, which is extremely high, although that’s what we have come to expect from devices that only need to provide front-center-back of the green distance information.

Manufacturer’s Claims: The Bushnell neo+ watch comes with over 25,000 worldwide courses pre-loaded on the device, which ranks it near the top of our course coverage comparison test. Interestingly, the neo+ watch is designed to only accommodate up to 50 additional course downloads. An unusual limitation, though we will see whether it has any real impact on the typical user.


98 / A+

EASE OF USE

The Good:The Bushnell neo+ golf GPS watch couldn’t be much easier to use – just look at your wrist!

The Bad: More bulky than the standard watches we wear.

Bushnell neo+ Golf GPS Watch

Click for larger image

Details:

For more details, check out the Critical Golf comparison of golf GPS device features.


70 / C-

COURSE DETAIL AND MAPPING

The Good: The neo+ watch only provides mapping of the front, center and back points on the green, so this is not an area of strength for it.

The Bad: No hazard information is available. Unlike the competing Garmin S1, Garmin S3 and Motorola MOTOACTV, the neo+ watch doesn’t have the ability to provide distances to the near and far points of the green based on player position, but rather only fixed front and back points of the green.

Bushnell neo+ Golf GPS Watch

Click for larger image

Details:

Suggestion Box: Given that hazard distance information is available on the handheld Bushnell neo+ and on the Expresso (ESN) WR62 (which looks sneakily similar to the Bushnell neo+ watch, and is also partnered with iGolf), we were disappointed to see this missing from the neo+ watch. Rather than having redundant views dedicated to showing just the distances to the front and the back of the green (those distances are already indicated on the main hole view), how about adding hazard distances?


80 / B-

FEATURES

The Good: Shot distance measuring, auto hole advance, and an odometer that will measure how far you have walked and how quickly. And it’s also waterproof to 30 meters!

The Bad: Did we mention that the neo+ watch has a spartan feature set? You won’t find overhead hole maps, the ability to track scores or statistics, or calculation of club distance averages.

Details:

For more details, check out the Critical Golf comparison of golf GPS device features.


89 / B+

ACCURACY

In our on-course testing the Bushnell neo+ watch generally provided readings within five yards of course marked distances. We do note, however, that when we took the neo+ watch out on the course with other Bushnell GPS devices, we generally found that the other devices most closely matched each other (and were slightly closer to the marked course distances), while the neo+ generally differed by a few yards.

The neo+ watch will continue to display distances to points regardless of how close you are to those points (some devices will stop showing the distance to a point when you are within a certain number of yards from that point).

We did experience completely inaccurate mapping at one of our tested courses, to the extent that the device was rendered unusable. This is presumably an error by someone at iGolf who was mapping based on a satellite image, as not only were hole numbers incorrect, but tee boxes were paired with the wrong greens on certain holes.


93 / A-

COST/VALUE

Retail Price: The Bushnell neo+ watch retails for $199.95, making it one of the least expensive golf watches.

Fees for Access to Course Database: As with other “plus” (+) devices in the Bushnell family, there are no additional fees for access to the Bushnell/iGolf course database.

Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership: With no cost for access to the course database, the three-year total cost for the Bushnell neo+ GPS watch remains $199.95. This makes the neo+ watch watch one of the lower-priced golf GPS devices in terms of overall cost over three years, though it is one of the most expensive golf GPS devices that doesn’t provide hazard distance information.

Value: For players looking for an affordable golf GPS watch, the Bushnell neo+ watch is absolutely one to consider. Basic distances are all that many players want, and the neo+ watch delivers them in an easy to use interface.


7 Responses

  1. Just got this watch for Father’s Day. I triead it out this past weekend and it was AWESOME! it picked up the gps signal in two minutes and i never had to worry about it. it was there every hole with every distance, even when i hit into another fairway! lol

  2. The charging systems is a serious problem. The small holes get clogged with dirt and sweat and the watch charger does not work. Had to send mine back to Bushnell which cost me $10 even though it was under warranty. Still awaiting it to return.

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