Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
Have recently purchased one of these and thought I would post my review....
Had a Garmin S1 before, which was nice. Only problem I ever had with it was battery life. Perfectly OK for 18 holes, but if I was ever playing 36 the watch would conk out half way round the second 18.
So with this in mind I searched for an alternative, and came up with the Neo XS which promises up to 3 rounds usage from one charge.
It's a nice looking watch, not too bulky and very light to wear, you hardly know you've got it on.
I initially had a problem setting up the software to download course updates but this was me being stupid with my PC settings rather than a fault of the watch/software.
Tried it out last week at West Hove, it quickly locked on to the Satellite signal and gave me a list of courses in my area, clicked on West Hove and there was the 1st hole in all it's glory.
Nice thing about the Neo over the Garmin S1 is that it gives you yardages for up to four hazards on each hole as well as distance to front/middle/back as you would expect.
Accuracy??
Well, West Hove has marker posts at 150 yards, and red discs set in the fairways at 100 yards. In each and every case, the watch was indicating perfectly, almost always reading the exact yardage, sometimes maybe one yard out either way. Can't argue with that.
The watch also gives you the ability to measure your shots, so if you hit a particularly good drive that's worth measuring (which unfortunately I didn't on the day) it gives you the opportunity for bragging rights.
Three other nice little features this watch has over the S1 is that it has a pedometer function that will show you exactly how far you have walked during the round (West Hove was just over 5.1 miles) and also a timer function that shows you just how long you have been out on the course. Sadly, on this occasion it confirmed that yes, it had been a slow round at a shade under 5 hours....
The third feature is also a timer function so that you can pre-set the amount of time it SHOULD take for a round, so that the watch will revert back to time mode from GPS to save battery life. It will bleep and remind you that this function has been set, so that you have the opportunity to overide it should your round be taking longer than you thought. It just saves forgetting to turn it off after your round and the battery conking out again after a long lunch!
My only criticism is the fact that the model I have is the black version and the screen isn't brilliant to read even in bright sunlight. It has black numerals on a fairly dark grey background so isn't quite as clear as the S1 readout. I understand that two models are available and with hindsight I should have gone for the one with the white background, which would have made the visibility a bit better. I can live with it, but just something to bear in mind if you consider buying one.
Would I recommend it?
Certainly.
I think the extra features it gives you over it's nearest competitor (the Garmin S1) are well worth the slightly higher price. I personally think the pedometer and timer functions are very handy.
Battery life appears good too. Obviously I haven't tried it out over 36 yet, but when I had finished at West Hove I checked on battery life remaining, and despite being out on the course for nearly 5 hours there was still 3/4's left.
Just as an aside...when I purchased mine, I found that there was a discrepancy with the mapping of Cooden GC.
I quickly went onto the Bushnell course download site, downloaded an update (which took all of 10 seconds) and now Cooden is mapped correctly.
Had a Garmin S1 before, which was nice. Only problem I ever had with it was battery life. Perfectly OK for 18 holes, but if I was ever playing 36 the watch would conk out half way round the second 18.
So with this in mind I searched for an alternative, and came up with the Neo XS which promises up to 3 rounds usage from one charge.
It's a nice looking watch, not too bulky and very light to wear, you hardly know you've got it on.
I initially had a problem setting up the software to download course updates but this was me being stupid with my PC settings rather than a fault of the watch/software.
Tried it out last week at West Hove, it quickly locked on to the Satellite signal and gave me a list of courses in my area, clicked on West Hove and there was the 1st hole in all it's glory.
Nice thing about the Neo over the Garmin S1 is that it gives you yardages for up to four hazards on each hole as well as distance to front/middle/back as you would expect.
Accuracy??
Well, West Hove has marker posts at 150 yards, and red discs set in the fairways at 100 yards. In each and every case, the watch was indicating perfectly, almost always reading the exact yardage, sometimes maybe one yard out either way. Can't argue with that.
The watch also gives you the ability to measure your shots, so if you hit a particularly good drive that's worth measuring (which unfortunately I didn't on the day) it gives you the opportunity for bragging rights.
Three other nice little features this watch has over the S1 is that it has a pedometer function that will show you exactly how far you have walked during the round (West Hove was just over 5.1 miles) and also a timer function that shows you just how long you have been out on the course. Sadly, on this occasion it confirmed that yes, it had been a slow round at a shade under 5 hours....
The third feature is also a timer function so that you can pre-set the amount of time it SHOULD take for a round, so that the watch will revert back to time mode from GPS to save battery life. It will bleep and remind you that this function has been set, so that you have the opportunity to overide it should your round be taking longer than you thought. It just saves forgetting to turn it off after your round and the battery conking out again after a long lunch!
My only criticism is the fact that the model I have is the black version and the screen isn't brilliant to read even in bright sunlight. It has black numerals on a fairly dark grey background so isn't quite as clear as the S1 readout. I understand that two models are available and with hindsight I should have gone for the one with the white background, which would have made the visibility a bit better. I can live with it, but just something to bear in mind if you consider buying one.
Would I recommend it?
Certainly.
I think the extra features it gives you over it's nearest competitor (the Garmin S1) are well worth the slightly higher price. I personally think the pedometer and timer functions are very handy.
Battery life appears good too. Obviously I haven't tried it out over 36 yet, but when I had finished at West Hove I checked on battery life remaining, and despite being out on the course for nearly 5 hours there was still 3/4's left.
Just as an aside...when I purchased mine, I found that there was a discrepancy with the mapping of Cooden GC.
I quickly went onto the Bushnell course download site, downloaded an update (which took all of 10 seconds) and now Cooden is mapped correctly.
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