One of my favorite pieces of golf kit in recent years is the Garmin Approach G80 device. It’s a GPS that doubles up as a launch monitor, and it’s small enough to fit comfortably in your pocket. AND it is on offer this Amazon Prime Day with $200 off which is an outstanding price indeed.
For several years now the G80 has accompanied me every time I played golf. Whether it was on the course or at the range, the G80 was with me. While it’s primarily a GPS, I have had more use out of it as a launch monitor. In terms of the GPS, it served as a reliable back up for whenever I’d forgotten to charge up my Garmin Approach S62 watch (which happens far more than it should). On the range though I would lean on it heavily, specifically to dial in how I was hitting my irons.
While this is now one of the older GPS devices on the market, it still stacks up well against a lot of its modern contemporaries. It delivers standard yardages on over 41,000 pre-loaded courses, detecting the course you’re on very quickly. It has a lot of cool features including Pinpointer (a compass that shows you where the green is when you might be unsighted by trees or elevation) and PlaysLike Distance which accounts for elevation to give you a more accurate number on your approach shots. This needs to be switched off for competition play though.
The sunlight-readable touch screen is receptive and you can point to any spot on the hole map for detailed yardage information. It’s a solid offering in the GPS market and offers a nice alternative (or emergency back up) to a watch or a laser rangefinder.
As a launch monitor it is able to track club head speed, ball speed, smash factor, swing tempo and estimated distance. You simply position it on top of a ball just in front of where you are hitting from. It also works with the free Garmin Golf app, letting you compete, compare and connect with fellow golfers if that's your thing.
I haven’t used it as much recently since my local driving range had Foresight Sports technology fitted into all of the bays, but I still keep it in the bag for when I’m on holiday or if I'm playing on a course with a basic driving range that has no launch monitor technology. It’s handy to have around even if I don’t lean on it as much as I once did.
In terms of the performance, it isn’t as consistently accurate as the expensive devices on the market, but when it comes to carry distance (the most important, especially with irons) the G80 is solid and was usually within around five yards when I matched it up with the Foresight Sports tech in my local range. That's as good as you can expect at this price point.
While you’re not going to see Tour Pros using this device - they need accuracy down to the inch, let alone the yard - for casual golfers and mid-handicappers who just need a ball park figure of how far they are hitting it, this little pocket sized device is just the ticket, especially at the current price you can pick one up for.
Finally if you want more deals during the Prime event, I recommend taking a look at the golf deals section on Amazon, or let us help guide you through the journey by keeping up to date with all the latest offers we have spotted with our Amazon Prime Day golf deals live blog.
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