Bushnell iON Edge GPS Watch

In this Bushnell iON Edge GPS watch review, we test it out on the course to assess its functionality, usability and overall performance

Bushnell iON Edge GPS Watch Review

Almost all golfers nowadays will put their trust in a laser rangefinder or some sort of GPS device to help get them from A to B on the course. And among the premium brands in the distance-measuring-device market is Bushnell. 

With that in mind, we were keen to test the company’s iON Edge GPS watch and find out how it stacks up against some of the best golf GPS watches available right now.

We’ll begin with the style and while it isn’t a knockout, it was a decent-looking addition to our wrist that wasn’t overly bulky or heavy. 

It’s black and sleek and felt quite soft and didn’t interfere with our swing or cause any discomfort, so all good in that department.

Moving onto the functionality and we’ve experienced better. For starters, there wasn’t an instruction manual included in the box so we were left to guess a little as to its operation. It wasn’t rocket science, thankfully, but could have been made easier. 

There is one button on the side which we correctly figured would boot it up, and from there, one swipe to the right gives you the option to begin your satellite search for the correct course. 

For the first few rounds, we weren’t able to get the most out of the watch because we simply didn’t know how to and we didn’t want to spend ages on the course figuring it out. 

Even now, after using it between five and ten times, we aren’t 100 per cent confident we’re maxing out its potential.

However, we did enjoy utilising the front-middle-back yardage function in conjunction with the moveable flag function (seen below), that allows you to cycle through the different pin locations and select to get a more precise distance to the flag.

Additionally, we decided to input our scores and some basic stats into the watch as we played. It’s something we haven’t really done in the past as it can focus the mind too much on the score instead of trying to treat every shot on its own merit.

But we may have turned a corner on that. At the end of each round - unless it’s been a total disaster - quickly seeing how many fairways you’ve missed and how many putts you’ve hit is quite handy. 

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It is nowhere near as in-depth as strokes-gained analysis, but we think these stats still have their place.

Being totally honest, we were disappointed in the touchscreen. It really is quite unresponsive, while at the same time being annoyingly sensitive to a misplaced finger. 

On more than one occasion each round, swiping up and down or left and right either took multiple attempts to complete or navigated us to another menu entirely. 

If you're able to master this temperamental aspect, Bushnell’s iON Edge watch is a solid product that has the ability to point out hazards, move the pin position and help guide golfers round the course on the route best trodden at a very competitive price.