SHOTSCOPE V2 - WORTHY UPGRADE?
The latest version of the GPS tracking system has hit the shelves and wwhat jumps out at you is the display. The first Shot Scope was effectively a band but V2 is also a GPS watch.
This is a significant upgrade. The ease of use of the original is maintained – so you still don’t have to worry about tagging clubs if you are tracking a round.
But now you’ll get front, middle and back yardages and you also have the ability simply to use the V2 as a GPS device on its own. You don’t necessarily have to track your round.
In fact, it has three modes – GPS, Pro, which gathers performance data and doesn’t show yardages, and GPS+Track, which combines the other two.
Catering for the display, the V2 is slightly chunkier than its older sibling but I actually found it easier to wear. Sometimes the first version would dig into my wrist as I made a swing and, while it wasn’t painful, it could be a bit distracting. The softer edges on the V2, though, removes this entirely. I’d actually forgotten I was wearing it as the round progressed. Given that I normally hate wearing watches of any sort, that has to be a big tick.
The set up process remains exactly the same – download the app to your phone or desktop, put the tags in the end of your clubs, download the course you are going to play and off you go.
The watch works by sensing the tag during a swing. It can even tell the difference between a practice swing and an actual shot. All you do during a round is record the number of putts you have on each hole and you do this by the flag so the device can note the pin position.
Then sync the wristband on your phone or desktop after play and receive round stats within seconds. If I had one criticism of the original, it was that it was difficult to know whether you had correctly set it up. I’d walk off the course after the first couple of rounds and be none the wiser as to whether the device had done what it had promised. But it’s amazing how much difference the display makes.
I’d also never be sure if I’d correctly recorded the putts but there’s no chance of a mistake now. It’s very clear and the response you get from the display – rather than the flashing light that would signify a recorded putt on version one – is far more intuitive.
I tested the V2 in tandem with a Nikon rangefinder to get exact yardages. The GPS was very accurate and I grew in confidence as the rounds passed that the information was reliable and trustworthy.
The GPS connects far quicker at my home course with the V2 and, while the watch display has to have more of a drain on battery life than the first edition, you still get a good couple of rounds before you think about charging up.
It can get a little confused. At Seaton Carew, where there are 22 holes and five potential different layouts, the device jumped courses and it wasn’t straightforward – during the middle of a round – to get it back on track.
The level of post round detail remains impressive. For me, at least, this is where the fun lies – in analysing stats and plotting ways to improve.
Those who have used the system before will find everything very familiar in the app and online. Those buying for the first time can analyse performance on each hole thanks to a flyover map that shows the route. There’s detailed distances on each club, the number of fairways and greens hit, scrambling stats – more than enough to keep you transfixed for hours.
The Shot Scope V2 is a big leap forward on what was already a pretty impressive device.
They’ve clearly listened to feedback and the improvements in V2 are clear and obvious from the moment you switch the device on.
It’s a bit more expensive than the original but the enhancements are well worth the investment