There’s launch monitors and there’s GPS units. Rarely do the two meet. But that’s not the case with Garmin’s Approach G82, which brings the two concepts together in a unit that gives you shot info on the course, and info about those shots as well. That’s unique in the game, most times you’d need to separate units to have these features.
“With our largest golf handheld display making it easier than ever to see your metrics and the lay of the land,” says Susan Lyman, Garmin’s Vice-President Consumer Sales And Marketing. “It’s the ultimate pre-round warmup tool that doubles as an intuitive virtual caddie on the course and debuts putting metrics, allowing players to work on their entire game.”
The unit allows you to tap into 43,000 preloaded courses and gain all the details you’ll need for every shot on-course. But it also includes a built-in launch monitor with all the details you want when you’re practicing, and offers putting metrics. With that in mind, the Approach G82 is truly something different in the market.
Key features
Perfect Practice
With a built-in launch monitor that offers most of the keys you need for better range sessions, ball speed, club speed, smash factor and tempo, the launch monitor provides all the basics. Sure, it doesn’t pick up spin numbers, but this is a good start.
Putting
The launch monitor offers stroke length measurement, tempo, ball speed and other key numbers.
Bag mapping
The software evaluates each club and how far you typically hit it, using that information for the virtual caddie feature, allowing it to make more accurate recommendations.
Speed training
The unit can assist with speed training, measuring club speed with the need to hit a ball.
Magnetic mounting
Missing on earlier versions, this allows you to mount the unit on a cart.
Virtual caddie
Using the swing data from your games and range session, the unit will recommend the club you should hit on course, taking into account wind, elevation and the location of bunkers and other hazards. Using the “PlaysLike” feature, it will also offer yardage adjusted for the conditions you’re facing.
App
You’ll get wind speed and direction, along with automatic course updates and the Find My Garmin feature when connected to the Garmin Golf app on a compatible smartphone.
Weather Proof And Battery Life
The Approach G82 is weather resistant, so you won’t have to worry about using it in the rain and offers 25 hours of battery life in GPS mode and eight hours in radar mode. That’s plenty between charges.
Is It For Me?
It might depend on what you already own, but having both a GPS and radar launch monitor eliminates the need for two units, and the ability to have other features, like speed training, built in, really increases the value and usability of the unit.