Customer Reviews

Garmin Approach G3 Golf GPS Unit

Have just been given one of these for Christmas.I had a basic golf GPS previously but the extra features of this more than justify the extra cost.Firstly,I no longer have to pay to download courses and there is no annual fee.The European data base is amazing .The Garmin even has the details of a local 9 hole par 3 course in it.I have only used it at my own course at the moment but am impressed by the level of detail.One small bunker ,on a short par 3, is missing but ,otherwise ,all the major course features are shown.I love the ability to zoom in ,on the full colour screen ,to measure the exact distance to a feature or to measure a "lay up " shot.I can also move the pin position on the green but,too be honest ,my game isn't accurate enough to bother.The ability to preview holes on any golf course is another bonus.I have played on or two featureless courses where it was difficult to decide exactly where the green was even though my other GPS told me how far away it was.With the Garmin you get a bird's eye view of every hole.No hazard should ever be a "hidden one" again!It is a pity the unit is not rechargeable and uses two AA batteries.The purchase of a rechargeable batteries is pretty essential.Four batteries and a charger cost me an extra �20 .Despite this, I am very pleased with the Gramin and look forward to using it in future.

I've had the Garmin Approach G3 for three weeks now and I've never looked back. It takes about 1 minute to establish a gps signal when I get at my course so I switch it on before a get the clubs out of the car etc...It will ask you to select a course then give you a list of the nearest courses to you.
You can measure you drive distance, (which is good for a laugh) or see how far it is to each hazzard before you play a shot, but the best about this little gem is when you get to your ball having teed off, you look down at the Garmin Approach G3 and it's telling you the exact distance to the centre of the green, there's is a function on it to zoom into the green and then you can click and drag the flag to where ever it is on the actual green. Fantastic. It's quite amusing to listen to your mates trying to guess to distance they have left.
I would recommend that you go to a big open space (school field) with the Garmin Approach G3 and take a note of the distance's you hit with each club as this will be benifical when your using it on the course.
The batteries lasted about 3x 18 hole rounds so i'll probably invest in some rechargable one's. The Garmin Approach G3 has knocked 4-5 shots off my average round and it does exactly what I bought it for.

Length:: 3:08 Mins

Having made the purchase of a Garmin G3 Approach a few weeks ago, I am now slightly regretting having sold my previous GolfPlus GPS. I decided to change to the Garmin because it doesn't charge an annual subscription or one-off fees for each course you might want to play. The Garmin is excellent for those with good eyesight, though, and costs very little to run. I get three rounds easily from one set of rechargeable AA batteries, and because you can always carry a few spare charged batteries in your bag, there is no need to take the GPS indoors to recharge - and that really is a convenience if (like me) you sometimes forget to bring things with you to the golf course.

There are other features which I don't use - you can keep scores for yourself and the rest of a fourball, download your own scores to an Excel file and look at how you have done over time, measure your drives and pitches, and preview other courses. There is also a small (very small!) colour picture of the hole you are playing with its various features marked and yardages given. The yards to the pin are given on the top right and are always just about readable, but the other numbers are too blurred and tiny for me to read at all. You can move the flag about on the green, and take measurements even from wayward shot positions.

The database holds about 6000 European courses and your own will almost certainly be on there, but Garmin won't respond to individual requests to re-map a course and there are no facilities to re-map a course yourself. If your own course is mapped incorrectly (as mine is) then you'll just have to wait until it is perhaps remapped sometime in the future. Although I have found the display rather disappointing, it does work even in strong sunlight (better really than it does on a dull day) and when you press the display it will brighten considerably.

28th January 2012 (Update) - Following my email to Garmin where I asked them to re-map my own course, I'm pleased to say that this was done in time for the January update of the European course database. Garmin now claim to have 7200 European courses mapped. The accuracy of the yardages shown is excellent, and pretty much the same as those on other GPS systems (including the premium ones). There is an attachment you can buy for your electric trolley which allows you to have your GPS in plain sight as you walk along. This does make it slightly easier to read, although the display is worse than any of the competition. In case you are thinking of buying the G5, this also has the same miserable display. If it weren't for this, it really would be a 5 star product.

An excellent easy to use product with every golf course we could think of included. The accompanying strap and clip is good for attaching it to the golf trolley. Use with rechargeable batteries.

I bought the Garmin Approach G3 really on the strength of reviews and Garmins reputation. I can honestly say that neither have let me down, this is an excellect item which is easy to operate it has all the functions you'd want from a golf GPS. There are no course download or annual subscriptions to worry about, I must admit that I was slightly worried wether I'd be able to read the screen as I normally have to wear glasses to read, my worries were unfounded, the on screen text is large and clear the user interface (touch screen) is fantastic and only took a few minutes of ues to get the hang of all the facilities of the G3.

If I ware to be really critical, I would like to have had a soft travel case supplied, I would also like the unit to come with a charger and rechargeable batteries, for the price this would be very little outlay for Garmin. I would not hesitate to recommend this GPS to any of my friends. QUALITY.....

Needs charging batteries each round. Does not always go automatically to next hole.
Sometimes obviously inaccurate. Would advise looking at an alternative

This Garmin is loaded with all the courses in the North West - and I have already used it on 5 different courses and it works great. I also have plans to go to Portugal for a golf trip - and it also has those courses loaded - so so need for buying any local course planners for 3 or 4 pounds anymore - so it is a great deal.

Very user friendly and compact, easy to use, Clear even in the sun, Extremely well priced. Will recommend to friends and Colleagues.

I was initially impressed with the G3, but then realised that the course map data for my club was significantly out of date/wrong. I downloaded the latest updates available, which did not help. I then completed an error report and contacted Garmin, who told me that updates were provided every 3 months and they could not say when my course data would be corrected. I then returned the product as I am aware that other systems have got correct course data for the course that I play.

For the price of this little gps its a no brainer, I found it accurate when comparing to my playing partners sky caddie. Plotting your way round the obstacles of unknown courses is going to be a lot more fun from now on.