Bushnell Wingman HD: 36-Hole Review of This GPS Speaker
We tested the first golf speaker to integrate GPS course maps on a full-color touchscreen
Hybrids are everywhere, and if you like the idea of getting two products worth of functionality from one device, Bushnell has a brand new surprise for you.
In fact, the new Bushnell Wingman HD breaks new ground in the golf Bluetooth speaker category as the first to build full-color touchscreen GPS course maps into a Bluetooth speaker.
There’s no doubt the Wingman HD can do a lot. The only question is can it do a lot at an elite level?
I took the Wingman HD out for 36 holes on the course, plus put it through plenty of in-home testing (it’s actually playing at this very moment) to answer that question.
First Impressions: Design, Build, Touchscreen
Pros:
- Excellent sound
- Responsive touch screen
- Easy-to-read display for distances at a glance
- Audible distances
- Shot tracking and digital scorecard are easy to use
- 1 year warranty
Cons:
- GPS maps are not interactive
- Battery life fell short of two rounds in our testing
The Wingman HD set a premium tone from the start. The packaging is rigid and high-quality, similar to what you’d expect when unboxing an iPhone.
I actually hesitated to unbox it. I knew there would be some hoops to jump through, like downloading a new app, setting up a new profile, and getting everything connected.
Those concerns were hogwash.
If you can remember your own name and email address, and can spare 10 minutes, there’s no frustration or confusion to speak of. Yes, I did have to download the Bushnell Golf app, create a profile, and connect the speaker to the app and my phone, but the process and instructions were clear and simple.
I was playing music and looking at course maps in minutes.
Wingman HD Sound Quality
I’ve used a handful of golf Bluetooth speakers by now. Some are more compact and better for walking golfers at the expense of sound quality. Others are all-in on sound with heavy-duty magnets and designed for golf carts.
The Wingman HD is squarely in the second category. It’s big. It has Bushnell’s strong BITE magnet. It has two 15-watt speakers, plus two passive radiators that enhance sound quality, especially on the low end.
All that produces a fuller, more satisfying sound. It’s noticeably fuller than any of the more portable golf speakers I’ve used, and competitive with the top-end full-range Bluetooth speakers I like.
And if you like to crank the volume up, it can handle that, too. It even has indoor and outdoor sound modes. Outdoor mode helps the sound carry farther, while indoor mode delivers richer overall sound.
GPS + Touchscreen & On-Course Experience
The Wingman HD’s full-color touchscreen offers plenty of functionality. The default is a hole map (which auto updates to the correct hole as you play) with front, center, and back distances. From there, you can swipe to see hazards, green view, and shot distances.
Using the Bushnell Golf app, you can move the hole location, but maps are not interactive via the touchscreen itself.
For serious players seeking a GPS device to plot every shot around the course, the inability to move the pin or get distances to any location on a hole may be cause for pause. But for the rest of us, the GPS distances and hole maps, distances to hazards, plus digital scorecard and shot tracking, provide more than ample functionality.
Don’t forget, we’re talking about a speaker here.
Wingman HD Battery Life
I intentionally didn’t charge the Wingman HD between rounds when I tested it on the course just to see how much use I could get from the battery. Using the speaker at a reasonable volume while running the GPS maps, I got somewhere around six hours of juice out of the battery before it died, which turned out to be around the 32nd hole of my 36-hole on-course test. That’s not bad when you consider everything this unit is doing.
Still, you should charge it between every round if you want it to still be bumping when you tap in the last putt.
At-Home & Off-Course Use
I use my go-to Bluetooth speaker for hours every day. It’s technically a golf speaker, but aside from a powerful cart magnet, the only golf features are the sound effects when you turn it on and off or pair it with a device. The sound is fantastic, the battery never seems to die, and I don’t need GPS distances while I’m responding to emails.
When I compared the two, the Wingman held its own.
I flipped back and forth between the two speakers, cranking the volume high and turning it low, even toggling between indoor and outdoor modes on the Wingman HD, and I couldn’t determine a favorite. The sound quality was a tie.
The touch screen on the Wingman HD adds the convenience of controlling music without reaching for the phone. The downside is that the touchscreen is partly responsible for a battery that doesn’t last nearly as long.
The Little Stuff That Matters
The Bushnell Wingman HD is a golf speaker and a GPS distance measuring device, but these other details can make or break its performance and functionality on and off the course.
The Bluetooth pairs quickly and easily. After you’ve connected it once, it automatically pairs when you turn the speaker on.
I would describe the strength of the BITE magnetic mount as overkill. Good luck pulling this off a surface without looking like you’re trying too hard.
Even though the premium sound, full-color GPS maps and score tracking justify the battery life, it’s still somewhat disappointing that you can’t expect to get two full rounds on one charge.
Finally, while the Wingman HD was made for use on golf carts, I enjoyed clipping it to my bag and walking the course (given that bag was on a push cart and I didn’t bear the extra weight on my shoulders).
Who the Wingman HD Is Really For
My final evaluation of the Wingman HD? It’s a great speaker and a very good golf GPS.
It’s the only golf speaker that combines a full-color touchscreen, course maps, and top-notch sound. Still, it can’t match the flexibility of a high-end handheld GPS that lets you plot distances anywhere on any hole.
With that in mind, here’s who it makes the most sense for:
- Riding golfers: Slap this on the cart and get GPS distances all day with the bonus of premium sound and scorekeeping.
- Value-minded players: At $199 it isn’t cheap, but it replaces two products and performs well in both lanes.
- Hands-free players: If you want yardages without pausing to shoot your target every time, the Wingman’s GPS distances, audible readings and hazard info is a very appealing package.
At the end of the day, the Wingman HD is exactly what it looks like: a quality Bluetooth speaker with easy-to-use GPS course maps.
It’s not the most advanced golf GPS you can buy, but it delivers the distances most golfers need in a package that nobody else offers.