Bushnell Wingman review

Spending a day on a golf course is a day well spent. Even if you have a terrible round, you can take solace in the fact that you were outside on, hopefully, a beautiful day. If you’re an avid golfer, you know how far each one of your clubs is (most likely) going to go. Barring fierce weather conditions, you should be able to hit your clubs a certain distance in order to make your way through a round. But we’re all trying to find advantages where we can on the course. The Bushnell Wingman is here to help.

If there is anything that can help me on a golf course, I’d like to know about it. Oftentimes I’m stressed about my bad shots and want to just enjoy the day and listen to some music. That’s the beauty of the Bushnell Wingman. It is a GPS speaker, so it can tell you how far away you are from the green while also playing your favorite music. There’s something for every kind of golfer in the experience of using it. I was able to test it out during a few rounds and here is what I thought.

Setting the Bushnell Wingman up

It takes almost no time to set up the Bushnell Wingman once you have it. Charge it up using the provided USB charger cable with a USB block of your own. In order for it to work as a GPS device, you must download the Bushnell Golf app, which is available in both the Google Play and Apple app stores. Just selecting the Wingman speaker from the device list will sync it up with Bluetooth. You should sync up the Wingman Remote as well to get the most out of it. Following the instructions on the app screen will get you ready to play a round of golf. 

From then on, any time you turn on the speaker, as long as the previously used phone has its Bluetooth on, it will automatically connect. In order for others to connect to it as a speaker, you just need to disconnect and they can then search for Wingman on their device list. This allows you to use the speaker on or off the golf course as a portable Bluetooth speaker.

The Bushnell golf app

The Bushnell golf app uses your location to find the golf course that you’re near. It has a wide library of golf courses, packing the knowledge of over 36,000 of them. It’ll ask you what tees you’re playing from and the image that you’ll see each hole is similar to what is pictured above. It will give you distances and a full-color aerial view of the hole. You’ll see distances to the front, center, and back of the green.

After you’ve finished a hole, you can keep score in the app. You can mark down your score and how many putts you had. It also allows you to mark down where your drive went while tallying greens in regulation. The main metric the app is missing is sand shots, but it provides you with plenty of information about your round.

Wingman remote

The Wingman Remote is a small, circular remote that fits and snaps onto the top of the speaker. This is the best place to put it when your Bushnell Wingman is attached to your golf cart. The speaker features a strong magnet with BITE technology, similar to other Bushnell rangefinders, that keeps it in place while you’re playing your round. While you’re playing a hole, you need to go up to your ball and tap the button on the remote. From there, the speaker tells you what hole you’re on, what par is for the hole, and how far you are from the green.

It also provides you with the distance to a water hazard, if there is one on the hole. You can take the remote off when you aren’t using it for golf, so you don’t lose it. The magnet for the remote is strong, so it won’t slide out easily.

Bushnell Wingman speaker

Once you’ve connected via Bluetooth, you can play music through the speaker. You don’t need to have the Bushnell Golf app in order to use it. So hooking up your favorite music app lets you play through it. This is a premium audio speaker that allows you to control the volume from your phone or the speaker itself. The + button increases the volume and the – button decreases it. The play button lets you pause and play the music. If you hold down the + button it will skip the song and go to the next one. If you hold down the – button, it will restart the song you’re listening to. Be careful with the amount of pressure you apply, as you may accidentally skip the song if you’re just trying to increase the volume.

Once you get to about 80% of its maximum volume, the distortion of audio kicks in a bit. But it’s not anything outrageous, so most listeners won’t even notice. There aren’t any ways to customize your sound other than raising and lowering the volume. But the battery lasts for 10 hours, which is more or less perfect for two full rounds of golf. I used it for 27 holes and never had to recharge it. 

If you are golfing and listening to music simultaneously, the volume of your music will automatically lower as it reads you the distances you want. Then, after the distances are read, the volume and music return to the level they were previously. This is a huge timesaver and doesn’t make you have to look at your phone more than you want to during a hole.

Other intangibles

Not only can you listen to music, but you can also charge a device while you’re playing. If your phone is running low on battery, there is a charge-out port that lets you charge it from the speaker. It doesn’t come with a carrying case. But there is one that you can purchase from Bushnell and plenty of other versions that are made for the cord, remote, and speaker. The remote doesn’t work on its own if it’s away from the speaker to give you the distances. Turning the speaker on plays a loud sound and turning it off plays another sound, letting you know the power is on or off.

Conclusions

This speaker is a great addition to any golfer’s bag. If you’re someone who loves to listen to music while playing, this eliminates your needing a speaker and a rangefinder. It also saves you time in getting distances for you rather than you needing to shoot a distance with a rangefinder. The audio is of high enough quality for almost any person to enjoy. It can fit in your golf bag in one of the side pockets for storage.

The competition

There really isn’t any. It is the first of its kind in terms of a portable speaker and a GPS device. You can choose a rangefinder and a portable speaker bundle from Blue Tees Golf, but it is more expensive than the Bushnell Wingman.

Should I buy the Bushnell Wingman?

Yes. It’s one of the most innovative golf accessories in years.