Golf Equipment
Bushnell’ s iON Elite GPS Watch
by Bill Cromwell
With Slope technology, Holeview and Greenview!
Bushnell’ s iON Elite GPS Watch offers some of the bestever features for golfers wanting to know distances to the pins, plus more, like slope-adjusted distances. Its all packed into this handy wristwatch. Slope adjustment distance is something frequently used with hand-held laser rangefinders, but in a wristwatch –– that’ s some hi-tech stuff!
I’ ve been using the iON Elite since its release in 2021, and it’ s simple to use with no issues. It offers more features than I will probably ever use, like the preloaded 38,000-plus courses worldwide. I will never play that many courses … LOL! Nevertheless, it’ s nice to have those features available and packed in a small device— right on my wrist. Plus, the new iON Elite has a classy gun metal-type watch face and housing that looks like a dress watch for everyday use.
The iON Elite’ s vivid color touchscreen display will be familiar to Apple Watch users, and it actually works far better than the former Edge GPS watch. Distances to the front, middle, and back of the green are larger and clearly visible. The built-in Slope feature offers precise compensated distances, giving golfers accurate distances for holes on an incline or decline. The Slope technology can also be disabled to make it legal for tournament play.
If that’ s not enough for you, the new iON Elites offer GreenView with moveable pin placement and provides accurate distance based on a golfer’ s line of play. Plus, there’ s HoleView, which provides a visual layout of the current hole, allowing you to see six hazard distances per hole: bunkers, water, and other hazard distances— it’ s great for blind shots or doglegs. HoleView is very useful for courses I haven’ t played before. It has a shot distance calculator, I love that, so I know how far I“ actually” hit a particular shot / club.
The iON Elite offers a 12-hour-plus battery life, and it has fairly quick auto-course recognition to begin play. Once playing, it automatically advances from hole to hole. There’ s also a scorekeeping option that calculates your score –– no pencil or scorecard needed!
Ready to use right out of the box, the iON Elite GPS Watch provides golfers with everything they need to take their game to the next level and is jam-packed with features: 9 Patented Slope Compensated Distances 9 The Dynamic green mapping identifies front, center, and back green distances from the player’ s line of play.
9 Hole maps with shot planning: an overhead view allows the golfer to visualize how they intend to play the perfect shot with accurate distances. 9 Auto course recognition 9 Scorekeeping with statistics 9 Easy-to-read front / center / back distances 9 Hazard / layup distances( up to six per hole) 9 Automatic Bluetooth updates via the Bushnell Golf App( included with purchase)
Play Golf Screens Guide
1. Power / Menu Button – Press and hold to turn device on / off. Swipe right or left from the Time Screen to go to the Play Golf / Settings / Scorecard List Screen. 2. Center Distance – Distance to center of the green( or pin if you moved it). 3. Back Distance – Distance to back of the green. 4. Front Distance – Distance to front of the green.
5. Hole / Par / Quick Hole Change – Current hole number and par. Tap for Quick Hole Change.
6. Score Keeping – User’ s current score relative to par. Tap to go to scorecard. 7. Greenview – Tap to access Greenview to change pin placement. 8. Holeview – Tap to access Holeview and Shot Planning. 9. Slope Indicator –( Blue Outer Ring) Illustrates distance mode and calibration status for Slope feature. 10. Hazards – Tap to access Hazard distances.
The ION ELITE Golf GPS watch is available at Bushnell Golf retailers nationwide and online at www. bushnellgolf. com. Its available in two color options( Black and White). MSRP of $ 199.99.
20 September 2025 TEE TIMES GOLF GUIDE