Bushnell Wingman GPS Speaker Review: My Experience

There aren’t many things better than being outside for a round of golf when it’s nice. It’s an ideal way to spend a day for many people. However, there are certain ways to take your golf day to the next level. Undoubtedly, one is enjoying some cold ones on the course. But adding music to the mix is a tried and true method of having fun.

But what if your music could also help you on the course? Well, it may not be the music itself, but where is it coming from. A Bluetooth speaker that can help you with your golf game may not seem real, but the Bushnell Wingman is such a device. So how can it help you besides playing your favorite tunes? Read on to find out.

Bushnell Wingman Unboxing

When you open the box, you’ll see that you have the speaker, a USB charging cable, a remote control, and a quick start guide. Setting up isn’t a hassle at all, as you just charge it with the USB cable and your own cable block. The speaker measures 8.75″ x 4.25″ x 4″, so it can fit in a side pocket of your golf bag, allowing you to always have it when you’re heading to the course.

Downloading the Bushnell Golf app is a must to get the most out of your speaker. It’s available in both the Google Play and Apple app stores. Then, you sync up the speaker via Bluetooth to your device. But you must make sure you sync the Wingman Remote as well, so you can utilize it with your speaker.

The remote is a small, round remote that fits on top of the cylindrical speaker and stays in place, thanks to a magnet. You’ll see how useful it is the more you use your speaker and app.

You can also keep the remote in your pocket while playing a round.

Related: 8 Best Golf Cart Bluetooth Speakers of 2022

Bushnell Golf App

Once you open the Bushnell Golf app, you see it has a lot to like. It has the layout stored for over 36,000 courses over the world. If you’re using the Wingman for a round, you just open up your course on the app. That way, the speaker knows where you are on the hole.

I was impressed with the easy setup and layout of the app. You can choose Golf Mode or Music Mode, which helps the Wingman understand what exactly you want to do with it. For Golf Mode, if you press the remote control, it can announce the distance you are from the hole. Music Mode lets you use the remote control to play or pause your music. 

You can look at the app whenever you want to know the distance you are from the hole. But the Wingman allows you not to have to open up your app and look at your phone on every hole, as you do with plenty of GPS golf apps. 

After you’re done with a hole, you can mark down how many putts you had and your score to keep track of your statistics. You can also select if you hit the fairway or pushed your drive right or left. Unfortunately, this app is not as thorough as other apps, which may let you count sand shots. 

But the picture gives you a layout of each hole, so you’ll know if it’s a dog leg or a straight hole. It will also show you the distance to the front, center, and back of the green. 

At the end of the round, it tallies your score, and you can get a complete look at your scorecard. It also keeps your history, allowing you to look back at your recent rounds.

Bushnell Wingman Intangibles

If you’re someone who rides in a cart for most of your rounds, you won’t believe how easy it is to keep the Wingman ready for your round. Similar to other Bushnell products, like the Bushnell Tour V5 rangefinder, this comes with integrated BITE magnetic technology. The powerful magnet will stay on your golf cart as long as you want it to. Just make sure you don’t forget it if you’re playing at a public course.

If you aren’t someone who usually rides, this speaker is still great to have. A clip on the bottom of the speaker allows you to attach it to a carabiner clip on your bag. It will hold solid, so you can keep playing music while walking up to your ball with your golf stand bag or pushing your bag towards your ball in your push cart. This is an awesome feature and shows that Bushnell put some thought into all the different golfers who might use it.

The battery life is also tremendous. You can use it for 10 hours before needing to charge it. That’s approximately two rounds (or three depending on how fast you play), so it’s fantastic for a weekend golf trip.

While the battery is charged, you can actually charge your phone or another device from the speaker. There is a charge-out port that lets you connect your cable right to the speaker. This is helpful to keep your music source ready to rock. While the Bushnell Golf app may drain your battery, you can have your phone charging while you’re using it, offsetting the usage.

While it doesn’t come with a carrying case, you can purchase one.

Getting GPS Distances with the Bushnell Wingman

When using the Wingman to give you a distance, you just need to drive or walk up to your ball and press the button on the remote. What you’ll love about this is the fact that it uses the same GPS technology as a Bushnell rangefinder to give you a reading. 

I used my Bushnell Tour V5 rangefinder to shoot a distance and came up with the same distance as the Bushnell Wingman provided. Nearly every single time, the distances were within two yards of each other. That is the consistency and accuracy you want when figuring out what to shoot.

If you don’t want to aim for the green and are instead laying up, the Wingman may not be helpful for you on a particular hole. But you can open up the app and get a peek at what may be happening. The distances may not match up if you’re aiming to be left of a tree or right of a hazard. 

When you press the remote control button, it will announce what hole you are on, followed by the distance. If there is water on the hole, it will give you the distance you are away from the water hazard. It won’t do this for a bunker, which is understandable since there are way more bunkers on courses.

You can also change the voice that is announcing to whichever one is your favorite out of the dozen or so that are offered. Taking the remote off and keeping it in your pocket allows you to get a distance while you’re not standing directly next to the speaker. 

One of the best settings on the Wingman is that you can set it to automatically announce the hole and the distance when you arrive at the tee box. This eliminates your needing to look at the sign at the beginning of each hole for a distance.

Playing Music

Once your Wingman is connected to your device via Bluetooth, you’ll be able to play music from iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and many other music applications. You can change the speaker’s volume on your device or on the speaker itself. There are large + and – buttons that you should press. 

They can be a little tricky to press, so you must apply the right amount of pressure. If you hold the + button too long, it will skip to the next song. If you hold the – button too long, it will restart the song you’re currently listening to.

Another fantastic feature that you can tell Bushnell put thought into is that when you click the remote to find a distance, the music stops as the speaker reads out your distance. Once it has finished reading out the distance, the music starts back up again. 

You can manually pause the music by pressing the play button on the front. It will play when you press it again. The power button should be held to turn it on and off.

Speaker Performance

I’m not an audiophile, so hearing music at a loud volume doesn’t bother me. However, when you get to about 80% of the maximum volume, you can hear a bit of distortion in the music quality. But if that doesn’t bother you, as it didn’t really matter to me, then you should be fine. 

The bass sounds good, thanks to the size of the speaker. The mids and highs won’t blow you away, but they’re also nothing to scoff at. 

Turning it up to 100% just allowed you and your buddies to all hear the music if you were nearby. People on the next hole over will probably not hear your music, as this isn’t a complete sound system. 

If you’re playing on a private course that is strict about gameplay, you may not want to be blasting music during your round. It does sound adequately loud for your regular Saturday and Sunday rounds. 

The great part about this is that it eliminates the necessity for another Bluetooth speaker in your life. I used this on the course and then at a party, which was great. I just had to disconnect my phone from the Bluetooth, and it became searchable for others to hop on and control the music. It worked like a charm.

It doesn’t weigh much, so it’s easy to carry around. Plus, it stands on its own, making it great to have outside for a backyard barbecue or near a pool.

More Things to Note

The main thing to keep an eye on when the Bushnell Wingman may not work is that you must keep your Bluetooth device near the speaker for it to work best. If you’re riding in a cart, you’ll likely keep your phone in the cart, so this shouldn’t be an issue. But if you happen to walk far away from the speaker without your device, you likely won’t be getting a reading if you press the remote control.

As I mentioned, you can remove the remote control and press the button to get a reading. But you need to be near the speaker for it to work. You can’t be too far away, or it won’t pick it up. The Bluetooth range isn’t the best, but for most people who have their phones on the course with them anyway, it won’t be a big deal.

It isn’t the smallest speaker in the world. So if you’re just looking for something to easily slip into your golf bag that won’t weigh too much, this may not be your first choice. But if you aren’t worried about the bulk, it is worth it.

Overall Thoughts

This is one of the top devices you can bring to a golf course. It eliminates the need for you to have both a rangefinder and a portable Bluetooth speaker while you’re playing a round. 

The Bushnell Wingman, coupled with the Bushnell Golf app, can track your shots, keep your scores, and provide you with distances for your next shots. It does this all while playing your favorite tunes. It won’t put a massive dent in your wallet either (in terms of money spent on golf accessories). It’s worth the price and can help you.