[NewsPoster]

Garmin has expanded its wearable device range aimed at sports enthusiasts, with an item designed for use on golf courses. The Approach X40 is a GPS-equipped golf band that can help a golfer track how well they are playing a round, and provide assistance when making shot choices, with it also providing a number of standard tracking functions more typically associated with other similar-looking fitness bands.

Using a one-inch sunlight-viewable touchscreen, the Approach X40 can run for up to 10 hours with GPS enabled, or up to five days as a watch with activity tracking. In everyday use, it can record step counts, calories burned, distances travelled, perform sleep monitoring, record the heart rate of the user using its built-in sensor, and can even provide movement alerts to remind the wearer to stay active.

On the golf course, it is more useful, preloaded with data for more than 40,000 courses around the world. This enables the X40 to offer users the distance to the front, middle, and back of a green, as well as layups, doglegs, and hazards. It has a "Green View" that shows the shape of the green on each hole. It can act as a digital scorecard, providing statistics on fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putts per round, with an AutoShot feature also recording the average distance for each club, and the longest drive per round.

Pairable with the TruSwing golf club sensor, it can be used to improve consistency by measuring swing metrics, and showing 3D animations in the Garmin Connect app. The mobile app can also show the data from the round, illustrating an individual's problems to work on for the next game.

Shipping in the second quarter, the Approach X40 will cost $250.

[jpellino]

"Able to off you"

Please tell me that's a typo and we won't be playing with Tony, Silvio and Uncle Jun'

[Charles Martin]

Thanks for reporting that amusing typo.

[Mike Wuerthele]

Score gets too high? Terrible shock.