Garmin - Approach S50

This is incorrect, the S50 has the plays like distance when you swipe the distances.

If your budget is is the $400 range and you're looking for a golf specific watch, I use the Garmin S50 and I love it.

Last week I bought the S50. Love it especially after changing the wrist strap, thank you Amazon. The band that comes with it is awful and was hard to even the end through the metal band holder. Other than that it works great tracks sleep, hr, exercise and golf.

Band is awful. Took one hand and teeth to get it through the metal hoop.

I just ordered the S50 to replace my Fenix 6. I’m a golfer, so I’ll use those functions, but seems to me like it has all the other fitness functions as well. I plan to use it while riding both indoors and out, running, snowboarding, etc. Should be delivered later this week!

So far, I'm liking the S50 overall and will keep it. Here are my quick observations vs the Fenix 6 Pro: 1. Size - form factor is a big reason I'm keeping it. Yes, I knew it'd be smaller since it's 42mm vs 47mm, but it's also much thinner and lighter, which will be more comfortable while playing golf, biking, etc. 2. Activities - the list of available activities on the S50 is much shorter. For instance, Mountain Bike isn't there but regular Bike and eBike is. I don't have it on me right now, but I don't remember seeing padel tennis, though there's probably something else you can use instead, or re-name. Walk, Run, Bike, Yoga, strength training, even indoor rowing, and other typical activities are there. I can take a screenshot in Garmin Connect later tonight to show all the activity options. 3. Screen and Buttons - I haven't golfed with it yet but I know the touch screen will be much easier to navigate than using only the buttons on the Fenix (which I never really cared to figure out). Touch is more intuitive to me. With only 2 buttons on the S50, however; you have to rely on the touch screen and can't customize the buttons to do specific tasks, so some things could take longer or more taps. I miss being able to customize a long press on a single button to easily bring up the music controls or alarm clocks, for instance. 4. Battery - Not surprising given the form factor, but the battery does not have the same power as the Fenix. I wore it consistently last weekend and got about 2 days total before needing to recharge. That was with having the screen always on and doing a few activities. The Fenix would run for 9+ days but didn't have an always on option and the screen was much more basic. This isn't really an issue for me since I only wear it at night and during activities but could be for others. For me, overall, the golf focus and size of this watch outweighs the things I'm missing on the Fenix. I haven't bought the Garmin club sensors yet, I'm using Arccos today, but will likely try them once it's subscription renewal time on Arccos.

Actually, padel is in there https://preview.redd.it/56cqub1ha7ke1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df722a5406c8bb9935b5f3783e0c92b77a6e2686

It is overkill lol. I just got the approach S50 and love it. I’m a runner/golfer so it checks all the boxes for me. If I’m not doing something physical then I’m wearing an analog watch anyway so don’t need any other features.

I have the Garmin Approach S50. It is a golf watch first, but does have a lot of the other exercise features including the pulse and O2 sensors. This serves my purpose as I use it for golf and exercise, but not hardcore exercising. Just basic walking/jogging/lifting. You can compare all of the watches on the Garmin website. The Forerunner series excels at at the exercise part of the watch. So it will depend on how much you want to spend and what exactly you are looking for the watch to do.

I picked up the Approach S50 this year. So far no real complaints. The screen is easily readable in the sun. It does a good job of tracking my shots. I use the Garmin app to track statistics. I do also use it for my walking. It has a heartbeat and O2 sensor. I like that it also tracks these health stats while golfing. It is designed to be worn all the time with all the health tracking it does...I tried it, but I've never been the type to wear a watch all the time. I did order a new band for it right away. I did not like the stretchy band it came with. I prefer the silicone bands.

With the S50 and S70 it's touchscreen for all of that. I think the S50 is a great watch/fitness tracker as a former Apple Watch user. I think for Apple Watch v. Garmin in 2025, it depends what you want the watch for more. If it's just golf/fitness tracking... I think the Garmin's the better buy, especially if you don't want to buy a subscription afterwards (an option on both, but Garmin gives you more "free" golf stuff with their watches. But they're more of fitness/GPS tracking watches with some smart watch functionality than a full on smart watch. If you want all the bells and whistles of a smart watch and the seamlessness of phone connectivity... then the Apple Watch is a better buy. I think it's all about personal preference nowadays. They're both pretty easy to adjust score, putts, etc with a touchscreen. It's just more of a "what else do you want this watch for" question to answer if you're between the 2.

I have the Garmin Approach S50 and I really like it.

I’d recommend the s70. The plays like distances without a subscription makes it worth it alone over s40/s50. No touch targeting on the others is rlly bad too. The health data on the s70 is all I could ask for. It tracks my runs/lifts/sleep etc without issue

Garmin fenix 8. It’s a $1k+ watch but that’s purely for other reasons that it costs that much. I would say the S50 or S70 have all the same features that are golf related. The fact that the watch adjusts yardage for wind direction I have found useful. You could probably guess all that depending on your experience level. And it might be too much detail if you aren’t very consistent with your club yardages. I am in the sweet spot of consistent iron yardages but only been golfing 2 years so I struggle to guess where the wind is going and what that’s going to do to my distance. Other than that garmin has a whole bunch of features that track sleep and body battery that help me set expectations when going out. If I start a round with a poor sleep score from the prior night I know that I’m probably shooting 5-10 shots worse than a “good round”

It is overkill, but it's so freakin sweet. If you can swing it, get it. I bought an S50 and fell in love with the Garmin connect app, it's way more motivating and useful for fitness. I ended up returning the S50 and got the fenix. You don't need a garmin golf subscription for the fenix or S70 to see the better hole maps and green heat maps. You also get wind adjustments which I've found to be very accurate. I'd get the fenix because of the looks, the flashlight, the golf features without the subscription, and all the cool health metrics and training. Edit: the only thing the S50 would be better for is cheaper club tracking, since the CT1 trackers work with the S50. I bought the CT1 trackers and felt that tapping the club to the watch was not easier than just setting which club i hit from the watch screen.

I just ordered a S50. For me, the battery life of the AW isn't good enough to track a round of golf. I have an app for AW that is supposed to do everything the garmins do, but doesn't work because of the battery life. I'm probably going to keep both, I can't see myself wearing the garmin daily when the AW smart watch features are so nice.

I do the same, coming from a Garmin Golf Watch for sports. I hope they will release another and more modern fitness tracker with a slim and small design to follow up on the vivosmart 5

I used my Apple Watch for a while and Golfshot was my preferred app too. I got tired of having to micromanage the battery so I picked up a garmin approach and I like it a lot more. The app tracks your handicap, average distance with each club, auto switches to the next hole - it’s awesome.