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.

If you look at the new S44 or S50, they are great watches, but require a subscription to get both the green map and the high resolution hole maps. It’s 10 bucks a month or $99 a year. I bought an annual subscription when I bought it… But I’m seriously questioning renewing it. I don’t like the idea of paying the entire cost of the watch in 3 years of sub fees. I’m seriously considering switching to an Apple Watch and using The Grint app. I would rather pay that subscription fee for the stat and handicap features. I’m also looking at shot scope watches for the single reason they are subscription free.

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 have an S50 & love it. It's become what I wear pretty much daily. A Garmin's more of a straight up golf watch & fitness tracker than a full blown smartwatch. So if you want all the bells and whistles of a smartwatch, stick with your Apple watch. If you want something with awesome battery life that's good for golfing and working out, Garmin's the way to go.

Yeah the Garmin Fenix series have crazy prices. Imo, not worth it. The good news is they have plenty of watches that are more than capable for golf, whether it's from their dedicated golf line (the Approach line) or any of their other ones. I use the Approach S50 with no subscription after switching from an Apple watch. I kind of hated feeling like my wrist was an extension of my phone, so I actually have it so I only get notifications if someone's calling me rather than texting or from any apps... and what I used my Apple watch for the most was fitness tracking (gym & runs) and golf (with The Grint). The Garmin Golf app with no subscription is waaaay better than The Grint, imo. I like it a lot more for tracking my runs and my workouts too. And it's 5-6 days of battery life, and it charges really quickly. On the Vivoactive & Venu lines, they still have golf functionality and they work with the Garmin App. It just has less convenient features (the map is clunkier when looking at distances to hazards)... I think they still do the automatic shot tracking though (for everything except little chips and putts). So you definitely don't need to go to their top tier flagship model to get a quality Garmin. But if you'd miss the total connectivity with your phone... stick with the Apple watch or get a Garmin/ShotScope for golf only.