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Garmin Approach S70 Watch

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The Indoor Golf Shop
CFAnPEI said:
No posts about the S70 in 7+ months.
Is that because nobody owns it or it runs so well, there is nothing to post about? :)
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I just got the S70 for Christmas so haven’t been able to use it for golf yet. Otherwise, I’m supremely happy with it in the short time that it’s been on my wrist.

I’m coming from an Apple Watch, and for the MUCH extended battery life alone it’s been a revelation.

Screen is beautifully sharp with plenty of data/info available at a glance. Wrist band is comfortable and adjusts to a more appropriate tightness than my old AW.

Only 4 more months until our golf courses open up.
 
I'm also watching this thread. Currently own the S60 and it works fine. Would be interested in upgrading to the S70 bc of the OLED screen and the golf-related improvements.

The price is a bit hard to justify, mainly bc Garmin crammed so much non-golf relevant features into the watch that I just don't care about and have other devices for. It would've been amazing if Garmin just made a golf-specific S70 minus the bloatware and shaved $100 off the MSRP.
 
Frank559 said:
I'm also watching this thread. Currently own the S60 and it works fine. Would be interested in upgrading to the S70 bc of the OLED screen and the golf-related improvements.

The price is a bit hard to justify, mainly bc Garmin crammed so much non-golf relevant features into the watch that I just don't care about and have other devices for. It would've been amazing if Garmin just made a golf-specific S70 minus the bloatware and shaved $100 off the MSRP.
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I feel the same way. I only wear the watch for golf, so I have no feed for all the fitness and app notification junk. Just give me the ultimate golf watch.
 
For now, Garmin certainly isn't giving the S70 away.
Maybe this spring. That will be one year on the market.

I'm currently using S70. Previously tried Shotscope X5 and before that the S62.

Is the S70 worth it?
PROs
Screen is fantastic. Battery life is great. Course maps, touch screen to measure layups, hazards is very good.
The non golf data like health and fitness tracking is great if you care about that.
Shot tracking works well. Either with manual interaction on watch (very easy) or with those CT10 sensors.

CONs
Virtual Caddie for some is very poor. Issues with suggested clubs, wind, elevation. Some have no issues, others have lots of problems. I think it has bugs but hard to gauge as end user doesn't know how Garmin calculates suggestions.
Strokes Gained. I'd describe as garbage dump of data. But this is the same across all Garmin watches that do SG.

I'm happy with the watch. Fitness part matters to me.
Screen is fantastic.
Does the golf stuff I care about really well.
 
I love Garmin. I'm an ex-triathlete and can't give up the Fenix series. I don't see anything with the Approach / S70 that I can't have with the Fenix. I don't want virtual caddy. I don't want to look at my watch the entire round. I don't want to have my phone connected or near me during a round. Fenix gives me distances and lay up distances plus hazards. Not sure there is anything else needed (for me).
 
I love mine! I put a protective case on it and also changed the band to one that will lay flat on a table. I also downloaded the Fenix 7 Pro Analog face. I love this watch!
 
I had the Epix 2 for about 8 months before I bought the S70 and I have to say I prefer the S70 in every way. I only got to use if for 2 rounds of golf before the season turned on us, but for everyday use and having the fitness features, I just prefer the S70. It's got the right amount of fitness stuff, not too much, and I just the love look of it more.

I think it comes down to what you really want, if you're super active type you might want to stick with the other options. But if you want golf and just simple...it's a major upgrade over the S62 in my opinion. The thing that really blows me away is how comfortable it is to sleep with it on (if I want to). You don't need to, but I often forget that it's there and I didn't do that with the S62, that just felt more bulky.
 
I got a 20% off code from Garmin in my work email today. It's single-use, but I'm not going to use it. Figured I'd post it in case anyone is in the market. I tested it in the cart with the 42mm S70 and it made it $519.99 before tax/shipping, so I'm assuming it'd work on any of their watches.

GRMN20-PAW-VGQ-YJ49
 
Nappy said:
I had the Epix 2 for about 8 months before I bought the S70 and I have to say I prefer the S70 in every way. I only got to use if for 2 rounds of golf before the season turned on us, but for everyday use and having the fitness features, I just prefer the S70. It's got the right amount of fitness stuff, not too much, and I just the love look of it more.

I think it comes down to what you really want, if you're super active type you might want to stick with the other options. But if you want golf and just simple...it's a major upgrade over the S62 in my opinion. The thing that really blows me away is how comfortable it is to sleep with it on (if I want to). You don't need to, but I often forget that it's there and I didn't do that with the S62, that just felt more bulky.
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I’ve slept with mine on every day since I got it on Christmas and I haven’t noticed it on my wrist once. Super comfortable, and the sleep metrics are quite interesting to me.
 
CFAnPEI said:
For now, Garmin certainly isn't giving the S70 away.
Maybe this spring. That will be one year on the market.

I'm currently using S70. Previously tried Shotscope X5 and before that the S62.

Is the S70 worth it?
PROs
Screen is fantastic. Battery life is great. Course maps, touch screen to measure layups, hazards is very good.
The non golf data like health and fitness tracking is great if you care about that.
Shot tracking works well. Either with manual interaction on watch (very easy) or with those CT10 sensors.

CONs
Virtual Caddie for some is very poor. Issues with suggested clubs, wind, elevation. Some have no issues, others have lots of problems. I think it has bugs but hard to gauge as end user doesn't know how Garmin calculates suggestions.
Strokes Gained. I'd describe as garbage dump of data. But this is the same across all Garmin watches that do SG.

I'm happy with the watch. Fitness part matters to me.
Screen is fantastic.
Does the golf stuff I care about really well.
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This is a pretty reasonable assessment of it. I think that you have to do club tracking if you really want the virtual caddie to work for you. Otherwise it's just guessing. I'd say the hit rate is somewhere around 50% for the times I've actually looked at it. I don't use it for that, but if I did, I'd be entering the club hit on every swing. I am going to give stat tracking another go this season to compare it to what I'm getting from my Grint subscription. I haven't messed with the strokes gained stuff yet.

I've found the wind direction stuff to be helpful when I'm playing out of town but not a make or break feature for me. I've never had an issue with any of the elevation functionality. It's a GPS and not a laser so it won't be yard for yard accurate. If you're willing to subscribe to their golf app, you get access to topo maps of the greens. I demo'd this but in all honesty I'm not accurate enough to make good use of it. Neat feature though.

Overall this is a great golf watch. I find the fitness features useful, and once I figured out how to sync Garmin Connect with Apple Health, it's been pretty easy to use it as my primary tracker. Notification settings leave a lot to be desired. After having an apple watch for a long time, I'm mostly ok with just getting call and text notifications, though sometimes it would be nice to enable another app or two depending on what my needs are.

I'm an aspiring watch nerd and wear automatics when I go out or need to dress up for work, but otherwise this my daily watch. I've got a decent metal bracelet (not the ridiculously expensive Garmin one) for it that makes it acceptable for casual wear in public. I've also got a handful of silicon straps for golfing if I want to mix it up some. The battery life on this thing is FANTASTIC and a solid step up from the S60/62. I can easily get three rounds on one charge and if you're not using GPS you can go over a week without charging. I've upgraded my golf watch just about every release, but this is the first one that I can say I don't have a burning itch to run out and replace with the newest model.

My biggest gripe with Garmin is the app software. It's all a bit clunky when you've used the apple watch, but once you get it setup there's not much to change other than the face every now and again. Their tracking info is pretty solid and once you're ingrained into the ecosystem it all makes sense for the most part. Certainly nothing more than a google away.

YukonLiving said:
I’ve slept with mine on every day since I got it on Christmas and I haven’t noticed it on my wrist once. Super comfortable, and the sleep metrics are quite interesting to me.
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Found a cheapo elastic band that I use when I'm around the house (it is NOT good for any sort of golf activity). That's usually how I wear it when I'm sleeping and I've found the sleep insights interesting as well.
 
Thinking about adding a watch to my tool kit and looking at the S70. I have a Garmin Instinct (non golf) so am used to the connect app and interface. My concern at this point is I don't want to add something that will slow me down much and I've read the S70 does not track club hits real well. Also it is not quick to override and add when it misses. One article I read said it misses 30% on full swings. Anyone find this to be true? The caddie feature I don't care all that much for as I know my club distances. Mostly want yardages and especially to sand traps and lakes and stuff like that. Also now using Nikon Cool-Shot Pro 2 Stabilized range finder and rely on that.
 
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I believe the S70 won't pose any distractions for you.
Since you mentioned you're not interested in the caddie feature and are already familiar with your distances, you likely won't find tracking your shots necessary.
Tracking shots, whether with CT10 sensors or a prompt on the watch, primarily serves the aforementioned features. The only other significant benefit would be if you enjoy the Golf App's map view of your round.

Getting distances and cycling through hazards is effortless.
If desired, adding your score after each hole only takes about 5 seconds.
 
I hope the X5 releasing full hole functionality puts some downward pressure on the S70 price. I have the S42. While I love the features of the S70, it's hard to drop more than twice the price for another golf watch.

The one thing I do like about Garmin is automatic shot tracking. My clubs are slightly too short - but I've gotten used to playing them that way. I grip the club almost past the very end with my left hand -and every time I've tried to put sensors on them- I rip them out within a week.

It's become second nature for me to tap the club I hit - so I don't miss them at all. I'd buy a $499 S70 tomorrow, but just can't do it for $699.
 
mantan said:
I'd buy a $499 S70 tomorrow, but just can't do it for $699.
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I have the S62, I'd have thought about upgrading but due to the wonderful currency differences (ergo, getting screwed over) they want $939.99CAD for the 47mm.
That is not happening any time soon for sure!
 
mantan said:
I hope the X5 releasing full hole functionality puts some downward pressure on the S70 price. I have the S42. While I love the features of the S70, it's hard to drop more than twice the price for another golf watch.

The one thing I do like about Garmin is automatic shot tracking. My clubs are slightly too short - but I've gotten used to playing them that way. I grip the club almost past the very end with my left hand -and every time I've tried to put sensors on them- I rip them out within a week.

It's become second nature for me to tap the club I hit - so I don't miss them at all. I'd buy a $499 S70 tomorrow, but just can't do it for $699.
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Down $5.00 to $694.00 on Amazon today. :ROFLMAO:
 
Well my income tax surprise was a good one so I celebrated with a new S70. Tracked my first 18 hole round today and it did excellent! Easy to use and very accurate. So far I'm loving this watch and 18 holes of golf only took 14% off of a charge finished and finished 82% at the end of the day after playing, then tracking a walk later in the day.
 

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Tywithay said:
I feel the same way. I only wear the watch for golf, so I have no feed for all the fitness and app notification junk. Just give me the ultimate golf watch.
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With the watch being so light and comfortable, I don't see why some would not just wear it all the time? Are you just not watch people, or do you change to a different watch when not golfing?
I would say the exact opposite is true with me. If it didn't have all the other features I use on it, I would not spend anywhere close to that for just a golf watch that was worn maybe 2-3 times a week. I mean who even cares if it will last 3 rounds + or 2 weeks if you only wear it golfing?
 
BornAgain said:
With the watch being so light and comfortable, I don't see why some would not just wear it all the time? Are you just not watch people, or do you change to a different watch when not golfing?
I would say the exact opposite is true with me. If it didn't have all the other features I use on it, I would not spend anywhere close to that for just a golf watch that was worn maybe 2-3 times a week. I mean who even cares if it will last 3 rounds + or 2 weeks if you only wear it golfing?
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I don't wear a watch at all outside of the golf course. Don't really have a reason to since my phone stays in my pocket. I wish they'd make a golf specific S70 minus all the fitness junk and charge 30% less. I like the big color screen and all the added golf features over my S42, but the rest is just fluff.
 
Tywithay said:
I don't wear a watch at all outside of the golf course. Don't really have a reason to since my phone stays in my pocket. I wish they'd make a golf specific S70 minus all the fitness junk and charge 30% less. I like the big color screen and all the added golf features over my S42, but the rest is just fluff.
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Makes sense. I've always been a watch person my whole life and feel naked without one. Kinda like not having my wallet in back pocket feeling. From Garmins perspective, I believe they are trying to appeal to runners, walkers, bicyclers, swimmers, ect to open up the market. Most people would still want the heart rate monitor even for golf I would think? Blood oxygen, sleep, body battery stuff maybe not so much.
Ya....it is hell pricey and had I not stumbled onto some "free cash" I didn't expect I'd probably just continue wanting one without making the plunge.
 
I bought the S62 when it first came out, partly to use it for the fitness features. However, it was AWFUL at tracking distances. I was doing a lot of hiking the summer I purchased it and it would over measure the distance by approximately 20%, which was very frustrating. I ended up not using it much.

Has anybody else experienced this with a Garmin watch? It is a lot of money to spend for data that is grossly inaccurate.
 
Tenputt said:
I bought the S62 when it first came out, partly to use it for the fitness features. However, it was AWFUL at tracking distances. I was doing a lot of hiking the summer I purchased it and it would over measure the distance by approximately 20%, which was very frustrating. I ended up not using it much.

Has anybody else experienced this with a Garmin watch? It is a lot of money to spend for data that is grossly inaccurate.
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Were you using an App like walking or just going by steps? Steps can be inaccurate but walking app should be using GPS and much more accurate. My Garmin Instinct was at least. Haven't really used the S70 enough for that to know yet.
 
BornAgain said:
Were you using an App like walking or just going by steps? Steps can be inaccurate but walking app should be using GPS and much more accurate. My Garmin Instinct was at least. Haven't really used the S70 enough for that to know yet.
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It was a feature in the watch that supposedly tracked the miles walked. I am not sure if it was by steps or GPS.
 
Tenputt said:
It was a feature in the watch that supposedly tracked the miles walked. I am not sure if it was by steps or GPS.
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It only uses GPS if you're doing an activity IIRC. I've found the distances to be pretty good when doing activities. The steps can get a little weird when you're riding in a cart, but I just know that those days will be off and try not to obsess about it. It's a golf watch first for me, and it's good at that.

One thing I will say is I've turned off the "plays like" distances I find them way off on a lot of the courses I play.
 
Has anybody purchased the sensors and tried them out?
 
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