Garmin is great at making high-end fitness smartwatches and has all but cornered the market on sophisticated GPS watches for golfers.
But perhaps—just perhaps—it’s a little difficult to enjoy time on the green with your buds when you’re busy marveling at the machinations of your whiz-bang GPS smartwatch.
Could it be that Garmin’s premium GPS smartwatch, the $399.99 Approach S60, is a little too much tech for the casual golfer’s game?
Whatever the case may be, Garmin is providing options for its players. Next month, the wearable maker will debut a lower-end golf GPS watch, the Approach S10, that focuses almost exclusively on on-course distances.
The $149.99 smartwatch provides yardages to the front, back, and middle of the green on more than 41,000 courses that come preloaded on the watch. Users can keep score on the watch face and track total distance played and total play time.
Post game, wearers can upload their scorecards to Garmin’s Garmin Express app, which stores users’ health and fitness data. Golfers can also use the free Garmin Golf app to participate in weekly leaderboards and tournaments.
Of course, the Approach S10 also tells time! The lightweight smartwatch displays the current time and date, plus sunrise and sunset times. The watch’s rechargeable battery lasts through 12 hours of GPS golf mode.
Garmin’s decision to go basics with a GPS golf watch was likely precipitated by the success of its lightweight, easy-to-wear fitness bands, including the Approach X10, which essentially has the same functions as the Approach S10, but in a more unisex-friendly design.
Garmin Approach S20 GPS watches
Slightly more design-y (and more feature-filled) than the new Approach S10 is the Approach S20, which comes with a cool perforated rubber strap and 15 hours of battery life in golf mode. The S20 also includes Garmin’s AutoShot round analyzer, which measures and auto-records shot distances.
The premium Approach S60, in comparison, is full of high-tech sensors that help golfers gauge precise distances to each location on a course. It also boasts the PlaysLike Distance feature, which adjusts yardages to account for uphill and downhill shots—so you can pull out the best club for the shot.
Top: The Garmin Approach S10 GPS smartwatch
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