Garmin S70 Golf GPS Watch - 2023 Forum Review

[Emag315]

Has anyone used it with a Garmin range finder? 

[Josh Ross]

26 minutes ago, Emag315 said:

Has anyone used it with a Garmin range finder? 

I have only used it up against my Bushnell range finder, and so far it has been fairly accurate.

[goaliewales14]

1 hour ago, Emag315 said:

Has anyone used it with a Garmin range finder? 

I'm in the same boat as @Josh Ross in that my rangefinder is a Bushnell V6 shift

[FallenSaber]

The glove test. I tried on 4 different gloves plus my current Mizuno glove. The most forgiving gloves that seem to be better fit for wearing a watch while golfing were Mizuno and Ping. Mizuno provided the most space between where the glove ended and where the watch began. Titleist seemed to have th most excess when it came to extra material at the opening of the glove that interfered with the watch. FootJoy (pictured in the center with the Torrey Pines logo) and Callaway were more forgiving than the Titleist but did not have as much space between the watch amd glove as Mizuno and Ping. I will try to do one more glove test before the end of the review.

[Parshooter36]

I have an update for the brightness issue I've been having with my watch. After a Q&A with Garmin tech support they decided to send me a replacement watch. The difference is literally night and day. 

Indoor:

Outdoor:

[Josh Ross]

2 minutes ago, Parshooter36 said:

I have an update for the brightness issue I've been having with my watch. After a Q&A with Garmin tech support they decided to send me a replacement watch. The difference is literally night and day. 

Indoor:

Outdoor:

Glad they got you taken care of. Now it looks like it should!

[Parshooter36]

I am really impressed with the virtual caddie feature on the S70, it was spot on for every approach shot I had today. I have 3 years of Shotcope data so I am very familiar with all of my club distances, but I know a lot of golfers seem to be guessing on their club selection and guess wrong a lot. 

[Josh Ross]

51 minutes ago, Parshooter36 said:

I am really impressed with the virtual caddie feature on the S70, it was spot on for every approach shot I had today. I have 3 years of Shotcope data so I am very familiar with all of my club distances, but I know a lot of golfers seem to be guessing on their club selection and guess wrong a lot. 

I have one more round before that feature is unlocked for me but I've got two rounds planned for this weekend.

I have my doubts on the suggestions because my yardages are all wacky looking due to the elevation changes here.

Some are close because I've had flat shots with them, but others are a good bit off. I added my true averages with these clubs to the far right. I've done two gapping sessions to get these numbers and find them to be very accurate for what I see on course. These Garmin averages reflect that I haven't hit a full SW yet and the only 5 iron I've hit was off a pretty elevated tee. I know it'll work itself out as I play more but initially it's gonna be wacky. Thankfully the two rounds I have coming up this weekend are in south GA where I'm on flat ground.

[FallenSaber]

5 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

I have one more round before that feature is unlocked for me but I've got two rounds planned for this weekend.

I have my doubts on the suggestions because my yardages are all wacky looking due to the elevation changes here.

Some are close because I've had flat shots with them, but others are a good bit off. I added my true averages with these clubs to the far right. I've done two gapping sessions to get these numbers and find them to be very accurate for what I see on course. These Garmin averages reflect that I haven't hit a full SW yet and the only 5 iron I've hit was off a pretty elevated tee. I know it'll work itself out as I play more but initially it's gonna be wacky. Thankfully the two rounds I have coming up this weekend are in south GA where I'm on flat 

I feel like I still have a lot to explore with this watch and my golf game in general. Curious how it'll account for my gap wedge since it's my go to for anything less than 100 yards. Also curious how it might change as the ball changes. When I play PXG balls, they're 30-40 yards shorter from the tee but 20-30 yards longer for me for my irons. Other balls are the opposite. I'm waiting for the MGS ball test results before I buy another dozen but I'm really considering buying Maxifli or Vice. Trying to find a happy middle ground but that glcould potentially greatly alter what the virtual Caddie might recommend. I'm 3 rounds short of the virtual Caddie feature but currently have enough rounds booked to potentially unlock it by the end of this weekend.

[FallenSaber]

Non-golf post. I got in my first strength training workout with the watch. It was 50/50 for auto tracking reps. I did a chest and bicep workout mostly with dumbbells and some body weight workouts. It was a workout closer to high intensity with supersets so it was difficult to keep up so I mixed reps with sets. I was impressed with the overall data and how it automatically figured out the muscle groups that I was working. I don't believe I worked the back as much as pictured but still impressed. Here are some of the data points/ illustrations.

[Parshooter36]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:33 PM, goaliewales14 said:

Have any of the other testers tried starting on a random hole? 

I was in a 1-man scramble over the weekend and it was a shotgun start. My group started on 13. When I went to go start the round, I was able to change the hole to 13, but it wouldn't automatically go to the next hole after I entered my score like normal rounds. I had to keep choosing the next hole through the menu each time until I got back to the first hole.

We started on the 3rd hole in a scramble this weekend. The only thing I had to do was move it to 1 after playing 18, other than that it switched automatically.

[Parshooter36]

11 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

I have one more round before that feature is unlocked for me but I've got two rounds planned for this weekend.

I have my doubts on the suggestions because my yardages are all wacky looking due to the elevation changes here.

Some are close because I've had flat shots with them, but others are a good bit off. I added my true averages with these clubs to the far right. I've done two gapping sessions to get these numbers and find them to be very accurate for what I see on course. These Garmin averages reflect that I haven't hit a full SW yet and the only 5 iron I've hit was off a pretty elevated tee. I know it'll work itself out as I play more but initially it's gonna be wacky. Thankfully the two rounds I have coming up this weekend are in south GA where I'm on flat ground.

My middle of the bag numbers are a bit skewed still, but I expect them to normalize as the watch collects more data. I was playing a shorter course yesterday and had mostly 8 iron or less into the greens.

[FallenSaber]

Got a round in at Balboa Park Golf Course. The watched performed outside of a sluser error. I updated "My Bag" in the Garmin app assuming it would show the club type followed the input. I assumed wrong and probably should've known better. So when I was prompted to input my club that I hit, all I saw was PXG XCOR2 for ever club. It was easy to figure out the club, by counting down from 5I or up from GW.

Also, interesting to view how different courses are. I didn't grab a score card for Balboa so I didn't have really any idea of what I was in for an have never played the course before. The GPS map was incredibly helpful and helpful for quick distances to the group I was playing with. I felt like the course was much shorter than what I've been use to lately, mostly playing at Torrey Pines and it was. As you can see in the comparison below, 16 holes at Torrey South was .77 miles longer but did not have as much elevation change. Also, the temperature was way off for Balboa. It might have been 67 when I starter (though I don't think so) it was significantly hotter when i finished.

[goaliewales14]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:58 AM, Parshooter36 said:

We started on the 3rd hole in a scramble this weekend. The only thing I had to do was move it to 1 after playing 18, other than that it switched automatically.

Must have been operator error on my part then.  Glad it worked!

[Parshooter36]

7 hours ago, FallenSaber said:

Got a round in at Balboa Park Golf Course. The watched performed outside of a sluser error. I updated "My Bag" in the Garmin app assuming it would show the club type followed the input. I assumed wrong and probably should've known better. So when I was prompted to input my club that I hit, all I saw was PXG XCOR2 for ever club. It was easy to figure out the club, by counting down from 5I or up from GW.

Also, interesting to view how different courses are. I didn't grab a score card for Balboa so I didn't have really any idea of what I was in for an have never played the course before. The GPS map was incredibly helpful and helpful for quick distances to the group I was playing with. I felt like the course was much shorter than what I've been use to lately, mostly playing at Torrey Pines and it was. As you can see in the comparison below, 16 holes at Torrey South was .77 miles longer but did not have as much elevation change. Also, the temperature was way off for Balboa. It might have been 67 when I starter (though I don't think so) it was significantly hotter when i finished.

I noticed that when I updated my bag as well. I ended up going back to the generic clubs so it just says 7 iron, 8 iron, etc. 

[Parshooter36]

Coming from Shotscope, I am really starting to enjoy the simplicity of just recording my full swings and the number of putts on each hole.  At first I was missing the more detailed putting and chipping stats that I was use to getting from the V3 and club tags, but I do not miss editing after each round and trying to remember where I putted from on each hole so I can get accurate data. In the beginning I fully expected to get the CT10 sensors to use with the S70, but now I am not so sure.

[Brad F]

50 minutes ago, Parshooter36 said:

Coming from Shotscope, I am really starting to enjoy the simplicity of just recording my full swings and the number of putts on each hole.  At first I was missing the more detailed putting and chipping stats that I was use to getting from the V3 and club tags, but I do not miss editing after each round and trying to remember where I putted from on each hole so I can get accurate data. In the beginning I fully expected to get the CT10 sensors to use with the S70, but now I am not so sure.

I used to use Arccos before this watch and I feel the same. 

I was inundated with too much data before.  I'm sure it's invaluable to a tour player but the features that mattered to me weren't as good as the S70.

Arccos had a habit of recording strikes from clubs that were still in the bag and regularly gave ridiculous ranges to pins.

The S70 just works flawlessly on the course and that's what I look for now. 

[ole gray]

On 9/1/2023 at 10:40 AM, Brad F said:

I used to use Arccos before this watch and I feel the same. 

I was inundated with too much data before.  I'm sure it's invaluable to a tour player but the features that mattered to me weren't as good as the S70.

Arccos had a habit of recording strikes from clubs that were still in the bag and regularly gave ridiculous ranges to pins.

The S70 just works flawlessly on the course and that's what I look for now. 

Can you download the stats you get from the watch to your laptop/computer?

[Josh Ross]

Had my first hiccup with the watch yesterday but was able to easily correct it in the app. I noticed on the first hole that it was way off when measuring my shots. Hit a nice drive with the 4 wood, got to my ball and it measured at 105 yards. I thought it was a GPS issue and proceeded to finish the hole. On the second hole, I had the same issue after a crushed drive. It measured 121 when my 4 wood actually went about 264. I wasn't sure what was happening until I looked at the round on my phone afterwards and somehow it was picking up another shot in between the tee box and where my ball was. Once I deleted those shots the stats looked normal. It only happened on the first two holes but it was definitely odd.

[ole gray]

I'm thinking why would I want to spend $700.00 bucks for the S70 when I can get a nice Apple 8 watch for $300.00 and use Swing U or Shot Scope

[goaliewales14]

10 hours ago, ole gray said:

I'm thinking why would I want to spend $700.00 bucks for the S70 when I can get a nice Apple 8 watch for $300.00 and use Swing U or Shot Scope

All I'm going to comment is maybe wait and see my final review

[rkj427]

Have any of the testers had issues with shots not being recorded by the S70?

I seem to have that on occasion with the S62 at times. 

I do not use the club sensors either.

[Parshooter36]

On 9/3/2023 at 9:05 AM, ole gray said:

Can you download the stats you get from the watch to your laptop/computer?

The watch automatically syncs to the Garmin app on your phone. You can view all of your rounds and stats either through the app or by logging into Garmin Connect web site.

[Parshooter36]

13 hours ago, rkj427 said:

Have any of the testers had issues with shots not being recorded by the S70?

I seem to have that on occasion with the S62 at times. 

I do not use the club sensors either.

The only shot my S70 hasn't picked up so far are around the green. I do have one hole at my course where the tee box is very close to the previous green and it will assign my drive on #7 as a short shot into the green on #6 if I tee off before it prompts me to complete my score for #6.

[Josh Ross]

Had an awesome moment with the watch early this morning. I have worn this thing to bed each and every night since getting it so I could continue my health monitoring throughout the night. You can set your sleep time to make the watch go into Do Not Disturb modem meaning no vibrations or anything on the watch while you sleep. Well this morning the watch woke me up from buzzing and it was way before it should have been. I noticed I didn't feel great when I woke up so I just laid there for a few seconds and it started buzzing again. I looked at it and it was an alert for a low heart rate. When my heart rate gets low, I have a very high possibility of blacking out and it has happened in my sleep before. This alert helped me avoid that issue and I'm definitely thankful for that!

[FallenSaber]

8 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

Had an awesome moment with the watch early this morning. I have worn this thing to bed each and every night since getting it so I could continue my health monitoring throughout the night. You can set your sleep time to make the watch go into Do Not Disturb modem meaning no vibrations or anything on the watch while you sleep. Well this morning the watch woke me up from buzzing and it was way before it should have been. I noticed I didn't feel great when I woke up so I just laid there for a few seconds and it started buzzing again. I looked at it and it was an alert for a low heart rate. When my heart rate gets low, I have a very high possibility of blacking out and it has happened in my sleep before. This alert helped me avoid that issue and I'm definitely thankful for that!

That is awesome! To me, the #1 thing about this watch is that it is so much more than a golf watch.

[FallenSaber]

On 9/3/2023 at 8:25 PM, rkj427 said:

Have any of the testers had issues with shots not being recorded by the S70?

I seem to have that on occasion with the S62 at times. 

I do not use the club sensors either.

Similar to @Parshooter36 the only shots the watch seems to not pick up are around the green. Even some of the chips it picks up. Its never picked up a putt. Its picked up almost all my green side sand shots. For a $700 watch that is golf focused, I'd personally like to see 3 club sensors for wedges and putters since it won't pick those up.

[Josh Ross]

Unfortunately at this point I can't trust the virtual caddie but I'm not really placing that blame on the watch at all. The crazy elevation changes I see on a regular basis continue to mess with my yardages. I can completely trust the yardages for front, middle, and back though. I have found these to be spot on and have compared the slope differences with my rangefinder and love the accuracy. I'm definitely impressed!

[Parshooter36]

I just posted my final review, enjoy!

 

[Josh Ross]

Final review is posted! More pictures will be added soon, for some reason I can't access them on my computer but will make it happen!