Garmin S70 Golf GPS Watch - 2023 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

Very much looking forward to going over these reviews. I have previously heard pretty awesome things about these watches and want to see if our testers had the same results!

[FallenSaber]

Final Review has been posted! It has been an incredible pleasure to review this watch for the forum. Thank you MyGolfSpy and Garmin for this fantastic opportunity! I hope you all enjoy the review!

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/60352-garmin-s70-golf-gps-watch-2023-forum-review/?do=findComment&comment=955898

[goaliewales14]

My final review is up as well!!  Thank you again for this amazing opportunity!!

[FallenSaber]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:14 PM, Parshooter36 said:

Introduction:

Let me start with a big thank you to Garmin and MGS for this opportunity, I am super excited to be selected!  I am 49 and have been playing golf since I was 15.  I didn't play any formal golf growing up and didn't get serious about golf until 12 or 13 years ago.  I am not a long hitter, but if I'm playing from around 6000 yards, I usually have a chance to break 80.  I am located about an hour east of St Louis and play 2 leagues through the week and usually at least once on the weekend.  I also have a simulator in my pole barn, so I hit balls out there most days when I'm not at the course.

For the past 3 golf seasons, I have used the Shotscope V3 watch, so I will be doing a lot of direct comparisons.  I also use a Bushnell Tour V5, so I will be checking the yardages of all 3 units.  I wear a Galaxy watch 3 was my everyday watch and have been looking for a watch with enough features to be my every day watch as well as my gof watch.  I had watched several youtube videos about the Garmin S70 prior to this testing as it seemed to check all of the boxes.  I am really looking forward to the hole maps and extra details the S70 provides as well as the virtual caddy feature.  I am usually pretty good with club selection, but a 2nd opinion never hurts!

 

Unboxing:

Some of the other testers got shipment notifications yesterday, but I did not. Imagine my surprise when I got home from work yesterday to a small box sitting on my kitchen table.

In the box you'll find the watch, user manual, and charging cord.  The charging cord is a proprietary connection on 1 end and USB C on the other.  It does not come with a charging block which is not suprising in this day and age, but I don't have a USB C charger so it is a bit of an inconvenience.  I do have a USB C port in my truck, so I plugged it in there to charge. The watch was already fully charged, so I downloaded the Garmin app and started setting it up.

 

Here is a picture of the S70 next to my Galaxy S3.  It has a 2mm larger face and looks every bit as premium as the S3.  While setting it up there were 12 watch faces to choose from and an add more button that showed 2 more faces.  I don't know if more faces can be added as of this writing, but there was a decent variety included out of the box.  Once you select a face, they are very customizable.  You can choose from several different data points depending on your needs and change all of the color features to what suits your eye.  I set up the notifications and was able to select which notifications I wanted sent to the watch.  At first it was sending everything, so my phone was going off everytime I got an email which is a lot. I was glad I could continue to get texts and phone call notifications without getting emails.  I am not a hardcore smart watch user by any means, but so far the S70 does everything my old watch was doing.  I had a busy night last night, so I didn't get into it much past the basic setup.  I have my Tuesday night golf league tonight and I am excited to see how it handles on the course.

 

Final Review

 

First Impressions (8 out of 10)

 

The Approach S70 is the latest in a long line of golf watches from Garmin.  This model has an upgraded AMOLED screen and builds on the S62 platform by adding even more sensors and health monitoring options this time around. 

The screen is gorgeous as advertised and seems to be the major upgrade from the previous model. I do not have experience with the S62, but you can see in the stock photos that the S70 AMOLED screen is much more colorful and detailed than the MIP display on the S62.  I initially had issues with seeing the screen outside, but it turned out to be a faulty backlight on my original watch.  Luckily, Garmin took care of me and replaced it. I work in manufacturing and understand that sometimes things happen, and small defects can make it out the door, but I would consider this a critical failure as it basically made the watch unusable outside. (-2 Points)

 

The health monitoring sensors seem to work as they should.  I am not a workout guy, so I did not try the numerous workout activities available on the S70.  I tried wearing it at night so I could see the data and make use of the body battery feature, but I sleep better without having anything on my hand or wrists, so I only did that a few nights.

 

Aesthetics (10 out of 10) 

 

I loved the look of the S70 right out of the box. Coming from a Samsung Galaxy watch 3 as my every day watch the S70 had a similar style so I was right at home.  I have the 47mm version which fits my wrist perfectly, although Garmin does offer a 42mm version for those with smaller wrists.

 

Out of the box there were about a dozen watch faces to choose from, but once you download the Garmin Connect IQ app onto your phone there are hundreds more to choose from.  You can customize the layout and color scheme of the faces till your heart’s content. The Connect IQ app also has many apps available for the S70.  Everything from workout tools to garage door openers.  If you can think of it, it’s probably there.

 

The S70 is also built like a tank... well, a lightweight tank. It seems to be very durable and extremely well made but is still light enough to be worn without interfering with my golf swing.  The included silicone band looks great and very comfortable, but is also very durable so the S70 can be worn during pretty much any activity you find yourself partaking in. One thing in particular about the band is the loop that holds the excess band in place has a nub in it so it locks into the band securely.  This might be a common feature in sports watches, but I have never seen that before.  I see no signs of any wear at this point and expect to get several years of use out of the Garmin S70.

 

The Numbers (15 out of 20)

 

The yardage numbers from the S70 are very consistent with what I am used to seeing on my ShotScope V3.  Some holes they were dead on with each other and other holes there would be a few yards separating them.  I would attribute the variance on how the hole was mapped by each company, but I have a friend who also has a V3, and we have seen up to 5 yards of difference between our V3’s on the same hole so it could just be a variable of using GPS.  That’s why I ultimately depend on my Bushnell Tour V5 range finder for precise distances for approach shots into the green.  (-1 point)  Where the S70 had a huge advantage was the ability to move pin locations to match what I was seeing from the laser range finder.

The ”plays like” distance is another nice feature I found very useful.  There were times when it was giving me wind readings that were definitely not consistent with what I was feeling so I still used my own judgement in those cases.

Another favorite of mine is being able to check layup yardages for hazards.  While I love my range finder for shooting pins, I never quite trusted the numbers I would get when trying to shoot the ground in front of a pond.  With the S70 I can move the anywhere on the map I like whether it is for layup or forced carry shots.  I have tried to do this with golf apps on my phone in the past, but the convenience of being able to do it from the watch is hard to beat.

 

Setup of the watch was straight forward although the included instruction manual was not very user friendly (-1 point).  I initially had issues getting wind readings on the watch which ended up being user error on my part as I had not allowed all location permissions when I set it up. Luckily one of the other testers helped me with that issue.

 

I mentioned earlier that I had issues viewing my original watch outside.  The MGS team worked as a mediator between me and the Garmin technical staff, which was a painless experience. I also posted the issue in their forum, but the moderator just responded with a canned response about how AMOLED screens naturally dim in sunlight. (-2 Points) Before I reached out for help, I did countless searches online for this issue hoping I had something wrong in the settings that was causing the problem but could not find anybody else that had seen this problem.  Hopefully than means that it was an isolated event and no other watches with this issue have made it out into the wild.

 

I also had an issue at one course I play where the layout had changed and needed to be remapped.  I searched online and found a remapping form to fill out and send to Garmin.  I filled out the form and noticed at the top that said they only do updates quarterly.  This was a bit disappointing coming from ShotScope that usually remaps courses within 48 hours. (-2 Points)

 

In my opinion the most impressive feature of the S70 is the battery life.  Garmin claims battery life of 16 days in smart watch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode and I believe it.  I have used multiple GPS units over the years and could maybe get 2 rounds at most out of them.  My 1st week with the S70 I played 63 holes of golf and still had 18% battery left granted that was the watch that had back light issues that that probably saved some battery life.  The 1st week with the new watch I played 36 holes and was still at 28% battery at full brightness.  My Galaxy Watch 3 must be charged every 2 days.  I don’t know how Garmin does it, but it is impressive.

 

On-Course (18 out of 20)

On the course the S70 really shines.  The watch vibrates when a swing is detected prompting you to select the club you used for that shot.  Sometimes this happens withing seconds after the shot, but sometimes I am almost to my ball before it prompts me. I am not sure why that happens, but it does.  It also prompts you to enter your score and number of putts and penalties after you leave the green.  I do have one hole at my course where the tee box if very close to the previous green and the watch will add my drive from that hole to the previous hole if I have not entered my score before I tee off. (-1 Point)  Both take just a couple of taps to do and do not interfere with my normal routine.

 

Like I said earlier, I have been a ShotScope V3 user for the past 3 seasons.  I am very impressed with the club data I am getting from the S70 without having club tags like the V3.  Even with limited rounds on the S70, my numbers are very similar to the V3 numbers I have for the season.  I expect the few clubs that are off will normalize once more data is collected. Initially I was missing the chipping and putting data that I got from the ShotScope tags.  What I do not miss is all the editing I had to do after each round.  Moving putts around to the proper spots on the green and removing or adding shots that were tagged incorrectly is a common occurrence with ShotScope.  When I am done with a round with the S70, I am done.  The scorecard can be edited right from your watch if you accidently entered the wrong score on a hole during the round.  Garmin sells a 3 pack of their CT10 club sensors that I may purchase for my putter and wedges if I decide I can’t live without that data.  Shotscope does win in the data department.  There are stats and data there that I have not been able to find on my Garmin dashboard.  I’m not sure how necessary some of that data is as Garmin seems to give me all the data I need to make good decisions on shot selection.  But for the stat lovers out there it is worth noting. (-1 Point)

Garmin Club Stats

ShotScope Club Stats

 

The Good, the bad, the inbetween (18 out of 20)

 

I have not yet mentioned the virtual caddie, but that is another feature I find very useful.  I am fortunate to have a simulator at my disposal, so I have a very good idea of my club distances.  I know a lot of people that seem like they are guessing on club selection several times a round.  I think the virtual caddie would be an enormous benefit to that type of golfer.  Most of the time it is calling for the same club that I would normally hit, but it has been off a club either way a few times.   

 

The S70 is also very quick to lock onto the GPS satellites.  It has never taken more 30 seconds to lock on and usually its under 10 seconds.  On an overcast day my old watch could take several minutes to find the satellites.

 

One last feature I want to mention is the Tempo Training.  I have always considered my self as having a smooth swing, but I really struggle to get the 3:1 tempo they are looking for.  I am always looking for ways to improve my swing and I never had a way to measure tempo before. I plan on continuing to work on my tempo with this feature as I feel it is a very useful tool.

There is not much bad to say about the S70, it is a great piece of tech.  Some of the user interfaces could be combined as I have 3 different apps on my phone for this watch. (Garmin Golf, Garmin Connect, and Garmin Connect IQ) I know I’m getting older, but I still consider myself somewhat tech savvy, but this confused me for a while. (-1 Point)

 

I would also like to see a manual chipping and putting option for those that want short game stats without buying the club sensors.  There is a manual putting option on my V3 that is actually more accurate that using the putting tag on the green.  Once you’re on the green you simply hit a button on the watch to tag your putt.  Simple but effective. (-1 Point)

 

Play it or Trade it? (18 out of 20)

 

This is a tough one for me as I really love everything about this watch except for one thing and that is the price.  I am absolutely going to continue using it, but I’m not sure I would buy it at $700. (- 2 Points)  I feel like you need to be both a power smart watch user and an avid stat loving golfer to justify that price.  For me, I want all the golf side has to offer but would be happy with just notifications from my phone and the changeable faces for the smart watch side of things.

 

 

Conclusion

 

The Garmin Approach S70 is a great smart watch and an amazing golf watch all wrapped up into one.  It also has battery life for days unlike any smart/GPS device I have ever seen. The price point is high, but if you are looking for an all-in-one solution for your smart watch / golf watch needs this is the watch for you.

 

Thanks again to MyGolfSpy and Garmin for this amazing opportunity.  I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and hope I was informative and helpful to those that followed along.

 

Final Score (87 out of 100)

Great review! This was a good read. One thing I missed in my review was the tempo training. I liked it but my one complaint about it was that it only seemed to effectively work when hitting a ball. I frequently practice without hitting a ball and the tempo trainer only seems to work 1 in roughly 20 swings. Maybe I should go back and update my review to include this information. 

[FallenSaber]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:14 PM, Josh Ross said:

Introduction
Hello, everyone!

First, I want to thank MyGolfSpy and Garmin for this amazing opportunity! If you couldn’t tell from my super creative username, my name is Josh, and I’m 33 years old. I work in the golf industry for Edison Golf and I’m the biggest Georgia Southern alumni/fan/supporter you’ll ever meet. I live in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains and play most of my golf at the course where I live, Whitepath Golf Course. I’ve been swinging a club since I was old enough to hold a cut down 7-iron my dad made for me as a little boy, but started to take it seriously at 14 years old. I’m a pretty competitive person and am constantly working to better my golf game. I finally got back to a 5 handicap last year before tearing every ligament in my ankle and missing nine months of golf. The game is starting to come back to me and I’m still chasing that elusive scratch handicap. My top goal however, is a shared goal I have with my 9 year old nephew to play golf in all 50 states (pictured below is us crossing off Alabama). I’m looking forward to my third official review for MGS (2020 SkyCaddie LX5 and 2021 MaxFli Tour and TourX) and couldn’t be more excited that it’s for this particular product.

I’ve skipped signing up for quite a few really nice review opportunities because I was hoping this watch would pop up. As many know, I suffer from some cardiac issues that require me to monitor my heart rate and other metrics when things aren’t feeling right. Up until I was picked to test a different watch for MGS, I had to keep different devices around such as a pulse oximeter so I could log my heart rate.

This watch will not only be tested for golf accuracy, but also for its health monitoring accuracy as well. On the golf side of things, I will be testing this out on multiple different courses and comparing it against the SkyCaddie LX5 that I previously reviewed and also comparing yardages with a Bushnell rangefinder. One place my last watch lacked was that a lot of the courses I played were “Member Mapped” meaning they were lacking any details, had plain layouts, and were very inaccurate. I’m hoping to see huge improvements on that front. The Virtual Caddie is something I’m very intrigued by and I have no experience using anything like it. Almost every few holes here in the mountains have some sort of drastic elevation change so that should be interesting to see how accurately it calculates the distance. I’ve watched a lot of videos about this watch already and I’m excited to give this watch a thorough breakdown.

On the health side of things, I really want to track my heart health more than anything. I’m sure there are others out there that may be in a similar situation as me so I want to do my best to give good feedback on the accuracy of the readings this watch gives out.

I chose the 47mm version of this watch, and for it to earn a spot in my daily life and in my golf bag, it needs to be a premier product that I can fully trust. How is battery life and do I spend more time charging it than wearing it? Are the readings accurate for distances and health metrics? Is the watch easy to use both in terms of quickness and UI? The biggest advantage to a GPS for me is that I can see yardages to the front and back of greens and hazards, something that can be difficult for my rangefinder. 

I hope you’ll all follow along and ask plenty of questions for us testers!

First Impressions (9 out of 10)
In what has to be one of the quickest deliveries ever, the watch showed up last night and I was able to charge it, get it set up, and check some things out! It was evident right away that the build quality was premier. I could do without the red accents, but I love the look of the watch. With the proper band attached (more on that later) the fit is perfect and the size is exactly what I want in a watch. The buttons are tactile and easy to press, and even with me putting a tempered glass protector on the screen, the watch is very responsive. I love that the watch goes to sleep and wakes when I lift my arm to look at it.

 

Garmin says "If golf is your world, this is your watch" and they describe the Approach S70 as "the premium GPS golf watch with the tools and insights you’ll need to improve your game both on and off the course." In my almost 24 hours of use, I can say this seems to be accurate so far. The data I've been able to track and learn about my health has been incredible and somewhat overwhelming at first. We're talking sleep tracking, heart variability, calories burned, etc. For people who are usual smartwatch users that's probably not a big deal, but I've never had this data available to me before. 

For golf, we had rain roll in shortly after I got off work so I wasn't able to get out. Living on the course has it's perks though, and I started a round of golf on the watch to see what the hole looked like. The display was stunning, had good graphics and was vibrant. The distance was spot on when compared to my rangefinder from the back porch, even the "Plays Like" distance which was factoring in slope. The best part so far, was that the green was shaped properly and actually had the bunkers around the green. The SkyCaddie I had featured a circle green and no sand on the same hole. The GPS is very fast, as is the watch in general.

The only "issue" I had, and I knew it was one going in, was that the band wasn't big enough for my big wrist. After being selected I purchased a couple of aftermarket bands for bigger wrists and thankfully they fit well and we're good to go! The original band fits, but it is a little too snug and that's on the very last hole of the band. I think it'd be a good idea if they had a small and large band included with the watch like some others have.

Aesthetics (9 out of 10) 
I’ll be honest, I’m being nitpicky when deducting a point here. To begin with, I love the size of this watch as far as the watch face goes. It fits my wrist perfectly and is big enough to provide a good view of the data I’m looking at whether it’s while golfing or checking health metrics. The watch is well put together and seems that it’ll be able to last a long time. It took a football helmet square to the screen during a practice I was coaching and there isn’t a mark on it anywhere. I’m impressed by the durability because I just knew it was a goner.

Where the point is deducted is because of the red accent color. I wish that the red color wasn’t there and was something that could be customized or just left as black to match the rest of the watch. Again, it’s nitpicky but I wasn’t a fan of it at all. It’s not a bad look, I just don’t do the color red. Thankfully the watch is highly customizable with the watch face so I was able to cancel some of that red out with a Georgia Southern background.

The Numbers (17 out of 20)
Alright, the most important part of a GPS watch is going to be the numbers. What good is a watch if it isn’t accurate and can’t be trusted? Well I have great news there, because in my experience the watch was spot on in each round I played. I compared any yardages I got to the yardages from my Bushnell rangefinder and was pleasantly surprised. I have tried GPS apps on my phone in the past and never found them accurate enough for me. Even more impressive were the “Plays Like” distances where slope and wind were taken into account. Now I never found myself playing with anything more than an occasional breeze so I can’t speak on that, but with the slope version of my rangefinder I was able to see that it calculated those numbers very well. In fact, the last couple of rounds I found myself not even touching my Bushnell for most of the round because I had complete confidence in the Garmin. It was that good!

One thing I have always wanted a GPS for was for the ability to get accurate yardages for targets other than the flag. How far to carry the water? Can I reach that bunker from the tee box? These are questions that were oftentimes difficult to answer with a rangefinder, but are a breeze with the S70. 

The only numbers that for me haven’t been “accurate” so to speak, have been the yardages it says I hit my shots. Many know, but I live in the mountains and there is a ton of elevation change. Sometimes it can be two to three clubs worth and it’s only nearly every hole at many courses around here. This has led to the watch inaccurately assigning distances to my clubs because as the crow flies it is one distance but in reality it is another. I personally don’t need the virtual caddie to recommend clubs for me, but in my brief experience with it the numbers are way off. It’s not really any fault of the watch as it can only measure the distance between two points, but it’s something to keep in mind if you live somewhere similar and are looking forward to that feature. I've included a photo below that shows Garmin's measurement of my average and max with my clubs, and I added in the bigger number that shows my actual yardages based on gapping sessions I've done recently. The discrepancies are completely slope based because I've hit my shots well and played some really solid golf in while testing this.

Before moving on let’s quickly talk about battery life and charging. During the insanely easy setup, it says to charge it full before first use. Mine was almost full so I went ahead and used it. It has come off of my wrist only for showers and football practice (after it took the hit I decided not to chance it anymore). I’ve had the watch for over a month and I have only charged it twice with the third time coming later today. The battery life is very impressive considering how much I’m using it and it charges rather quickly, usually in around an hour.

On-Course (20 out of 20)
For me this watch really shined on course. It was very easy to use, found the golf courses way faster than my SkyCaddie, and looked really good graphics-wise. I know some of my fellow testers had issues with the watch interfering with their glove, but I didn’t have that issue. It definitely was up against it, but it wasn't anything I noted until others mentioned it. The watch is so light that I neve even noticed it was on and it caused no issues for me at all. I became so confident in the data that it was providing that I all but ditched my rangefinder and relied completely on the Garmin. It could be argued that a golfer would play better with a product like this vs only a rangefinder because you have access to much more data like yardages to obstacles and how far to hit on a dogleg hole, etc. I can’t imagine a better product or anything being easier to use. A bigger screen like on a handheld would be nice, but this is just more convenient for me.

The Good, the Bad, the In-between (18 out of 20)
I figured this was a good section to talk about the health portion of this watch. For many who are users of smartwatches, this likely is data you’ve got access to and isn’t anything exciting for you. But for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the data I was provided with. I have used the Sleep Score and Body Battery daily to monitor my overall readiness to take on any tasks, and the accurate heart rate readings have been amazing for tracking my heart issue. I was able to avoid a problem with syncope because the watch alerted me that my heart rate was getting too low. That alone is worth everything to me.

I’d also like to note that while the charger is proprietary, the bands are not. There are a lot of options out there and I like that they are easily swapped in and out. That’s a big plus for me.

Other than the little things mentioned earlier, there really wasn’t anything bad about the watch in my experience other than the hole layouts on my home course need to be slightly updated. There are bunkers and water that no longer exist on the course, but still show up on the watch. They’ve been gone for quite a few years so I was surprised to see them on the watch. I also had a weird thing come up where the watch would register a shot between my tee shot and my next shot, so it was throwing off my club distances even more than normal. It only happened on two holes, and my best guess is that when I hit a rough place on the cart path while driving, it picked up the impact as a shot. I'm not as big on all the shot tracking and post-round data so I didn't worry with it too much. It does provide some very useful data in the app on your phone and it's similar to Arccos in that regard. Here's an example of what you can see in the app. My 4-wood was my longest drive of the day since I never pulled driver, and there is a breakdown of how my stats look compared to others. Notice there aren't any putting stats as they aren't available without the sensors that go in the clubs.

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20)
This is easy, I’m keeping this until it no longer works which I hope is years from now. The health benefits are a given for someone like me, but I love the golf aspect of it which is why everyone is here to read this. Accurate yardages, easy to look at hole layouts, and the ability to move the pin make this a no-brainer. It does everything I want a watch to do and then some.

Conclusion
If you’re just here to read the conclusion, I’ll make it simple. I love this product and Garmin may have the industry leading watch on their hands. I have been able to fully rely on this watch during my rounds and haven’t been misled yet. While dealing with a lot of slope can skew my club data that it tracks, the watch is able to account for that where it matters most and that’s giving you the yardage you need to play to be successful. For someone who has never had a smartwatch other than a SkyCaddie golf watch that didn’t do 10% of what this watch does, I have been blown away at everything this is capable of and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of some of the features it has. I’m going to continue using this daily and exploring more of what all it can do, so if you’re reading this and have questions, please don’t hesitate to comment and ask away!

Final Score (93 out of 100)

Love your review and happy to see it be impactful with your health concerns. That to me is where this watch goes beyond being a golf watch.

[FallenSaber]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:14 PM, goaliewales14 said:

Introduction

Hello fellow spies!  I want to thank MGS and Garmin for this amazing testing opportunity!  For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mike, or Goaliewales14.  I live in Indiana with my amazing wife of almost 11 years. 

I have been playing golf for about 9 years now.  Over those years, I have had some of the best experiences including review things such as the Spornia SPG8 XL hitting net and Martin Chuck’s Tour Striker Academy.  This is the first year where I’m actively getting into tournaments while even becoming a member of a course for the very first time.  I even won my first ever scramble and the very next day placed T-10 at a brand new event!  This has really forced me to step up my game which leads me to the Garmin Approach S70.

 

Testing

I have always been curious about the Garmin watches, but never pulled the trigger on one to try it out.  I currently use an array of different distance measuring devices that include, Bushnell V6 Shift, Arccos, and the GHIN app.  Most of the time I just stick to my rangefinder as I’ve played most of the courses around here, but if it’s a new course, that’s when I break out GPS.  I want to get a clear picture of the hole in my mind before teeing off and also make sure I know what my carry distances I need to be clear of trouble.

For my review, I’ll start out on my home course to test the yardages and functionality.  I’ll be comparing the yardages to all of the other devices to ensure accuracy.  To me distance accuracy will be the #1 most important feature.  After that, I want to make sure wearing a watch doesn’t cause a problem.  I’ve never worn anything on my wrist, so I don’t know how that will feel.  While we’re completing this review, please make sure to check out the review that MGS already did!

MGS Garmin Approach S70 Review

 

First Impressions (9 out of 10)

After reading the MGS article and doing a little homework online, I was nothing but excited to received the S70.  The list of features on this watch goes on for days!  When selecting which watch I wanted to review, there was only one choice for me, black 47mm.  You can see from the picture above that there were three color choices, black, gray, and white.  The other two options are only available in 42mm. 

Upon unboxing, the watch was perfect.  The black and red was a perfect and the fit was good.  The watch is very light weight compared to my Samsung Galaxy watch.

Getting the watch setup took multiple tries as the watch and app kept not being in sync.  After two to three tries I was able to get it set up and working.  The watch has a ton of customizable features that lead to hours of fun playing around.

 

Aesthetics (7 out of 10)

As I mentioned above, the fit was good, but what I ran into was my glove kept hitting buttons.  There were a few times during my swing where the watch vibrated in my backswing because my glove pushed the power off button.  That to me is a huge downside for a watch that’s supposed to be a golf watch.

The huge upside to the Approach S70 is the amount of customization you can do with the watch face.  You can take any picture and make it a background while adding in different features such as battery life, steps, and calendar date.

 

The Numbers (15 out of 20)

The most important feature on a GPS watch are the yardages.  The non adjusted yardages were very accurate when compared to GHIN, Arccos, and confirmed with a Bushnell Shift V6 rangefinder.  I actually loved having the front/middle/back numbers on all of the holes.  This allowed me to know exactly what number I needed to get to the green.  When I’m having a rough round, I just want to hit the middle of the green rather than actually try to hit the proper tier.  I did find myself using the rangefinder along with the S70 to confirm the pin position. 

 

The yardages that were hit or miss were the “plays as” yardages.  The S70 is supposed to factor in weather and other factors to give you an adjusted yardage.  There were a few times it was spot on, but others when it wouldn’t register or completely off making you a full club long or short at best. 

 

 

On-Course (15 out of 20)

Being that this was the first time that I’ve ever worn a watching while playing golf, I knew there would be an adjustment period.  The first thing I wanted to check was does it affect my swing?  The answer was yes and no.  The watch didn’t hinder my swing at all, but as I mentioned earlier, my glove did hit the power button causing it to vibrate during my swing. 

The new routine that I adopted with the S70 that made me better was to shoot the pin with my rangefinder on all of my approach shots and then check the S70 to see where it’s located on the green.  This allowed me to make a more informed decision on where the safe miss was for the shot.  If I only had a few yards to the back of the green, then I would just go for the middle number and club up to allow for it to release back to the pin.

The routine that I kept trying to adopt was getting carry yardage over a fairway bunker or to have certain distance into a pin.  While the S70 can do this, the functionality seemed a bit labored especially compared to other apps out there on your phone.  Whenever you trying to get a number, you had to zoom in and out to find the spot you wanted and if you drug your finger on the screen, the cursor read a bit ahead of where you’re actually pointing.

 

The Good, the bad, the in-between (10 out of 20)

For this section I’m going to focus on the “lifestyle” side of the S70.  For me the whole point of a smart watch is to not look at your phone.  With the S70, I felt like I was able to view things like text messages, but if I wanted to reply, I had to get out my phone.  With my first-generation Galaxy watch, I can reply directly on the watch.  That’s a watch that is five years older than the S70 and was half the price. 

The other thing I noticed was that the calibration of the step count and heart rate were always above that of my Galaxy watch.  For example, when walking from my car in the parking lot to the clubhouse, which is approximately 400 feet at max, it recorded close to 1000 steps.  The average stride is around 2 – 2.5 feet.  That would make it 200 steps at maximum.  I did record my height and all other factors into the app correctly before allowing the step counter to activate.

 

Play it or Trade it? (10 out of 20)

With everything considered, the S70 will not replace my Galaxy watch in my normal day-to-day.  With the interference with my golf glove, I will not be wearing the watch on the golf course.  However, what I did find out I like is making it a fancy version of the Bushnell Wingman.  I have wrapped it around my Bluetooth speaker that I use on the golf course and check my yardages for my approach shots, or if I need to lay up. 

 

Conclusion

Overall, is the S70 worth the $700 price tag?  My thoughts are no.  If it were up to me to go out and buy this after this review, I wouldn’t do it.  I’d rather have my Galaxy or Apple watch and just use one of the GPS apps that are out there in the stores.  At the end of the day, it won’t replace my rangefinder either.
 

Final Score (66 out of 100)

Hi @goaliewales14. I really appreciate you're review. I've never worn a smart watch before and have only worn more traditional watches. I know the watch to glove issue was a major factor for you. Did you have similar issues with your galaxy watch? Could you provide a comparison picture for how the galaxy was with you glove vs the S70? And could you provide if there was a size difference. The one issue with our reviews was that we all went with the 47mm. If the galaxy is smaller, maybe that would help people determine if they should go with the larger 47 or not.

[goaliewales14]

1 hour ago, FallenSaber said:

Hi @goaliewales14. I really appreciate you're review. I've never worn a smart watch before and have only worn more traditional watches. I know the watch to glove issue was a major factor for you. Did you have similar issues with your galaxy watch? Could you provide a comparison picture for how the galaxy was with you glove vs the S70? And could you provide if there was a size difference. The one issue with our reviews was that we all went with the 47mm. If the galaxy is smaller, maybe that would help people determine if they should go with the larger 47 or not.

My Galaxy watch is 46mm and was one of the reasons I went with the 47mm S70.  The other reasons are because I wanted the larger screen to be able to manipulate the course overlay for the GPS.  If I would have gone down to the 42mm my finger would have covered the majority of the screen making manipulation very hard.  I've never worn the Galaxy watch on the golf course as there aren't any GPS apps to my knowledge that work to display on a Galaxy watch like the S70.  

While the glove interference did not make a positive impact on my review, I still would have drawn the same conclusion.  I don't believe the Garmin Approach S70 is worth the $700 price tag.  For me a smart watch should eliminate needing to look at your phone.  The S70 doesn't fulfill that need on the golf course, or off the course.  To get accurate club data a person would have to have their phone out, or purchase the full set of sensors for an additional $300.  The same could be done with Arccos for $200 or free with purchase of new golf clubs.  If you would want another GPS watch, you would be able to do Shot Scope for $300.  

[Middler]

Enjoyed reading the reviews, thanks to the testers for being thorough, thoughtful and providing great pics. They cemented the conclusion I came to when the S70 rolled out.

I’ve had several cheaper Garmin golf watches, but I’d decided I’d spring for the S70 when it came out assuming it would be close to $499 like the S62. When they announced $700, I instantly and completely lost interest. I know, inflation is real, but that does NOT justify a 40% price increase. Like a reviewer said, unless you want an advanced golf watch AND lots of fitness and relatively limited other functions - $700 doesn’t make sense to me - an Apple Watch is far superior for all the other non golf functions plus so much more.

I have a home course, but I regularly play about 20 other courses in the area plus a couple road trips a year. GPS will never match a rangefinder for measuring approach shots, mapping is good but some courses/holes are incorrect- worst case #1 at my home course is off by 15 yards - again I know that’s unusual but on a new course that would a big disappointment. [I know users can supposedly request a mapping update, but that hole has been wrong for 4 years that I know of so that solution isn’t working] And you never know exactly where a pin is until you’re on the green, too late to be useful. I will always rely on rangefinders first, GPS device second.

And as soon as I read about the Plays Like feature, I knew that couldn’t work. They might be able to get accurate elevation change data, but not wind speed and direction - there is no (micro) weather data that precise.

I did learn about interference with golf gloves from the reviews, something surprising I didn’t know. I would have expected Garmin to design to avoid that issue. Unacceptable for a $700 GOLF watch.

All in all a nice toy, glad I didn’t buy one. I’ll probably buy an S42 when my S20 dies. And an Apple Watch if I want other features. Right now I’m completely happy with an S20 (distance backup, distance to hazards, score keeping, auto shot, and stat tracking) and an iPhone.

[Shrek74]

6 hours ago, goaliewales14 said:

My Galaxy watch is 46mm and was one of the reasons I went with the 47mm S70.  The other reasons are because I wanted the larger screen to be able to manipulate the course overlay for the GPS.  If I would have gone down to the 42mm my finger would have covered the majority of the screen making manipulation very hard.  I've never worn the Galaxy watch on the golf course as there aren't any GPS apps to my knowledge that work to display on a Galaxy watch like the S70.  

While the glove interference did not make a positive impact on my review, I still would have drawn the same conclusion.  I don't believe the Garmin Approach S70 is worth the $700 price tag.  For me a smart watch should eliminate needing to look at your phone.  The S70 doesn't fulfill that need on the golf course, or off the course.  To get accurate club data a person would have to have their phone out, or purchase the full set of sensors for an additional $300.  The same could be done with Arccos for $200 or free with purchase of new golf clubs.  If you would want another GPS watch, you would be able to do Shot Scope for $300.  

I have one of the Galaxy Watch 5 Golf Editions, that's about half the cost (less if you have a trade-in). It comes with a subscription to Golf Buddy Smart Caddie and Golf GPS. Plus it has all of the good health stuff the Galaxy watches have. I don't need super fancy stuff on my watch, and so far it's been more than enough for my needs.

I agree that the $700 price tag isn't worth it. At the price of the S62 or just slightly above would be fine. Just not $700.

[goaliewales14]

4 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

I have one of the Galaxy Watch 5 Golf Editions, that's about half the cost (less if you have a trade-in). It comes with a subscription to Golf Buddy Smart Caddie and Golf GPS. Plus it has all of the good health stuff the Galaxy watches have. I don't need super fancy stuff on my watch, and so far it's been more than enough for my needs.

I agree that the $700 price tag isn't worth it. At the price of the S62 or just slightly above would be fine. Just not $700.

Thank you for posting that!  I was actually just about ready to retrack my statement saying that there isn't a version out there and of course an ad comes up for the Galaxy Watch Golf Edition   It's currently on sale for $420 without any trade-ins.

[Shrek74]

12 minutes ago, goaliewales14 said:

Thank you for posting that!  I was actually just about ready to retrack my statement saying that there isn't a version out there and of course an ad comes up for the Galaxy Watch Golf Edition   It's currently on sale for $420 without any trade-ins.

I got mine maybe 4-6 months ago. I traded in my Galaxy Watch 4 and added a small gov't employee discount (Georgia Tech). Ended up being just $140 after all that. So well worth the price to upgrade for me. I'm sure I'm only using it at 25% of it's capabilities, but I don't to pay using my watch or take dictation with it or crazy stuff like that. I track my health (steps, sleep, workouts, heart rate, stress level, etc), my workouts, get alerts for meetings/texts/calls, and it tells the time. I need to test the Golf Buddy GPS one of these days, but with a ShotScope H4 and the GPS in our carts here, I never really think about it.

[Josh Ross]

After reading the other reviews and reader feedback, it has become obvious that I've never owned a smartwatch, haha. Looks like I was way too impressed with stuff that is basically everywhere else.

[MattWillGolf]

5 minutes ago, Josh Ross said:

After reading the other reviews and reader feedback, it has become obvious that I've never owned a smartwatch, haha. Looks like I was way too impressed with stuff that is basically everywhere else.

Don't sweat it. Its YOUR review.  Not every golfer goes with the latest. And being perfectly frank, many of us on here (me included) are probably way too nerdy anyway LOL. Everyone has different starting points. Now that MGS is featuring the Forum reviews more prominently on the main website, I think the reach of these reviews will attract a broader range of folks.

[Parshooter36]

1 hour ago, Josh Ross said:

After reading the other reviews and reader feedback, it has become obvious that I've never owned a smartwatch, haha. Looks like I was way too impressed with stuff that is basically everywhere else.

 

1 hour ago, MattWillGolf said:

Don't sweat it. Its YOUR review.  Not every golfer goes with the latest. And being perfectly frank, many of us on here (me included) are probably way too nerdy anyway LOL. Everyone has different starting points. Now that MGS is featuring the Forum reviews more prominently on the main website, I think the reach of these reviews will attract a broader range of folks.

@MattWillGolf is right, everyone's experience will be different.  I feel like that is the best part of having multiple people review things at the same time.  

[Josh Ross]

1 hour ago, MattWillGolf said:

Don't sweat it. Its YOUR review.  Not every golfer goes with the latest. And being perfectly frank, many of us on here (me included) are probably way too nerdy anyway LOL. Everyone has different starting points. Now that MGS is featuring the Forum reviews more prominently on the main website, I think the reach of these reviews will attract a broader range of folks.

I'm a tech nerd and used to work in the cell phone industry so you'd think I'd be more up to date on smartwatches, haha. My entire house is a smart home and can be controlled with my phone from anywhere, but I'm fascinated my watch can now tell me how good my sleep was . Appreciate ya!

[rkj427]

Thank you all for the thorough and honest reviews of the S70!  

Not all users have all the same needs or expectation from technology these days, but everyone sure does want the most bang for your buck.

 

[FallenSaber]

On 9/13/2023 at 10:23 AM, Josh Ross said:

After reading the other reviews and reader feedback, it has become obvious that I've never owned a smartwatch, haha. Looks like I was way too impressed with stuff that is basically everywhere else.

Like the others said, the whole point of this is to have varying perspectives. I really like this watch. I wouldn't likely pay $700 for it but i love it's versatility and how well it tracks everything from golf to runs to general health and weather and all the other stuff. The watch does far more than anything I expected and I've had to look up what some of the stats mean. It'll likely change how I work out and prepare for races. It's made my running workouts significantly easier. Now I can leave the phone at home, start my run tracking via the watch and it'll update all the apps I use once I return. Each person will find the value in the watch and some will not find value.

[FallenSaber]

Cool update. Garmin shared my original unboxing and first impression post! It got far more likes than my post.

[Parshooter36]

On 8/18/2023 at 3:07 PM, Parshooter36 said:

I have been checking out some of the health monitoring features of the watch even though I'm mainly interested in the golf features. While looking at my heart rate report from the other day I noticed that my heart rate was elevated during my entire league match Tuesday night.  It was not a very close match and was very casual, so I was surprised to see that data. 

Ever since I saw this heartrate data during my round, I was curious what my heartrate would be during a true competitive round.  Yesterday was the perfect day as I played a very low stress scramble round in the morning with my Dad and his buddies, then played a match play round in the club championship round in the afternoon.  It looks like my average heartrate while not playing golf is right around 85 bpm.  During my morning round that number jumped to 105 bmp and during the match play round it was 125 bpm.  I am not surprised by that last number at all, as I was extremely nervous the entire round.  I just could not get calmed down during the match.  I ended up winning the match and shooting one of the best rounds of my life, so maybe I need the nerves to stay focused.

[Parshooter36]

I'm still enjoying the S70. So much so, that I traded in my Shotscope V3 this week.  Not having to change watches at the course, then sync and edit the round when I get home is just too convenient for me to go back at this point.

[Josh Ross]

I'm considering getting a couple of the Garmin sensors for my wedges only so it can pick up those delicate shots around the green better. Still absolutely loving the watch and have noticed no drop-off in battery life at all.

[goaliewales14]

As my golf season is starting to come to a close for the year, I'm still continuing to take the Approach S70 out on the course with me.  In one of my rounds, I had a buddy that used to work in the golf retail space wear it to give his review as he's very familiar with the market space.  I gave him a quick tutorial on how to work it and then left all of my opinions to myself to make sure it was unbiased. 

He was very impressed with the clarity of the screen.  He wanted more out of the graphics though.  He wanted to be able to see all of the trees and other obstacles on the course that some of the apps that he was using from his phone.  He said his price point for the watch was like $200-$300.  I would like to note that he didn't have any issues with the watch trying to shut off by hitting the glove.  It did hit his watch, but nothing was impacted.

From my side, it still seems that the price point continues to be the biggest barrier for the S70.  Like I mentioned, I will definitely continue to use it much like a Bushnell Wingman wrapped around my Bluetooth speaker.

[Pitasully]

Can anyone speak to how the data collected by Garmin compares to Shot Scope? Especially putts. I’m confused if you can enter putts manually on Garmin or does it not track those stats at all? 

[Parshooter36]

12 hours ago, Pitasully said:

Can anyone speak to how the data collected by Garmin compares to Shot Scope? Especially putts. I’m confused if you can enter putts manually on Garmin or does it not track those stats at all? 

There is no manual putt option for the S70.  I mentioned this in my review as I came from ShotScope and was use to having the putting data. 

 

As far as I know, the only way to get putting and chipping stats is to add the CT10 sensors to your clubs.

[Emag315]

42 minutes ago, Parshooter36 said:

There is no manual putt option for the S70.  I mentioned this in my review as I came from ShotScope and was use to having the putting data. 

 

As far as I know, the only way to get putting and chipping stats is to add the CT10 sensors to your clubs.

After testing the Garmin….would you buy it?

I am currently using the z82 range finder and I love it. Not sure if I need data overload since I shot 85-92 no matter what I use

[Parshooter36]

51 minutes ago, Emag315 said:

After testing the Garmin….would you buy it?

I am currently using the z82 range finder and I love it. Not sure if I need data overload since I shot 85-92 no matter what I use

I use a Bushnell V5 along with the Garmin S70.  There are advantages to both technologies and I like having all of the numbers available to me.  

For me personally, I would not buy it at $700.  $500 would probably be the price point that I would be all in.  Like I said in my review, to make it worth $700 I feel like you need to take full advantage of the smart watch features of the S70.  While I do still where the watch as my everyday watch, I pretty much just use the notifications function of the smart watch.  There are a lot more sensors and features available that I do not use on a regular basis.  This watch for me is 1st and foremost a golf watch.  A golf watch that I have no problem using as my everyday watch.  My old V3 I only wore while I was golfing, so I had 2 watches that I would switch out when I played golf. The convenience of having 1 watch and not having to remember to bring my golf watch to the course is a huge plus for me, which was 1 of the main reasons I decided to stick with the Garmin and traded in my ShotScope watch.

[Pitasully]

What are the advantages (other than to get putts and chips) of having sensors on all clubs? I can use rewards from Best Buy to get the sensors and watch for less than the price of the watch. Wondering if that is overkill. Sorry if I’m being a pain in the ___.  But it is in my Spy name…

[Josh Ross]

On 11/2/2023 at 11:08 AM, Pitasully said:

What are the advantages (other than to get putts and chips) of having sensors on all clubs? I can use rewards from Best Buy to get the sensors and watch for less than the price of the watch. Wondering if that is overkill. Sorry if I’m being a pain in the ___.  But it is in my Spy name…

One advantage would be that you don't have to select which club you've hit after each shot and it should improve accuracy as well. 

[Josh Ross]

I've personally continued using the watch daily and decided to see what other smart watches were like. I've tried a Galaxy and Pixel Watch and sold both to keep my Garmin. Didn't realize how much I appreciated battery life until using watches I had to charge daily. I definitely prefer charging once every two weeks.

[Parshooter36]

On 11/2/2023 at 10:08 AM, Pitasully said:

What are the advantages (other than to get putts and chips) of having sensors on all clubs? I can use rewards from Best Buy to get the sensors and watch for less than the price of the watch. Wondering if that is overkill. Sorry if I’m being a pain in the ___.  But it is in my Spy name…

 

3 hours ago, Josh Ross said:

One advantage would be that you don't have to select which club you've hit after each shot and it should improve accuracy as well. 

I would say Josh is right about not selecting the clubs after each shot being one of the main differences.  I have not used the Garmin tags, so I am not sure how reliable they are. I've read some reviews and they seem to miss shots from time to time like most of theses sensors do.  For me, selecting the club after each shot is not a problem at all. In fact, I actually prefer it because it has basically eliminated the post round editing I use to do with my ShotScope.

I think the biggest advantage of the sensors is having access to the putting and chipping data that they would provide.  

That being said, if you do go with the sensors, please let us know what you think. I may pick up a set myself if you have a good experience with them.