The Garmin Approach S60 is a sleek and beautiful smartwatch that is an excellent tool for ardent golfers as well as a great smartwatch for fitness enthusiasts.
It’s designed for the outdoors, but it also has the multi-sport profiles you’d expect from a high-performance fitness tracker.
It’s built for tech-savvy golfers; with precise course maps, long battery life, and Indirect sunlight, a backlit touch display may be seen.
Are you unsure whether this is the perfect gadget for you? Continue reading to find out.
Background
Garmin’s Approach S60 wearable golf GPS combines a smartwatch and a clip-on GPS.
Fashion and utility collide in typical Garmin flair; the S60 is a completely adjustable timepiece that matches your fashion sense and activity.
This fascinating device is designed to assist you in mastering your game no matter where you are. It is preloaded with over 41,000 courses worldwide, and it displays detailed hole maps, yardage to the green, layup sports, and dangers on the course.
Still, Garmin’s clip-on GPS golf devices inspire the design and capabilities and include fitness features seen on most Garmin smartwatches, such as the Fenix, Vivoactive, and Forerunner.
Additional Reading: Which is better: Fitbit Charge 5 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 4?
Features
Approach S60 is centered on golf, with its key features centered on the sport.
This golf watch is designed to provide you with all of the crucial information you’ll need throughout a competition, including hole maps, course hazards, etc.
The AutoShot game tracking tool, which automatically identifies and records distances for post-game study on Garmin Connect, is the best feature.
This feature is not new to the S60; it was also present in earlier generations of the Approach golf watch, but the current one has more sensors, which improves detection accuracy.
Improved GPS functions provide precise distances to each course location and allow rapid yardage adjustments to accommodate for uphill and downhill shots.
If that wasn’t enough, it also accurately measures the precise spot by simply touching any point on the map; it’s all you need to step up your game and increase performance.
The device’s value is enhanced by a range of preset golf courses and lifetime automatic updates. Additionally, the company provides automated update downloads for your favorite golf courses, ensuring that you never miss a hole.
A range finder capable of delivering real elevation data is one item missing from a golfer’s perspective, but all of the other features and functionalities readily compensate for this defect.
From wherever on the course, you can anticipate precise maps that respect each green’s true form and the device’s direction to the pin.
It also has a golf swing analyzer for beginners and sends out smart notifications and alerts and these crucial functions.
Design
The Approach S60 isn’t spectacular, but it features a simple, classic design that looks great with any golfing outfit.
It’s easily adjustable, and you can personalize it by changing the band or adding any picture from your phone to the watch face.
It comes in regular and premium versions, as do other Garmin smartwatches; the former is lighter due to the polymer bezel and silicone band.
The latter boasts a more trendy ceramic bezel and leather band, making it a better alternative for a more polished everyday appearance.
Regardless of which version you choose, the watch is thin and light to wear all day. Its matte black surface looks terrific on the golf course, gym, and in everyday activities.
Even with a golf glove on, the round touch screen is large enough to see and interact with the widgets, and it’s also very simple to navigate through the menu.
It may not have all of the bells and whistles that other Garmin watches do in terms of style, but it’s still a fashionable timepiece to wear.
Additional Reading: Best Stress Monitor Apps for Apple Watch
Tracking your fitness
The Approach S60, although not being designed for fitness, has all of the features you’d expect from a fitness tracker.
Preloaded profiles for several indoor and outdoor sports, such as rowing, skiing, paddle boarding, snowboarding, indoor and outdoor biking, swimming, and more, are included in the watch.
Athletes may track their progress using bespoke data pages, receive custom notifications, and view their activity history all from their wrists.
The wristwatch contains a step counter, keeps track of your traveled distance and burned calories, and monitors your sleep and heart rate, much like any other fitness tracker.
Main Benefits
- Wear it since it’s light and comfortable.
- Distances to any course point, including hazards, are accurate.
- The battery life lasts roughly 10 days in smartwatch mode.
- Free lifetime updates and access to over 41,000 golf courses
- It allows you to turn off smart notifications so you can play without interruption.
Principal Drawbacks
- It lacks a range finder for accurate elevation readings.
- One of the most costly golf Smartwatches available.
- How We Conducted Our Research
- We evaluated the Approach S60 on a golf course and while doing other activities to make an accurate comparison with its key competitors.
- Its key strength is GPS accuracy, which helps you improve your game and performance on the green.
- Aside from its golfing features, it’s also a capable fitness tracker. We enjoy that the UI is configurable and provides a wonderful user experience.
Additional Reading: Best Always-On Display Smartwatches
Summary
If you’re looking for a capable golf GPS watch, the Garmin Approach S60 is a great option. In true Garmin fashion, it also functions admirably as a fitness tracker and everyday wristwatch.
The Fenix 5X, on the other hand, might be a better choice if you’re willing to accept mediocre GPS accuracy in exchange for a smartwatch that can be used for all of your onshore and aquatic sports, including golf.
