Best Garmin Golf Watch

One of the most commonly asked questions we hear is “What is the Best Garmin Golf Watch?” To some extent, that depends on who will be using it. Some Garmin golf watches are pretty basic, some have lots of details, and some are multi-sport fitness watches. No matter your needs or budget, you should be able to find a Garmin golf watch that you’ll love!

We’ve summarized the most important features for each one below and listed the highest rated watches first.


Best Garmin Golf Watch
Garmin Approach S10 - Read Full Review

The Garmin Approach S10 is the one we've been waiting for! It's small, lightweight, and simple to use. It doesn't try to be a multi-sport watch or a smartwatch. It puts the focus squarely on golf. On the main screen, you will see distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, plus the hole number and par. The shape of the green is also right there on the same screen. Many golfers will never even need to touch the watch after starting a round. If you need hazard information, it's one screen away. You can also keep score on this watch and upload your scores to Garmin Express so your playing history is always available. Although this golf watch has all the features most golfers want, for those looking for stats or hole views, Garmin has other golf watches you will want to check out.

Rating: 4.56  
Weight: 1.2 oz.   Legal: Yes
Garmin Approach S10
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Garmin Approach S60 - Read Full Review

Garmin's newest golf watch looks to be a sophisticated golf watch, fitness watch, and smartwatch. It will be released in the summer of 2017 and we look forward to exploring all the features here very soon!

Rating: 3.86  
Weight: 1.8* oz.   Legal: Yes
Garmin Approach S60
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Bushnell Golf GPS Watches

Bushnell Golf GPS Watches have a history of being very solid performers. The ratings are generally very high and the prices are among the most competitive.

Below we’ve summarized the features of each currently available Bushnell golf watch.

Here’s a summery of each of currently available Bushnell Golf GPS Watches! The newest is listed first.


Bushnell Golf GPS Watches
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Garmin Approach X40 Golf/Fitness Band Review

The Garmin Approach X40 has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach X40'

Garmin Approach X40
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Our Garmin Approach X40 Golf/Fitness Band Review will be coming soon, but here are our initial thoughts.

We love Garmin golf watches and we love Garmin fitness bands, so we find the Garmin X40 band very exciting.

Garmin Approach X40 User Rating: 4.22 Stars 4.22 out of 5 (249 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

Golf features include distance to the front, middle, and back of every green, plus hazard distances. You can see the shape of the green and manually adjust the pin position. AutoShot tracking measures and records your shot distances automatically. It has a scorecard and stat-tracking. Combining these features with Garmin Connect make post-game analysis really interesting.

Activity tracking shows steps, distance, calories burned, heart rate and activity intensity. If that’s not enough, you can get notifications from your smartphone.

Garmin Approach X40 Features:
  • Distances to the front, middle, and back of the green
  • Green shape from your point of view
  • Manual pin positioning
  • Distances to hazards
  • AutoShot round analyzer measures and auto-records shot distances
  • Pairs with Garmin Connect for interesting post-game analysis
  • Pairs with Garmin TruSwing™ sensor for metrics to improve your swing consistency
  • High-resolution display easily readable in bright sunlight
  • Activity tracking – steps, heartrate, and sleep
  • Receive smart notifications for incoming calls, texts and other alerts
  • Garmin Approach X40 Golf Watch Specifications
    Garmin Approach X40
    Course Download Fees No
    Pre-loaded with Courses 40,000+
    Full Hole Views Yes
    Slope / Elevation No
    Battery Life 10hrs GPS / 5 days
    Battery rechargeable Li-ion
    Size (Width x Height x Depth) N/A in. x .83 in. x N/A in.
    Measure Shot Distance Yes
    Screen Size 1 x .42
    Resolution 160x68 px
    Display Type hi-res touchscreen
    Weight 1.1 oz.
    Rainproof Yes (50 meters)
    Touch Screen Yes
    Touch Targeting N/A
    Manual Pin Positioning Yes
    Stat Tracker Yes
    Digital Scorecard Yes
    Computer Analysis Tools Yes
    Ground Verified N/A
    Alternate Targets Yes
    Green Rotates to your shot angle Yes
    USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes
    Notes ElevateTM wrist heart rate technology and activity tracking
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    User Manual for Garmin Approach X40

Garmin Approach S20 Review

The Garmin Approach S20 has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach S20'

Garmin Approach S20
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Our Garmin Approach S20 Review is based upon feedback from over 100 users. Overall the ratings are reasonably high for a golf watch with this many features, but there are a few things that were clearly outstanding on this watch. Although the number of positive comments far outweighed the negative, there are still a few issues on both sides that are worth discussing.

Garmin Approach S20 User Rating: 4.31 Stars 4.31 out of 5 (326 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

When the Garmin S20 first came out, we weren’t sure it was for everyone. However, the price is low enough now and the performance/features may be the best we’ve ever seen in a golf watch, so we’ve changed our tune.

We now feel ready to recommend it for any golfer. You can use it for just the basics, or dig into some of the advanced features. If you happen to be a little bit of a golf geek or a fitness enthusiast, you’re going to love the features of this watch! The S20 combines smartwatch features of phone notifications, activity tracking, and sleep tracking with a golf watch loaded with features.

Let’s start with the Garmin Approach S20 noteworthy features:
  • Distances to the front, middle, and back of the green.
  • Green shape from your point of view.
  • Manual pin positioning.
  • Distances to the front and back of hazards and doglegs.
  • AutoShot round analyzer measures and auto-records shot distances.
  • Pairs with Garmin Connect for interesting post-game analysis.
  • Pairs with Garmin TruSwing™ sensor for metrics to improve your swing consistency. (TruSwing™ available for purchase separately on Amazon.)
  • CourseView feature automatically updates frequently played courses for free.
  • High-resolution display easily readable in bright sunlight.
  • Activity tracking – steps and sleep.
  • Receive smart notifications for incoming calls, texts and other alerts².
  • Attractive watchband design.

Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons mentioned the most in the user feedback that we reviewed.

Garmin Approach S20 Review – Most Mentioned Pros
  • Accuracy – Overwhelmingly, the most frequent positive comment was about the accuracy of the S20. We didn’t find any complaints on this point.
  • Ease of Use – Many users commmented on the ease of use, however a few users had difficulty learning how to use the features.
  • Battery Life – There were plenty of rave reviews about the battery life of the Garmin S20. The only complaint we saw was from a user who was using it as an everyday watch.
  • Screen Readability – The comments about the clarity and readability of the screen were more enthusiastic than we generally see and there were zero complaints.
  • Responsiveness – Compliments about the responsiveness of any golf GPS is fairly unusual, but it must be good on the S20, because it was mentioned frequently.
  • Hazards – Many users commented on the accuracy of the hazard information.
  • Features – Quite a few users commented on the extensive features available on the watch.
  • Value – There were a number of comments about the Garmin Approach S20 being a good value.
  • Attractiveness – Several users mentioned the attractiveness of the watch.
  • Size and Weight – The size and weight was mentioned as a positive in quite a few comments.
Garmin Approach S20 Review – Most Mentioned Cons
  • Software Problems – A number of users experienced problems with the watch working correctly. In most cases, a software update corrected the problem, but some users had to return the watch. Garmin had a glitch with an update last year that has since been corrected.
  • User Manual – There were complaints about the lack of clarity in the user manual. That no doubt led to some other complaints.
  • Ease of Use – Some users had trouble learning how to navigate the S20. As mentioned on the previous point, a better user manual might have helped with this.
  • Autoshot – Although there were a few users that loved this feature, there were several complaints that it didn’t track a fair number of shots and there was no way to manually input a shot when the watch didn’t pick it up.
  • Garmin Connect – Several users felt that the inability to make corrections within Garmin Connect made the scoring and stats worthless. Others felt it provided interesting and helpful information.
  • Difficult to fasten – Only a couple of users complained that it was difficult to put the Garmin S20 on their wrist.

We believe the Garmin Approach S20 is an excellent golf watch for anyone and for golf geeks like us, it’s amazing! If you are concerned about having too many advanced features, there are a few other great choices on our “Best Budget-Friendly Golf Watch” list.

Garmin Approach S20
Course Download Fees No
Pre-loaded with Courses Yes
Full Hole Views Yes
Slope / Elevation N/A
Battery Life 15 hrs GPS / 8 wks
Battery rechargeable Li-ion
Size (Width x Height x Depth) 1.9 in. x 1.5 in. x .4 in.
Measure Shot Distance Yes
Screen Size .9 square
Resolution 128x128
Display Type hi-res monochrome
Weight 1.5 oz.
Rainproof Yes (50 meters)
Touch Screen No
Touch Targeting No
Manual Pin Positioning Yes
Stat Tracker Yes
Digital Scorecard Yes
Computer Analysis Tools Yes
Ground Verified N/A
Alternate Targets Yes
Green Rotates to your shot angle Yes
USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes
Notes In addition to all the golf features, it has an activity tracker, a sleep tracker, and move notification after periods of inactivity.
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User Manual for Garmin Approach S20

GolfBuddy Voice 2 Review

'GolfBuddy Voice 2'

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We are currently working on our GolfBuddy Voice 2 Review but it’s not too early to say that GolfBuddy has another winner on its hands. Even if you don’t want to use the voice feature, these intuitive little devices are well worth considering.

GolfBuddy Voice 2 User Rating: 4.40 Stars 4.40 out of 5 (118 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

GolfBuddy has golf distance measuring devices in just about every category, but the one where they seem to dominate is the small voice models. This is their fourth entry into this category and with each new model, comes subtle but significant improvements. The GolfBuddy Voice 2 seems to be continuing that trend.

The predecessor to the Voice 2 was the GolfBuddy VS4 and although the Voice 2 has a nicer appearance, the size, shape, and weight are identical. In fact, there are only three differences that we noticed. The most important improvement is that the Voice 2 gets 14 hours of battery life versus only 10 hours on the VS4. That’s a really nice improvement!

We also like that the clip on the Voice 2 is built into the unit itself, where the previous model came with a clip that had to be attached. You can still get a watchband or belt clip that flips up if you prefer. The other new feature won’t make much functional difference to most users. The Voice 2 can have either a female or male voice and if you want to change it, you’ll need to make the update on your computer and then sync.

The original GolfBuddy Voice is still available, as is the VS4. Both models cost a little less than the newest model, but we think it’s well worth it to buy the GolfBuddy Voice 2 for the extra battery life.

GolfBuddy Voice 2 Notable Features
  • Audio and visual distances to front/center/back of the green
  • Automatic course and hole recognition
  • Shot measurement feature
  • Flip screen feature allows it to be viewed “right side up” when worn on your belt.
  • Rechargeable battery provides up to 14-hour battery life
  • Male/Female voice options through FREE GolfBuddy Manager Program
  • Legal for tournament play
  • Water resistant
  • Multilingual (up to 11 languages, 8 preloaded)
  • Dynamic Green View technology with distance readings from the golfer’s perspective

We don’t think you can go wrong with the GolfBuddy Voice 2, but if the voice feature isn’t important to you, you may also want to consider the Garmin Approach G10 which includes scorecard and stat-tracking.

GolfBuddy Voice 2 Specifications
GolfBuddy Voice 2
Course Download Fees No
Pre-loaded with Courses 38,000+
Full Hole Views Yes
Slope / Elevation No
Battery Life 14 hrs
Battery Lithium Polymer Rechargeable
Size (Width x Height x Depth) 1.76 in. x 1.78 in. x .49 in.
Measure Shot Distance Yes
Screen Size 1"
Resolution N/A
Display Type monochrome LCD
Weight 1.02 oz.
Rainproof Yes
Touch Screen No
Touch Targeting No
Manual Pin Positioning No
Stat Tracker No
Digital Scorecard No
Computer Analysis Tools No
Ground Verified N/A
Alternate Targets No
Green Rotates to your shot angle Yes
USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes
Notes -
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User Manual for GolfBuddy Voice 2