Garmin Golf GPS Reviews

Our Garmin golf GPS reviews include both handheld devices and watches:

  • Garmin Approach G6 – Read our full review
    This is the latest handheld device in the Garmin lineup and the early feedback indicates this will be one of the top contenders in this market. This compact lightweight unit is preloaded with more than 27,000 golf courses. It comes with all the bells and whistles you could want and promises up to 15 hours of battery life. The glove-friendly touchscreen has a transreflective Color TFT.
  • Garmin Approach G5 – Read our full review
    This popular device comes preloaded with over 18,000 golf courses. It’s quite a bit bigger than the G6, and it has one of the largest screens in a golf GPS rangefinder. It has a color touchscreen and loads of features. The Garmin G5 is an excellent value.
  • Garmin Approach S1 Golf Watch – Read our full review
    Garmin was the first to come up with a golf GPS watch and it has been a huge success. This watch was designed to do only basics, but it does them very well. It provides distances to the front, middle and back of every green on over 18,000 golf courses (preloaded). It’s always with you and you rarely have to touch it. It’s the ultimate in convenience and simplicity and users love it.
  • Garmin Approach S3 Golf Watch – Read our full review
    Building on the success of the S1, Garmin added a new watch in 2012 that has several new features. First, it’s preloaded with over 27,000 golf courses and besides distances to the front, middle and back of the greens, this watch has yardages to doglegs, layups and hazards. Navigating the screens can be done with a glove-friendly touchscreen. It even has an image of the green shape with manual pin positioning and a scorecard.
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Garmin S3 Golf Watch Review

The Garmin Approach S3 has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach S3'

Garmin Approach S3
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Our Garmin S3 Golf Watch Review summarizes pros and cons mentioned in user reviews from around the web. From a features standpoint, we believe this is the most exciting and best golf watch on the market.

Garmin Approach S3 User Rating: 4.34 Stars 4.34 out of 5 (522 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

It’s preloaded with 30,000 courses, has a touchscreen, includes distances to doglegs and layups, allows for manual pin positioning, has a scorecard, shot tracking and more. Although the price of the Garmin S3 is quite a bit higher than other golf watches, the feature set and enthusiasm of reviewers lead us to believe it might be well worth it.

Take a look at what they are saying. Please note that positive comments outweighed negative comments by about 40%.

Most Mentioned Pros
(in order from high to low):
  • Accuracy
  • Convenience
  • Scoring Feature
  • Easy to Use
  • Improved Scoring
  • Size
  • Intuitive
  • Good Customer Service
  • Easy to Set-up
  • TouchScreen
  • Shot Tracking
  • Auto Course Recognition
  • Battery Life – some players could go 36 holes on a single charge
  • Easy to register and update courses
  • Speeds up play
  • Can be used as a regular watch in non-GPS mode
  • Acquires distances quickly
  • Manual pin positioning
  • Acquires satellites quickly
  • Ability to add custom targets
  • Size of course database
  • No fees
Most Mentioned Cons
(in order from high to low):
  • Sometimes requires more than one “swipe” for touchscreen operations that require swiping
  • Battery life too short – some players were unable to make it through 36 holes.
  • Some watches arrived in a language other than English. Customer support was reported to be very helpful. We noted that more recent reviews didn’t mention the issue and suspect it has been corrected.
  • Although it includes distance to doglegs and layups, several users complained that it did not have distances to bunkers and possibly other hazards.
  • Some users had trouble with it jumping to the wrong hole.
  • Watch band quality
  • Not enough courses
  • Poor instruction manual
  • Accuracy issues
  • Auto hole advance didn’t always work
  • Price
Garmin S3 Golf Watch Specifications
Garmin Approach S3
Course Download Fees No
Pre-loaded with Courses Yes
Full Hole Views Yes
Slope / Elevation No
Battery Life 8 hrs GPS / 4 wks
Battery Lithium-ion recharge
Size (Width x Height x Depth) 2.7 in. x 1.8 in. x .6 in.
Measure Shot Distance Yes
Screen Size 1" x 1"
Resolution 128x128
Display Type monochrome LCD
Weight 2.06 oz.
Rainproof IPX7
Touch Screen Yes
Touch Targeting No
Manual Pin Positioning Yes
Stat Tracker No
Digital Scorecard Yes
Computer Analysis Tools No*
Ground Verified No
Alternate Targets Yes
Green Rotates to your shot angle N/A
USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes
Notes Stroke or Stableford scoring. Can save, review and print scorecards from your computer. Can download new courses & updates. IPX7 Waterproof - Immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter
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Garmin G6 Approach Reviews

The Garmin Approach G6 has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach G6'

Garmin Approach G6
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The Garmin Approach G6 isn’t the newest golf GPS on the market and it isn’t the most expensive. But in our opinion, it’s still the best legal full-featured golf GPS on the market.

User reviews continue to be excellent for the G6 and quite frankly, there hasn’t been all that much competition.

Garmin Approach G6 User Rating: 4.20 Stars 4.20 out of 5 (648 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

There are only three brands that contend in the full hole view handheld golf GPS market: Garmin, SkyCaddie and GolfBuddy. SkyCaddie charges an annual fee for getting your course maps and generally they receive pretty lousy ratings compared to Garmin. GolfBuddy makes a somewhat larger handheld device, but it’s not in the same league with the Garmin G6. Fortunately for golfers, the Garmin handhelds are excellent and the price on the G6 is unbelievable!

The other competition to the G6 comes from Garmin’s own G7 and G8 models. These are both excellent devices and they have some fun bells and whistles, but the price difference is significant.

When you consider the pros and cons that we aggregated from feedback from over 100 users, keep in mind that positive comments far outweighed the negatives.

Most Mentioned Pros: (most frequently mention on top)
  • Screen brightness in sun or clouds
  • Compact size
  • Easy to use
  • Accuracy
  • Preloaded with golf courses
  • Quality
  • Battery Life (3 rounds was about average)
  • No fees
  • Quickly locked onto GPS
  • Lightweight
  • Responsive touchscreen
  • 28,000 golf courses and growing
  • Value/price
  • Touch targeting
  • Easy stat tracking
  • Easy to use scorecard
  • Green View made it easy to set pin and see approach distances
  • Ready to go out of the box – even had enough charge to play
  • GPS lock was fast and the lock was solid
  • Easy to read (as mentioned, a few users had trouble)
  • Shot measuring capability
  • Yardage layup arcs to 100, 150, 200 and 250
  • Stats and scorecard analysis on computer
  • Waterproof
  • Auto hole advance
  • Free lifetime updates
Most Mentioned Cons: (most frequently mention on top)
  • Some fonts too small
  • Some units experience shutdowns during the round (if this is yours, we suggest returning it as defective)
  • Not enough hazard information and carry yardages
  • Battery life not as long as advertised (only 3 users mentioned this)
  • A few users found pars and handicaps were wrong on their golf courses
  • Slow to acquire satellites (many more users found it to be quick)
  • Doesn’t automatically find the hole you are playing if you turn it on a hole other than #1
  • Scorecard could be better
  • Couldn’t find battery meter (FYI:Pressing the power button will display the battery meter and signal strength)
  • Some accuracy issues
  • Screen was not bright enough (many more users felt the brightness was excellent)
  • Screen scratches easily
  • Screen is too sensitive (most felt it was just right)

Garmin G6 Approach Features and Specifications
Garmin Approach G6
Course Download Fees No
Pre-loaded with Courses 27,000
Full Hole Views Yes
Slope / Elevation No
Battery Life up to 15 hrs.
Battery Rechargeable Li-Poly
Size (Width x Height x Depth) 3.7 in. x 2.1 in. x .8 in.
Measure Shot Distance Yes
Screen Size 2.6
Resolution 160 x 240
Display Type Transreflec ColorTFT
Weight 3.37 oz.
Rainproof IPX7
Touch Screen Yes
Touch Targeting Yes
Manual Pin Positioning Yes
Stat Tracker Yes
Digital Scorecard Yes
Computer Analysis Tools Yes
Ground Verified No
Alternate Targets Yes
Green Rotates to your shot angle Yes
USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes, if Club Averages feature is not used.
Notes -
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GolfRangefinderShop.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you buy anything after clicking through, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps us keep the site up and running, so thank you! We work very hard to obtain the correct information about product features, but cannot make any guarantees about the accuracy. Please double check with the merchant or manufacturer before making a purchase.

User Manual for Garmin Approach G6

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White Garmin Approach S1

The Garmin Approach S1 Watch has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach S1 Watch'

Garmin Approach S1 Watch
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Now available in WHITE! Garmin S1 Approach golf watch is one of the highest rated GPS golf rangefinders on the market, which makes it an excellent candidate for additional colors. Besides that, we’ve noticed that the White Garmin Approach S1 is often on sale for quite a bit less than the original black golf watch.

Garmin Approach S1 Watch User Rating: 4.48 Stars 4.48 out of 5 (1285 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

You may want to read our complete Garmin S1 Review, but this GPS golf watch is the highest rated GPS device we’ve found, with the exception of the Bushnell Hybrid laser rangefinder. It doesn’t offer a huge amount of features, but does offer the ultimate in convenience. The Garmin Approach S1 gives yardage to the front, middle and back of every green. It automatically goes from hole to hole, so there is very little user input required. It’s designed for golfers who want information quickly and no unnecessary distractions.

Most Mentioned Pros (in order of mentions high to low):
  • Convenience
  • Easy to use
  • Accurate
  • Preloaded with over 14,000 golf courses
  • Comfortable
  • lightweight
  • No fees
  • Ability to measure your shot distance easily
  • Can be used as regular watch
  • auto course recognition
  • GPS odometer tells you how far you’ve walked
  • Easy to read
  • Good battery life
  • Lots of courses
  • Attractive looks
  • Automatically forwards to the next hole
  • Adjustable band
  • Speeds up play
  • Nice size
Most Mentioned Cons (in order of mentions high to low):
  • Takes some care to hook up to charger
  • No digital scorecard
Garmin Approach S1 Features and Specifications
Garmin Approach S1 Watch
Course Download Fees No
Pre-loaded with Courses Yes
Full Hole Views Yes
Slope / Elevation No
Battery Life 3 wks / 8 hrs GPS
Battery Li-ion
Size (Width x Height x Depth) 2.7 in. x 1.8 in. x .6 in.
Measure Shot Distance Yes
Screen Size 1x1
Resolution 64x32 px
Display Type monochrome LCD
Weight 1.8 oz.
Rainproof Yes IPX7
Touch Screen No
Touch Targeting No
Manual Pin Positioning No
Stat Tracker No
Digital Scorecard No
Computer Analysis Tools No
Ground Verified No
Alternate Targets No
Green Rotates to your shot angle N/A
USGA Compliant (local rule) Yes
Notes Available in Black & White, Time, Date, Waterproof IPX7 (30 min. immersed at a depth of 1 meter)
Order Golf Rangefinders from Amazon
GolfRangefinderShop.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you buy anything after clicking through, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps us keep the site up and running, so thank you! We work very hard to obtain the correct information about product features, but cannot make any guarantees about the accuracy. Please double check with the merchant or manufacturer before making a purchase.
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Golf Rangefinder Reviews

Below are links to our reviews of GPS, Laser and Hybrid Golf Rangefinders, sorted by brand. You may also want to check our GPS Reviews and Scores and our Laser Reviews and Scores for product comparisons.

gps Golf Rangefinders

  • Bushnell

  • Callaway

  • Garmin

  • GolfBuddy

  • Izzo

  • Voice Caddie

    • laser Golf Rangefinders

  • Bushnell

  • Gogogo

  • Precision Pro Golf

  • TecTecTec
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