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Garmin S60 vs S62

Garmin S60
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Product Garmin Approach S60 Garmin Approach S62
Display 240 x 240 pixels 260 x 260 pixels
Color Touchscreen Yes Yes
Memory 1GB 1GB
Battery Life 10hrs Smartwatch Mode 10hrs GPS Mode 14hrs Smartwatch Mode 10hrs GPS Mode
Wind-Speed Direction No Yes
Digital Scorecard Yes Yes
Automatic Shot Distance Measurement Yes Yes
Heart Monitor No Yes
O2 Sat Sensor No Yes
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Similarities

Memory

Both the Garmin S60 and s62 come with an industry-standard 1GB memory installed in the smartwatch. Whether you’re planning on packing the watch full of apps or keeping its user interface free of clutter, each of these models has your needs covered.

Automatic Shot Distance Measurement

This is where we dive into the reason why any of us would want Golf GPS unit at all: a technological advantage over the elements. Both Garmin models are able to automatically measure the distance of your shot. They’re able to do this by detecting the speed of your swing, the impact on the ball, and a variety of other environmental factors using satellite information.

This is where Garmin’s laser pinpointing technology shines. When it comes to this vital feature in your golfing smartwatch, it’s impossible to make a bad choice between the two.

Digital Scorecard

We’ve all had been there: you’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a friend of yours has been a bit too kind to himself when it comes to marking the score. That’s the great thing about the Garmin Approach digital scorecard feature. The score is automatically tracked. You can digitally edit the score after the first 9 holes if need be or through the smartphone/PC apps at any time.

 

Differences

Windspeed Direction/Virtual Caddie

I know what you’re thinking. The likenesses had to end somewhere or there’s no way Garmin could justify the heftier price tag on the s62. The biggest difference between the Garmin Approach S60 and S62 can be found in the virtual caddie feature. Where the s60 does an excellent job of recording your game, the s62 takes it a step further by seeking to improve it!

Using satellite information to detect wind speed direction, Garmin’s Virtual Caddie will make club, swing, and angle suggestions for your drive. For those of you looking to take your golf game to the next level, this will most likely be the feature that catches your soon-to-be-eagle eye.

The Winner Is – S62

Heartrate/O2 Saturation Monitor

Any decent smartwatch is a versatile smartwatch. All devices with the moniker will sport a variety of fitness apps to bolster their overall appeal. What’s vital about the S62’s health monitoring features is its capability to give you a heads up about potential signs of dangerous situations can occur a hot day out on the green, like a heart attack or heat stroke.

The Garmin Approach S62’s ability to monitor your heart rate and oxygen saturation level may seem like gimmicky amenities on a good day, but the stories about wearable technology saving lives are starting to pile up. The S62 may just do a little more to ensure you’re around for next week’s tee-time than the S60.

The Winner Is – S62

Battery Life

It would be difficult to describe either of these Garmin’s as lacking in battery power. Both can support full GPS mode functionality for 10 hours at a time. The s62 does edge out the s60 here, yet again, with an additional 4 hours (14 total) in its smartwatch-only mode.

If you’re the type of person who’s going to reserve their Garmin Approach exclusively for fitness or time on the green, either model has more than enough battery life. However, if this is going to be your day-to-day watch smartwatch, the additional battery time the s62 boasts should earn it a closer look.

The Winner Is – s62

 

Pros and Cons

Garmin S60

Pros:

  • Economical
  • Great for recording stats
  • Straightforward design and features

Cons:

  • No Virtual Caddie
  • Fewer fitness apps
  • Shorter smartwatch mode battery life
  • No health monitoring features

Buy Garmin S60 on Amazon

Garmin S62

Pros:

  • Virtual Caddie advises you on how to improve your game
  • Health monitoring features
  • Longer battery life
  • Slightly sharper screen display

 

Cons:

  • Serious price tag

Buy Garmin S62 on Amazon

 

The Final Verdict: Which Golf GPS is Better?

While the price difference between the s60 and s62 is a large one, whatever model you choose will depend on both your budget and what you want out of it.
For many, a second (golf-specific) smartwatch sporting the ability to record stats and built-in course info is more than enough return on investment. For those looking to purchase a watch that will serve as their primary wearable device, snatching up the s62 might be worth the additional cash as it offers both the virtual caddie and health monitoring features. These extra bells and whistles will make all the difference for those looking to announce themselves as “King of the Green” for years to come.

 

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Manufacturer:

Garmin

 

 

One Golfer’s Opinion of the Garmin Approach S62

George R – Los Alamos, NM

We’ve had a lot of requests for this. People have been asking me to take it out on the course. You’ve seen me unbox this thing and if you haven’t watched that video I unboxed it and showed you all the features of this watch. I’ll put the video link right here, but today we’re actually to take this out on the course to check it out, especially its battery life.

I’m going to show you how it works and we’ll do a little playing test with the Garmin Approach S62. So we just got to the course here so I’m going to go ahead and hit this red action button up at the top and it says play golf. It is going to now locate the satellites for me. Now that we have located the satellites and it automatically brings you up a course view of the different courses that you might be playing here. We’re going to go ahead and select Carrollwood Country Club because that is where I’m standing right now. We’ve got a little loading course button. It first asks you do you want to keep score? I do want to keep scoring my round. Now it will ask me what tees I want to play. I will be playing the white tees today.

So now you can see the hole here, it’s about 491 yards away. You’ve got all the different golfing features of the course. You’ve got some water short left here off the tee you’ve got bunkers all around the right side but it is a pretty straight away par-5 as you can see. It’s bouncing around the numbers a little. That tends to happen with a GPS watch, which is pretty normal.

The thing is you don’t use a GPS watch for pinpoint accuracy, you use it to estimate distance within two to three yards, give or take. This type of scenario at least that’s what I’ve come to find. So there you go, that’s the outline of the course. Let’s go ahead and hit a shot and see how this thing does. What will happen now is it’s gonna ask me what club did I use. I used a driver so I will input that. I am actually walking today. As I walk it’s actually going to count down the distance and you’ll see your distance from the tee shot or from whatever your previous shot was.

So that’s how this golf watch works: it actually senses the swing and it’s very accurate on knowing if it’s for practice or for real. It senses your swing and then it asks you what club you used, that’s how it tracks the club. It has an automated caddy feature after you play five rounds with this watch it actually starts to suggest clubs for you! As you’re walking not only is it giving you the distance to the hole but up it is also telling you the distance from your last shot. I’m coming up on my ball here this was not a very good effort and that was a 209 yard drive. It will actually record that when I take my next stroke. It will actually know exactly where I took that second swing from and that’s how it knows where your first ball landed.

Now I have some cart path here I can take relief pick that up and a place of here a club length into the fairway then we shall hit our second shot. I’m gonna pull a 3-wood here because I need a little distance after that that was not a very good drive, but what happens when you don’t warm up. OK, that was a really nice shot! Once more it is asking me for club selection. As you can see while I am walking that it is counting up on top of the display how far I hit it. Again, I did not hit that very well. I guess we’re looking at about 178 yard 3-wood, not my best day out here.

Now I’ve got 106 yards to the middle and I’ve got 94 to the fro of the green. That’s actually a front pin placement there. I can see that from here so I am going to guess that’s about five yards from the front. The watch tells me 94 yards to the front so we are going to try to hit like a 99 to 102 yard shot. That’s going to be a little eighty percent pitching wedge for me and let’s see how we do. I will tell you what, there’s definitely some wind down here which I have not realized and that’s why all my distances are short. That one came up short as well, just on the fringe there on the apron.

So I’m just off the green. Again we will know what the distance of that shot was by the time I make this little chip. What I found really awesome about this thing is it actually knows on chips if it was a practice swing for the chip or an actual making of contact. I’m guessing there’s some vibration in the ball that sends a signal to the watch don’t really know how it works but it just does work which is pretty cool. I guess I hit that shot about I don’t know 95 yards because I’m about 10 yards from where I wanted to be. We’ll see if we can hit a little nice little chip and get it close to the pin. The watch is saying I hit 94 yards. OK, we got a little tap-in par.

Once you hit the green it automatically goes to the scoring view so it’s gonna ask me what my score was. How many putts I had is the next question. I only had one putt and then it’s gonna ask if I hit the fairway or miss right or left.

I’ll give you one more hole to see how this golf watch works. No worries about its battery life! All right, so I’ve got a little walk here to the second hole here at Carrollwood. Let me tell you a few things I love about this watch. I love the fit and finish. I have tried on a number of golf GPS watches this is by far the best-looking watch. I would absolutely wear this watch and I’m a watch guy, I love Rolex, Omega, and high-end Swiss watches. This honestly fits right in my collection, it is a beautiful sports watch that I can use on the golf course.

I can use the golf watch while I’m working out to track my steps or if I’m running it also tracks your heart rate. You can play music with this gizmo and you can see notifications. It doesn’t actually work like an Apple watch where you can actually talk into the watch that’s not gonna happen with this one but you can receive notifications.I actually like to turn all those notifications off because when I want a golf course I want to concentrate. I want to have fun and I want to disconnect from the world a little, that’s why I love golf.

I just hit a little draw that should have gotten a little extra roll. I’m hoping that’s at least 235 yards or so. Here’s the thing: if you forget to tell it which club you hit it’ll stay on that screen until you do. If you forget between this swing and the next swing it will just skip it. Don’t worry, you can’t break it. If you want to track every single shot in order to understand how you are playing, then this app will show at the end. You want to make sure you’re present in the moment and you actually hit the button. The thing can’t read your mind! I told it that I hit a driver, as you can see we’re counting up as we walk up on top there and the distances are getting closer to the hole as we move forward. That was a beautiful shot, right in the middle of the fairway 233 yards from the tee box. I’ve now got a 108 yard shot to the green. That pin is in the middle of the green, at least that’s what it looks like to me so anyway and I’m going to hit a pitching wedge. We do have some wind so I got to hit a 100% pitching wedge. It is about my 125 yard club. There is about a 10 mile an hour wind down here so we’ll see what we can do.

It was a good strike and that is the middle of the green! Again, it is asking me what did I hit there. It assumes I hit a gap wedge because that usually is my pitching wedge. We have a little more wind and I do not have a gap wedge anymore in my bag so it was a pitching wedge. So again it is asking me how many strokes I had. I did have a par but if I had a bogey then I go up or down for a birdie. I had a four. Next, this is how many putts I hit. I had two putts, again you go up or down on putts. I hit the center of the fairway, I had zero penalties and I’m off and running to the next hole. I love this golf watch! It is like having a virtual caddy.

A couple of other features:

you can actually move the flag

, so if you know where the flag is which I know that flag actually the flag is about there you use the manual pin position feature to move it to where you think it is. That’s a great feature! You can change the hole, you’ve got your scorecard so you can see how you’ve been doing.

I love this manual pin position feature, it just shows you where the pin is in relation to where you are so it just helps you if you have a blind shot. That’s a super cool golf watch! The wind has died down here, it’s now four miles per hour in our face. We actually have Club stats here, but I haven’t uploaded enough scorecards to Garmin yet.It may require Garmin pay?

So hopefully that gives you a good idea

of how this golf watch performs on a real golf course, how you keep score, how it knows what distance and what club you hit. The Garmin Approach S62 actually works very well. There have been very few times have I ever made a swing and it didn’t register, that’s really a rarity for sure it does happen. It also has more than enough battery life for an entire round.

I really love this golf watch, like I said, distances seem to be very accurate if you’re okay with being within that three yard give or take zone. If you need pinpoint distances I would recommend the Garmin Z82 which is my favorite golf gizmo of the year.

 

 

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Garmin golf watch battery life