Great golf is more than just power off the tee and making putts – it’s about thinking your way around the course. In this Garmin S70 vs. Garmin S60 review we’ll break down how both watches can help you think better every time you tee it up.
These watches make it easier than ever to create a strategy for each hole, avoid hazards, and even track your rounds. Not to mention they can help you off the golf course too with advanced health tracking features too.
If you’re ready to take your golf game and health to the next level, keep reading.
Garmin S70 vs. Garmin S60 Review and Comparison
Garmin has no shortage of great watches and laser rangefinders to improve your game.
The S70 is the most “premium” of their watch selection while the S60 is more budget friendly but has plenty of features as well.
Let’s start by reviewing the S70 as it’s the most premium golf specific watch in their lineup.
Garmin Approach S70 Golf Watch
The Garmin Approach S70 is 47 mm watch is made of black ceramic bezel with a black silicone band. You can also buy in a smaller case – 42 mm – and it comes with a silver or white band as well.
What makes this such a premium watch is the bright color display which is 1.4” inch diameter. It only weighs two ounces (1.5 ounces in the smaller 42 mm display), has a water rating of 5 ATM, and has an impressive 32 GB of memory to store golf course data. It lasts up to 16 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode.
While the look and weight of this watch is great, it’s the advanced features that make this unlike other golf watches.
43,000 Preloaded Golf Courses
If you like to travel and play different golf courses, Garmin watches are a great accessory. There are 43,000+ preloaded golf courses with this device – all of which have full-color hole overviews. The bright display shows everything from distances to carry bunkers, heat maps on greens, impact of wind/slope, and much more.
The app can store up to 100 golf courses and it’s easy to add/delete more as needed. It uses the GPS location to identify the desired course near you so you can download quickly.
Virtual Caddie
The S70 is much more than a standard golf watch thanks to its virtual caddie features. If you’ve ever had the chance to play golf with a caddy, you know how much it can help your game.
After wearing the watch for five rounds the S70 begins to learn more about your game and provide recommendations during the round. As mentioned in this YouTube video from Rick Shiels, both the S70 and Garmin S62 have these features.
Once it gives you a preview of the shot, it then provides a recommended club choice on the bottom of the watch. It also provides more information about the wind as well as front, center, back to make it easier to find the right club for any shot.
Advanced Green View
What’s great about this golf watch is that it not only helps you tee shots and approach shots but on the greens too. It has several features to help you easily identify the shape of the green and contours (when using the paid Garmin Golf app).
With an active membership ($9.99/month or $99/year) it provides more green data to help you read putts with ease. This can help improve your chipping and pitching too so you can save shots around the green. Once again, this is a feature that isn’t available on most GPS devices and/or rangefinders.
Better Club Selection With Playslike Distance
A lot of rangefinders provide slope which can help you figure out the best club for an uphill/downhill shot. But oftentimes you’re left trying to guess how other weather factors can impact the shot too.
You won’t have this issue with the S70 as it also provides more information to factor in a total distance to your target. As Garmin said,
“The latest enhancements to PlaysLike Distance also factor in air pressure, temperature, and humidity — a combination known as air density, which greatly affects how far a ball will travel.”
While this isn’t legal for tournaments, it’s a great way to understand how weather impacts total distance. Humidity for example is something few golfers consider on full shots but when the air is heavier it can limit distance.
This advanced feature separates it from most GPS watches, rangefinders, and handheld GPS devices. No matter what the conditions, you’ll have plenty of data to pick the right club.
AutoShot Game Tracking
One of the habits among elite golfers is tracking stats after each round. This makes it easy to understand your weaknesses and strengths to improve your practice sessions.
Garmin makes it incredibly easy to track your stats – like fairways and greens – using their Autoshot Game Tracking system. As Garmin said,
“AutoShot automatically records detected shots, excluding putt and chip shots. It measures just how far you hit the ball and uploads your stats to the Garmin Golf™ app for post-round performance analysis.”
To make this feature even more robust you can pair it with the Approach CT10 tracking sensors for full game tracking. This is a huge perk that you don’t get with rangefinders and a lot of other golf watches.
More Garmin S70 Highlights
While the features above are the most impressive of this watch, there are other great highlights too.
- Available in two sizes and three colors.
- Makes it easy to understand wind speed and direction (no more guessing).
- Long battery life – up to 16 days in smartwatch mode or 20 hours in GPS mode.
- Easily switch out the accessory bands with tons of other colors (black, white, yellow, red, and more).
- Wrist-based heart rate and 24/7 health monitoring health features. This includes stress tracking, “body battery energy monitoring”, advanced sleep score/monitoring, and HRV status to improve recovery.
As you can tell, this Garmin golf watch can do so much more than help you perform your best on the golf course. When used properly the fitness features can do wonders for your health and recovery, which also play a big role in playing your best golf.
There’s only one downside – it’s $649 to $699 which is a steep asking price for the everyday golfer. But there is a cheaper alternative with a lot of similar features in the Garmin S60.
Garmin Approach S60 Golf Watch
While the S70 is a great watch it’s not cheap and might have more features than you need. This is where the Garmin Approach S60 comes in – it’s a cheaper alternative but provides tons of golf and fitness features. Not to mention it’s even more affordable as it’s been recently replaced with the S62 watch (check out our full review).
The S60 has a slightly smaller display (1.2 inches) than the S70 and not as advanced in graphics but still offers a touch screen color display. Plus, it’s only $399 – nearly half the price of the S70.
Both watches have a lot in common including 43,000+ golf courses, QuickFit bands, GPS distances to front, middle, back of green, and full-color maps. Here’s what else makes this a great lower priced alternative golf watch.
PlaysLike Distance
This watch also has PlaysLike Distance which adjusts the yardage for slope. Unfortunately it doesn’t factor in other weather conditions like wind and humidity in the adjusted distance.
Additionally, it has “Touch Targeting” which is a great feature that works like some GPS in golf carts. As Garmin said,
“Touch Targeting, you can touch any point on the map for precise measurement to that exact spot — including fairway, sand traps, water hazards and more.”
Other Features
- QuickFit bands to change your style.
- AutoShot game tracking with Garmin Connect.
- 10 days battery life in watch mode and 10 hours of battery life in golf mode.
Closing Thoughts
Both watches are a great choice in helping you improve your decision-making on the golf course. Not to mention they both have great reviews and tons of features to help you off the course too. Plus, the Garmin app makes these watches even more effective.
The S70 has more features – on and off the golf course – plus a better display and longer battery life. But the S60 has proven to be a top watch and no doubt will help you from tee to green.
