I’ve been eyeing the Garmin golf watches as an idea for a family member for a gift. They generally don’t wear a watch but they do play a ton of golf.

Ive been looking at the Approach S12 and was wondering if anyone has experience with it. The courses they play are all included so I know that will work.

A couple of main questions.

How useful are these really? They generally play the same 10ish courses but do branch out when traveling which is a couple times a year.

Longevity. We live in Minnesota so really can only golf at most 6 months of the year. Is this going to last 5 or 6 seasons or do these need to be upgraded every 3-4 years because they become unusable?

Thanks all!

  • @Telodzrum
    4•8 months ago

    The Garmin offerings are unmatched. That said. The Fenix 7 and Epix 2 does everything the Approach does and more. If you have the headroom in your budget I’d go with that.

  • Glifted
    3•8 months ago

    Not a golfer here but I’ve owned an Instinct and a Fenix 6X. Some things to know:

    • These aren’t like normal smartwatches. The interface tends to be clunky compared to something like an apple watch. It’s better to think of these as very detailed fitness/sport trackers and they are specialized into that role. They still do a lot of smartwatch things but the UI isn’t great.

    • Battery life on Garmin watches tends to be incredible especially when compared to more conventional smartwatches

    • I don’t golf so I have no experience with those features. However, I’m always impressed with the amount of detailed information I can get out of it after an activity. The features seem very well thought out and implemented well.

    • As for support, I’ve only ever used older Garmin devices and have always received regular updates. Occationally some older devices do get the newer features rolled out to them but it depends on the feature/hardware. Additionally, I’ve only heard good things when people interact with their customer support.