Garmin Approach S62 GPS Watch Review
Is it possible to make one of the most thoroughly awesome golf accessories better? Yup. Garmin did it. With the new Garmin Approach S62 GPS watch, you have a feature-rich product that will make your day on the course easier. It’s also undeniably stylish and will catch admiring glances off the course. I’m entirely impressed that Garmin improved on its (few) weaknesses, and made the best aspects even better.
Out of the Box
I’m an accessory geek. Just love this stuff. I’ve landed on Garmin and their robust Garmin Connect ecosystem (or did it choose me?) for all my fitness tracking needs. Having it all-in-one is something I value, and the variety of options gives me plenty. The knock on smartwatches, is that it’s sometimes hard to figure out all the things you want on there. For instance, I like to have steps, calories, weather, and heart rate info within a few easy swipes. There are countless widgets you can choose from here. I, however, like to keep things simple and only choose a few.
Garmin added a larger screen on the Approach S62 GPS Watch. It’s 17% bigger than the S60. I like it. It’s a touch heavier than the previous generation, but not at all clunky or bulky. An important thing is that I do not find it to cause any nuisance during your golf swing. Garmin also seem to have made the interface a bit faster and intuitive. We’ve all taken the time to read the user manual (sureeee) and it’s very easy to zip in and out of the menus. Another thing I like is that you can customize the look. You can download and change the watch faces on the SUPER vibrant, full color screen, and Garmin can get you a bunch of cool Quickfit wristbands.
Approach S62 – Favorite Features
Where do I start with the Garmin Approach S62 GPS watch? There are a TON of improvements to a number of already strong features. Take a quick look at my review of the S60 Watch, and you’ll see how we’re really going “next level” here.
Hazard View
Being able to move fast and not delay on the course is a huge deal. You can’t be walking around staring at your wrist the whole round. I see that enough while walking around the big city all day – everyone’s eyes glued to their phones. The previous S60 gave you a full-hole view if you press the right side of the screen. It was a bit slow to load and you had to drag and drop to find your target (a minor inconvenience). On the S62, the first press gets you to a kind of direction pad interface and you can manually scan all the hazards and key distances ahead of you. It’s so fast and efficient! If you want to look closer, one more press gets you back to the drag and drop for a more detailed look. Love this!
Impact Tracking / Virtual Caddie
The S62 brilliantly detects the feel of you club impacting the ball. I find it to be extremely precise, and almost never records my chunked pre-swing. The accurate GPS knows where you’re hitting from, and this year, Garmin introduced the Virtual Caddie. You can use the AutoShot feature to enter what club you used after each stroke (or – check out Garmin’s Approach C10 trackers). After a while, Virtual Caddie will take data from the Garmin Golf app and start to suggest clubs for you.
Awesome Battery Life
My biggest struggle with the previous generation was that I never made it through a single 36 hole day. I took it to Arcadia Bluffs, I took it to Bandon Dunes. It lost charge on the 33rd hole, almost every single time out. That was a problem. Hardcore golfers are going to want to buy this premium product, and not getting through the whole golf day would be a big disappointment. Problem overwhelmingly solved. The S62 can provide 20 hours of GPS time and most certainly get you through your marathon day of the golf.
Off the Course
The Garmin S62 GPS Watch is now even more complete off the course. With the added battery life (up to 14 days of regular use), they’ve added a few more features for other fitness areas. Cycling, swimming and running workouts are now more robust, and you can track heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Again with me being an accessory nerd, I love the GarminPay contactless payment feature. It’s 2020 – can’t remember when I used cash money last!
On-Course Performance
The Garmin S62 GPS watch gives you effortless data. It’s quick to pick up what course you’re playing. You can step up to the first tee, fire up the GPS, and by the time you’re ready to rip it down the fairway, it’s locked in. With a smart, intuitive interface, you can get the info to pull the right club in a snap. Or, let the Virtual Caddie do it for you!
Hopefully you don’t have to have a piece of gear hold your hand and drag you around a golf course. Keep it simple! You can however get that last little bit of insight and it will help you out when you’re in an unfamiliar part of the course. The Compass and the Wind Tracker are clever aspects (not really tourney legal, but it’s fun to tell your buds you stuffed your 9 iron tight in a 37mph wind. The “Plays Like” distance feature (click the front/mid/back numbers on the left) will help you navigate elevation too.
Finally, we’re now approaching the green and you can fine tune the pin location of the day with a simple touch. The scorecard feature is cleaner and easier to navigate too. It’s a snap to record strokes, fairways and greens hit, and putts.
Final Thoughts – Garmin Approach S62 GPS Watch
With the Garmin Approach S62 GPS watch, all the things that needed improvement were improved. Everything that made the previous version fantastic was taken to the next level. It’s pretty rare IMO to find an already premium consumer electronic and get a comprehensive upgrade. But that’s what we have here. I’m more than happy wearing this beauty on and off the course, and as a result I’ve seen my popularity with my playing partners get a boost. (I like to think it’s because of my charming personality, but it’s likely that I’ve got more golf data than any human on the planet…) I’m certainly a huge fan of the S62, and I may never take it off!
Great review! I just ordered my S62 and I can’t wait to get it…hopefully get to use it this season.
I went with the black, the the white looks stunning!
Nice! It’s the total package and super fast. Black or white, can’t go wrong!
Hi there, good review, thank you! I’m very tempted to purchase this, looks a very cool watch as well, but can you plse advise if you have had any issues at all with your wrist, glove, sleeve etc catching on any of the side buttons during the swing, thus throwing the screens into havoc?
I can remember owning the Garmin S6, and had to return it after a couple of rounds because it did exactly this!
I appreciate that you can probably lock the screen, but seems pointless if you’ve got to constantly lock and unlock the screen before/after every shot..
Many thanks in advance
Andrew
Hey Andrew! I’ve had ZERO issue with that on the S62 or the S60. The buttons are a bit more “hard press” than you’d expect, so even though your wrist is in motion and it’s possible to nudge them, I’ve not seen any issue with messing with your screens or features. You can lock screens too if you need.
I do wear it a touch looser (compared to my running watch) as you’ll want to have it further up your wrist. Fits a bit more comfortably with your glove on then.
Thanks once more Jon!! Is there a big choice of watch-faces plse, or can you also customize?
Cheers
Andrew
Yep, there’s like eight basic faces and you can download a bunch through their ConnectIQ app. I like the standards, so have not played with the downloadable ones!
Hi John, thanks for the response!! Apologies but 2 questions plse:-
1) Does the watch-face always show, or have you got to gesture to see time and/or golf data during round?
2) I’ve got quite small wrists, and whilst I appreciate it’s subjective, is it really an every day watch, or really just a nice-have for gadget loving golfers?
I’m sorely tempted to take a punt on this watch, hopefully for an end to full lockdown soon, but looking for big positives if possible..!?
Many thanks in advance
Andrew
Keep em coming!
1) Pretty sure there’s a feature to change that to whatever you like. Very customizable. During golf, the screen will stay all golf (however, you can click back to normal watch function). During daily use, you can have it “on” all the time, or have it dim a bit.
2) I think it’s fully suitable for every day wearing too, though I tend to like my Vivoactive a bit more for daily. You can get a smaller band if you want! There’s tons of options out there.
And yeah, it’s a real investment. Not all consumer electronics are really “worth it” for me, but this one’s definitely worth the money if you ask me.
Wow, you do pick a very positive picture, thank you!!
Honestly, any negatives at all for you?
Cheers
Andrew
You’re not wrong! I am a big nerd for accessories as it is, and things like this in particular get me really excited. If there are any negatives, it’s probably in the app. Garmin is often VERY robust in what they offer, but it’s not 100% intuitive. I’d like to see a bit more data and insight available eventually. In the end – I need this thing to work well for me ON the course, and I feel it’s shockingly good. Just my opinion!!
Hi Jon, forgive me for asking yet another question but is the hazard information easy to get to and navigate around plse? I think I can see where you can click on a particular hazard, eg. A bunker etc, but is there a screen where you can go quickly which highlights the particular hazard and then gives the yardages to front and back?
Apologies for so many questions again..
Andrew
Never a problem! I’ll answer questions all day – let’s boost the site’s web traffic 🙂
There’s a couple options for that. You can press on the hole map on the main screen and a little Arrow UP and Arrow DOWN button will pop up. You can use that to scroll from the nearest hazard, bunker, layup, etc to the farthest.
The other is more of a list view that you can access from the home button. It’ll say things like:
Bunker Front: 180
Bunker Back: 212
Water Front: 245
Water Carry: 261
100 yd Marker: 290
I greatly prefer the option to scroll, but whatever works best!
Hi Jon I have lung issues and am interested on how well the ox sensor works while golfing. It would help a lot if I could track that with this watch. Thx Tim
Tim, that I couldn’t tell you as I’ve not really paid much attention to it personally. I’m pretty sure Garmin has that feature on many other products and just now introduced it to the S62. I can definitely see how it would help to know that info while you’re out swinging em!
Hi Jon, annoying Brit again lol, have you used the Plays Like function yet by any chance? If so, does it still give you the actual yardage, or the yardage that you should play to? Surely if the latter, it has to then take into account the wind speed/direction!?
Cheers as usual
Andrew
I lol’d at the “cheers as usual” part…
Yeah, Plays Like is great. I’m sure others want the “pure” numbers, but I’m lazy enough and want that data. It gives you the yardage you should play to, and factors in all those things. So if you’ve got a massive down hill hole that says 233 yards, it’ll tell you to play it as 179, and sling that 8 iron on in.
Lol, the cheers as usual was because you’ve been fantastic with giving me all the necessary information one needs!! You should have shares in Garmin at this rate lol!!
I assume for the purists amongst us, you can still access a screen for actual yardages, ie disable the Plays Like in some way?
Also, and last question for today plse, do you have to connect up to a computer/laptop to get software & course updates, or can you also get this by just pairing up to the Garmin app on your smartphone?
Many thanks as usual (lol)
Andrew
Yep, you can have both Plays Like and actual. Easy. All updates are through the app.
You should buy the darn thing ;p
Oh I will Jon, but, alas, courses in UK not open as yet, so will buy one in a week or so lol!
Will report back once I’ve got it..
Thanks for all your help!!
Andrew
You bet. You’ll love it.
The bullet has well and truly been bitten, its arriving tomorrow, relying on you here Jon lol!!!
BR
Andrew
You’re gonna like itttttt!
I LOVE it!!!!
Thank you for the reply Jon.
I have an s6 which strangely has a much better battery life for non-golf (20 weeks) but can’t do the 36 holes, so this is a great upgrade. I also use track shot length a lot for the ‘occasional’ errant shot, glad to see this is now automatic.
My questions are does it have a backlight so you can read the time at night (or is it not needed) and how good is the colour display in the sunlight (S6 is not great IMHO).
Agree – I do like that you can manually select what clubs you hit after each shot. (I don’t have the individual club sensors btw) Much faster than going back and doing it on the desktop version.
So when you’re in an activity like golf or a run, it’ll be well lit throughout the entire time. For the everyday watch mode, you can choose how bright you want it to be. Any button presses will “wake” it up. I’ve had zero issues with any visibility in sunlight. Crisp and colorful.
Great review, Jon…thanks! I’m pretty well sold on the watch, and am a fan of Garmin products generally.
Having never used a golf watch nor a rangefinder, what are your thoughts on pros/cons of a watch over a rangefinder? The biggest pros I can think of is not having to drag out another piece of equipment on the course, not worrying about losing it along the way, and you get an actual usable watch/health monitor when you’re not golfing. But I assume there are some benefits of a rangefinder you can’t get with the watch?
Thanks!
John
Thanks! You sound like you’re Team Watch for sure…
The Z82 Rangefinder is flat out awesome, but the two factors for me are that I’d be terrified to lose an expensive gadget and the fact that I’m mostly terrible at “shooting” the flag. It takes me too much time, whereas I can press a button on the watch and I’m good to go. (However I will say if you need a dead on perfect number to a flag or a hazard, the rangefinder wins that battle. I typically don’t.)
I’ve mentioned it before that I really like the Garmin Connect ecosystem, so I can use the S62 or any of my other Garmin gear for fitness/health tracking, and they don’t miss a beat.
That’s what I needed to hear…thanks Jon. Go Team Watch!
Great review, thank you! I only have one question….for now 🙂 The play like function, is that just for the green or does it included hazards and lay up areas?
Hi John,
Is it possible to use when practicing away from a golf course to access the length of your shot or is this only available to the golf courses connected to the satellite on the watch?
Thanks
Mark –
You need to be on a course so it can leverage GPS to calculate the distance from one shot to another. You would need a launch monitor – type device to measure distance on the range.
Thanks,
Tommy
This is a product I’m desperately interested in and see as perfect upgrade to the S40 I’m currently using. Alas I suspect Garmin have stuck to ruing their products for any of us who have to work shifts. I currently work for an ambulance service meaning my shifts are all over and any of Garmins products that offer sleep tracking can’t track sleep through the day effectively meaning they can miss days of data. This in turn has a knock on effect to many other of the metrics Garmin use such as body battery and stress levels.
My first fitness tracker was a cheap Honor band that could collect sleep data perfectly no matter when I slept, yet a £500 Garmin can’t manage it.
I’d love to see some of these reviews mention the millions of us Garmin don’t seem to bothered about as this product is everything I’m looking for if it could just get the sleep aspect right.
How is the sleep tracking function outside of “normal” sleeping hours?
Its a known problem with Garmin devices.
Thanks
Price please & where can I get one, in Pta? Thanks.
We’re an independent review site, we don’t sell or distribute equipment. Your best bet is checking Garmin’s site linked in the review or contact them directly.