Garmin has been leading the golf GPS market for a long time. Most of their GPS watches got huge responses from users because of their built quality and unique features. So, when someone thinks to buy a golf GPS watch, Garmin always comes in top priority. The experts and customer feedbacks for this brand are very satisfactory, and we can assume that Garmin will not disappoint you. Especially when you think about Garmin Approach S10 golf GPS watch that we suggested in our top 10 golf GPS watches published previously.
Approach S10 is entry level golf watch and the most affordable golf specific watch that Garmin has ever released. It provides accurate yardages to the front, middle and back of the green as usual with Hazards and doglegs. Also, it comes with preloaded over 41,000 golf courses around the world like other Garmin golf watches. It will allow you to keep score on the watch to get a summary of your round, total distance played, and total time. Later, you can upload your scorecard to Garmin Express to keep track of your rounds as well. The hi-resolution display of this watch will allow you to read the essential information under direct sunlight. The battery life is also excellent. Moreover, Approach s10 golf watch is a remarkably comfortable everyday watch, and it shows current time and date with sunrise and sunset times. But, it’s not a Bluetooth enabled device, and you have to manually connect your watch to upload data to your PC/Mac.
Garmin Approach S10
Key Features
4.5/ 5
Preloaded with 41,000 courses worldwide
Yardage to F/M/B (distance to front, middle and back of green)
Yardage to layups/doglegs
Measures shot distance (calculates exact yardage for shots from anywhere on course) – Manual
Digital scorecard
Hazards and course targets
Round timer/odometer
Display Type: Sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)
Strap material: Silicone
Battery life: Watch mode: Up to 14 weeks, GPS mode: Up to 12 hours
Water rating: 5 ATM
Memory/History: 64 MB
Weight: 1.2 oz (35.0 g)
Warranty: One-Year Limited Warranty
Design
The design of the Approach S10 is classic and simple that follows the Approach S20 appearance. This watch design is also very similar to the Apple watch. However, It’s not heavy or flashy, and even it’s not giving any effort to be something that it’s not. This watch is slim, lightweight, and comfortable to wear that comes with great features.
The dimension of Approach S10 is 1.6×0.4×1.4 inches, and weight is around 36g. It has a high-resolution 1.3-inch display screen. The display is sunlight readable, even in under direct sunlight. Garmin has not used the touch screen for this watch to cut the price down.
There are four buttons for navigating the watch functions during play and setting up the round. Two buttons are on the right side, and two are on the left side. This watch also comes with a fairly comfortable silicon watch band, and it’s non-replaceable. Three colors are available for this watch in the market. The colors are Black, Powder Gray, and Granite Blue, and you can choose among them.
Garmin Approach S10 is a water resistance device up to 5ATM like other Garmin golf watch. So, don’t fear water holes anymore because it can survive up to 50 meters dip in the water. However, sports tracking is not given in this watch, that’s not hugely significant.
Features
Coverage – Approach S10 comes with 41,000 preloaded golf courses worldwide. There is no membership fee or subscription required to course update, and it’s free for a lifetime. This easy-to-use golf GPS watch will automatically locate the golf course when get connected with satellite. Once connected to the satellite, it will show you the distances to the front, back and middle of the green. Also, this watch will show yardages information for hazards, doglegs, and layups.
Digital Scorecard – Approach S10 has a digital scorecard feature to keep your score throughout the round. It eliminates the necessity of paper scorecard. However, the feature is disabled by default, so you have to turn on the feature from setting. Once you enable the feature, the data will show up in the Garmin Golf app.
Auto-hole Advance – This watch will automatically identify your course when connected with the satellite, and auto hole advance feature will show you the next hole position after complete a hole. It’s mean, it will automatically move to the next hole when you walk from the green to the next tee box.
Track Your Game – You can track your game and scores across a season by uploading every round’s scorecards to Garmin Express. But, you must have Garmin Express installed in your PC or Mac. Also, you can participate in weekly leaderboards and tournaments using the free Garmin Golf App.
Performance
There is certainly has no doubts in terms of usability and accuracy. The buttons placed on the watch side to navigate menu are logical and labeled clearly. So, you can start a round easily and enter scores.
Experts and users found that the yardages are accurate not only against other Garmin or Bushnell watches but also for on-course markers, which we are always reassuring. Also, you can cycle from hazard to hazard with all information that clearly labeled when you are on a hole.
Moreover, we even didn’t miss any of the more costly Garmin watches advanced features. We have always had pretty minimal tastes in golf devices, and in fact criticized features like Garmin Approach X40‘s club logging or TomTom Golfer 2‘s auto-shot detection. We like how the Approach S10 keeps things simple.
App and Data
As we informed earlier that Approach S10 is not a Bluetooth enabled device, so you have to connect your watch manually with your PC/Mac through a USB cable to see post-round data. You should have Garmin Express installed, and then the data will be sent into the Garmin Golf App (not Garmin Connect).
So, what’s the professionals and users that experience like? Indeed, because of the basic scoring nature on the Approach S10, it’s sort of limited. The scoring itself was good, stroke score for every hole input, but the resulting table and feedback was not visually engaging perfectly or insightful in any way, and no provision was found for Stableford scoring.
It’s good to keep a record of each round you play and your score, but we are not giving up using smartphone app “hole 19” to get detailed hole maps and data any time soon.
Battery Life
As the Approach S10 features are returned to a bare minimum, so it got extended battery life – and has a big tick in the watch box. You can play at least three rounds before you need recharging the watch, even it seems that it will not reduce the battery charge while sat idle in a drawer for a week.
Garmin claims the battery will last up to 12 hours in GPS mode and 14 weeks on a standard watch mode which is really impressive.
Battery life is very important, as it’s really the biggest headache to remember to charge the golf watch before a round during the game. So, Garmin Approach S10 is most likely to be the best to go when you need it.
Garmin Approach S10 Review
Pros & Cons
Good & Bad of Garmin Approach S10
Pros
Cons
What In Box:
- Approach S10 golf watch
- Charging/data cable
- Manual
Final Thought
The Garmin Approach S10 undoubtedly keeps things simple, and we are all for that reason for focused golf watches. It’s easy to use, gives accurate yardages, and have a great battery life – and from our point of view, there is nothing more to do for it. But the biggest issue for this watch is the lack of Bluetooth, and this makes it difficult to upload score data to Garmin Golf App, which is not a great platform as deserved. However, most probably that’s the point, you wear the Approach S10 watch, read the yardages when you play, and take it off, nothing more, nothing less. And that’s absolutely fine – but it can’t stop Wear OS golf apps, or Apple watch to knocking on Garmin’s door.