Garmin Approach S62

• Smash Factor: No
• Club Speed: No
• Club Path: No
• Club Face Angle: No
• Distance: No
• Attack Angle: No
• Club loft angle: No
• Club lie angle: No
• Ball speed: No
• Spin: No
• Launch Angle: No
• Spin Axis: No
• Portable: No
• Left/Right Hand: No
• Driving Range: No
• Manufacturer: Garmin
• Price: $499
• Battery Life: 20 hours on GPS, 14 days without
• GPS: Yes
• Color Screen: Yes
• Touch Screen: Yes

The S62 comes sealed in the same sleek, straightforward packaging that all of Garmin’s recent products have come in. While not quite up to the high bar set by Apple, it’s just one level down from that.

Right when you open the box, you get an excellent presentation of the watch face with its black ceramic bezel. The simple, minimalist packaging gives the distinct first impression that you’re looking at a powerful piece of tech. 

When you then pull the watch out of the box, you’ll next notice the band on the S62 is made of silicone that’s both functional and looks good. The flexibility is nice, and the material seems to be quite durable. It’s not the type of band you might find on a luxury watch, but it works nicely and looks good for a sports watch.

The Garmin S62 watch comes with either a white or black band, depending on your chosen model. Overall, the watch looks between a sports watch and a modern smartwatch.

From when you first turn on the watch, you’ll be able to pair it with your smartphone. It’s pretty intuitive and should only take a few minutes.

There are three buttons on the watch’s right side, which can perform all the necessary functionality, but there’s also a touchscreen for ease of use. 

• Measurements: 47 x 47 x 14.8mm
• Weight: 61g
• Touchscreen: 1.3-inch color 
• Display: 260 x 260 pixels
• Water resistance: 5ATM
• Retails for $499
• GPS

In general, the S62 is designed with great competency but isn’t quite as luxurious as some of the highest-end golf watches. It is sporty enough for the clubhouse but stylish enough for a steakhouse. However, if you are looking for something more like a luxury watch, you’ll have to look at some of the higher-end offerings from other companies.

Coming to the design itself, the scratch-resistant ceramic bezel with interchangeable silicone straps provides a nice balance of sleekness and comfort. The S62 comes with a 1.3-inch, 260 x 260-pixel touchscreen display that manages not to be too bulky and interfere with the swing. You can use either the touchscreen or the buttons on the side to navigate the display.

The Garmin S62 uses transflective memory-in-pixel for its display, allowing it to be seen even under direct sunlight. However, it doesn’t need to drain the battery to do this, which is ideal for long days on the course.

Coming in a 47mm case, the watch leans on the large side, giving it a highly visible display, without becoming uncomfortable on the wrist. However, if you do have a bit of a smaller wrist, this could pose a problem. In this case, the 43mm case of the slightly smaller Approach S42 may be more appropriate from a comfort standpoint.

Among the wide selection of vibrant smartwatch displays available, the S62’s 1.3-inch color display feels average. It displays the maps and menus clearly, with a backlight and brightness sliders to make it easy to see under many different lighting conditions.

Overall, the design and display are quite solid for a golf watch at this price point.

In general, the S62 is designed with great competency but isn’t quite as luxurious as some of the highest-end golf watches. It is sporty enough for the clubhouse but stylish enough for a steakhouse. However, if you are looking for something more like a luxury watch, you’ll have to look at some of the higher-end offerings from other companies.

Coming to the design itself, the scratch-resistant ceramic bezel with interchangeable silicone straps provides a nice balance of sleekness and comfort. The S62 comes with a 1.3-inch, 260 x 260-pixel touchscreen display that manages not to be too bulky and interfere with the swing. You can use either the touchscreen or the buttons on the side to navigate the display.

The Garmin S62 uses transflective memory-in-pixel for its display, allowing it to be seen even under direct sunlight. However, it doesn’t need to drain the battery to do this, which is ideal for long days on the course.

Coming in a 47mm case, the watch leans on the large side, giving it a highly visible display, without becoming uncomfortable on the wrist. However, if you do have a bit of a smaller wrist, this could pose a problem. In this case, the 43mm case of the slightly smaller Approach S42 may be more appropriate from a comfort standpoint.

Among the wide selection of vibrant smartwatch displays available, the S62’s 1.3-inch color display feels average. It displays the maps and menus clearly, with a backlight and brightness sliders to make it easy to see under many different lighting conditions.

Overall, the design and display are quite solid for a golf watch at this price point.

As a golf watch, this is where it shines most. It’s got all the usual culprits for a golf watch: distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, hazard and lay-up positions, and loads of other data.

The watch is very easy to set up on course. You simply press the big red button, tap the “Play Golf” button on the screen, and select your course from the location-based course list. It should have a good idea of which one you’re playing automatically through its GPS. Once it’s found your course, pick the tee you’re starting at and you’re ready to go.

Next, when you’re on the Green View feature, you’ll see the actual slope and shape of the putting surface, which is handy when playing courses for the first time.

The watch also keeps track of your score as you go. It takes additional data on fairways hit, GIR, and more, all of which are synced at the end of the round. 

It can get a bit of getting used to when you have to input a lot of data after each hole, but all that work will pay off in dividends later.

After five rounds, you start to see your real rewards. 

You get the S62’s Virtual Caddy that provides advice about club data at this point, taking into account wind speed, direction, and ground elevation. This is especially useful when you’re on a new course and unsure how to go at it. All that data you’ve inputted, plus the S62’s knowledge of the hole, makes for solid advice.

Mostly, it depends on how much you see yourself using the feature.

The other significant feature of the Approach S62 is its exceptional tracking capabilities. This works especially well when synced with the Garmin CT10 club sensors. 

Again, you need a few rounds of data for the input to work its magic, but with these sensors combined with the watch, you get some truly actionable insights into the areas to work on in your game.

Battery Life

The Garmin Approach S62 is about 14 days before needing a recharge. When in continuous GPS mode, it’ll last about 20 hours. That’s about three rounds you can make it through without needing a recharge, so it’s safe to assume you’ll make it through a whole course on a full charge.

Compared to other sports watches, its battery life is solid. Some pricier ones can last up to 36 hours of continuous use with GPS. 

While it offers plenty of great golf features, the Garmin Approach S62 is no slouch when it comes to off-course performance. 

The S62 works great as an all-around fitness watch. You can use it to measure some cycling, running, or weight-lifting data. It has similar multisport capabilities to the Fenix 6 and Forerunner 945.

It can track anything from strength sessions, to hiking, rock climbing, and even swimming with its waterproof design. It uses Garmin’s Elevate heart rate monitor for this, which is about as accurate as you can get for optical monitors. The built-in GPS tracking allows it to synchronize how far you’ve gone, plus step counting, stairs climbed, and SpO2 measurements.

In addition, you’ve got the Pulse Ox sensor, which monitors blood oxygen saturation.

There’s also a sleep tracking feature, which can record your sleep cycles and respiration data.

Then, there are the regular smartwatch features. You can use Garmin Pay for contactless payments from your watch and customize which smartphone notifications you want sent to it.  The Approach S62 can do this through its Bluetooth connection to a smartphone, which works for iOS and Android using the Garmin Golf app. Through this, you can get notifications for texts, calls, calendars, weather, and more. Android users can even reply to texts from the watch itself. 

There’s also support for Garmin Connect IQ, which allows the watch to connect to third-party apps with mapping information for even better tracking. 

In terms of presenting your data, the app is fantastic. Garmin has perfected a seamless user experience for tracking and combing through the data their watches provide. 

In the end, the S62 borrows most of its features from the other models in the line, but then upgrades and enhances them. As a result, it functions as a relatively solid smartwatch. 

The Approach S62 is best for players wanting advanced stat tracking and a watch that provides a great selection of off-course features. It can help more seasoned players to find the areas they can best improve their performance on the course.

The vibrant display is also a powerful tool to show any of the 41,000+ courses it has in its database and help your game. All this coming with a good-looking watch that you can wear afterward to dinner is a nice deal in our books.

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