I absolutely love this golf watch! I love "always-on” convenience and immediate accessibility of yards to the pin. It’s right there displayed on my wrist in big block letters at all times. There’s no extra effort required (like pulling out my phone and trying to get an app to show me the distance. This doesn’t sound like a lot of effort, but the apps I tried didn’t seem to track well or I would accidentally hit a button taking it in and out of my pocket and change the screen. It never seemed to have the info I needed readily available and I didn’t want to hold up play to mess with it).
When I get to the green, the watch automatically shows the score counter screen with par listed. If I walk to the next hole without entering a score, the watch automatically advances to the next hole. So, if you aren’t using the watch for scoring then you wouldn’t have to touch it for the whole round. I do use it to score, though, and when I’m on or close to the green the watch will display par for the hole. Then, I can hit the “+” button to enter my strokes thus far and as I putt so I’m using the watch as a dynamic score counter. This watch has additional stat tracking which may be enabled and manually entering after every hole. I believe it includes fairways in regulation and putts.
The ease of use is exceptional. It’s really easy to flip between the yards display and the score card. Just toggle one button. It’s also really easy to move the pin location on the green. Hit one button for the green display. Touch the spot on the green display where the pin is, and the yards to pin value updates. Hit the same button again to return to the yards to pin screen. I’m also satisfied with the touchscreen navigation. The right side of the screen is “Menu,” the left side is “Back,” and up and down allows scrolling through menus. Everything about this watch seems very well thought out and engineered.
I’ve only used the “Measure Shot” feature a few times, but it seems to do the job. After your shot, you hit the “Measure Shot” button and the watch displays 0 yards. As you move toward your ball the yards increase. When you reach the ball you can see how many yards are displayed and then you hit the “Measure Shot” button again and the screen resumes showing yards to the pin. Of course, while in this mode the watch is displaying yards from the tee to the ball instead of yards to the pin, which I’ve gotten accustomed to glancing at as I’m approaching my shot to start thinking about what club to use. Optimally, I’d prefer the watch continue to show yards to pin while in the Measure Shot mode and only display the shot distance when I hit the button.
The watch face is locked initially, and I have to swipe to unlock this. I usually only have to do this one time at the beginning of the round. When I get to the golf course, I hit “Start Round.” It takes about a minute to locate the satellites and list nearby golf courses. This is great because the course I’m standing on is always at the top of the list. For my use so far, the initial satellite location is the only downtime the watch has. The watch has never disconnected or had to try to reconnect.
My score is accumulated as I play. I can also flip through the scores on all of the holes if I miss one or need to correct a hole or just want to review. When I’m done with the round I hit “End Round.” I can view the previous round scorecard info by connecting the watch to my laptop and navigating to the Scorecard file on the watch. It would be cooler if the watch automatically uploaded the data to my Garmin account. The odometer on the watch records the time and distance of the current/last round. This info isn't saved on the scorecard, though.
I can set an alarm on the watch for once, daily, or weekdays. I like to set the alarm when I'm on the range so I don't miss my tee time.
The watch screen has good resolution and is really easy to read outdoors. I can change the watch face background color to black, but I find that more difficult to read. The watch has a backlight, but it only stays backlit for a few seconds. I can’t figure out when this feature would be useful. Maybe if I was playing at dusk and was having trouble seeing the display. Or maybe if I was just wearing it as a watch and wanted to know the time when I happened to be in the dark. It's nice it has this feature even though it may have limited practical use.
I bought the watch in white. I am a girl with small wrists, and was relieved that it fits. The whole length of the band has latch holes as part of its design. All the holes in the band make it comfortable to wear, and not sweaty. The watch loop that you tuck the end of the band in to has a nodule to keep the strap in place. It works. It can be a little cumbersome to get the watch on and off, but that's better than the band coming loose while playing. I was surprised at how large the face is when I got the watch. It didn’t take long for me to adjust to the size, though. I actually think it's good looking. It doesn’t bother me at all to play with the watch on. I wear it on the same hand as my golf glove.
I don’t have an iPhone, so I’m unable to test the phone interfacing features. I haven't used it, but the watch also lets you save locations for doglegs or other hole features, I believe so you can access yardage to those locations on future rounds.
I like gadgets, and this watch is fun and functional, and everyone who sees me announcing the yardage as I look at my wrist checks it out and thinks it's super cool.
See you on the links!
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From the manufacturer
Instant, Simple, Precise
Rugged and water resistant to 10 meters, Approach S4 is packed with more than 40,000 golf courses around the world. It displays yardages to the front, back and middle of greens on a high-resolution, glove-friendly touchscreen. And, it lets you manually position pins, get distances to doglegs and layups, customize yardage points (mark traps and hazards), and print digital scorecards for Stroke Play and Stableford.
Approach S4
The golf GPS like no other.
- Touchscreen GPS golf watch with sunlight readable, high-resolution display
- Extra-long life battery lasts up to 10 hours in GPS mode, 6 weeks in watch mode
- Comes with more than 40,000 golf courses around the world with no subscriptions or fees
- Precise distance to the front, back and middle of greens plus layups and doglegs, and detailed stat tracking for better analysis of your game
- Receives email, texts and alerts
Preloaded Courses and Free Updates
S4 may be the size of a typical sports watch, but it comes with more than 40,000 golf courses around the world — without extra fees or paid subscriptions. And you'll be able to download free course updates whenever they're available.
Manual Pin Positioning
Use the touchscreen to manually move the pin to the day’s location to get the most accurate distances. Especially helpful on par 3s where you’ll be able to dial in the distance you need to fire away with confidence.
Green View
S4 features a dedicated Green View button, which takes you to the Green View screen quickly — no more scrolling through a menu. Green View gives you the true shape from wherever you are on the course, even if you’re behind it.
Smart Notifications
Never miss another text, email or RSS alert. S4 acts as a wireless extension of your compatible smartphone, displaying whatever your phone does, right on your watch. Now you can read that email or text you’ve been waiting for wirelessly — even in the middle of the fairway.
Top reviews from other countries
Susanne S.
Funktion gut, zuverlässiges Arbeitsgerät
Reviewed in Germany on October 21, 2016