Approach S2 is a stylish and comfortable GPS golf watch with a high-sensitivity GPS receiver giving precise yardage to the front, back and middle of greens. The S2 has the ability to measure shot distances and a course odometer. It’s similar to our popular Approach S1 model, but the S2 takes it up a notch with layup and dogleg distances and a digital scorecard.
Approach S2 is preloaded with more than 30,000 courses from around the world. Whether you’re on a course near home, a course at a holiday resort or the Old Course at St. Andrews, the S2 knows where you are and how far you have to go.
Every Approach S2 includes free lifetime course updates, without additional subscriptions. Updates are added up to 4 times a year. The high-sensitivity GPS receiver gives you yardage to the front, middle and back of the green, plus layup and dogleg distances to improve usability over the entire hole. It also measures precise yardages for shots played from anywhere on the course. And for those who like to walk, there’s an odometer to track how far you’ve gone.
$ 299.99
|
371 of 386 people found the following review helpful
 Very Solid And Depends Upon What You Want to Trade Off, By
This review is from: Garmin Approach S2 GPS Golf Watch with Worldwide Courses (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
If you do a search on my prior reviews, you will see that I have owned and/or tried several different golf GPS devices, and continually am searching for the perfect device. For the most part, nothing has touched my old Callaway MX (the original), until the batteries (even the replacement ones) would not hold a charge. The new MX held promise but didn’t work for me well enough and it was returned after a round, leaving me for the past two seasons or so with the Garmin G. Over time, I came to wonder about the benefits of having distance on my wrist and giving up some of the other features. Make no mistake, there are pluses and minuses with the G2 Approach, and it just depends on what is most important to you, and what you’re willing to live without. First, on to the details. In the Box: In the box comes the G2 watch, and very short quick start guide in like 500 languages and the charger clip. Like everybody else, I threw the box aside and proceeded to figure it out on my own. Charged in a few hours, no problem. The clip charger is not ideal, because it’s kind of bulky (though light), but it’s not that big of a deal. The clip is attached to USB, so you can charge it off your laptop, or from your little Apple USB charger box. Charges pretty quickly. The Fit: I wear a larger heart rate monitor type watch (Suunto), so the Garmin is really no bigger than what I wear every day. The watch band is comfortable, and I didn’t have to synch it too tight. Overall, I don’t even notice it when I play, same thing as every day, so the fit is a plus. The Display: I looked at the G3, because who doesn’t want more pixels right? Well I said no to the extra 0 because I read the movable touch screen didn’t work very well, and I could not see how it would work well, with the limited space on the face. The pixels are fine. I had no problem seeing the distances in the sun or the shade and found the resolution just fine. Ease of Use: This is where some of the tradeoffs come in. On my Garmin G6 handled, I of course could get easy distance to any particular piece of junk to carry or to any bunker as well as to any layup distance. On the G6 is is a simple matter of moving the cursor on the touch screen with my finger and it calculates distances to there and from there to the flag, and it was easy to pull the cursor to the red, white and blue lines to get layup distances to 100, 150 and 200. Also, the G6 gives me the ability to move the flag on the green to the particular hole location–all of which are nice. Now, on the G2, you can get distance to doglegs, and layups to 100, 150, 200, which is a fine amount of data to have (more than I really need) and the closest thing to a “complaint” I have about doing so on the G2 approach is the way you have to work the buttons to do it. Having said that, it’s a minor complaint because the FAR FAR biggest advantage of the G2 is having your distances with you all the time–and I mean ALL THE TIME. There is no wake up function to wake the watch up from a sleep, no digging out the device from your pocket or sitting on the buttons my mistake and having it turn itself off or advance you to other screens without your knowledge. The G2 simply switches holes (advances holes) automatically for you when you get near the tee box and it’s flawless. There’s no digging out the device and having to go back a few holes and if your course starts you on the back side instead of the front, it just knows it. A huge plus. You just look at your wrist no matter where you are, and your distances to the front, center and back of the greens are just there in easy to read format. In my view, the proliferation of GPS and laser devices have kind of over complicated things because rather than getting a distance to the front, center and back, we too often get precise distances to the very spot of the flag (whether from GPS like the G6 or a laser), and we pull a club to that distance without factoring in the bounce and roll. Anyway, the front, center and back view on the G2 is great, and I wouldn’t even want a scrollable or movable flag any more. On to the minor complaint: There are a lot of button presses here. More than there should be. You hold the button to start a round. No worries there. To move from “hole view” to “layup” view, you have to hit a button again, but there is no “back key” and there should have been. Similarly, to score your round–and it only scores a single player’s scores so you lose the score to add up scores for your pals, you have to press AND hold the OK button, scroll a menu of a few items to reach “SCORECARD,” then hit the OK button again, which brings you to the hole you are on, and then you have to hit OK again to confirm you are entering the score on the right hole, press the up or down arrows to enter your score, press OK again, and then press AND hold the OK button until the menu…
141 of 148 people found the following review helpful
 Big improvement on the S1, By
Taran (Chicago, IL) – See all my reviews
This review is from: Garmin Approach S2 GPS Golf Watch with Worldwide Courses (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I have used this watch on 3 rounds now, and it is a very well made product. The strap is much more comfortable than the S1. The dogleg feature did not show up on all holes with a dogleg, but when it did, it was very accurate. The other feature that was great was the distances to layup at different points that you can scroll through. For example, you could see how far you would have to hit to layup to 100yds, 150yds, 200yds, 250yds etc.
As far as battery life, I played 36 holes the first day I had the watch and it easily made it through both rounds without need for any kind of recharge. This is a very well made watch, distances were very accurate and an all around tool to speed up your round.
54 of 58 people found the following review helpful
The best way yet to stick it close…, By
This review is from: Garmin Approach S2 GPS Golf Watch with Worldwide Courses (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I purchased the Garmin Approach S2 unsure that it would be comfortable and I was not convinced that it was a worthwhile purchase considering the many free/low cost apps now available that give basic yardage info. I am happy to say that the Garmin Approach is the best solution if you are looking for quick information and no nonsense basics with free updates and a terrific database of available courses. Design/Performance: Regarding my fears of the size and comfort, my worries were quickly dismissed once I played a couple of rounds. The unit is very light and comfortable. I never have played golf with a watch on so after ordering it, I made a point to leave my similarly sized, but slightly heavier Casio Ediface watch on for a few rounds to make sure that I was accustomed to the sensation before using the S2. When the Approach arrived, I put it on and was amazed that it seemed like I was wearing nothing after getting used to my regular watch. The act of latching a glove on and off is a slightly more time consuming with it on, but it is something I quickly got used to. Looks wise, I find the S2 to be attractive looking. I purchased the black model and I wore it for a couple of holes with several different playing partners and they never even noticed it before mentioning it, so rest assured it draws no unwanted attention. The quality overall is good, although it seems like it could be a slightly more robust. The buttons are not something that inspires a ton of confidence in longevity and the “crystal” or watch face seems like a good quality acrylic, not the type that scratches easily but it is not a heavy duty lens. It is probably unrealistic to wish for a sapphire or high quality mineral screen in a device that is packing so much into a price friendly package. The charge connection is a proprietary cradle that hugs the back of the watch and has 4 contacts that have to touch. It works. I suppose a mini usb would be tough to cram into such a small unit effectively. The display is clear and very easy to read in super bright conditions. Numbers are slightly jagged but that is to be expected with the resolution. Given the price increase to the S3 for minimally better resolution and features I didn’t want, it was a no brainer for me. Battery life is adequate, getting me two 18 hole rounds before needing a recharge to be safe. I don’t use it as a watch so I can’t comment to its ability to hold the charge while not using its GPS feature. I think it is reported at 3 weeks. Features: The S2 provided info is bare bones but in a good way. It shows what I have come to believe is very accurate Back/Center/Front yardage to the green in a very clear easy to read display and interface. Yardages are near instant and the ability to glance down at your wrist is an absolute game changer. I have yet to have to advance the hole or back up to one even. It detects the hole changes very well. I don’t need yardage for bunkers, landmarks etc but I want quick and simple and the S2 is just that. There are options to keep score but I don’t use this feature as it seems a little convoluted involving multiple button menu digging. The odometer feature is cool as it keeps track of how much you walk during a round. You can also press a button to measure the occasional monster drive for bragging rights. Cool, but not a ground breaking feature. The course list is big enough that I can honestly say I will be shocked if I ever play one that isn’t listed. It has the most obscure courses around me including all of the par 3 courses and a little played teamster course that was just recently opened for the general public. You can check their website to make sure but the list is expansive. Satellite acquisition for me has always been within 30 seconds or so and downloading the course that you pick from the automatically populated list based on your location is near instantaneous. It offers yardage to dogleg corners and approach shots to leave 100, 150, 200 and 250 yards of you want them. There is also a blue backlight that works well, although if it is that dark while you are playing I can’t imagine that you will be concerned with exact yardage. Summary: After a couple of years of pulling my phone out of my pocket every time I needed yardage, turning the phone screen on, swiping to unlock, dealing with a hard to read screen, realizing that the app had shut down at times and having to restart the course, find the correct hole, this is incredible! Subscription based units offer a ton of info but I found them to be too bulky, overpriced and providing info I just didn’t need. I recommend this for golfers of all skill levels and anyone who wants basic yardage at a convenient glance. Once you experience this way of getting that essential info, there is no going back. A few of my playing partners gave me some jabs including being called “Inspector Gadget” and “James Bond” but all of them were… |
