The best golf GPS watch and fitness tracker with heart rate monitoring under $250 is the Garmin Vivoactive 4 because it has all of my favorite golf and fitness tracking features and it allows me to listen to my Spotify playlists on my morning runs without carrying my iPhone.
It also comes with animated, on-screen workouts, adaptive training plans, a free personal running coach, and customized workouts from over 1,600 exercises.
From the moment I got it, I was amazed by all of its incredible golf and fitness features. It had preloaded golf courses, distances to pins and hazards, and shot and club tracking, so I could monitor my progress as I learned the game.
Also it had all of the most useful fitness tracking features including a step counter, sleep monitor, wrist-based heart rate monitor that does not require a chest strap, and apps for tracking my running, swimming, and strength training activities.
The wealth of golf and fitness data and insights available is amazing, and it helps me stay motivated and strive to further improve my golf game and fitness levels. The convenience of being able to track everything from one device was truly invaluable.
Top 10 Golf GPS Watches with a Fitness Tracker and Heart Rate Monitor
- Garmin Vivoactive 4 (includes Heart Monitor and Music Storage; no Slope)
- Garmin Vivoactive 3 (includes Heart Rate Monitor; No Music Storage or Slope)
- Garmin Approach S70 (includes Slope, Virtual Caddie, Heart Rate Monitor, Music Storage)
- Garmin Approach X40 (includes Heart Rate Monitor; no Slope or Music Storage)
- Garmin Approach S62 (includes Slope, Virtual Caddie, Heart Monitor; no Music Storage)
- Garmin Approach S60 (includes Slope; No Virtual Caddie, Heart Monitor, or Music Storage)
- Apple Watch 9 and Golf GPS App (includes Slope, Heart Rate Monitor, Music Storage, Cellular Capability)
- Garmin Approach S40
- Golf Buddy WTX
- Bushnell iON Elite
Listed below are the best golf watches with a fitness activity tracker and some even include a wrist-based heart rate monitor. These smartwatches combine the best golf and fitness tracking features to create the ideal all-in-one solution.
Most of these watches come preloaded with more than 40,000 golf courses worldwide, vibrating smart notifications, and include a pedometer, sleep monitor, and inactivity alert and some even include a wrist-based heart rate monitor.
They are ranked from best to worst. Naturally, the more expensive watches come with more features such as measurements for various sports and additional golfing features including slope compensation. However, there is a trade-off, because the more features there are, the more it drains the battery which means a shorter battery life. Unfortunately, there is only one golf gps watch with slope compensation and heart rate monitoring built-in, the Garmin S62 which costs about $500.
Comparison Chart
| Product Name | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
 Garmin Vivoactive 4 with Heart Rate Monitor and Music Storage | • Wrist-Based Heart Rate Monitor | • No speaker or microphone |
 Apple Watch 9 (GPS + Cellular) | • Includes speaker and microphone for Phone Calls and Music Playback | The following golf features require a paid app: |
 Garmin Vivoactive 3 with Heart Rate Monitor | • Cheapest golf gps watch with heart rate monitor | • No speaker or microphone |
 Garmin X40 with Heart Rate Monitor | • Wrist-Based Heart Rate Monitor | • No speaker or microphone |
 Garmin S70 with Slope, Virtual Caddie, Heart Rate Monitor, and Music Storage | • Wrist-Based Heart Rate Monitor with heart rate variability and VO2 max readings | • No speaker or microphone |
 Garmin S62 with Slope, Virtual Caddie, Heart Rate Monitor | • Wrist-Based Heart Rate Monitor | • No speaker or microphone |
Cheapest Golf Watch with a Heart Rate Monitor and Music Storage – Garmin Vivoactive 4
The best golf GPS and fitness tracking watch with a heart rate monitor under $250 is the Garmin Vivoactive 4 because it has accurate distances to pins and hazards, shot and club tracking, 500 song music storage capacity, and it can measure your resting heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen saturation levels, and VO2 max. The monitor is wrist-based which means it can track your heart rate data without the use of a chest strap monitor.
The back of the watch has a sensor for measuring your heart rate. If you are having problems getting accurate measurements, then make certain that the watch is snugly around your lower arm just above your wrist. This feature can be activated manually or when the watch recognizes the exercise you are participating in. You can even set the watch to make continuous measurements and you will be able to see any changes by day in a graph and the time information for each activity section divided by intensity. Measurements will be taken every 10 minutes while resting and you can even view weekly records with a graph.
| Heart Rate and Other Fitness Training Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Daily Resting Heart Rate | Yes |
| Abnormal Heart Rate Alerts | Yes |
| Heart Rate Zones | Yes |
| Calories Burned Based on Heart Rate | Yes |
| Maximum Heart Rate | Yes |
| Heart Rate Variability | Yes |
| Underwater Wrist-Based Heart Rate | Yes |
| VO2 Max | Yes |
| Training Readiness | No |
| Recovery Time | No |
| ECG App | No |
| Sleep Score | No |
Music Storage
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 can store up to 500 songs so it will be able to play music from your Spotify playlists without the use of a smartphone, unlike the other watches on this list. However, it does not come with a speaker for playing downloaded music from Spotify on the side of the watch like the Samsung Galaxy oar Apple Watches. Instead, you will have to use a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones to listen to your music without connecting to a mobile device.
It also comes with a step counter that tells you how many steps you took and the daily calories you burned through the activities you did throughout the day, apps for tracking walking, running, swimming, cycling, and strength training activities, and a sleep monitor that can detect when you go to sleep and keep track of your total sleep time, sleep levels, and sleep movement.
These sports apps will enable the watch to count the number of repetitions for a repetitive strength training exercise such as a squat or deadlift or the number of laps around a race track or pool.
There are on-screen workouts with instructional animations preloaded onto the watch that will guide you through each step of the workout. There are instructional animations for cardio, strength training, pilates, and yoga workouts.
You can create your own workouts by choosing from over 1,600 exercises on the Garmin Connect app and then download them to your watch.
It has a stress level widget that will display your stress level and guide you through a breathing activity that will relax you.
It has a body battery widget that will display your body battery level, which tells you how much reserve energy you have left. The body battery level is based on your stress level, heart rate variability, sleep quality, and activity data.
Pros
• sleek and sporty design that anyone would find stylish and comfortable
• Sleep tracking – tells you when you fell asleep, when you woke up, how much time you spent in light, deep, and REM sleep stages (light, deep, REM), and the times when you were awake
• 500 song music storage capacity: Listen to music downloaded from Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer playlists without a smartphone
• animated, on-screen workouts
• Real-time data and satellite-based maps on over 40,000 golf courses around the world just like the Garmin golf GPS watches
• Satellite views and standard maps of courses that display the current location, fairways, greens, water hazards, sand bunkers, distance to the center of the green, and yardage to the 100, 150, 200, and 250 layup markers
• Automatic hole recognition
• Shot tracking that keeps track of the distance and location of each shot for the entire round
• Digital scorecard that keeps track of holes played, par for each hole, the total number of strokes taken, and number of putts
• Water-resistant up to 50 meters but you should not use it for scuba diving
• Vibration feature for Smartphone Notifications and alarm
• Automatic or manual shot distance calculator
• View shot locations and distances on course maps on Garmin Connect
• Time/Date/Alarm/Countdown Timer/Stopwatch
• Customizable watch faces and Changeable watch band
Cons
• No sleep score like the Apple Watch 9, Garmin S70, Garmin Fenix 7, Garmin Forerunner 965, Fitbit Charge 6 (requires premium membership)
• Must use bluetooth headphones to listen to music
• No speaker or microphone for making a phone call like with the Apple Watch 9
• No Preloaded course maps (must download the relevant course maps to your watch)
• No slope adjusted distances
• No full vector color course maps that display bunkers, water hazards, etc
• No aerial views of each hole
• No advanced swing training features
• No touch-targeting (cannot touch target on display to measure the distance to that point from your location)
Specifications
Weight – 50.5 grams
Display Resolution – 260 x 260 pixels
Display Size – 1.3″ (33.0 mm) diameter
Battery Life – Smartwatch mode: 8 days
GPS mode with music: 6 hours
GPS mode without music: 18 hours
Internal Memory – 200 hours of activity data
Music storage – up to 500 songs
Cheapest Golf Watch with a Heart Rate Monitor – Garmin Vivoactive 3
The Garmin Vivoactive 3 Golf GPS Watch includes a heart rate monitor, step counter, sleep monitor, and apps for tracking running, swimming, and cycling activities but it does not come with music storage like the Vivoactive 4.
The cheapest golf GPS watch with a heart rate monitor is the Garmin Vivoactive 3. This monitor is wrist-based which means you will not need to use a chest strap monitor. It also comes with a step counter (pedometer) and sleep monitor. It also comes with sports apps that will record statistics for Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Running, Cycling, Swimming, Rowing, Skiing, Snowboarding.
Garmin Vivoactive 3 Sports AppsLearn More
Pros
• Fitness tracker features include – Step counter (Pedometer), Round Timer/Odometer, Move bar alert, Auto goal, Sleep monitoring, Distance traveled, TrueUp
• Wrist-based Heart Rate Monitor – This monitor will display your current heart rate in beats per minute (bpm) and seven-day average resting heart rate. It also comes with a graph of your measurements for the last 4 hours.
• More than 15 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps included – Preloaded activity profiles for Strength, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing, Yoga, Running, Indoor Track Running, Treadmill Running, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand-Up Paddle boarding, Rowing, Biking, Indoor Biking, Pool Swimming
• Download Personalized workouts – Create your own customized running, cycling, cardio or strength workouts, and download them to your watch. Then, your vivoactive 3 smartwatch will keep track of your exercises, reps, sets and rest time.
• Golfing features include – distances to the front, middle and back of the green, hazard distances, layup and dogleg distances, shot tracking, club tracking, pinpoint blindspot assistance, touch targeting
• Monitor your fitness level with VO2 max and fitness age estimates – estimate your VO2 max and fitness age, which are 2 indicators of physical fitness that can often improve over time with regular exercise
• Track stress levels – Tracks your heart rate variability (HRV), which is used to calculate and track your stress level.
• Garmin Pay contactless payment solution – pay for purchases with your watch (available for supported cards from participating banks)
• Multiple watch faces and apps available at Connect IQ store – compatible with our Connect IQ store so you can personalize your watch by downloading any of the thousands of free watch faces, widgets and apps, including Uber, SmartThings, AccuWeather MinuteCast.
• Smartphone notifications – receive and even respond to text messages and see social media updates, emails and more on your watch
• Vibration alerts – watch vibrates when you receive notifications or alerts
Cons
• Not enough music storage to store Spotify playlists on this watch
• Can only listen to Spotify playlists with your smartphone
• No Preloaded course maps
• No full vector overhead color course maps that display bunkers, water hazards, etc
• No aerial views of each hole
• No touch-targeting
• No advanced swing training features
• Not compatible with the TruSwing golf swing sensor
• No slope (elevation) compensation or adjusted distances (also called PlaysLike distance) for the elevation changes on uphill and downhill shots
• Cannot save locations of hazards or any other obstacles or objects not seen on the course maps
• Short battery life – up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; 13 hours in GPS mode per charge
Garmin Approach S70 Golf Watch with a Heart Monitor, Virtual Caddie, Slope Adjustment, and Music Storage
The Garmin Approach S70 is the successor to the Garmin S62. It was released in May 2023 and Garmin’s main priority was to make it more like one of their amazing Garmin Fenix and Garmin Forerunner multi-sport watches. I was disappointed that the Garmin S70 only came with incremental upgrades to the S62’s golf features including adding a shot dispersion chart to the virtual caddie but they more than made up for it with significant upgrades to the fitness features including a next generation heart rate monitor, VO2 Max readings, training status, sleep score, recovery times, and virtual training partners. I don’t like that the Fitbit devices require you to subscribe to a premium membership to gain access to some of these features so when I found out that the Garmin S70 gives them to you for free I was ecstatic. At a price of $699.99, I was surpized that they did not include the training readiness or daily suggested workouts features found in the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro and Garmin Forerunner 965.
Pros
• Beautiful AMOLED display
• 1.4-inch diameter touchscreen – Largest of any Garmin watch
• Slope compensation
• Full vector color course maps with zoomable overhead views of each hole
• upgraded virtual caddie with shot dispersion chart
• Layup and carry distances for all water hazards and bunkers
• Next generation heart rate monitor provides heart rate variability and VO2 max readings
• Sleep score and insights like the Apple Watch 9
Cons
• Most expensive dedicated golf watch (suggested retail price: $700)
• No in-built speaker or microphone like the Apple Watch 9
• Doesn’t have the pacing strategies, race prediction time, training readiness, or endurance score of Garmin Forerunner or Fenix watches
Garmin Approach S62 Golf GPS Watch with a Heart Monitor, Virtual Caddie, and Slope Adjustment
The Garmin Approach S62 has the best golf features of any watch in this article including slope compensation, 2D overhead views of each hole, a virtual caddie for club recommendations, a wind gauge, blindshot directional compass, convenient list of layup and carry distances to most hazards, and touch targeting for distance information to any location on the course.
It has some great fitness tracking features including a heart rate monitor, step counter, apps for tracking Running, Cycling, Swimming, Rowing, Skiing, and Snowboarding activities, and a sleep monitor.
The Garmin S62 is more expensive than the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and 3 primarily because it has the best golfing features of any watch. However, it measures and calculates fewer metrics per recreational activity, except for golf, than the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and 3. Also it does not have any music storage capacity so you cannot listen to your Spotify playlist without your smartphone.
The Garmin Approach S62 was released in January 2020 as the successor to the Garmin S60. The Garmin S62 has a battery life of up to 20 hours in GPS mode which is the longest of any Garmin golf GPS watch. Both the Garmin Approach S62 and S60 can adjust distances for slope but only the Garmin S62 comes with a heart rate monitor and club recommendation feature.
Pros
• Fitness tracker features include – Wrist-based heart rate monitor, Pulse oximeter, Step counter with Auto goal, Round Timer/Odometer, Move bar alert, Sleep monitoring
• sleep monitor tells you how long you have been in light, deep, or REM sleep and when you were in each sleep stage
• Sports apps included – Preloaded activity profiles measure and calculate metrics for Indoor Rowing, Running, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Cycling, Indoor Biking, Pool Swimming
• Golfing features include – slope adjusted distances, preloaded with 41,000 course maps worldwide, overhead full vector color course maps, aerial views of each hole, distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, convenient list of layup and carry distances to most hazards for each hole, layup and dogleg distances, shot tracking, club tracking, pinpoint blindspot assistance, touch targeting, advanced swing training features (Swing Strength and Tempo Training), save locations of hazards or any other objects not seen on the course maps
• Vibration alerts – watch vibrates when you receive notifications or alerts
• 20 hour battery life per charge
Cons
• Really expensive (approximately $500)
• No sleep score
• Cannot listen to Spotify playlist without smartphone
• Sports apps measures and calculates fewer metrics than the sports apps for the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and 3
• No customized workouts
Garmin Approach S60 Golf Watch with Slope (No Heart Rate Monitor)
The Garmin Approach S60 has the second best set of golf features. It comes with slope compensation, 2D overhead views of each hole, and a step counter, apps for tracking Running, Swimming, and Cycling activities, and sleep monitor but it has no heart rate monitor.
A more affordable alternative to the Garmin S60 is the S40. Both the Garmin S40 and S60 track steps but only the S60 has slope and overhead views of each hole. However, the Garmin S40 has a 15 hour battery life in GPS mode while the S60 has a 50% shorter 10 hour battery life.
Garmin S60 Hole ViewLearn More
Pros
• Fitness tracker features include – Step counter (Pedometer), Round Timer/Odometer, Move bar alert, Auto goal, Sleep monitoring, Distance traveled, TrueUp
• Sports apps included – Preloaded activity profiles that track data for Indoor Rowing, Running, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Cycling, Indoor Biking, Pool Swimming
• Golfing features include – Preloaded with 41,000 course maps worldwide, full vector color course maps, aerial views of each hole, distances to the front, middle and back of the green, hazard distances, layup and dogleg distances, shot tracking, club tracking, slope adjusted distances, pinpoint blindspot assistance, touch targeting, advanced swing training features (Swing Strength and Tempo Training), compatible with the TruSwing golf swing sensor, save locations of hazards or any other obstacles or objects not seen on the course maps
• Vibration alerts – watch vibrates when you receive notifications or alerts
Cons
• Expensive (price > $300)
• No wrist-based heart rate monitor
• movement-based sleep tracking will only estimate if you are awake or if you are in a light or deep level of sleep but it will not tell you what sleep stage you ar ein
• Sports apps measures and calculates fewer metrics than the sports apps for the Garmin Vivoactive 3
• No customized workouts
• Cannot listen to Spotify playlist without smartphone
• Short 10 hour (2+ rounds) battery life per charge
Bushnell ION Elite Golf GPS watch
Bushnell is well-known for their innovations that make their golf laser rangefinders the best in the market but they also have a few golf gps units for sale including the Bushnell ION Elite Golf GPS watch. The Bushnell ION Elite comes some of the same innovations found in their laser rangefinders including their world famous “Elements” feature that adjusts distances based on elevation changes, temperature, and barometric pressure. This watch will also provide headwind and crosswind data so that you can factor in the wind when deciding how to hit your next shot.
Pros
• Affordable (suggested list price: $199.99)
• Slope compensation
• Heart rate monitor
• Accurate shot distances – “Elements” adjusted distances that account for elevation changes, temperature, and barometric pressure
• Headwind and crosswind data makes it easier to make the correct adjustments to your swing
Cons
• No heart rate variability or VO2 max readings
Apple Watch 9 Smartwatch with Golf GPS App
The Apple Watch 9 has the best fitness tracking features of any watch in this article and it is also the only one that comes with a speaker and microphone for making and receiving phone calls and listening to your music. It comes with a step counter, sleep monitor, heart rate monitor, pulse oximeter, and ECG app for recording your heart data.
However, it does not come with any of the best golf features from the Garmin S62 built-in. If you want to gain access to slope compensation, virtual caddie, wind direction and speed, blindshot directional compass, shot and club tracking, and overhead views of each hole, you will have to download one of the golf apps from the Apple Store such as 18Birdies, Hole19, and Golfshot and pay a monthly fee.
It has the best looking display of any watch in this article because it uses Always-On Retina LTPO OLED technology, which has a maximum brightness of 2000 nits, and it has the highest display resolution, coming in at 484 x 396 pixels (~326 ppi density). It also has the largest screen with a 1.9-inch diagonal. The graphics are really bright, colorful, and beautiful. The lens is made of sapphire crystal glass which is more much impact resistant than the Corning Gorilla glass used by Garmin watches.
Pros
• Speaker and microphone for making and receiving phone calls
• ECG app – Takes an electrocardiogram of your heart
• 2000 song music storage capacity: Listen to up to 2000 songs from your Spotify playlists without your smartphone
• Beautiful graphics
• More accurate measurements than the Garmin Vivoactive 4 or Garmin Approach S62
• Tracks Tai Chi and Pilates workouts
• Meditation app
• Customized workouts
• On-device Siri can handle Siri voice commands without your iPhone nearby
• Double tap gesture control
• Crash detection
Cons
• Expensive (approximately $350 for GPS only or $400 for GPS and Cellular)
• Advanced Golf features including slope compensation and club recommendations require a monthly fee between $8-$20 or a yearly fee between $50-$100
• Short battery life
Garmin Approach X40 Golf Band with a Heart Rate Monitor
Garmin X40Learn MoreThe Garmin Approach X40 golf GPS watch has the same form factor as a Fitbit and it comes with a wrist-based heart rate monitor (which is missing in the Garmin S60), step counter (counts steps and calories burned), running app and sleep monitor. The Garmin Approach X40 is much cheaper than the Garmin S60 because it does not have slope compensation, advanced swing training features, color course maps, and only has a running app.
The Approach X40 has the form factor of a Fitbit fitness band and it also includes a step counter, move bar inactivity alert, sleep monitor and intensity minutes tracker. It will also record statistics for running but it does not have the hardware to track your cycling, swimming, rowing, skiing or snowboarding activities the way the Vivoactive 3 and S60 can.
Pros
• Similar dimensions to a Fitbit: Width: 0.83” (21.1 mm), Regular circumference of watch band: 5.4”-7.7” (137-195 mm), X-large circumference of watch band: 6.4″-8.9″ (162-225 mm)
• Similar display size to a Fitbit: 1.00” x 0.42” (25.4 x 10.7 mm)
• Similar weight to a Fitbit: 1.1 oz (31 grams)
• Wrist-based Heart rate monitoring (does not require the purchase of a separate device) – There is a sensor on the back of the Garmin Approach X40. It should be worn above the wrist bone and it should be snug and it should not move while you are running or exercising. The Approach X40 will display your current heart rate in beats per minute (bpm) and seven-day average resting heart rate. You can tap the screen to view a graph of your measurements for the last 4 hours. If you buy this watch expecting it to have the heart rate features of the Garmin Fenix and Vivoactive watches then you will be disappointed like I was. I did not like that it did not track your heart rate variability like the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and 3 and S70 do and it does not provide VO2 max readings because these two readings will help optimize your workout gains more than any others.
• Fitness tracker features include – Step counter (Pedometer), Round Timer/Odometer, Move bar alert, Auto goal, Sleep monitoring, Distance traveled, TrueUp, Preloaded running profile for recording GPS-based distance, tim,e and pace
• Golfing features include – Preloaded with 41,000 course maps worldwide, distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, hazard distances, layup and dogleg distances, shot tracking, club tracking
• Vibration alerts – watch vibrates when you receive notifications or alerts
Cons
• No heart rate variability or VO2 max readings
• No full vector color course maps
• No aerial views of each hole
• No touch-targeting (cannot find the distance to any location)
• No advanced swing training features
• No slope compensated distances
• Only one sport tracking app (running) with limited metrics
• Short battery life – 10 hours (2+ rounds) per charge
Garmin S40 Golf GPS Watch and Fitness Tracker (No Heart Rate Monitor)
The Garmin S40 Golf GPS Watch is a great dedicated golf watch with most of golf features that you would want including distances to pins and hazards and shot and club tracking. However, it does not have all of the fitness tracking features of the Garmin Vivoactive 4 or Garmin S60 which is why it is less expensive than both of these watches.
Like the Garmin S60, the Garmin S40 has a 1.2-inch color touchscreen, step counter, and sleep monitor but it does not have slope technology, color course maps, or aerial views of each hole.
The Garmin S40 does not have a heart rate monitor like the Garmin X40 does but it does have a step counter (counts steps and calories burned), move bar inactivity alert, and sleep monitor and 15-hour battery life that is 50% longer than the 10-hour battery life of the X40.
The Garmin S40 can track your running, cycling, and swimming activities but it cannot track your rowing, skiing, and snowboarding activities like the Garmin S60 can.
Garmin S40Learn More
Pros
• Fitness tracker features include – Step Counter (Pedometer), Round Timer/Odometer, Move bar alert, Auto goal, Sleep monitoring, Distance traveled, TrueUp
• Golfing features include – Preloaded with 41,000 course maps worldwide, distances to the front, middle and back of the green, hazard distances, layup and dogleg distances, shot tracking, club tracking
• Hazard Distances – layup and carry distances for each hazard on the course
• Touch-targeting – Get the distance to any location by touching the screen
• Sports tracking apps – apps for tracking running and cycling metrics
• Longest Battery life – 15 hours (3+ rounds) per charge is the longest of any golf and fitness watch
• Really affordable – The S40 is the cheapest dedicated golf watch that comes with hazard distances, shot and club tracking, a step counter, a sleep monitor, and a running app.
Cons
• movement-based sleep tracking cannot detect what sleep stage you are in
• No full vector color course maps
• No aerial views of each hole
• No advanced swing training features
• No slope compensated distances
• No vibration notifications or alerts – only comes with audio notifications or alerts
• No heart rate monitoring
• No apps for swimming, skiing, snowboarding, or paddleboarding
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which gps smartwatches track running, swimming, and golf and come with a heart rate monitor?
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 as well as both the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and X40 GPS smartwatches track swimming and golf and come with wrist-based heart rate monitors. These monitors will display your heart rate measurements in beats per minute (bpm) in a graph for a 4 hour period.
Which Golf GPS watch comes with a step counter that measures your daily steps?
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 as well as the Garmin Vivoactive 3 and Garmin S60, S40, X40 and S20 golf GPS watches all come with a step counter (pedometer) that will count your daily steps and will also calculate a (personalized or auto-adjusted) daily step goal and save step data from previous days. They all come with an Auto goal feature that will automatically create a daily step goal based on your previous activity levels. As you move during the day, the device shows your progress toward your daily goal. If you prefer, you can set a personalized step goal on your Garmin Connect account instead.
What fitness activity tracker features should you look for in a golf gps watch?
These types of golf and fitness watches contain a built-in GPS which will enable them to record the details of your chosen activity, including the distance, pace, location, and more for your outdoor activities, so no phone connection will be required.
Pedometer – The pedometer will count your steps, determine a daily step goal based on previous measurements and calculates how many calories you burned doing various activities
move bar inactivity alert – The move bar alert will remind you to keep moving after a period of inactivity.
sleep monitor – The sleep monitor will monitor total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep and you will be able to view various sleep statistics (including total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement).
Intensity minutes tracker: Tracks time spent participating in moderate to vigorous activities, your weekly intensity minutes goal, and progress toward your goal.
Sports apps that record statistics for indoor, outdoor, athletic, and fitness activities – The Garmin Vivoactive 3 comes with more than 15 sports apps including Running, Cycling, Swimming, Rowing, Skiing and Snowboarding. The S60 will record statistics for much fewer sports. The X40 will only record statistics for Running. The X20 will not record statistics for any fitness activities besides walking.
What golfing features should you look for in a golf watch?
Course maps – Only the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and Garmin S60 will display a color course map with all of the fairways, greens and bunkers on them.
Distances to the green – All of these golf watches will display distances to the front, middle and back of the green.
Hazard distances – The Garmin Vivoactive 3, X40 and S20 will display layup and carry distances to the front and back of each hazard. The Garmin S60 will display the hazards on the course and you can tap the screen to get the distance information.
Dogleg and layup marker distances – All four watches will also display dogleg distances and layup marker distances that tell you when the location is 100, 150, 20,0 and 250 (if appropriate) yards to the pin.
Shot and club tracking – They will also include shot and club tracking. After the round is over, you will be able to view the shot locations and distances, and clubs used for each shot on a 3D overhead course map.
Slope (Elevation) Compensation – Only the Garmin S60 comes with slope compensation. This “plays like” distance feature accounts for any elevation changes on the course by displaying the adjusted distance right below the non-adjusted distance to the location. There will be an up arrow displayed alongside if the distance plays longer than expected due to an elevation change and a down arrow will be displayed if the distance plays shorter. If there is no elevation change and the distance plays as expected, then a negative sign will be displayed.
Vibration Alerts – The S60, Vivoactive ,3 and X40 will vibrate (if turned on) because of the move bar alert. The S20 only comes with audio alerts.
