Garmin Approach S20 Golf GPS Watch Review
Garmin S20 Club TrackingLearn MoreThe Garmin Approach S20 has many great golf and fitness tracking features. It is a great affordable golf watch that comes with a step counter, sleep monitor, automatic shot tracking, manual club tracking, smartphone notifications, and it will give you distances to the greens, hazards, doglegs and layup markers.
Unfortunately, it will not compensate distances for slope (elevation changes) and it does not come with a touchscreen, color display, overhead views of each hole, touch targeting, blindshot assistance or heart monitor. However, the S20 has been discontinued by the manufacturer. A great alternative to the S20 is the Garmin S40.
The S40 has all of the features in the S20 as well as a better looking display, metal bezel and running and cycling apps. The S40 is very similar to the S60. To read more about the S40 and S60, please read this article: Garmin s60 vs s40 – Which is better?
Another decent golf watch is the Garmin S10. The Garmin Approach S20 is better than the S10, which is cheaper but lacks fitness and shot tracking features, and it is one of the most affordable Garmin golf watches with a step counter and shot tracking and it has a really long battery life of 15 hours or 3 rounds on one charge.
Cheapest Garmin watch with fitness tracking features – The Garmin S20 golf watch and fitness tracker does not have a heart rate monitor but it has some nice fitness tracking features including a step counter and sleep monitor. The S20 has the lowest price of any watch with shot tracking, fitness tracking features, and a long battery life.
Longest battery life of any Garmin golf watch – On a single charge, the battery for the S20 will last for 15 hours in GPS mode which should give you 3 rounds of golf before you have to recharge the battery. In watch mode, the battery will last for 8 weeks.
List of Hazard distances for Garmin S20 – The Garmin S20 will display the layup and carry distances to the front and back of all water hazards and sand traps for each hole. Only one hazard will be displayed at a time. You can see the other hazards for each hole by pressing a button.
Lighter, smaller and more comfortable – The S20 weighs less and has a smaller display than the more expensive golf watches which makes it a little more comfortable to wear while you are swinging a golf club.
Ease of use – The Garmin S20 is much easier to use because the hazard, layup and dogleg distances are already calculated and displayed for you at the click of a button.
People with big fingers will have a tough time with a tiny touchscreen – If you have big fingers, then you might have problems with tapping on a tiny touchscreen to get the distance information to a water hazard, sand trap or dogleg. It does not come with a touchscreen so you can only access the different screens by pressing the buttons on the side of the watch which is great for people who don’t like swiping up or down to go to the next screen.
View shot locations with the AutoShot round analyzer and Garmin Connect – The S20 comes with an AutoShot round analyzer that tracks your shots, measures distances and records shot locations for post-round analysis on your Garmin Connect online golf community account. You will be able to view your shot locations on a 3-D overhead course map, other details for each round or analyze your cumulative stats over time or by club, and view your swing data. Also you can save swing sessions for later review.
Garmin Approach S20 Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Fitness Tracking features – includes move bar inactivity alert, sleep monitor, step counter, automatic daily step goal and displays calories burned and distance traveled List of Layup and Dogleg distances – The newer Garmin golf watches will display a list of distances for doglegs and layup markers for each par 4 and 5 hole. Automatic shot tracking (comes with AutoShot round analyzer) – Automatically detects your shots (except for putts and chip shots around the green) and enables you to view the shot locations and distances on an 3D overhead course map after the round is over. Manual Club tracking – You can manually enter the clubs you used for each shot so the watch will keep track of the clubs used as well as the average shot distance for each club. When you upload your round information to Garmin connect, it will show you where each of your shots went and shot distances for each club. Smartphone Notifications – read your emails, texts, etc. on your watch Digital Scorecard – easily keeps track of your score throughout your round Stat tracking – keep track of strokes, putts per round, greens in regulation and fairways hit Hazard Information – The newer Garmin golf watches will display hazard information. The S20 will display the layup and carry distances for each hazard. Each screen only displays distance information for one hazard. | • Unfortunately, the Garmin S20 does not come with a wrist based heart rate monitor. • No touchscreen for the S20 – For the S20, you will have to use the side buttons the make menu selections. No touch targeting – You cannot touch any point on the course map and get the distance to that spot. No overhead course maps for S20 – Most Garmin watches do not come with an overhead course map for each hole that shows fairways, bunkers and greens. No Slope Adjusted Distances – The calculated distances for the S20 will not take into account the uphill and downhill elevation changes on the course Very few Sports Tracking Features – The S20 has no sports tracking features so it cannot track the pace, distance and location of your running activities. No vibrating feature for smartphone notifications or alarm – The S20 comes with an audio tone that will tell you when you have smartphone notifications or your alarm has gone off Cannot view entire scorecard or golf statistics on the watch – The S20 does not allow you to see your entire scorecard or statistics on the watch. Instead, you will have to wait until your round is over before you can upload the information to your Garmin Connect mobile app to see that information. |
Garmin Approach S10 vs S20
The Garmin Approach S10 is a lower budget version of the Garmin S20 except without the fitness features and shot and club tracking. The biggest difference between the Garmin Approach S10 and S20 is that only the S20 has a step counter, sleep monitor, and shot and club trackers and it also has a longer battery life but the S10 is cheaper, smaller, and weighs less. Also only the S20 has an inactivity alert, smartphone notifications, and audio alerts.
Garmin Approach S20 vs S40
The biggest difference between the Garmin Approach S20 and S40 is that the S40 has a 1.2″ diameter circular color touchscreen with a resolution of 240 x 240 pixels while the S20 has a smaller 0.9″ x 0.9″ square shaped monochrome non-touchscreen with a lower resolution of 128 x 128 pixels. Also only the S40 has a metal bezel and running, cycling and swimming apps while the S20 does not come with any sports apps.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does the Garmin S20 come with shot tracking?
Garmin S20 Green ViewLearn MoreOnly the Garmin S20 comes with the AutoShot round analyzer that will automatically track your shots and allow you to view your shot locations on your Garmin Connect account – The Garmin Approach S20 golf watch comes with an AutoShot round analyzer that will automatically detect and track your shots along the fairway, measures distances and records shot locations for post-round analysis on your Garmin Connect online golf community account. However, it will not record most putts and chip shots. It will record the distance and location of each of the shots that were detected. You will be able to view this information online after the round is over. You will be able to see the hole and where each of your shots went along with the distance of each shot. You will be able to view your shot locations on a 3-D overhead course map, other details for each round or analyze your cumulative stats over time or by club, and view your swing data. Also you can save swing sessions for later review.
Does the Garmin S20 come with smartphone notifications?
Smartphone notifications with audio tone alert – audio tone alert will tell you that you have an email, text or alert from your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone and you will be able to read the full text on your watch. No vibration alert feature is available.
Does the Garmin S20 come with club tracking?
Manual Club tracking – Enables you to track the clubs used and the average distance for each club. If club tracking is enabled, the watch will ask you to select the club used after each shot and the ball distance will automatically be assigned to each club. If you forget to select a club for the shot, you can go to Garmin Connect and select the club there.
Does the Garmin S20 come with any fitness tracking features?
The Garmin S20 comes with fitness tracking features including a pedometer (step counter) that has an automatic daily step goal and counts your calories burned, move bar inactivity alert, odometer (distance traveled) and sleep monitor.
Does the Garmin S20 come with free course updates?
CourseView automatic course updates – automatically updates the most frequently played courses on your Garmin S20 for free
Is the Garmin S20 compatible with the TruSwing golf swing sensor?
TruSwing golf swing sensor compatible (TruSwing golf swing sensor must be purchased separately) – When you pair the Garmin S20 watch with the TruSwing sensor, the sensor will provide you with accurate metrics needed to identify and correct any faulty swing mechanics that affect ball flight and shot results. The metrics include swing tempo, speed, club-path measurements, critical club angles and more.
Is there a user manual for the Garmin Approach S20?
Yes there is. You can access this pdf manual with information about the different features by clicking on this link: Garmin Approach S20 user pdf manual. If you want to read the web version of this manual, then please click on this link Garmin approach S20 user guide instead.
Are there any video tutorials for the Garmin Approach S20?
Yes there are. You can watch the video tutorials by clicking on this link: Garmin Approach S20 Video Tutorials.
