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Key Takeaways
Both the Garmin S62 and Fenix 7 have the most important golf features including full-color course maps with zoom and pan features, slope compensation, shot and club tracking, blindshot directional compass, a virtual caddie, and a wind gauge.
There is only one version of the Garmin S62. However, there exist many different versions of the Garmin Fenix 7 that come with different case sizes and lenses.
The Garmin S62 has a 47mm case size while the Garmin Fenix 7 comes in 42mm, 47mm, and 51mm case sizes. The 42mm version is known as the Garmin Fenix 7S, the 47mm version is known as the Garmin Fenix 7, and the 51mm version is known as the Garmin Fenix 7X.
There is a Pro model for the Garmin Fenix 7S, 7, and 7X that includes a more advanced heart rate monitor, ECG (electrocardiogram) app, and built-in LED flashlight.
The Garmin Fenix 7S, 7, and 7X are also available in Solar and Sapphire Solar Editions. The Solar editions come with Power Glass solar charing lenses that collect solar energy while the Sapphire Solar editions come with Power Sapphire solar charging lenses.
Both the Garmin S62 and Fenix 7 come with heart rate monitors.
The Garmin S62, Fenix 7, and Fenix 6 GPS watches are some of the highest rated fitness and golf smartwatches for everyday use. All three series of watches can calculate distances to the front, middle, and back of the putting green and they can track your steps, heart rate, sleep time, and blood oxygen saturation levels.
Garmin wanted to make the S62 the best golf GPS watch on the market so it comes with unique golf features not found in the older models of the Garmin Fenix 7 and 6. These golf features include a wind gauge and virtual caddie that recommends which clubs to use and a wind gauge. However, if you update the system software on your Fenix 7 to the latest version, then all models in the Garmin Fenix 7 series come with a virtual caddie and wind gauge.
However, the Garmin S62 does not track as many metrics for the other sports, including running, swimming, cycling, and strength training, as the Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 do.
The Garmin Approach S62 was released to the market in January 2020, 2.5 years after the release of its predecessor, the Garmin S60, was released in July 2017. If you do a Garmin S60 vs S62 comparison, you will realize that the Garmin Approach S62 is one of the best dedicated golf watches on the market because it comes with virtual caddie club recommendations, a wind gauge, blood oxygen saturation level measurements, and a wrist-based heart rate monitor.
The Garmin Fenix 6 was designed more for outdoor activities like running so it definitely does not have as many golf features as the Garmin S62. The standard Garmin Fenix 6 was released in August 2019. There are many different models of the Garmin Fenix 6 including the Fenix 6S Standard, Pro, Sapphire, and Solar with a 42mm case size, Fenix 6 Standard, Pro, Sapphire, and Solar with a 47mm case size, and Fenix 6X Pro, Pro Solar, and Sapphire with a 51mm case size.
The Garmin Fenix 7 is the successor to the Garmin Fenix 6 and it comes with more golf and fitness features. The Garmin Fenix 7 was released in January 2022. There are many different models of the Garmin Fenix 7 including the Fenix 7S Standard, Solar, and Pro Sapphire Solar with a 42mm case size, Fenix 7 Standard, Solar, and Pro Sapphire Solar with a 47mm case size, and Fenix 7X Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar with a 51mm case size.
Garmin’s newest golf watch, the Garmin S70, is better than the S62 because they upgraded the virtual caddie to take elevation into account and it can store up to 2000 songs from your Spotify or Amazon Music playlist. Read this article to learn how the Garmin S70 compares to the S62: Garmin s70 vs s62 comparison chart.
Clock Features (includes time, date, GPS Time Sync, Automatic daylight saving time, Alarm clock, Sunrise/sunset times)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Face It watch face creator - download a watch face or upload your own photo
Yes
Yes
Yes
Smartwatch mode
Up to 14 days
Up to 10 days
Up to 10 days
GPS mode
Up to 20 hours
Up to 10 hours
Up to 10 hours
QuickFit watch bands - change your stylish watch band without tools to match your activity
Yes
Yes
Yes
Memory/history
1 GB
1 GB
1 GB
Golf Features Comparison
Since the Garmin S62 is a dedicated golf watch, you would expect it to have many golf features not found in the Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 and you would be right. However, the Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 have more great golf features than you think.
The Garmin S62, Fenix 7, and Fenix 6 GPS watches all come with distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, distances to doglegs, layup markers, water hazards, and sand bunkers, touch distance targeting, PinPointer directional compass for blind shots, and shot and club tracking.
Also only the Garmin S62 and Fenix 7 come with slope compensation, also known as the PlaysLike Distance feature, which will adjust distances for uphill and downhill shots. Among these three watches, the Garmin Fenix 6 has the fewest amount of golf features. The most important golf features that the standard Fenix 6 is lacking are slope compensation and full vector color course maps which contain aerial views of all of the holes and will display a graphical representation of the fairways, bunkers, hazards, and putting greens. However, the Fenix 6 Pro and Sapphire come with these features but they cost about $100 more than the standard Fenix 6.
The best golf features that are only found in the Garmin S62 include Swing Tempo training for achieving the perfect golf swing tempo, a virtual caddie that will give you club recommendations for each shot, and wind speed and direction that are used to give you better club suggestions.
If you have a difficult time deciding which club to use for each shot, then the virtual caddie feature will be a godsend. However, if it were up to me, I would buy the Garmin Fenix 7 instead because it has a lot more fitness tracking features.
Case Sizes
The Garmin S62 has a 47mm case size while there are three different case sizes for the Garmin Fenix 7 to choose from including 42mm, 47mm, and 51mm.
Course Maps
All models of the Garmin Approach S62, Fenix 7, and Fenix 6 are preloaded with more than 43,000 course maps. You will be able to pan and zoom over these course maps to see every detail of each golf course including all of the fairways, sand bunkers, water hazards, putting greens, and trees.
Hazard Information
All models of the Garmin S62, Fenix 7, and Fenix 6 have a list of layup and carry distances for each hazard. You will only be able to see the layup and carry distances for one hazard at a time. To see the other hazard distances, you will have to press the arrow icons.
Fitness Tracking Features Comparison
All three watches have the best fitness tracking features of a FitBit fitness band including a step counter, calories burned counter, sleep monitor, wrist-based heart rate monitor, and pulse oximeter for measuring your blood oxygen saturation level.
The Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 are built for tracking recreational activities besides golf including running, swimming, and cycling which means they will track many metrics that the Garmin S62 will not.
Running
The Garmin S62 is not a great running watch because it will use its GPS system to only track the distance, time, and pace of your outdoor and indoor tracking running. The Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 are much better running watches because they will track the distance, time, and pace of your outdoor and indoor tracking running, treadmill running, trail running, virtual running, and ultra running. They will also track many more running metrics including stride length, cadence, and lactate threshold. They also come with running pace guidance for different terrains, daily run recommendations, run workouts, and predicted finish times based on your previous runs.
Cycling
The Garmin S62 is lacking many of the cycling features found in the Garmin Fenix 6 and 7. It will only track the distance, time, and heart rate of your outdoor and indoor biking activities. The Garmin Fenix 7 and 6 will track the distance, time, and heart rate of your outdoor and indoor biking, road biking, mountain biking, bike commuting, eBiking, and eMountain Biking. They also come with many more cycling features including racing against one of your previous rides and tracking your cadence, speed, pedaling, and riding position.
Music Storage and Playback
All models of the Garmin Fenix 7 and Fenix 6 (except for the standard version of the Fenix 6) come with enough music storage to store up to 2,000 songs from your Spotify playlist which means you can listen to your Spotify playlist without a smartphone.
The Garmin S62, Fenix 7 (Standard, Solar, and Pro Sapphire Solar), and Fenix 6 (Standard, Pro, Sapphire, and Solar) GPS watches all come with a 1.3 inch touchscreen display and a display resolution of 260 x 260 pixels.
The Garmin Fenix 7S (Standard, Solar, and Pro Sapphire Solar) and Fenix 6S (Standard, Pro, Sapphire, and Solar) GPS watches all come with a 1.2 inch touchscreen that is 17% smaller than the 1.3 inch display of the watches mentioned above. They all have a display resolution of 240 x 240 pixels.
All models of the Garmin Fenix 7X (Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar) and Fenix 6X (Pro, Pro Solar, and Sapphire) have a 1.4-inch diameter touchscreen and a display resolution of 280 x 280 pixels.
Battery Life Comparison
In GPS mode, the S62 has a 20 hour battery life while the standard Fenix 6 has a 36 hour battery life and the standard Fenix 7 has a 57 hour battery life.
In smartwatch mode, both the S62 and standard Fenix 6 have a battery life of 14 days while the standard Fenix 7 have a battery life of 18 days.
Solar charging
The Garmin Fenix 6S Solar, Fenix 6 Solar, Fenix 6X Pro Solar, Fenix 7S Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar, Fenix 7 Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar, and Fenix 7X Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar are all powered by solar-charged batteries that are charged with sunlight.
The Garmin S62 and the other Fenix 6 and 7 models are powered by batteries that are charged via a USB cable.
