Garmin Approach S3 GPS Golf Watch

I've been playing golf for nearly 20 years and have never had any sort of ranger finder. I always relied on markers and such and mostly was pretty spot on. However, THIS WATCH HAS CHANGED MY GAME. First time out: -The night prior I charged the watch, too easy. The charging cradle is MAGNETIC and is dummy-proof. The next day I put it on and headed to the course. FEEL: I wear an "oversized" TIMEX watch (I have small wrists as well) and this fit like a brand new golf glove, AMAZING. It didn't get in the way of my swing nor my glove. DURABILITY: So far I've worn it once on the course for 18 holes and around town. There were some complaints on the durability of the band but this seems SOLID. I wouldn't wear this watch on any sort of endurance race or through the woods (unless you hit your ball there) but for the course and normal wear, this watch is as high of quality as I would have expected from Garmin. INTERFACE: As soon as I walked outside the time synced with GPS, NO PROGRAMMING NEEDED! The touch screen is great and EASILY navigable. I didn't notice the buttons on the side. They're nice if you use it to keep score (I haven't yet as I use Nike Golf 360 app) and the "distance" button (top right) is great for measuring shots, you push it from where you hit to where the ball landed, TOO EASY. Now I was able to actually see real-world number of my shots. AWESOME! USE DURING PLAY: I drove to the course and several courses around me came up, with the one I was at on top. I selected it and it started at hole one and gave me the distance to the pin, front, and back (as you see in most photos of the watch). Whenever I moved around the tee box, the numbers changed accordingly, and VERY QUICKLY. You can also use the distance to doglegs and the 150/200 yard markers. Finally knowing the distance to dog legs was GREAT! I was able to change up my teeing options and nail the doglegs instead of hitting a driver or 3 wood and wondering if they would stay on the fairway. GREAT TOOL! -After the tee shot, this watch was ABSOLUTE MONEY. I was able to stick a few greens and change my club options by knowing the EXACT distance to the pin. You can even physically move the pin on the "green view" which was also pretty amazing. -At one point the watch switched to another hole (as noted by another reviewer) but all I did was literally press UP or DOWN on the screen (top or bottom) and it switched to the hole that I was on and was accurate to the pin (I may have bumped or accidentally touched the screen). This ONLY HAPPENED ONCE and rest assured that it doesn't register wayward motions or touches, at least it didn't for me during the rest of the course. I'm not sure of the "downtime" between presses but you'll find yourself having to "swipe" across the screen to make changes. It's not a pain at all and I like the design. ODOMETER: I didn't realize until before I started that I could use the odometer to track my overall walking distance. It also keeps time via a timer and lets you see how fast you're playing as well. Pretty great! I finished walking 18 holes and also ran a 3 mile course afterward by MAPPING IT OUT with the watch. Too cool! I've never had a GPS watch before and this was great! UPDATING: When I returned home I plugged it into my computer with the included USB cable. On the watch face it gave me the website to go to (again, dummy proof!) I went there and had to download a small program (Garmin Express) and it quickly recognized my watch. There were 5 updates (2 watch software) to include map updates! Again, too easy. I had to restart the watch (top left button) and turn it back on for the updates to apply. Simple, fast, and easy. BOTTOM LINE: I haven't worn watches when golfing up until a few weeks ago (knowing that I wanted a GPS watch). It doesn't hinder my play or throw my swing off whatsoever. I personally believe that this is WAY BETTER than using a laser distance range finder (beats carrying it around!). Knowing distance to the hole (for me anyhow) allows me to also know the distances to any hazards (which the watch DOES NOT give you distances to). This IS NOT a deal breaker for me! -Having been jammed up after the 10th hole and falling out of rhythm, I nailed a +8, not bad given the windy conditions. Do I think that I was able to take strokes off with the watch? Absolutely. Before checking distance a couple of times I chose what club I thought I should use and then checked distance. A few times I changed clubs and stuck it right on the green; I was ecstatic! WHY I CHOSE THE S3: I was torn between the less expensive S1/2 and the more-expensive-with-more-features S6. For me I don't need anymore features than what the S3 has (I don't need the smartphone notification, color maps, swing tempo, etc). Here is a link to the comparison on the Garmin website (scroll down): [...] .These all seemed more than what I actually needed a distance finder for. If you want DISTANCE, GREEN VIEWS, ODOMETER, etc, this watch is perfect for you. If you want to keep track of phone calls and want color maps on your wrist, then get the more expensive watch (Me personally I don't care to know who is calling and the score cards and signs on the course ALREADY give you the course layout!) Also, for less than $199 this was a GREAT INVESTMENT and price point for me. Want SIMPLICITY but also some STYLE? Then this watch is for you. My girlfriend and a few buddies even commented on how nice it looked. The best in making your decision and I hope that this review was able to help out!

***UPDATE/3Sept12***Problem with wrong language? Read instructions below. The S3 does not post the par scores of previous holes by holding down the scoring button if they were not previously posted as gpscity states on youtube in their Keeping Score video. I also have found that the S3 will change holes too soon sometimes, which can lead to scoring errors if you haven't noticed that it has advanced to the next hole before scoring. What I do now as a work around is, I press the scoring button as I get onto the green so it can't move to the next hole before I score the current hole. It doesn't happen often, but messes the scoring up when it does and you don't notice. I've suggested to Garmin that they need to do a firmware upgrade that requires the S3 to look and see if the hole was scored before it moves to the next hole...This would solve my biggest complaint with this GPS watch...Otherwise its been great so far with about 10 rds played with it. ***UPDATE/17Sept12*** The best way to move the pin in "Green View" is to touch your finger dead center of the green(vertical/horizontal cross lines will appear). While still touching the screen, ROLL your finger in the direction of the current pin location. As you roll your finger, watch the cross lines to estimate the new location. This works pretty good in getting the pin location where you need it....This should be in Garmins instructions. ***Language Fix*** For people that have a problem with a foreign language being displayed...Which I did, do this: 1) Touch to go to the menu screen at the right side of the S3. You will need to unlock the display. 2) Tap the up arrow 2 times. This will put the Setup selection in the middle section of the display. 3) Select Setup in the middle of the display, then tap the up arrow 2 times. This will put the Language selection in the middle section of the display. 4) Select Language in the middle of the display and then tap the Up/Down arrows to find English language. Tap English to select it. Have used the S3 twice. I think there may be a minor glitch with the scoring. I'm not sure about this and will verify what's going on during my next few rounds. It sometimes does not score if you have a par and go to scoring the hole...Don't touch anything, as it is already scored at par and then go back to yardage screen...I will try touching the screen for pars and not touching the screen before I move back to the yardage screen and move on to the next hole. Again, I need to verify this and I understand that if you get a par on one hole...2,3 or 4 holes in a row (without scoring them) and then get a...SNOWMAN. When you get the Snowman and change the score for the hole to 8 you will need to hold the score button down to post the previous par's. If you don't do this, they will not get posted on the score card. The instructions say nothing about this. I got that from here: ([...]) I didn't do any updates so I don't know about that problem that someone had. Looks like 4 hours of play leaves the battery at 50% level from my experience. Great little Golf GPS/Watch...I wear it loosely on my left wrist...which works out, as my glove stops the S3 from sliding down my wrist. After 2 rounds I don't think about it anymore. I just hope the battery can be replaced as there is no mention of this anywhere in the manual.

Purchased a golf GPS watch from them for my husband for Christmas. I ordered it on Dec. 1st and it was supposed to arrive no later than the 10th. On the 15th, still no watch, so they re shipped the watch which arrived on the 24th. All is good until my husband goes golfing and uses his watch. A few problems, but figured he just needed to read up on it a little more. No more golfing until Jan 13th, he got to use the watch. Weather had not permitted him to go golfing before that time. Watch didn't work. Sent email to to seller and was told their return time had passed. Three weeks from time received. After emails back and forth, they offered store credit as they no longer carried GPS golf watches of any kind. They got very nasty with me and ended up rescinding their offer for store credit and refused to do anything. Best of luck to anyone who has to deal with these people. Check out the small print before purchasing!

Purchased this in December and updated the software and courses as soon as I received it. Was able to use it on two rounds before it turned too cold. Some of my impressions: the watch is so light you won't notice that you have it on, and did not affect my swing at all. I have a casio G force watch, and the weight and size of it and the S3 are similar. The S3 picked up satellites and loaded the course in what I think was less than a minute the first time, the next round was even faster. I turned it on after the clubs were loaded on the cart, and it was ready to go by the time we reached the tee box. Auto advance worked flawless, but even if it didn't, advancing to the next hole is just a tap on the screen. I compared the yardage against a Bushnell Yardage Pro that I had used to hand map each hole on the course I was on. The yardages generally were within one yard, I was very pleased! The S3 will allow you to map five spots per hole, such as the carry distance over a water hazard. I haven't done that yet, but plan to when it warms up. Also didn't use it enough to be able to tell about battery life, but will update when I use it more. I really didn't know if I would like the S3, but after using just twice, I don't plan to use the bushnell much, the convenience of looking at my wrist and seeing the yardage, plus not worrying about leaving the handheld somewhere, or getting it stolen off the cart, makes me never want to go back. The best, most convenient golf Gps I have ever used! Update: Have used the S3 multiple rounds. Still love it. Battery life is not as long as I would like, but I used it in a tournament, it made it through a long 18 with plenty of power, but I recharged it just to make sure it would make it through the next day. Recharging is fast and easy, so no problems. The course we played at had the tee boxes very close to the greens, 30-40 yards apart, and my Bushnell yardage pro xgc would not advance holes, but the S3 had no advancement problems and the yardages between the two were spot on. I have not had any problems with screen changes, and the S3 has worked flawlessly for about a year now. I still highly recommend the Garmin S3.

Great golf accessory. I love wearing any kind of watch so wearing one while golfing that gives me great information during my round Is terrific. The S3 is the best watch for the money because it has the touchscreen capabilities. It easily keeps score, tells you how long any shot goes that you want to track, and the cool feature of moving the pin location for better accuracy on the green side view. I don't need my phone apps or laser rangefinder when I'm walking the course with the S3. Helps to keep that bag lighter! It is very helpful in addition to your other golf tools while riding too. Plug it into your computer to view all your score cards. It would receive a 5 star except for 2 things: the battery life doesn't quite make 2 rounds and you CAN NOT but it in white...only black. White is an option but it quickly fades to an ugly off white/yellow after a year of golf in the sun. The S4 or newer S6 may address these issues. The S3 is very reliable and accurate and convenient to keep up with your game at glance.

I read all the reviews and had some trepidations but this turned out to be a fanastic little gadget. Its very accurate (as compared to course markings), extremely convient, very intuitive to use and has great features - I particularly like the score keeping and measuremet features. I was concerned about some of the issues people had written about as follows: Language issues - no issue as my Garmin was already set to English; software updating issues - true, the website they specified in the manual does not exist but I just clicked on the help/support button on the Garmin site and very quickly found the software update information (note that I'm pretty much a computer illiterate). Updating was a snap, literally; freezing up - if this was an issue they fixed it with updated software as I have not experienced any such issue; charging problems - absolutely no issue; slow to access satelite - mine accesses in less than a minute. There are a couple of minor things they probably could have done better: you do have to swipe the unlock feature more than a couple of times to unlock the watch. It does not provide hazard information (but there is a save location feature that's pretty neat). Battery life will last for 36 holes only if you're playing quickly, otherwise, count on 27 holes. These are the only cons I can think of and none would cause me to give less than a 5 star rating. This little gem may not improve my swing but its a joy to use and I'm sure I'll be refining my club distance knowledge to improve my overall game now that I have a convient measurement tool at the tip of fingers (or on my wrist).

Just bought this and used it for 4 rounds with temps in the 50-60's. I wanted something that was easier and quicker to use as compared to a laser rangefinder. It appears to be very accurate, you can readily find the course you're going to play, it's easy to learn to use and logical, and it automatically advanced from hole to hole every time. It's visible in the sun, and the lettering is large enough to read without reading glasses. (I use 1.5 drug store reading glasses.) The watch is thick, but I had no problem wearing it, even though I don't otherwise wear a watch when I play. On the downside, you can't play two rounds in two days on a single battery charge -- you must charge after every round. I got through 27 holes on one day fine. The charger is funky, and difficult to attach to the back of the watch - definitely needs improvement!!! One night I thought it was attached correctly, but it wasn't, and did not charge. The charging indicator is a teensy icon on the watch display that requires reading glasses to see if it's charging. Why not have an LED to easily see if it's charging? The wall plug is also odd -- it sticks out 3-1/2 inches from the wall with the USB charging cord plugged in. I was sure to shut down the GPS function as soon as I ended the round to conserve battery, and I think just the watch alone might last a few days on a single charge -- I would be surprised if anyone would use this as their watch, though, except for the balance of the day after their round. So, am I returning this? No. Would I buy recommend you to buy? A qualified yes, as I'd want to see what else is out there now that I've experienced this one. I hope this helps your decision.

First I don't normally write reviews, but this one deserves one. I've now played 4 rounds using this device and I love it. This unit has been flawless since I got it. I have a Mac and everything just worked including an easy to do course update, no software glitches to speak of that others have written about. My buddy that I golf with uses a Bushnell Range Finder and this thing has been dead on, especially when I move the pin location to where the pin is located on the green. Lay up distances are easy to get to and use which I like a lot as well as the score card. I love having all of this on my watch so I don't have to fumble around with my old upro, which for some reason always got dropped or left behind on the course. Watch is a tad bulky, but I don't find that it gets in the way of my swing, don't even really notice I'm wearing it anymore. The only thing this little thing is missing is the hazard locations, but most of the courses I play I already know distances. If I'm playing a new course I always still have the good old upro for hazards if I need it. Anyway, yes, I would highly recommend this Garmin S3 to anyone that just wants a simple to use GPS unit that's always in eye shot. I'm very happy.

I bought this item as a present 4 my husband. Hes really well impressed wth it He says its improved his game as well