Garmin Approach S42, GPS Golf Smartwatch, Lightweight with 1.2" Touchscreen, 42k+ Preloaded Courses, Silver Ceramic Bezel and White Silicone Band, 010-02572-11

This is a great mid-level option for a great golf watch. I've tried a few other watches and devices that proved to be of limited value or were just to cumbersome and intrusive to use during play. The S42 strikes a nice balance. Here are some responses to the negative reviews that I read and some thoughts...-Screen brightness. I'm not sure why some have an issue is here, it seems fine to me. Keep in mind that Garmin uses a transflective screen rather than an OLED/AMOLED screens of other devices. The transflective screen provides better visibility in direct harsh sun than other screens found on watches or tablets. It also does not require a backlight (but it has one to be readable unless in darkness). The downside is that resolution isn't as good as your Apple watch.... but we're keeping golf score and tracking distances, not watching 4k movies... so it is more than adequate. Also note that when you interact with the device, the backlight comes on briefly to help with visibility. The backlight then turns off very quickly in the factory setting... you can change this duration in the settings so that the backlight stays on longer... if you have an issue, just adjust the duration setting.-Acquiring satellites. My watch seemed to acquire satellites quickly (2-3 minutes) if kept open to the sky for just a few minutes. (it should be obvious, but do this outside!) It took even less time to acquire satellites on the second use. Pro-Tip: Set your watch up at home and get familiar with the functions, let it locate satellites in your area... there are some great videos and the manual is very straightforward. Don't wait til you get to the course to crack open the box with 10 minutes to your tee time!-Easy to use/ Easy to understand the UI. It is VERY simple to use. Very! The manual is simple and easy as is the device. As I said, just spend a few minutes playing with it before you get to the course... it's very intuitive. Even without the manual, it's pretty easy to figure things out. You will, however, get a better understanding of all the features if you watch some videos and read the manual.-Score keeping was really good, fast easy and you can track some stats and it will even do some club/shot tracking. I've used tons of devices for score from phone apps and watches, this one is one of the fastest and easiest even when tracking stats (# of putts, penalties, etc) It's nice to be able to play a round without pulling your phone out.-Club Shot tracking - This worked great. Really good even without the CT10 sensors. Just go into the app before hand and list the clubs in your bag. It picked up all my shots very well with the understandable exception of putts and light chips. You can review your shot history on a course map in the app and even make adjustments after play.-Accuracy - It was spot on. I read some other reviews that listed this as a problem. It was spot on for me all day.It's a price-point device... not the most feature rich but not barebones either. I think it strikes a great balance between providing some data and scoring and keeping it simple and fast to use without becoming a distraction out on the course.

I absolutely love this attractive and useful watch! I had the previous S40 model and it finally died (stopped charging) after a few years. This one is more feminine looking and is exactly what I need on the golf course. It's very accurate in yardage. Don't hesitate in purchasing if you are a lady golfer ;)

Purchased the White with silver. It's very sharp looking and has so many smart functions. It did take me charging and downloading to Garmin Connect to get the watch fully functional but once I did I realized how great of a watch it is. I did a lot of research and reviewing, even bought another Garmin watch to only return it because it didn't have all the functions I needed to make it an all in one watch that I was looking for. I play a lot of golf in Florida and in Michigan for the summers so I needed something that was sturdy, reliable and having all the other Smart watch functions to make this a one stop watch I can leave on for everything I need it for. I have a friend who literally wears two smart watches while playing golf, how silly is that. I am very pleased with my decision. Thank you Garmin!!!

I'm a professional caddie, and need a reliable, accurate GPS watch which doesn't go wonky during my loop. Although this is the most accurate of the 4 or 5 Golf GPS watches I've owned, it also has some annoying quirks. Here's my list of Pro and Con attributes of the Garmin Approach S42:Pro:1. The Approach S42 is by far the most accurate of any GPS watch I've ever used. I've compared yardages to both sprinkler head and laser rangefinder readings, and it's dead on. This is especially helpful when I'm caddying at someplace other than my home course for a USGA tournament or qualifier. During a practice round, I can make notes in my yardage book knowing that the distances are 100% good.2. I'm able to caddie for 36 consecutive holes and still have plenty of battery charge left.3. The readout is very visible in every light condition, and the graphics are razor sharp.4. The watch band is comfortable and fits over shirt, pullover, and rain jacket sleeves.CON:1. Initial Set-Up was a painful experience. Included instruction manual isn't well-written, and lacks sufficient detail.2. This watch is NOT good during a rainy golf round, unless set to lock screen all the time. When worn under the sleeve of my rain jacket, the GPS signal is blocked, and it starts defaulting to weird screens, like a close-up of the green when I'm still 200 yards out. Even worse, I have a heck of a time getting the watch to go back to the regular yardages screen. When I wear it outside of my jacket sleeve, the raindrops cause the touchscreen to change randomly. I've had to set the watch to automatically lock during the round, which makes it slow to display yardages to hazards...but that doesn't matter much, as I explain below.3. I'm not a fan of the way this watch shows distances to hazards, as it includes bunkers, etc, on adjacent fairways which aren't in play. I've stopped using this feature as a result, instead relying on my yardage book and laser sighting, or memory on my home course.4. I wish that this watch showed the time on the screen during the round. It's a pain to switch screens, when all I need is a quick glance to see how our group's pace of play is going. Plus sometimes when I switch to another screen, it won't go back to the regular yardage screen.5. The Bluetooth linkage with my computer and mobile phone was erratic, randomly choosing to display text message or email alerts sometimes, and then nothing 5 minutes later. I have noticed improvement after I switched to a higher-end iPhone with a lot more memory and battery capacity. To be honest, this isn't an essential feature for me.Bottom Line: If there was a way to have this GPS watch's amazing accuracy, easily-readable face, and comfortable band without all of the not-so-helpful features, plus display the time during the round, and work effectively in stormy weather, I'd be a happy caddie! (NOTE: I've owned lower-end models of Garmin golf GPS watches, and they've lacked the outstanding accuracy of this model. I'm willing to put up with the quirks, because precise yardages are much more important than anything else to me.)

This is the golf watch I've been looking for. It replaces both my old Fitbit fitness watch and a Bushnell Neo Ghost GPS golf yardage device. I normally wear reading glasses, but don't need them to read the golf info while playing a round. I do need my glasses to read notifications and other smaller text on the watch. Screen brightness and batter life are good. Overall, it's a great value for the price.