Garmin S62 Thread

[fundustrial]

I bought one recently and used for a decent number of rounds. Used to use a rangefinder and was skeptical if I’d find the S62 worth it.

I have to say I really like it and for me it’s worth it, even if I use it only for golf. Battery life is great, distance updates are instant and map view and hazard distances are super useful (especially when playing courses you’re not familiar with).

Only downside is I don’t find the screen to be of as high quality as say that of the Apple Watch but it’s good enough for golf.

[Bamabowtie]

Your health insurance most likely gives you 20% off Garmin, I know BCBS does. Also, you can download the Miles app and it will give you 20% off all Garmin products just for signing up.

[Bamabowtie]

Does anyone find it difficult or take some getting use to playing with a watch of this size on? I just tried on the S62 is it’s pretty large, I could see it interfering with my glove. I’ve just never played with a wristwatch on so I don’t know if it could/would affect anything in my swing.

[JMH1220]

I wear the Forerunner 935. NP there. How much bigger is S62?

[dcmidnight]

You get used to it very quickly. The S6 had a tendency to button-press if it hit your glove. I havent seen one instance of that with the S62, the buttons are definitely a little stiffer and I dont see any way (knock on wood) that it would happen. If you've had an older Garmin watch and one of the newer ones you know what I mean, its just seems like one of those things they really paid attention to.

[tjl48]

Just to follow up on this. Garmin did replace my watch. Very easy process and only took a week from when I shipped until I got my new watch.

[Stuart_G]

Glad it's gotten better for you with the s62, but I'd be careful about making generalizations. I have tons of problems with that on my s60 - enough to drive me crazy sometimes. But I never had an issue with my older S3.

[Sgidurango]

I got my factory refurbished S60 (white) for $250 and really like it. I can easily deal with the battery life because I do not play more than 18 holes per day and do not use the workout functions. That said, I will upgrade to the S62 when the price comes down, there is a big sale or refurbished units are available.

[Howie]

Didn't see any comments on the wind feature. How accurate have you found it to be? From where does it pull its wind data? Is it useful or gimmicky?

Thanks.

[fundustrial]

Wind data is pulled from phone; after I start my round I load up the Golf app and it syncs to the watch. Seems accurate enough?

[Howie]

Thanks. Wondered as to the source of the wind data (i.e., what source is feeding the Golf app?) in order to determine how often the information was being updated. Is it an hourly update from the nearest airport location or more of a real time data push from local weather stations near the course one is playing (or a solution between those two extremes)? It's not going to help if one arrives at a par 3 and the wind has shifted significantly since the last update...

[CactusGolf]

Anyone ordered through Garmin lately? Processing time is showing 5-8 weeks.

[Bamabowtie]

Seriously? Where did you see that? I ordered last week and still showing as processing and I’m ready to just cancel my order at this point.

[CactusGolf]

Right on their website. I was going to order one the other day, but saw the processing time and hesitated.

 

[Bamabowtie]

Oh wow...when I placed my order it said 2 days ??

[Bamabowtie]

Just called to check on my order and they gave me an estimated ship date of July 24th. Cancelled the order

[CactusGolf]

I saw the processing time of 1-3 days just a few days ago too. I'll just wait a bit more for the S62. Definitely don't understand the processing times.

[JMH1220]

Local GG had in stock if you have access

 

[dcmidnight]

Yep, this is where I went.

[Bamabowtie]

Picked my S62 up on the way home from work at GG and I am beyond impressed with it. It has a lot more functionality than I expected.

[CactusGolf]

That's good to hear! I ended up picking one up on Amazon yesterday. Should be delivered on the 21st.

 

I was watching reviews online yesterday and some of the reviewers said that if you tracked clubs with previous watches (I had the S20), then the Virtual Caddie should be ready to go on round 1.

[Bamabowtie]

That’s a nice bonus too! I only have a couple of rounds in with my new irons so I’m eager to have the VC going after 5 rounds to help me dial new new distances in.

[CactusGolf]

Does anyone actually know how to transfer the club data over? I sent a message to Garmin to see if they knew.

 

I'm assuming that I have the big red "!" in the Virtual Caddy screen because there aren't any rounds yet. I have plenty of data in the "Gear" section of Garmin Connect. It looks reasonably accurate when I compare to Game Golf.

 

[Myherobobhope]

I’ve got two rounds under my belt with the s62 and really like it thus far... haven’t tried the wind or virtual caddy settings yet.

[Imp]

Yes. You need 5 rounds for the virtual caddie to be effective. I just read that yesterday when I got mine in.

 

[CactusGolf]

Used the S62 for the first time yesterday and really enjoyed it. Didn't notice a big size difference over the S20. Scrolling through the hazards and layups will take some getting used to over the S20. The layups and the hazards are both in the scroll list. Left with 75% battery after one round and used a lot of the features. Only thing that I didn't like was that my phone was connecting/disconnecting a lot, just due to distance from the cart.

 

If you do have enough data from prior Garmin watches, the Virtual Caddy will work on the first round once you get to the course. It was an interesting feature and, for the most part, picked clubs that I would have used normally. You will have to move the flags on some holes since I think most distances are to the middle of the green with the VC. I will definitely be using the VC all the time. If anything, it made me feel more confident that the club I was pulling was the correct one. Wind feature was surprisingly accurate. Used the Pin Finder feature a few times...due to the locations of my tee shot.

 

 

Didn't have any "ghost" shots that was pretty common on my S20. That was a big issue for me because it helped me find balls off the fairway a little easier. If I know I can hit my driver "X" consistently, then I know when I should start looking. The "Measure Shot" feature on the S20 would pick up random things and show three different shots before I actually got to my ball. Not the case with the S62.

 

I compared the distances that the watch picked up compared to my Game Golf and the distances were very close. At worst, they were off by 4-5 yards, which is really the margin of error.

[Stuart_G]

Don't get me wrong, if you're not into tournament play and don't care - that's fine.

This is just a simple word of caution for those readers that might not be aware of it. Just realize that the virtual caddie, along with some of the other features of the s60/s62 are not conforming with the rules of golf. Similar to using the slope functionality on some laser rangefinders.

 

[awtryau89]

And with a simple change in the settings you can set the watch into tournament mode which disables everything illegal just like a Bushnell Shift function.

[Imp]

Menu... Golf settings... Tournament Mode (On)Done.Disables the PinPointer and PlaysLike distance features. These features are not allowed during sanctioned tournaments or handicap calculation rounds.

[Howie]

Interesting. I was aware slope and other "helper" features weren't allowed during sanctioned tournaments but not during normal golf rounds. I'd guess most are unaware of the latter and would disregard anyway.