Garmin S44

mantan · January 21

The replacement for the S42 just dropped. Fantastic for those of us who wanted to nicer screen of the S70, but not the big price!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBonISP-jxU&ab_channel=Garmin

MJGIV · January 25

Interested to see some reviews on this and the 50. Thinking 50 as I don’t want to have to subscribe to something and I want slope-ish.

mantan · January 25

Initial thoughts after the first round with it....

The quality of the AMOLED screen shines through. The visuals are night and day compared to the S42. The functionality is similar, so getting it up and running during the round was a snap.

Garmin offers a free month of the Garmin membership. It's a little clunky in making sure the membership has pushed to the watch. I had tried to synch after purchasing and then had to do it a few hours later before it showed an active sub in the 'About' section of the watch. Definitely not something you want to do last minute before a round.

The watch will download the enhanced course to your phone and then sync it to your watch. It only took a minute but again was an extra step. The Garmin app is fairly useless 'in round'. I haven't loaded it 'on the course' for ages.

Since I downloaded it on the first tee, it gave me a chance to see the normal and enhanced views. The normal view is just like the old S42 where it places all the key hazards in a vertical view - rather than a hole map. It was nice to be able to specific places on the hole to get a distance.

I couldn't get the 'play as' feature to work. I realized after the round you have to turn it on the 'Golf Settings' section.

The green mapping feature was good. It shows your position on the map, and you can manually move the flag to the correct location. One quibble is the map rotates randomly. There were several times the contour map was oriented the opposite of where I was....so I'd have to mentally adjust what I was seeing. I hope there is a way to 'lock' orientation, so the fairway/hole is at the bottom. Again, there may be some user error involved.

The jury is still out the extra features of the Garmin membership. An extra $100-$120 a year changes the overall 'cost of ownership' a lot. The value proposition for having this watch for 3 years at $299 vs. $599 puts it in a different light. Especially when I'm already paying for things like The Grint that provide hole map software and half the courses we play have a detailed GPS.

But the watch itself is a great update to the S42 just for the updated screen.

Edited January 25 by mantan

Mike_Honcho · January 28

I'm definitely grabbing one of these.

Yakhandicap · February 11

I’ve fully switched over to Apple Watch Ultra plus Golfshot. The yearly subscription is annoying. I used to have the s62. The switch from garmin to Apple was mandated by my wife wanting me to have an Apple Watch due to its health features. That being said, it works well for what I need. One of my playing partners uses a laser range finder and the numbers are usually in the ballpark for my game.

overall, I did like the Garmin experience better. And the garmin price point originally without a subscription was super appealing. But it looks like the future everywhere is yearly subscription. Having two watches to charge and keep track off was just annoying enough that I opted to just use the Apple Watch.

Edited February 11 by Yakhandicap

NicholasP · February 17

I just picked up an S50 last week vs the S44 just because I liked the fitness aspect of it. I am in the North so won't be able to test it for a while on the course, but have no concerns about accuracy and functionality. I do a bit of caddying in the summertime which is the primary reason I bought it, figured it would be a fun tool to use. I have sworn off smart watches forever, Im a bit of a traditionalist in that regards and typically rotate a couple Omega automatics.

I love this thing, its light, screen is extremely clear, easy to use, gives you a ton of information on sleep, and athletic activies, etc. I have a 7" wrist and the size is perfect, I did not expect to use it while actually golfing but am confident I will and it will not bother me at all. The supplied strap is great, extremely comfortable and easily adjustable, and plenty of aftermarket available since its 20mm lugs. Overall it has blown my expectations away and I can't wait to get it on a golf course

aiyyer · June 8

My S40 stopped charging after 5 years. Moved up to the S44 and it’s incredible.
Get 3 or 4 rounds with one charge and the screen is brilliant. Didn’t need the health features and this is perfect.

mantan · June 8

I was originally lukewarm about the subscription but have really gotten into the hole maps. My putting has improved dramatically....though I feel like I've almost grown too dependent on it rather than traditional green reading. I played a course last week without the green maps and felt a bit lost.

The screen is great and the stock features are fantastic. I'm not sure if I'll upgrade the sub when it expires though.

Macroach · June 17

Any WRXers tried both of these? I have watched reviews and I am still unsure what the S50 provides golf wise that the S44 does not IF I am on the subscription plan for both. I don’t need the health features, golf watch only.