The ifrothgolf review
Garmin's flagship golf GPS watch with a big, gorgeous AMOLED touchscreen. It's aimed at the golfer who wants the absolute top-end Garmin and uses it as an everyday smartwatch too, not just on the course.
What's great
The AMOLED screen is the headline and it deserves it, bright, sharp and easy to read in full sun, a proper step up from older Garmins. GPS locks on in seconds and distances came within a yard or two of a laser in testing, with full hole maps you can drag a target around. PlaysLike (elevation and wind) and the Virtual Caddie club suggestions are genuinely useful once it's learned your game over a few rounds. As a daily watch it's the full Garmin suite, sleep, Body Battery, VO2 max, payments and music, so it earns its place off the course too.
Worth knowing
It's expensive, near the top of the GPS watch market, and you'll want the Garmin Golf membership (monthly or yearly) to unlock green contours. The touchscreen is the real gripe, fiddly when you're dragging the target cursor on a long par 5, and reviewers flag it gets temperamental in rain and cold (carry on with the buttons). It can't tell walking from riding in a cart, so it inflates your step count, and full Apple Health syncing is patchy. Battery is great by watch standards but the always-on AMOLED drinks more than the old transflective screens.
The verdict
If you want the best-looking, most complete golf watch going and the price doesn't scare you, the S70 delivers. But if you mostly want yardages, a cheaper Garmin does 90 percent of this for a lot less.
What reviewers say
Reviewers love the gorgeous, sunlight-readable AMOLED display, the Virtual Caddie and PlaysLike distance features, and that it looks good enough to wear off the course. The main caveat is the high price and that GPS-mode battery life is modest compared to button-only watches.
