Garmin Approach S70 vs S44: the extra money buys Virtual Caddie and a health watch, not better yardages

Stand on the 7th tee at a course you have never played. Dogleg right, a bunker somewhere on the corner, the green out of sight. Hold a Garmin Approach S44 and a Garmin Approach S70 side by side at that moment and they tell you the same thing. Both draw the hole in colour on an AMOLED screen, both give you the distance to carry the bunker, and both give front, middle and back of a green you can't see.

That is the decision in a sentence. The S70 at $650 costs close to double the S44 at $350, and the gap, about $300, does not buy a better yardage. It buys a club suggestion, a built-in adjustment for elevation and weather, a heart-rate sensor and everything that hangs off it, and a little more screen and battery. Whether that is worth it depends on how much of the watch you use when you are not on a golf course.

We have reviewed both before. The S70 review covers living with the flagship, and the S44 got its own decision against an outdoor watch in S44 vs Instinct Crossover Solar. This piece is the one in between: Garmin's mid-range golf watch against its top one.

Check the age first

One thing before the features. Garmin announced the S70 in May 2023 and the S44 in January 2025, which makes the flagship the older watch of the two and the oldest in Garmin's current Approach range. Watch-tracking sites expect a successor, and Garmin has not announced one. That does not make the S70 a bad buy. It does mean you should not pay full price for it. A flagship late in its life is a watch you buy at a sale price, so wait for one.

What both watches do

The shared layer is bigger than the price gap suggests. Garmin's own launch material gives both watches the 43,000-plus preloaded course maps, hazard view with layup distances, front, middle and back numbers, and support for Garmin's club-tracking sensors, the tap-to-track CT1 tags and the automatic CT10s. Both are AMOLED touchscreens. Both also put the best green data behind the same paywall: green contours need an active Garmin Golf membership on the S70 as well as the S44. Paying flagship money does not get you out of the subscription for that feature.

If what you look at on the course is the hole map and three numbers, the S44 gives you the whole of it. We said as much in the Instinct piece, and nothing about the S70 changes that.

What the S70 adds on the course

Two things, and they are the reason to buy it if you buy it for golf.

The first is Virtual Caddie. Garmin says it suggests a club using your historical shot data, elevation and wind, and shows your shot dispersion. The S44 does not have it. Breaking Eighty's review of the S44 lists the virtual caddie, PlaysLike and wind among the things it leaves out against the S70. Virtual Caddie is only as good as the data you give it, so it needs club tracking feeding it rounds before the suggestions mean much. For a golfer who logs every shot it can tidy up club selection. For a golfer who never tags a club it is a feature you paid for and never switched on.

The second is PlaysLike Distance as standard. The S70 has a built-in barometer and Garmin folds elevation, wind, temperature and air pressure into the adjusted number. On the S44, Garmin makes PlaysLike something you add through a Garmin Golf membership. So the S44 can show it, but only while you keep paying.

That changes the sums. Add the membership to an S44 and you get PlaysLike and green contours, but no Virtual Caddie. At Garmin's US list prices, the gap between the two watches covers more than three years of the annual membership. If PlaysLike is the S70 feature you actually want, the S44 plus a subscription gets you there for less, at least for the first few seasons.

What the S70 adds off the course

This is where most of the money goes. Garmin left the heart-rate sensor out of the S44 on purpose, which means no sleep tracking, no stress or HRV data and no Body Battery. The S70 has the full set: wrist heart rate, HRV status, Body Battery, sleep monitoring, Garmin Coach training plans and Garmin's exercise library. If you would otherwise buy a separate fitness watch, the S70 replaces it. If you already wear an Apple Watch or a Fenix five days a week, you are paying for a second health watch you will take off after the round.

Then there is the hardware. The 47mm S70, the version we stock, has a 1.4 inch AMOLED screen against the S44's 1.2 inch. Garmin quotes the S70 at up to 20 hours of GPS and 16 days as a smartwatch. For the S44 it quotes up to 15 hours of GPS. That is the difference between charging every five rounds and every four, which matters less than it reads. The S44 is the lighter, slimmer watch: a 43mm case at 42 grams, built to be forgotten about on the wrist.

The cheaper flagship nobody mentions

If the heart-rate sensor is the thing pulling you towards the S70, look at the Garmin Approach S50 first. Garmin launched it alongside the S44 with the same 1.2 inch AMOLED screen, and added the heart-rate sensor, the health suite and PlaysLike without a subscription. What it does not get is the S70's Virtual Caddie or the bigger 47mm screen. At $450 it sits much nearer the S44 than the S70, and for a lot of golfers it is the right answer to this question. Our S50 review goes through it.

Who should buy which

Buy the S44 if the watch is for golf. You get the hole maps, the hazard view and the green numbers that do the real work on an unfamiliar course, in a light watch that looks normal at work. Add the membership in the season you want PlaysLike and contours, and drop it in the winter.

Buy the S70 if you will use the whole thing. That means shot data logged every round so Virtual Caddie has something to learn from, PlaysLike without a monthly bill, and health tracking you would otherwise get from a separate watch. For that golfer it replaces two devices, and the price makes sense, especially discounted.

Skip both if the number you want is the one to the flag rather than the green. A watch knows where the green is, not where today's pin is cut. That is a laser's job, and we set out the split in GPS watch vs laser.

Most people asking this question should buy the S44 or the S50 and keep the difference. The S70 is the better watch, and most of what makes it better happens off the course.