--- title: "Garmin Approach S72 vs S70: sapphire, titanium and an ECG come in the box, the new green reading needs a Garmin Golf membership" url: "https://ifrothgolf.com/read/garmin-approach-s72-vs-s70" type: "comparison" topic: "rangefinders-gps" author: "Jordan Hale" published: "2026-10-28T10:00" publisher: "ifrothgolf" --- # Garmin Approach S72 vs S70: sapphire, titanium and an ECG come in the box, the new green reading needs a Garmin Golf membership > Garmin's new flagship is lighter and tougher, and adds a speaker, a flashlight and swing metrics. The 47mm screen and the battery rating aren't any different from the S70's, and its two headline golf features, green reading and aerial imagery, sit behind the subscription. ## In short - The Garmin Approach S72 (from $800) and the 47mm S70 have the same 1.4-inch AMOLED screen and the same battery rating: up to 16 days as a smartwatch and 20 hours of golf. Both carry 43,000 courses, PlaysLike and Virtual Caddie. The S72 adds a sapphire lens instead of Gorilla Glass 3, a titanium bezel instead of ceramic, 64GB instead of 16GB, and 48g against 56g. It also gets an ECG app, a speaker and microphone, a flashlight, on-wrist swing metrics, a driving range mode, a lost ball timer and two-player scorecards. Green reading, aerial imagery and putting analysis need a Garmin Golf membership. Buy the S72 if you wear the watch every day or already subscribe. Buy the S70 on discount if it is only for golf. ## Side by side | Spec | Garmin Approach S72 (47mm) | Garmin Approach S70 (47mm) | | --- | --- | --- | | Device type | gps watch | gps watch | | Case size | 47mm (43mm also available) | 47mm | | Display | 1.4in AMOLED, 454 x 454 pixels, touchscreen | bright AMOLED touchscreen, full-colour hole maps | | Courses preloaded | 43,000+ preloaded courses | 43,000+ preloaded courses | | Battery gps | up to 20hr in golf mode | ~20hr GPS golf mode | | Battery life | up to 16 days as a smartwatch | up to 16 days as a smartwatch | | Features | swing metrics (hand speed, backswing length, wrist rotation); golf biometric data; Virtual Caddie; PlaysLike distances; green reading, aerial imagery and putting analysis with Garmin Golf membership | Virtual Caddie club suggestions (learns your game); PlaysLike distances accounting for elevation and weather | _Specs as published by each manufacturer._ Put the two spec sheets side by side and the first surprise is what Garmin left alone. The 47mm [Garmin Approach S72](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/garmin-approach-s72) and the 47mm [Garmin Approach S70](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/garmin-approach-s70) have the same 1.4-inch, 454 x 454 AMOLED screen and the same battery rating: up to 16 days as a smartwatch and up to 20 hours of golf. Both carry 43,000 preloaded courses, PlaysLike distances and Virtual Caddie. The S72 is a tougher, lighter watch with a speaker, a flashlight, an ECG app and swing metrics on the wrist. The two new golf features Garmin leads with, green reading and aerial imagery, need a Garmin Golf membership. That split decides who should pay for it. The S72 went on sale on 6 October at $800 in either size. PlayBetter has the S70 at $700 for the 47mm and $650 for the 42mm, and our own PlayBetter price log caught the S70's starting price at $550 for a spell in September before it went back up. So like for like at 47mm, the new watch costs about $100 more. Everything below comes from Garmin's own product pages for the two watches, read on 24 October. ## What the extra money buys in the hardware The materials are the cleanest upgrade. The S72 has a sapphire crystal lens and a titanium bezel. The S70 has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and a ceramic bezel. Sapphire is the harder material and the one you want on a watch that gets knocked against a trolley handle, a bag zip and a car door four times a round. If you wear a golf watch every day, this alone is a fair reason to pick the S72. It is lighter too. Garmin quotes 48g for the 47mm S72 with its new ComfortFit fabric band, against 56g for the 47mm S70, which ships on silicone. Some of that 8g is the strap, so do not read it as a lighter watch head by the full amount. On the wrist during a swing, both are light. Storage jumps from 16GB to 64GB, which matters for music and maps more than golf. The S72 also lists full built-in mapping for running and cycling, Garmin's health status feature and all-day Pulse Ox, where the S70 offers Pulse Ox as a spot check and during sleep. That is Garmin turning its golf watch into a full everyday smartwatch, and it is why the price moved. The smaller sizes changed more than the big ones. The 43mm S72 has a 1.3-inch, 416 x 416 screen and weighs 41g. The 42mm S70 has a 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 screen and weighs 44g. Both small watches are rated the same, up to 10 days as a smartwatch and 15 hours of golf. One thing to check before you order: Garmin says the 47mm S72 fits wrists from 154mm to 229mm, where the 47mm S70 went down to 130mm. If your wrist is under 154mm, the 43mm S72 is your size. ## The non-golf features that are new Three things in the S72 are absent from the S70 spec sheet entirely. The first is the Garmin ECG app, which records a reading similar to a single-lead ECG and checks for signs of atrial fibrillation. Garmin's small print says it is for adults aged 22 and over and is not available in every region. The second is a built-in speaker and microphone for taking calls through your phone and controlling the watch by voice. Golf Monthly reports this is the first Garmin golf wearable to have one. The third is an LED flashlight with variable brightness, which Garmin pitches for finding a ball marker in your bag. Golf Monthly adds that it has a red light setting. None of these will lower your score. All three are things people wear an Apple Watch for, and the S72 is Garmin's case for not needing one. ## The golf features that come free This is where the S72 earns its name. Garmin's S72 sheet lists on-wrist swing metrics that the S70's does not: hand speed, backswing length, wrist rotation and hand plane, alongside the tempo tools both watches share. There is a new driving range activity that logs every swing in a practice session. There is golf biometric data, which plots your heart rate against your shots so you can look back after a round at what happened when you got nervous. The smaller additions are the ones you would use most. A three-minute lost ball timer. Pop-up navigation to the next tee box. A scramble mode that keeps a team round out of your Garmin Golf stats. Stableford scoring and two-player scorecards. None of these needs a subscription, and on a course you play every week they will see more use than the headline features. What has not changed is the core golf. Front, middle and back of the green, layup and dogleg distances, hazard view, PinPointer, PlaysLike distance, Virtual Caddie, AutoShot, putt tracking and support for Garmin's CT10 club sensors are on both spec sheets. If you used an S70 for yardages and club suggestions, the S72 gives you the same numbers on the same screen. Our [S70 review](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/garmin-approach-s70-review) still describes the golf you get from either watch. ## The golf features you pay for every year Green reading is the feature Garmin leads with. It uses green contour data to show you the break and an aim point once you have set the pin position, on select courses. Golf Monthly describes it as showing break direction and average slope percentage. Garmin's footnote is plain: it requires an active Garmin Golf membership plan. So does aerial imagery, which puts a real overhead view of the hole ahead on the watch. So do the new putting analysis metrics and the green contour data underneath all of it. Green contours already sat behind the membership on the S70, so this is not a new paywall. The point is that the two biggest new golf features on the S72 live in the same place. If you do not pay for Garmin Golf now and do not plan to, the S72's golf upgrade shrinks to swing metrics, range mode and the conveniences above. That is still something, but it is not the watch on the launch page. ## Who should buy which Buy the S72 if you will wear it every day. The sapphire lens, the titanium bezel, the speaker and the ECG app are the upgrades, and at about $100 more for the 47mm they are fairly priced. Buy it too if you already pay for Garmin Golf, because then green reading and aerial imagery are included in what you already spend. Buy the S70 if the watch comes off after the round and you have no plans to subscribe. You get the same 47mm screen, the same battery rating and the same yardages, PlaysLike and Virtual Caddie. It is now three and a half years old (it launched in May 2023), and our log shows PlayBetter has already cut it once this autumn, so if you can wait for the next drop, wait. Skip both if all you want is a green number and a hole map. Our [S70 vs S44](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/garmin-approach-s70-vs-s44) comparison makes the case for the cheaper watch, and the [best golf GPS watches](https://ifrothgolf.com/guides/best-golf-gps-watches) guide covers the rest of the range. ## The verdict If you already own an S70, there is no golf reason to upgrade unless you pay for Garmin Golf and want green reading on your wrist. If you are buying your first Garmin watch now, the S72 is the better watch for not much more money, and the sapphire alone is worth the gap. Before you buy either one, decide whether you will pay for the membership. That choice decides how much of the S72 you are paying for. ## The takeaway The Garmin Approach S72 (from $800) and the 47mm S70 have the same 1.4-inch AMOLED screen and the same battery rating: up to 16 days as a smartwatch and 20 hours of golf. Both carry 43,000 courses, PlaysLike and Virtual Caddie. The S72 adds a sapphire lens instead of Gorilla Glass 3, a titanium bezel instead of ceramic, 64GB instead of 16GB, and 48g against 56g. It also gets an ECG app, a speaker and microphone, a flashlight, on-wrist swing metrics, a driving range mode, a lost ball timer and two-player scorecards. Green reading, aerial imagery and putting analysis need a Garmin Golf membership. Buy the S72 if you wear the watch every day or already subscribe. Buy the S70 on discount if it is only for golf. ## FAQ ### What is the difference between the Garmin Approach S72 and the S70? The 47mm models share a 1.4-inch 454 x 454 AMOLED screen and the same battery rating of up to 16 days as a smartwatch and 20 hours of golf. The S72 adds a sapphire lens (the S70 uses Gorilla Glass 3), a titanium bezel (the S70 is ceramic), 64GB of storage against 16GB, and weighs 48g with its fabric band against 56g. It also adds an ECG app, a speaker and microphone, an LED flashlight, swing metrics such as hand speed and backswing length, a driving range activity, a lost ball timer and two-player scorecards. ### Does the Garmin Approach S72 need a Garmin Golf membership? Not for the basics. Course maps for 43,000 courses, green distances, PlaysLike distance, Virtual Caddie, swing metrics and scoring all work without one. Garmin says green reading, aerial imagery, putting analysis metrics and green contour data require an active Garmin Golf membership, which is sold as a monthly or yearly plan in the Garmin Golf app. ### Does the Approach S72 have better battery life than the S70? No. Garmin rates both 47mm watches at up to 16 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in golf mode, and both smaller watches (43mm S72, 42mm S70) at up to 10 days and 15 hours. ### Is it worth upgrading from the Garmin Approach S70 to the S72? Only if you pay for Garmin Golf and want green reading and aerial imagery, or you want the S72's everyday features: the sapphire lens, the titanium bezel, the ECG app, the speaker and the flashlight. The yardages, PlaysLike distance, Virtual Caddie and screen size on the 47mm watch are the same as the S70. ## Products mentioned - [Garmin Approach S72 (47mm)](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/garmin-approach-s72) · $800 approx — Pick if the watch lives on your wrist all week: sapphire, titanium, 64GB, ECG, a speaker and on-wrist swing metrics, with the same battery as the S70. **Where to buy:** [Check price at PlayBetter](https://www.playbetter.com/products/garmin-approach-s72-golf-gps-smartwatch?ghref=2301%3A1337342) (affiliate link) · also stocked by Garmin - [Garmin Approach S70 (47mm)](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/garmin-approach-s70) · $700 approx — Pick if you only want it for golf and won't pay for Garmin Golf: the same maps, PlaysLike and Virtual Caddie, and the same 47mm screen. **Where to buy:** [Check price at PlayBetter](https://www.playbetter.com/products/garmin-approach-s70-gps-golf-smartwatch?variant=42358449963173&ghref=2301%3A1337342) (affiliate link) · also stocked by Clubhouse Golf, Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Amazon (AU) --- Source: [ifrothgolf](https://ifrothgolf.com) — independent golf-gear editorial. 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