Review: Garmin Approach X40 golf watch

[Stuart]

I picked up one of these just recently, and thought I would share some thoughts as it is actually far better than I thought it would be.

The watch automatically detects your course, and it only took around 20 seconds to identify Armidale. After that, it gives you distances to the front, middle and back that seem to be spot on, and it also pretty much records everything for you. After each shot, you have to nominate the club you used, but within 5 holes it had me pretty well pegged and was actually suggested the right club most of the time. It doesn't work out putts, so you need to do that, but it was pretty good at recognising I was on the green, and then it just prompts you for your final score and how many putts you had.

At the end, you can upload your data, and record your stats over time (club distances, fairways hit etc). It also allows you to get a visual on each of the holes (as below) at the end of the round, and it seems to be very accurate. It recognised when I was right on the edge of the green, rather than a few metres off, which was pretty impressive. There is also a historic function, so you can see whether you are constantly missing the fairway/green on a certain hole in the same spot all the time.

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My main complaint so far (and this may be user error) is that there doesn't appear to be an easy way to mark shots as being 'chip outs' as opposed to full shots. Therefore, my current 4-iron distance is 15 metres, as I used it to hit sideways from the trees a few times (not a good driving day). Also, if you are just having a muck about and hitting multiple chips, putts, drives etc, it doesn't seem to be able to cope with that particularly well. You can go online and delete the shots, but this isn't very user friendly.

More time will make the stats. component a bit better, but so far so good.

[WBennett]

Thanks Stuart, I am looking for something like this.

Does it do activity tracking/sleep monitoring as well?

Battery life?

[goughy]

Yes, it does. Has hr built in too. I've found the battery life reported to be pretty close with the garmin's I've had (I don't have an x40, but have had a 310xt, Fenix 2 and now a Fenix 3; my daughter had a vivosmart 2). It says 5 days in normal use, so I'd guess 4 to 5 no probs. Says 10 using gps, so it could get 2 games out of it, but I'd suggest charging after each round. I've found the sleep monitoring to be not too bad. It seems to detect that I've gotten up pretty well. But it gets my sleep time wrong sometimes because I've been, say watching TV or a movie on the couch and not moving around much so it thinks I've gone to bed. The garmins autodetect sleep, they don't use a 'gone to sleep' and a 'woke up' button. It's pretty easy to correct it in the mobile app though. Think it also has a running app built in. Also water proof to 50mtrs, so fine for general swimming etc.

[billp]

Thanks Stuart, I am looking for something like this.

Does it do activity tracking/sleep monitoring as well?

Battery life?

It has vey good Activity tracking functions, and does have sleep monitoring, but I take mine off a night so can't comment if it works or not. (I would say yes it does work, because it tells me I have slept well for the period I removed it).

I can get two rounds of golf from mine when fully charged, and that is after 2 years of use. I am finding now that it isn't always picking up shots (seems to miss 3-4 drives a round), but that is the only bug I have found.
If you turn the GPS off for say a holiday, you can get nearly 2 weeks out of it for just step tracking.

It syncs to an IPhone well also giving you messages and who is ringing you, as well as meeting reminders etc. Good for me as I just leave my phone on silent and let my watch alert me.

Would I get another one if this one stopped working... yes.

[WBennett]

I was looking at an S6 as well - anyone had one of them?

[Stuart]

I think that Goughy and Billp have answered your question, and I would agree with their experiences. I wonder if it would make it through 36 holes back to back, but the odds of me ever doing that to find out are pretty much slim to nil.

I also looked at the S6, but went with the X40 as it seemed to be a better everyday use option.

[WBennett]

I did some additional reading - and pulled the trigger on the X40

[Stuart]

That was how I went as well.

Haven't regretted that choice so far, as the X40 seems to do everything golf-wise that I would want it to. I also should point out that I haven't worn a watch for literally 20 years, and wondered how I would go playing golf with it on, but I don't even notice it.

[okitoki]

hmmm... $340 less $50 from Golfbox does make it sound tempting.... plus travelling in 2 weeks time to get my GST back?

tempting :D

[WBennett]

hmmm... $340 less $50 from Golfbox does make it sound tempting.... plus travelling in 2 weeks time to get my GST back?

tempting :D

Do it!

[okitoki]

Do it!

Will have to wait till next pay... already spend too much this month on golf stuff :D

[Stuart]

hmmm... $340 less $50 from Golfbox does make it sound tempting....

Yep - that is what I did; it was the cheapest price I could find. As per normal, very quick delivery from Golfbox to the eastern states as well.

[goughy]

I also should point out that I haven't worn a watch for literally 20 years, and wondered how I would go playing golf with it on, but I don't even notice it.

Funny I was the same with my Fenix 3, which is much larger than an x40. I hadn't been wearing a daily watch much, and always took it off for golf or general Sports. But after one game of wearing mine I was used to it.

[Stuart]

Two year update on the x40:

Generally everything I commented on initially still remains true. I have worn it for pretty much every game since August 2017, and have become quite reliant on it for distances to the middle. Overall, very happy.

However, today I had my first issue with the distances - there was clearly something wrong. I was about 40 metres short of the first green (hole is about 320 metres), but it was giving me a distance of 85 metres to middle. This happened again on the second hole, where I was standing on the 100 metre marker, but the X40 was saying 151 metres to middle. When standing on the greens, I was still getting a message that it was 35 metres to the front. Thereafter though, it seemed to adjust back to being accurate again. No idea what was going on there, and this is the first time that I have experienced this.

On the upside, when I got home I found out that my drive on the first had gone 330 metres .... yes, I hit it well, and the wind was behind, and the fairways are rock hard with no rain, but it had clearly over-estimated the distance by at least 40 metres.

Edit: And naturally therefore, if I post on Golfwrx I will note my average driving distance as 330 metres :)

[Stuart]

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[Stuart]

From looking at that image, it almost appears that the Garmin has thought I was teeing off about 50 metres forward of where I was. Never had that problem before.

[wazamac]

Could be a satellite position issue on the day.

[WBennett]

Mine is now almost 2. Replaced the band twice as I wear it every day.

Its been great in Australia and worked in Vietnam, but didnt work today in Cambodia.

Other than a scratched face, its still going great guns 2 years on.

[Kriso]

Yeah Ive been using the X40 for about 3 months now, first gps watch and have found it to be great. Not using range finder as much now either as sometimes lasering the flag makes for a poor shot where as knowing front middle and rear distance gives you better shot selection.

[Stuart]

Could be a satellite position issue on the day.

Yeah - I wondered about that. However, this is literally the only time in two years I have had the problem. I played in Ireland and the UK last year, and it picked up those courses perfectly as well.