In this post, I’m going to be comparing the Garmin Approach S20 golf watch to the Bushnell Excel and the TomTom Golfer 2. I’ll also be talking about the cheapest place to pick them up.
In short, the Garmin Approach S20 is one of my favorite entry-level golf watches and I would highly recommend it. The TomTom is a fairly decent device but it’s currently unavailable. The Bushnell Excel wasn’t quality enough for us to feel comfortable recommending.
If that’s all the info you were looking for then great. If you want a more detailed review of each and the cheapest place to pick them up, continue reading.
Garmin Approach S20 vs Bushnell Excel vs TomTom Golfer 2
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The Bushnell Excel
This is a watch that came out in 2017 and is currently priced at around $140 and comes loaded with over 36,000 courses in 36 different countries.
It’ll show you the distance to the front, middle, and back of the green and has the option to input 4 hazard distances per hole.
It’ll also tell you how far you hit each shot and comes with an app to store all your data and give you an overview of some of your stats.
Who Is The Excel For?
In our opinion, the Bushnell Excel is not the best option and that’s why we can’t recommend it.
It’s not bad but there are definitely things we didn’t like about it and others are much better.
The battery life only lasted us around 2 rounds, it feels fairly cheap, the display is really dim and hard to read, and the watch takes too long to locate the course.
The TomTom Golfer 2
The TomTom 2 watch came out a couple of years ago and is currently priced around $200.
It comes loaded with over 40,000 courses from around the world and will show you the distance to the front, middle, and back of the green.
It’s a fairly basic watch (since it came out a while ago) and I wasn’t the biggest fan with the way it fit.
You’ll be able to see how far you’ve hit each shot and it’ll also record it in the app.
Who Is The TomTom For?
Long story short, the TomTom 2 is currently unavailable for some reason so I can’t really recommend it.
Even if it were available, I probably wouldn’t recommend it because there are better options on the market that are cheaper.
I did like it more than the Bushnell Excel but not as much as the Garmin Approach S20.
The Garmin Approach S20
The S20 is one of the entry-level golf GPS units from Garmin and is currently priced around $140.
It comes loaded with over 40,000 courses around the world and will show the distance to the front, middle, and back of the green as well as the distance to hazards and doglegs.
It’s probably the most comfortable in this price range and will record fairways and greens in regulation.
Who Is The S20 For?
In our opinion, the S20 is the best entry-level golf watch and I would highly recommend it.
It’s not super advanced or anything like that but it’s well built, as accurate as any, and won’t break the bank.
It has a lot of cool features that most don’t have such as activity tracking, golf stats, and is compatible with Garmin TruSwing (club stats).
Pros Of These Devices
- Knowing the rough distance to the green, hazards, and doglegs can really help lower scores.
- Knowing your common misses and how far you hit each club is also super important to know.
Cons Of These Devices
- These are fairly basic golf watches and don’t have as many features as others.
- They aren’t 100% accurate all of the time (but are normally within 4-5 yards of markers).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Do these watches also tell time?
A. Yes, they do.
Q. How long does the battery last?
A. The Garmin S20 is about 3 rounds.
Q. Garmin Approach S20 or Garmin Approach S10?
A. We prefer the Garmin S20 because it has more features.
Are These Devices Worth It?
Overall, we’d definitely recommend picking up some sort of yardage finder.
Knowing the distance has really helped my game since I didn’t really know before getting something like this.
That being said, we wouldn’t recommend the Excel or the TomTom but the Garmin S20 is one of our favorite entry-level GPS units.
Let me know your thoughts and any questions you have. Like this article? Feel free to give it a share!
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