Garmin Approach S12 review

Garmin Approach S12: Battery

• 10 weeks standby
• 30 hours of GPS

The battery life of the Garmin Approach S12 is what makes this stand apart from the rest of the range. This offers a whopping 10 weeks of standby time, allowing you to use it as a regular watch with very rare charging required. 

Get out on the course and this will give you a consistent GPS tracking use for a massive 30 hours. That puts this way ahead of the more expensive S42 which offers 10 days of standby and 15 hours of GPS use.

This watch rarely needs charging, meaning you can get a good few weeks worth of 18-hole rounds in before you need to even think about reaching for the charging cable.

When it comes to charging there is a dedicated cable but this plugs into USB so can be charged off a laptop, mobile battery or wall plug easily.

Garmin Approach S12: Android and iPhone compatibility

• Garmin Golf works across platforms

The Garmin Golf app is available for both iOS and Android devices. It pairs using Bluetooth so is low on battery consumption for both devices.

As is often the way with Bluetooth, you'll likely find it works most consistently with iPhones since they all have the same hardware. Different Android devices use different Bluetooth hardware so, depending on the phone you have, there can be the odd connectivity glitch. In the worst case scenario, you can simply disconnect and re-pair.

Since this device requires you to pair and upload manually each time, it means acquiring a Bluetooth connection, so this actually works well for Android where there might otherwise be issues waiting for an auto pair.