What They Have in Common
Both are AMOLED touchscreen GPS watches from Garmin. Both pull from the same 43,000-course database with full-color hole maps, hazard views, and green views. Both have slope mode, tournament mode, and smart notifications. Both use USB-C charging and carry a 5 ATM water rating. And both require a $99.99/yr Garmin Golf membership if you want green contours and enhanced mapping — that's not bundled with either watch at purchase.
Where They Differ
The Features You're Actually Paying $400 For
Let's be specific about what the S70 has that the S44 doesn't, because the spec delta is significant.
The S70 has AutoShot detection — it marks your shots automatically during the round. The S44 has no AutoShot; it's manual shot tracking only, and if you want club-level stats, you'll need to buy CT10 sensors separately (both watches support them, but neither includes them). For someone who genuinely wants to build a handicap-backed shot archive without touching their watch mid-swing, that's a real difference. For someone who doesn't use shot tracking at all, it's not.
The S70 has Virtual Caddie — AI club recommendations that factor in wind, elevation (via built-in barometer), swing history, and shot dispersion. The S44 doesn't have Virtual Caddie, and its PlaysLike Distance (which adjusts yardage for slope and elevation) is membership-locked. So on the S44 free tier, you're getting straight yardages. On the S70 free tier, you're getting PlaysLike yardages plus wind data and club suggestions.
The S70 has heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, fitness profiles, 32GB music storage, and contactless payments (Garmin Pay). The S44 has basic activity tracking — steps and calories — and nothing else on that list. If you want a watch you can also wear to the gym, sleep in, and tap to pay for lunch, the S44 isn't it.
Display Size and Weight
The S70 has a 1.4-inch, 454×454 AMOLED. The S44 is 1.2-inch, 390×390. Both are sharp and color-accurate, but the S70 is meaningfully bigger — the extra screen real estate makes hole maps and green views easier to read at a glance.
The tradeoff: the S70 weighs 56g, the S44 42g. That's a 14g difference, which sounds minor until you're wearing either watch for five hours in the sun. If you've got smaller wrists or you're sensitive to watch bulk during your swing, the S44's lighter profile at 42×42mm vs the S70's 47×47mm is noticeable.
Battery Life
The S70 runs 20 hours in GPS mode versus 15 for the S44. Both handle a standard round with room to spare. If you're playing 36 holes in a day or using GPS constantly for a long walking round, the S70's extra headroom matters. For a typical 18-hole round, the S44's 15 hours is fine.
Subscription Math
Both watches unlock green contours, enhanced maps, and PlaysLike Distance with Garmin Golf membership at $99.99/yr. But the S44 also needs membership just to get PlaysLike Distance — a feature the S70 includes free. Over three years, that's $300 in membership fees either way, but the S70 delivers more value from that membership by including Wind Data and better baseline features even without it.
Who Should Buy Which
Get the S44 if:
- You want an AMOLED Garmin golf watch and $300 is your ceiling
- You care about GPS accuracy and clean visuals but don't need shot tracking, heart rate, or smartwatch features
- You have smaller wrists or prefer a lighter watch you'll barely notice during your swing
- You already have a fitness tracker and don't need your golf watch to double as one
Get the S70 if:
- You want one watch that covers golf, fitness, and general smartwatch use
- You'll actually use AutoShot to review your round stats in the app
- Virtual Caddie appeals to you — having a wind-adjusted club recommendation on your wrist between shots
- You play long rounds or multiple rounds in a day and want the extra GPS battery buffer
- You want a more premium-feeling piece (ceramic bezel vs aluminum) that you'd wear daily
The Bottom Line
The S44 is a clean, focused golf watch at a fair price. The S70 is a full smartwatch that happens to be excellent for golf — AutoShot, Virtual Caddie, heart rate, music, payments, and a larger display. Neither is overpriced for what it does. The gap is whether you want all the extras or just the golf features.
If the extras don't matter, save the $400. If they do, the S70 earns them.
Get the S44.
See Also