What They Have in Common
Both cover a lot of courses — 43,000 for the S44, 35,000 for the Pro 4X. Both have full-color hole maps, hazard views, and touchscreens. Both support shot tracking with separately purchased sensors. Neither includes AutoShot or any automatic shot detection. Both have tournament mode. Neither has heart rate or smartwatch health features beyond the S44's basic step counting and notifications.
Where They Differ
Screen and form factor
This is the biggest one. The S44 straps to your wrist and weighs 42 grams — most people describe this as barely feeling like you're wearing a watch. The Pro 4X sits in your hand or clips to a cart and shows you a 4-inch color display. That's roughly the difference between reading yardages off your phone screen versus a card in your wallet. For quickly glancing at front/center/back distances mid-stride, the S44 is faster. For actually understanding a hole — where the fairway pinches, how the green tilts, which bunker is eating approach shots from the left — the Pro 4X's bigger canvas wins.
The S44's AMOLED display is sharp and bright, and AMOLED tends to hold up well in sunlight compared to many LCD screens. The Pro 4X uses LCD, but SkyCaddie specifically calls theirs "ultra-readable in bright sunlight," so this probably isn't the wash it sounds like.
Course data and mapping quality
SkyCaddie has been ground-verifying course data since they helped invent GPS golf. That matters. Green contours come included on supported courses with the Double Eagle membership — no extra tier to unlock. The S44 has green contours too, but they're behind the $99.99/yr Garmin Golf membership. Without it, you get front/center/back distances and a basic green outline.
The Pro 4X also uses dual-frequency TruePoint GPS, which SkyCaddie claims improves positioning accuracy. The S44's GPS specs don't mention dual-frequency. Whether that translates to meaningfully different yardages in real play, I can't say from the spec sheet alone — but it's worth noting.
Subscriptions and what you actually pay
This is where the comparison gets interesting. The Pro 4X is subscription-required — you can't use it without a membership. But the deal at current pricing includes membership: $299.95 gets you the device plus one year of Double Eagle (which includes green contours on supported courses). A 3-year bundle runs $379.95, which works out to roughly $27/yr after the device cost for years two and three.
The S44 at $299.99 works without a subscription, but in basic mode you're missing PlaysLike distances and green contours. Add Garmin Golf at $99.99/yr and over three years you've spent $299.99 + $299.97 = roughly $600 total. The Pro 4X 3-year bundle at $379.95 includes everything unlocked. The math favors the Pro 4X by a noticeable margin if you want the full feature set from both devices.
Smartwatch features
The S44 has them; the Pro 4X doesn't. Smart notifications show up on the S44's wrist screen. It tracks steps and calories. Battery life in watch mode is 10 days, dropping to 15 hours in GPS mode. The Pro 4X runs up to 18 hours on GPS, but it's a dedicated golf device — you charge it like a rangefinder, not like a watch.
If you play four-hour rounds twice a week, the Pro 4X's battery is more than adequate. If you want something you put on Monday morning and don't think about until you're back at the charger, that's the S44.
Who Should Buy Which
Buy the Garmin Approach S44 if:
- You want to wear one device all day — work, gym, round, dinner — without swapping between devices
- Glanceable wrist yardages during a round are enough, and you rarely need to study hole layout
- You're already in the Garmin ecosystem (phone, other watches) and the Garmin Golf app fits naturally
- You don't want a subscription at all and basic GPS distances are enough
Buy the SkyCaddie Pro 4X if:
- You want to read a hole before you hit, not just get a number
- Green contours matter to you and you don't want to pay $100/yr on top of the device for them
- You value accuracy from a GPS company that's been ground-verifying golf courses since before most GPS watches existed
- You play enough that a handheld in your pocket or on the cart is no inconvenience — this isn't something you'll wear to the office
The Bottom Line
At identical street prices, these aren't really competing for the same golfer. The S44 is a golf watch that does daily wear well and GPS golf adequately. The Pro 4X is a golf device that does GPS golf very well and nothing else. If you're on the fence, ask yourself whether you'd actually use a dedicated golf GPS or whether you'd leave it in the bag — because the Pro 4X only earns its keep if you reach for it. If you will, the course data is better, green contours are included, and the screen actually shows you the hole. If a wrist device is more your style, the S44 is a clean, capable watch.
Get the SkyCaddie Pro 4X.
See Also