What They Have in Common
Both are $400 Tier 2 GPS products with full-color touchscreens, preloaded course libraries, automatic hole advance, hazard data, green views, digital scorecards, and tournament-legal modes. Both work without a phone once they're set up. That's where the similarities stop.
Where They Differ
Screen Size and What That Actually Means on the Course
This is the biggest gap. The S50 has a 1.2-inch AMOLED display. The Pro 5X has a 5.5-inch LCD — roughly the size of a small smartphone. AMOLED screens are genuinely excellent in sunlight (the technology makes them easy to read in bright conditions), and the S50's 390 x 390 resolution is crisp for its size. But 1.2 inches is still 1.2 inches. You're reading front/center/back distances and a simplified green shape.
The Pro 5X's LCD is described as ultra-readable in bright sunlight with HD graphics, which seems plausible given the 720 x 1440 resolution — though SkyCaddie doesn't publish specific sunlight-readability ratings, so I'd treat "ultra-readable" as marketing language until you see it in person. What's undeniable is that the HoleVue maps on a 5.5-inch screen auto-reorient based on your position to the green and show up to 40 geo-referenced hazard targets per hole. That's not something any watch can replicate. If you're playing unfamiliar courses and want actual hole maps that update as you walk, the handheld format wins on sheer information density.
Green Contours: Included vs. Membership-Locked
The Pro 5X includes IntelliGreen Pro — approach-angle-adjusted contours showing tiers, false fronts, and mounds — as part of its Double Eagle membership, which is bundled in the $399.95 purchase price for year one. The S50's green view is free; green contours require Garmin Golf membership at $99.99/year. That's an important distinction. If you want contours on the S50, budget $500 in year one and $100 every year after that.
The Pro 5X's membership renewal pricing isn't published in the specs, so I can't give you a clean three-year comparison — check skygolf.com/memberships for current renewal rates. What's clear is that the first year of contours is baked into the S50's sticker price on the SkyCaddie, and isn't on the Garmin.
Smartwatch Features vs. GPS-Only Focus
The S50 is a full-time wrist computer. Heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, Garmin Pay contactless payments, 4GB of music storage, smart notifications from your phone, fitness profiles across multiple sports — it's a GPS golf watch first but a usable fitness wearable all week. At 29 grams with the nylon ComfortFit band, you'll genuinely forget it's on your wrist.
The Pro 5X does none of that. No heart rate. No notifications. No music. It lives on your cart or in your bag between shots and comes out when you need yardages. That's a legitimate use pattern — plenty of golfers prefer to leave the smartwatch stuff to a separate device — but it's worth naming clearly.
AutoShot vs. SuperTag Ready
The S50 includes AutoShot built-in: it automatically detects and logs your shots using accelerometer data and marks them on the scorecard. No add-ons required. CT10 and CT1 sensor tags are compatible if you want club-specific data, but you get automatic shot detection for free.
The Pro 5X is "SuperTag Ready" for GameTraX 360 and SwingTraX 360 performance tracking, but the SuperTags are sold separately. If shot tracking matters to you, factor in that additional cost on the SkyCaddie side.
Who Should Buy Which
Get the Garmin Approach S50 if:
- You want one device on your wrist all day, not a dedicated golf gadget that lives in the cart
- You stream music during practice rounds and don't want to carry a phone
- Fitness tracking and sleep data outside golf rounds matters to you
- You play a lot of courses and AutoShot logging without add-ons fits your workflow
- Green contours are nice-to-have but not essential — or you're fine paying $99.99/yr for membership later
Get the SkyCaddie Pro 5X if:
- You want maximum information on every hole — 40 hazard targets, auto-reorienting hole maps, IntelliGreen Pro contours — and a large screen to read it all
- You primarily ride a cart and a handheld format works for your game
- Pinpoint GPS accuracy on course maps is important to you (TruePoint's ground-verified approach is SkyCaddie's core differentiator)
- Green contours are something you'd use every round and you'd rather have them included upfront
- You already wear a separate fitness tracker or don't care about smartwatch features
The Bottom Line
At $400, both products are legitimate buys — but for genuinely different golfers. The S50 is the better product if you want a device you wear all the time, use across your life, and that handles shot tracking without accessories. The Pro 5X is the better product if you want a dedicated, full-featured course mapping device with the largest display in its price class and approach-angle green contours included from day one.
If the question is purely "which gives me better on-course course data," the Pro 5X edges ahead. If the question is "which fits my actual life as a device," the S50 wins most of the time.
Get the Garmin Approach S50.
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