Garmin has unveiled the Marq Golfer smartwatch – the latest smartwatch in its elite range of premium, designer range.
To the uninitiated, Garmin Marq is an exclusive, super-charged version of the Fenix range with a price tag to match – and Garmin’s charging for its Marq Golf smartwatch.
The new Marq golf watch joins the Marq Driver (the motoring kind), Adventurer, Aviator, Athlete and Commander – and brings the same design ethos with a golfing tilt.
The Marq range is designed for those that won't blink at blowing on a sports watch, and likely have a few Rolex or Tags in their collection as well.
Essentially, it’s a blend of the top-of-the-range Approach S60 and Fenix 6 in a (much) nicer package, and packs in data on 41,000 golf courses, scoring, distances and club-tagging just like the standard range of - golf watches.
It also features Garmin’s cutting edge PlaysLike feature which tells you whether you should club up or down for elevation, Hazard View that gives you a good look at a green, and Virtual Caddy that tries to meld tracked data and conditions for better club selection. That could be wind speed, course layout, and a golfer’s speed and club performance.
In terms of features it blows the Tag Heuer Connected Golf Edition out of the water, however, the course mapping on the Tag is phenomenal. It’s way beyond what Garmin offers.
However, just like the Tag Heuer Connected, it’s the build and design that warrants the price tag.
The case is made from titanium, with a ceramic bezel – premium stuff – although it’s still 88g. It kind of looks like a Rolex Submariner if you kind of squint and hold your breath until the oxygen starts to leave your brain – but with the screen and OS of the Fenix.
The bezel is engraved with 1-18 golf hole markings, and it comes as standard with a tritone green nylon strap, which looks like a Masters Green Jacket for your wrist. It uses Garmin’s QuickFit tech for quick-change of straps.
Aside from golf, you get the full Garmin experience – with everything you’d get on the Fenix 6.
That means heart rate, Pulse Ox sensor, VO2 Max, profiles for pretty much every conceivable outdoor activity, 10ATM water resistance, all the Firstbeat extra data such as Race Predictor, Performance Condition, Training Effect, Training Load and all that good stuff.
And you also get Garmin Fenix levels of battery life too. 12 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to three rounds of golf. That also works out to 28 hours on non-stop GPS tracking (clearly golf tracking pings GPS satellites around 2x more than run tracking) and 48 hours in UltraTrac mode.
Head-to-head: Garmin Forerunner 745 v Garmin Vivoactive 4
Many will find the Garmin Marq Golfer absurdly priced – and without a doubt it is.
And the same people will say that it’s needless to pay this much money for the same features you get on the Fenix 6 at less than half the price. While that's not untrue, if you quibble at the price it's not aimed at you.
The Tag Heueur Connected offers the same features as $150 smartwatches, but the build quality makes it a statement worth paying for.
If you’re wealthy enough that is expendable income, you’re getting a hell of a lot of golf watch for the money.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.