Garmin Approach S44 vs Garmin Forerunner 165 Music

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Approach S44 compared with Forerunner 165 Music

	GarminApproach S44	GarminForerunner 165 Music
Overview
Released
Released	January 2025	February 2024
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	43 mm	43 mm
Panel
Panel	OLED	OLED
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	30.4 mm (1.2 inch) AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels; optional always-on display, ambient-light sensor and large-font option. Two physical buttons.	1.2-inch (30.4 mm diameter) colour AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels; optional always-on display; five physical buttons
Screen protection
Screen protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens.	Chemically strengthened glass
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	No
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	No
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	No	No
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	No
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	No	No
Crash detection
Crash detection	No	No
GPS
GPS	Single-band	Single-band
Water resistance
Water resistance	50 m	50 m
Sensors
Sensors	GPS, GLONASS and Galileo; compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and ambient-light sensor. No multi-band positioning or wrist heart-rate sensor. Do not infer a heart-rate sensor from generic heart-rate alert wording in the cycling table.	Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; barometric altimeter; compass; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor; GPS, GLONASS and Galileo
Health features
Health features	Step counting, move alerts, automatic daily step goal, calories, distance and intensity minutes. No wrist heart rate, Pulse Ox, sleep/stress monitoring or Body Battery; these belong to the S50. The current maker table and October 2025 guide document activity tracking beyond the step-only description in an April 2025 review.	Continuous heart rate with high/low alerts; HRV status; Body Battery; stress, respiration and blood oxygen; advanced sleep and sleep score; sleep coach and nap detection; Health Snapshot; hydration and women's health tracking; no ECG app
Fitness features
Fitness features	Over 43,000 preloaded golf courses; front/middle/back green distances, hazards, layups/doglegs, Green View with manual pin position, PinPointer, digital scorecard, handicap scoring, statistics, Swing Tempo and custom targets. AutoShot detects shots and measures distance without tags; it does not detect putts, and some chips may be missed. Club Prompt records the selected club. Optional CT1 tags require tapping the watch before each shot; CT10 sensors add automatic club tracking, and the Z30 laser range finder shares measured distances. Full vector CourseView maps, touch targeting, green contours and elevation-adjusted PlaysLike distances require Garmin Golf membership. Tournament mode disables non-permitted features. Current UK activity profiles include running, indoor track running, biking, indoor biking and golf. The exact owner guide additionally documents pool swimming; the current web profile list omits it. No open-water swimming claim.	Daily suggested running workouts and Garmin Coach plans; training effect and recovery time; wrist-based running dynamics and running power; PacePro; VO2 max and race predictions; pool and open-water swimming; running, cycling, strength, HIIT, yoga, Pilates, tennis, pickleball and padel profiles; point-to-point and breadcrumb course navigation, back-to-start and TracBack; no full offline maps or dedicated triathlon mode; no training readiness, load or status (Wareable and Tech Advisor)
Safety features
Safety features	Incident detection in supported outdoor activities and assistance require Garmin Connect, a paired compatible phone with data service and network coverage. They message emergency contacts; they are not standalone emergency communication.	Incident detection during selected activities, assistance and LiveTrack require a paired compatible smartphone and connectivity; live event sharing is Android-only
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 10 days	Up to 11 days
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	–	Up to 20 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	No
Works with
Works with	iPhone and Android	iPhone and Android
Storage
Storage	4 GB	4 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Up to 10 days in smartwatch mode with gesture wake-up, or 15 hours in GPS mode with always-on display while golfing. October 2025 owner guide describes the 15-hour claim as all-satellite-systems typical use. Actual life varies with settings and notifications.	Smartwatch up to 11 days; battery saver smartwatch up to 20 days; GPS-only up to 19 hours; all-systems GNSS up to 17 hours; GPS-only with music up to 7 hours; all-systems with music up to 6.5 hours; actual life depends on display settings, enabled features and use
Charging
Charging	Garmin proprietary four-contact plug to USB-C charging/data cable. Owner guide specifies operating/storage -20 to 60°C and charging 0 to 45°C. Battery capacity, fast-charge wattage and charge duration are not published.	Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in battery
Connectivity
Connectivity	Bluetooth LE with iPhone and Android; Garmin Golf and Garmin Connect. Phone notifications, calendar, weather, find-phone/find-watch and smartphone music controls. Text response, rejecting calls by text and notification images are Android-only. No standalone cellular connection, Wi-Fi, downloaded music or Garmin Pay. The manual’s 13.56 MHz radio entry and CT1 tap function do not establish payment support.	Bluetooth and ANT+ and Wi-Fi; stores music for Bluetooth headphones; Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music downloads require compatible subscriptions; Garmin Pay; Connect IQ apps, watch faces and data fields; smart notifications; Android-only text responses and notification images; Garmin Share and Garmin Messenger; no cellular connection or multi-band GNSS
Storage
Storage	4 GB for preloaded golf/course data and activity history; no offline music storage capability.	4 GB memory/history; offline music playback
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	42 g	39 g (better)
Software
Software	Garmin	Garmin
Case materials
Case materials	Anodised aluminium bezel and fibre-reinforced polymer case; silicone band. Swiss exact-model datasheet labels the buttons as plastic.	Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; chemically strengthened glass; silicone band; 5 ATM water rating
Size
Size	43 x 43 x 11.4 mm; 42 g including the silicone band. Fits wrists 125–202 mm.	43 x 43 x 11.6 mm; Garmin lists 39 g without a separate body-only weight
Water resistance detail
Water resistance detail	5 ATM, pressure equivalent to 50 m; this is not a dive-depth rating. Do not press buttons under water.	–
Reference and release detail
Reference and release detail	Available now in Garmin’s US and German 21 January 2025 announcements; exact UK first shipping day was not specified. Current UK standalone and CT1-bundle SKUs are sellable. No explicit maker predecessor relationship found.	–
Bands
Bands	20 mm industry-standard quick-release bands; not QuickFit.	20 mm quick-release silicone bands; fits 126–203 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	Silver aluminium bezel with Black or Twilight silicone band; Black also sold with 16 CT1 club tags.	Black/Slate Grey; Mist Grey/Whitestone; Turquoise/Aqua; Berry/Lilac (currently not sellable on the UK maker page)
In the box
In the box	Approach S44, USB-C charging/data cable and documentation. Black CT1 bundle additionally includes 16 club tags; the tags are not included with the standalone watches.	Forerunner 165 Music; charging/data cable; documentation