Rangefinder or GPS!!!???

[John]

So i want to buy a rangefinder or a GPS and I can't decide which to go with!! If it's a rangefinder i'm going with a Tour V2 but there are so many GPS options out there. I'm essentially a public course player going all over the place. Any questions, comments or suggestions are very welcome.

[jvincent]

Rangefinder. You never have to worry about whether the course is in the database or not.

[mgedit]

I agree ... I'd suggest rangefinder is the best way to go. Too many courses I have played are not on GPS databases. I'm very happy with my Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 (non-slope version). I had a "small" Bushnell one and although it worked fine, I found it hard to keep steady on the flag. Very few problems with the 1500 in this regard. Cheers, Mike

[jeffc]

rangefinder. I like getting the exact distance to the pin. GPS won't give you that. same goes for the course, if its not on their you are out of luck.

[BC MIST]

Rangefinder. I want to know the exact yardage to the flag stick, versus a yardage to either the front, middle or back.

[Chambokl]

I love my SkyCaddie... SG5... Playing The Rock last year for the first time 2 or 3 times the SC gave us the distance to the End of Fairway... can't get that with a rangefinder... we wouldn't have known neither... also like to know how far I am from the 100 yard marker...to lay up.

[gbower]

I have both an SG5 and a Pinseeker 1500 and have only used the 1500 once since I got the SG5 late last fall. Both have good features and the rangefinder can be used at any golf course in the world free where with a lot of gps units you need a subscription to get the courses. I actually like knowing how far to the front and back of the green. Also knowing where some of the hazards (bunkers) are is also good for layups. I think there are excellent arguments on both sides and I will keep both as I seem to love gadgets. If courses have the prisms on the flagsticks it makes it extremely easy with even the cheaper model rangefinders to capture a flagstick. At our course these were recently installed and you can get the distance even on a par 5.

[Sakuraba]

I've had both, a bushnell laser range finder and a skycaddie. Hands down, the skycaddie for me is superior. It gives you every distance I think you'd ever need (with the intelligreen, you really can dial in to a flag within I'd guess 1 or 2 yards) plus it gives you the other distance info a laser cannot (how far to end of a fairway or hazard). Also, as you get more familiar with it, it can keep a myriad of stats for you. Its annoying that I have to pay an annual fee, but its only $30 per year, and I have yet to play a course that isn't available.
I don't want to golf without it any more.

[John]

Do you have the SG5 as well Sak?

[hoolio]

Rangefinder. I want to know the exact yardage to the flag stick, versus a yardage to either the front, middle or back.

Some people want to know both though. I like my SG5 because while my FC's are hitting, I can move the pin position and see how much room I have between the front or back of the green and the flag. If there's water in front of the green, and the pin is two paces on, then I'm going to grab the stick that will put me in the middle of the green and not swimming.

I never thought I'd use the score tracking until they brought in SGclub this year, and now I love plugging in the unit to see how bad my stats are after a round. Being able to track your distance off the tee is nice, and apparently the SGX (with the RFID plugs) will track your distances with all the clubs.

[Sakuraba]

Do you have the SG5 as well Sak?

nope, just the lowly sg2.5. I love it.

[atomic]

I went the range finder route and have a v2 non-slope. My buddy was asking me the same question of why rf vs gps... I have no answer. I don't regret my purchase and it has saved me quite a few strokes so far this season.

[Slicer&Dicer]

I think it depends how well you play.

Some may use both devices but you also don't want to start taking too long.

With the rangefinder, you cannot get the distance if you happen to have trees in the way, but you can use it anywhere in the world.

With Skycaddie, a lot of the local courses are mapped but not all.

I use the GPS for F/M/B of green because I am not accurate enough for flag hunting. I generally try to hit the middle of the green and if I miss a little then I have some room for error. If I really miss, no GPS or rangefinder will help and I deserve to end up in trouble.

If you have the money, I'd say both as the rangefinder (even an inexpensive one) must be real nice on the practice range if the range has flags.

[DenisO]

I've tested out a rangefinder off a person I was playing with before. I thought it was kind of neat, but I love my SkyCaddie SG5 more. Knowing the location and distances to different hazards that could be hidden is great, and entering in my score/stats is even better for me.

[TLB]

I had a SG 2.5 last year but lost it at Casselview. Got a Bushnell Medalist range-finder this year and greatly prefer it over the GPS. With the range-finder, you can measure ANYTHING, as opposed to only those items programmed in the GPS. As has been mentioned already, you get the exact distance to the actual pin itself and can measure other things that the GPS won't have: like how far to the group or cart ahead of you, how far to the corner of a dogleg etc.

Much more versatile than a GPS, in my view.

[nd2golf]

When I was looking at both SC and Bushnell I was talking with a buddy of mine who is a CPGA at Golf Town and at the time was the golf coach at the University. He had both a laser RF and SG5 and ended up getting rid of the laser and keeping the SG5. He said he got more use out of the SC. I borrowed his SG5 at the time from him and liked it but he wouldn't sell it. I ended up picking up a SG5 and love it and have had no problems finding available courses. Since I play in both Canada and the US I had to go with the double eagle membership which is $60 US a year but I have found the SC to be more reliable and accurate than others when playing in the same group.

[rezadue]

I have both and I think positives and negatives of both have been stated here.
The only thing I can add here is that was able to pickup a mint SG5from EBAY shipped to my door for $190 all taxes and shipping included. The shipper sent it from the U.S. and I got it in 48 hours via FedEx.

[Daddyfats]

Rangefinder is preferred by most of the players I know. They are more versatile and more accurate. The main advantage of a GPS is getting blind yardages, which of course, is the main disadvantage of a rangefinder, but this doesn't happen to me often enough to give up the accuracy and versatility of the rangefinder. Plus, I don't want to deal with any additional fees, downloads, or progamming yardages that are off.

[dmr]

Pardon my ignorance but I've been wondering about this too recently. What can you range with a rangefinder? I'm assuming you can range a tree or a cart. But is there a way to get a range on a sand trap or water. Can you range the small hazard stakes from a few hundred yards away?

[atomic]

I can pick up 200/150/100 stakes pretty easily. Pins from over 300 yards for sure (not that I need to) I have also gotten trees close to hazards, bunkers and edges of water.

[TLB]

The range-finder will measure anything that can reflect the laser energy back. I have not encountered anything that I wanted to range that it wouldn't measure. The Medalist has a mode called "PinSeeker" which apparently will discriminate the flagstick from background targets (trees, etc) behind the pin. I have never used it as I have no problem lasing the actual flag on the pin from about 200 yards and closer.

[Chambokl]

The range-finder will measure anything that can reflect the laser energy back. I have not encountered anything that I wanted to range that it wouldn't measure. The Medalist has a mode called "PinSeeker" which apparently will discriminate the flagstick from background targets (trees, etc) behind the pin. I have never used it as I have no problem lasing the actual flag on the pin from about 200 yards and closer.

What about getting a distance for a longer distance... for example I am 260... can I get this distance so I know what my lay-up to 100 is?

[TLB]

If I understand the question - I see no reason why not. If I was about 260 yards out I would lase the flag to see exactly how far I am out. If I wanted to lay up to - say 100 yards out - I would lase the 100 yard marker, or an object close to it, to see how far I am from that location.

[Chambokl]

If I understand the question - I see no reason why not. If I was about 260 yards out I would lase the flag to see exactly how far I am out. If I wanted to lay up to - say 100 yards out - I would lase the 100 yard marker, or an object close to it, to see how far I am from that location.

No 100 marker at our course (just one in the ground) and a few mention that it is hard to lase the flag from more than 200 yards... you seem to be saying that it is easy to laser the flag from 260... so that makes it easy.

[Sakuraba]

I couldn't reliably hit the flag from 100 yards with mine, let alone 260, but admittedly, it was an older model (bushnell yardage pro trophy 800) and I have shaky hands I guess.

I'm sure the newer models of rangefinders don't have these issues, but I would only now consider the skycaddie sgx as an upgrade. With the skycaddie, I no longer need a scorecard, either. Also, say you're playing a match or a net game, you can tell the skycaddie your cap, and it will automaticly tell you your stroke holes.

[nokids]

No 100 marker at our course (just one in the ground) and a few mention that it is hard to lase the flag from more than 200 yards... you seem to be saying that it is easy to laser the flag from 260... so that makes it easy.

i have no problem tagging a green 400 yards away with my bushnell 1600. the reason it's called a bushnell 1600 is because the max range is 1600 yards! however, tagging the flagpin from more than 300 yards is difficult for me because i can't hold my hand steady enough to stay on the flagpin, so if i was in such a situation i'd point at the front of the green or a bunker, and add a few more yards. i haven't gotten the hang of the 'pinseeker' function, so i just use scan mode which tells me how far everything is as i'm looking at it.

to find where the 100 yard layup area is, tag the green first (ie: 300 yards away), and scan back until i see the rangefinder gives me 200 yards, that will be the 100 yard layup area.