Ed, Just went through a similar experience when buying my father one over this father's day. I first bought him a middle priced Leopold at the local Cabella's. When he found it to be unsatisfactory I returned it and bought an even more expensive Leopold rangefinder. After hearing that he couldn't hit the pin with that one either, I went and tried for myself, and low and behold, all I could do was hit the mounds behind the green, not the actual pin. Finally I went online and did a significant amount of research and chose the Nikon 500G which does have a pinseeker function and works exactly like he expected it to (point and click at the pin). Since he's had the working one, I've really enjoyed playing with him (not that I didn't before =)) and being able to get the exact distance to the pin, which oftentimes I completely mis-calculate based on the yardages that are marked on the course. It's also nice for those "how far is it" lay-up shots that come up on occasion. All in all I'd have to say that these are a great investment for one's game, but if you don't have the pinseeker function in the rangefinder it's really not much help at all.
Thanks, Steve -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ed Reeder Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 6:15 PM To: clubmaker online; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ShopTalk: Range Finder Mini Review FWIW - Today I used a friend's Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour rangefinder during my round. I general it was not very satisfactory. This rangefinder does NOT have the "pinseeker" technology that their two higher end products possess. The pinseeker function allows you to focus on the flag and display its distance instead of something in the background. Without the pinseeker capability it is best if you focus on the green near the bottom of the flagstick. If the green is not visible it can be problematic to focus on the flag. This is especially true if you are some distance from the flag, say over 130 yards. On the holes where I could get reliable readings I became much more aware of my wedge distances and saw that I could benefit from the feedback. I also tested getting distances to balls in the fairway, simulating what you might do during a practice session to determine wedge distances. This was easy to do and quite accurate. It was a little difficult to focus on distant targets and get repeatable numbers, especially bunker edges. The problem is due to the stability/shakiness of the image. I'm a walker, but was told that steading the rangefinder against parts of a golf cart/buggy helps quite a bit. I spoke with a plus index friend who has experience with these products. He felt that you must have the pinseeker function to make the rangefinder useful. He also was of the opinion that given a choice of a SkyCaddie GPS or a pinseeker rangefinder, that the rangefinder was best. /Ed
