Ah, thanks much for that. I'm not married to getting a Bushnell so I will look at their reviews as well. Golfsmith site has four Leupolds and all are apparently available in store as well. Price points are $250/$399/$499, and since I have a gift card can't price shop.

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/...ders-for-golf/

Just in case anyone hasn't talked about this. I live in Nebraska and see quite a few hunting based range finders. Never had an issue using any of them.

That's an interesting read. In perusing options it did occur to me that they may simply be repackaging their hunting rangefinders as golf-specific when they're actually the same thing (at different prices).

Still, if there is a difference - and that thread didn't make it clear - then I'll just play it safe and go for a golf one. Primarily because people posted that the golf ones may be better at locking in on pins, and as I have historically shaky hands and have trouble using these things I need all the help I can get.

Now am torn between Bushnell, Leupold, and Callaway. Heard back from a friend of mine who is a plus handicap and he said that he uses Callaway (Nikon) and it works great.

I tried all the bushnells vs. leupolds in Golfsmith a few weeks ago and the leuopold blows them out of the water, more compact, better feel/grip, much better optics

I have owned both the Bushnell and Leupold and think they all lock in the same... If the course has a prism it's lighting quick--if not I can get locked into pins <200 99% of the time, 200-250 I generally aim at people on the green or parts of it because I'm not that good. imo there really isn't that much difference between the two and probably the Nikon. The leupold's look and feel nicer though... so far no issues with my GX-3.

How important is the slope feature for you? Imo it tells you a lot of what you already know. I have the GX-3 and love it(having borrowed a Bushnell slope for about 10 rounds), but if I had to do it all over again I'd get a GX-1 and save $150. Basically the only difference is the display shows up red rather than black (I think)

If it were my $500 burning a hole, I'd get a GX-1 (on sale for $250) and use the other $250 to buy perishables like balls/gloves/etc.

Best golf purchase I've ever made.

Great stuff, thanks. Will probably go Leupold based off of that post. Which means it is down to GX1 ($250) or GX3i ($400). Will hopefully be smart and go cheaper - no doubt these manufacturers are under pressure to continually produce new models, but how much can they really improve this sort of technology?

Reminds me of my Garmin GPS watch for training - arguably the best one they have made to date is several years old (310). Newer isn't always better.

Yeah I don't think there's any real improvement year to year, with the exception of the whole prism thing but all those rangefinders have them. The difference between the GX1 and GX3i is basically the case and the display. I have to admit the red display is pretty trick and like it a lot, just not for $150. There are some threads on Golfwrx saying that the GX1 locks in better, but to be honest I've never had an issue with the GX3 except in cases where I'm 220+ out trying to lock into a non-prism'd pin. And even then it's a case where I'll lock into whomever is walking on the green at the time.

Good luck, you'll soon wonder how you got on without it.

Worth $150?

Yeah that may be trick but not $150 trick.

And the slope thing...meh. Most courses out here are flat and those that aren't I have a lifetime of experience clubbing up or down. That's just one variable I'll have to live with - as was pointed out to me earlier, most (maybe all) of the slope models can't be used in competition. It's a minor feature that I won't lose sleep over.

Thanks again.

I have a buschnell with slope and love it, have no issues locking onto pins from any distance...the difference between actual yardage and slope yardage usually isnt huge, usually a club difference at most but its a nice feature, definitely not a must have though

I'm pretty sure that every event I have played in does not allow you to play with any rangefinder that is capable of calculating slope, regardless if you say you will turn the function off or whatever.

The GX4 has two faceplates, one that turns the slope feature off and makes it legal for tourney play.

I see that. Bushnell also offers rangefinders where you can disable the slope function, but the USGA and most tournament dont allow you to play with anything capable of calculating slope to avoid cheating.

Even Leopold's own website does not say the 4 model is tournament legal despite saying it for all other models.

After a quick google search it would appear the USGA does in fact not allow the GX 4 in competition.

U right. Crazy that Leo would even release that...

Boring update: got the Leupold GX1 over the weekend as planned. Comically, 3/4 of the instruction manual deals with the GX2 slope feature and inputting various club distances so the device can properly "caddy" based off of slope and distance. Normally I get jelly reading about a whole bunch of features that I don't have but in this case it looks like a huge PITA and of course can't take into account things like wind or temperature. Mostly I'm not sure why anyone <15 handicap would bother with it. And of course it's not tourney compliant, which is just another reason it would have been a bad choice.

Didn't golf with it yet but I live on a course and was shooting at the flag out my back window. Frustratingly, my notoriously shaky hands made it kind of tough to get a reading even from about 60 yards away but hopefully I'll figure it out.

Even with shaky hands (i have hand tremors so i can relate) it should lock onto a flag almost instantly at 60 yards.