PrecisionPro NX9 HD Unusable in Fog?

[happybob]

I've been a fan of PrecisionPro rangefinders, used to own the NX7 Pro Slope, never had problem with it. More recently I upgraded to the NX9 HD. It was indeed faster than the NX7 Pro as advertised. I also like the built-in magnet. However, living in the Northwest, it's not uncommon that we run into mild foggy condition in the morning, and this is where I recently ran into problem with the NX9 HD. It was utterly unusable even when it's only slightly foggy. I could see the pin more than 200 yard away, but the NX9 HD simply refused to work. It would give a readout of 17-18 yards, didn't matter whether the pin was 100 yards or 150 yards away. Once the fog disappeared, it was back to normal. This seems to be a problem with all NX9 HDs. I was foolish enough to buy three of them, one for my main bag, one for my backup bag, and another one for my father-in-law. All three had the exact same problem in the fog! I tried my friend's cheaper NX7, and it actually worked fine in the fog, so did my other friend's Bushnell.

This is obviously extremely disappointing considering how much I had trusted PrecisionPro with all the glowing reviews about their products and excellent customer service on this forum. I wonder if PrecisionPro finally realized they had a lemon in their hands and recently discontinued the NX9 HD after having it on the market for a very short period of time comparing to their other products. Looks like they replaced the NX9 HD with the new NX9 Slope and NX9 Non-slope. Hopefully they had fixed the problem with those.

PrecisionPro customer service, not sure if you guys are still following this forum. Hopefully you can provide an easy fix to the NX9 HD's problem in the fog. If it's not fixable, hopefully you can provide a reasonable and cheap way to exchange the NX9 HD for the NX9 Slope assuming that the fog problem is fixed with the new model.

[flaghunting1987]

Yep, I returned my NX9 HD because of this issue and I hated the mode button placement. Went back to Bushnell

[Quasimoto]

My Bushnell XE does the same thing - reads 14 yds in fog, albeit dense fog.

[ThinkingPlus]

All laser rangefinders to some extent will provide limited performance under foggy, smokey, dusty, or rainy conditions.

[flaghunting1987]

1 hour ago, ThinkingPlus said:

All laser rangefinders to some extent will provide limited performance under foggy, smokey, dusty, or rainy conditions.

Agreed, just PP was much worse than others...i've had both in the same conditions and my bushnell v4shift worked when Precision pro did not.

[ThinkingPlus]

1 minute ago, flaghunting1987 said:

Agreed, just PP was much worse than others...i've had both in the same conditions and my bushnell v4shift worked when Precision pro did not.

That's because the PP uses a more divergent beam to make hitting the target easier.  However, that means less light hits the target and returns to the sensor in the PP.  Add fog into the mix and there is less light reflected from the target getting back to the sensor than the light scattering back from the fog.  So you get the range to the fog rather than the target.

[happybob]

I wish what you said was the case about Precision Pro rangefinders in general about the them using a more divergent beam, or that the problem only exists in heavy fogs.  Unfortunately neither was true unless you meant to say that only the NX9 HD uses more divergent beam that struggles in any fog.

 

As mentioned in my original post, the condition I encountered was a very light fog.  I could easily see more than 300 yards out.  We had 4 different rangefinders to try at the same time.  My Precision Pro NX9 HD, my father-in-law’s Precision Pro NX9 HD, a friend’s old Bushnell , and another friend’s Precision Pro NX7.  Only the two NX9 HDs struggled with the light foggy condition.  The NX7 and the Bushnell worked just fine without any problem.  The problem was unique to the NX9 HD model.  

 

Combing this with the fact the Precision Pro replaced the NX9 HD model in only a year vs. the NX7 now being on the market for a few years and and still going strong, this makes me wonder if the NX9 HD was indeed a lemon model.

 

BTW, where are all the Precision Pro reps who used to be so active on this forum providing help?  Haven’t seen any post from them in a long time, I hope they are not about to go under like a lot of small businesses.  I would certainly love to continue to support them, but without their highly rated customer service, Precision Pro unfortunately will just become another one of those lower-tiered rangefinder companies flooding the market.  

 

BTW, has any other NX9 HD owner noticed that this model seems to be draining battery much faster?  I noticed that the Precision Pro branded CR2 battery that came with my NX9 HD only lasted less than 15 rounds.  That seems a lot shorter than all other rangefinders I’ve owned including the NX7, other Bushnell and Nikon models.  I jut replaced it with a supposedly long-lasting Energizer CR2 lithium battery, will see how long this one lasts.  I know Precision Pro supposedly promises life-long free batteries, but if I have to contact them every 15 rounds to have them mail me a cheapo low-quality battery, it’s not really worth my time.  

 

If I don’t see any post from Precision Pro on this forum soon, I’ll probably email them directly.  It’s disappointing.  Unless they can continue to keep up with their reputation of providing excellent customer service,  they are not really worth the trouble anymore.

[ThinkingPlus]

3 minutes ago, happybob said:

I wish what you said was the case about Precision Pro rangefinders in general about the them using a more divergent beam, or that the problem only exists in heavy fogs.  Unfortunately neither was true unless you meant to say that only the NX9 HD uses more divergent beam that struggles in any fog.

 

As mentioned in my original post, the condition I encountered was a very light fog.  I could easily see more than 300 yards out.  We had 4 different rangefinders to try at the same time.  My Precision Pro NX9 HD, my father-in-law’s Precision Pro NX9 HD, a friend’s old Bushnell , and another friend’s Precision Pro NX7.  Only the two NX9 HDs struggled with the light foggy condition.  The NX7 and the Bushnell worked just fine without any problem.  The problem was unique to the NX9 HD model.  

 

Combing this with the fact the Precision Pro replaced the NX9 HD model in only a year vs. the NX7 now being on the market for a few years and and still going strong, this makes me wonder if the NX9 HD was indeed a lemon model.

 

BTW, where are all the Precision Pro reps who used to be so active on this forum providing help?  Haven’t seen any post from them in a long time, I hope they are not about to go under like a lot of small businesses.  I would certainly love to continue to support them, but without their highly rated customer service, Precision Pro unfortunately will just become another one of those lower-tiered rangefinder companies flooding the market.  

 

BTW, has any other NX9 HD owner noticed that this model seems to be draining battery much faster?  I noticed that the Precision Pro branded CR2 battery that came with my NX9 HD only lasted less than 15 rounds.  That seems a lot shorter than all other rangefinders I’ve owned including the NX7, other Bushnell and Nikon models.  I jut replaced it with a supposedly long-lasting Energizer CR2 lithium battery, will see how long this one lasts.  I know Precision Pro supposedly promises life-long free batteries, but if I have to contact them every 15 rounds to have them mail me a cheapo low-quality battery, it’s not really worth my time.  

 

If I don’t see any post from Precision Pro on this forum soon, I’ll probably email them directly.  It’s disappointing.  Unless they can continue to keep up with their reputation of providing excellent customer service,  they are not really worth the trouble anymore.

All PP models use a more divergent beam per their rep.  It is a design feature/limitation.  Your specific issue sounds like some kind of defect.  Unfortunate.

[lchang]

Hmmm. Sounds like what I experienced with my new NX2:
 

 

[happybob]

Could this be the issue of using a more divergent beam in their newer models as mentioned above?  So far seems to be an issue with the NX9 HD and NX2, but not the older NX7?

 

[ThinkingPlus]

7 minutes ago, happybob said:

Could this be the issue of using a more divergent beam in their newer models as mentioned above?  So far seems to be an issue with the NX9 HD and NX2, but not the older NX7?

 

In order to diverge the beam more they would have needed either a more powerful laser or more sensitive detector to achieve the same level of performance.  Those would be pretty significant design changes.

[lchang]

@Precision Pro Golf  Can you help here?

[groach]

I have that issue in early morning rounds here in MN.  Additionally, every 5 or 6 holes, it just stops reading the flag.  I have to shoot a tree trunk, change the slope a couple times, then it picks back up.  I'm going to sell this thing soon and upgrade to the Nikon Coolshot.

[callawayjay]

I had the same issue. They replaced it but it happened again. Couple that with what a previous poster said about the mode button placement, being way too close to the shoot button, and I went back to another brand. 

[lchang]

2 hours ago, groach said:

I have that issue in early morning rounds here in MN.  Additionally, every 5 or 6 holes, it just stops reading the flag.  I have to shoot a tree trunk, change the slope a couple times, then it picks back up.  I'm going to sell this thing soon and upgrade to the Nikon Coolshot.

 

Is there a reason to think that the Nikon Coolshot is better on this front?

[lchang]

Ahhh... this is probably relevant.  

Quote

I apologize for the inconvenience but the best way I can explain this is our laser is wider than other brands. This allows our laser to pick-up smaller targets easier but the downside is that heavy rain and fog can get in the way. Other brands have a thiner laser and this allows the laser to cut through rain and fog but can struggle to pick up smaller targets

 

 

[ThinkingPlus]

1 hour ago, lchang said:

 

Is there a reason to think that the Nikon Coolshot is better on this front?

The Nikon can use a less divergent laser beam because it is stabilized on the target compensating for shaky hands.  This approach costs more because of the additional stabilization hardware and software.  This better adverse weather performance assumes Nikon uses an equally powerful laser.

[lchang]

Ah, this would apply to the Nikon Coolshot Pro Stabilized ($450) not the Coolshot 20 ($199).

[snagy2000]

Use your phone, they'll pick up. Very willing to help! I just talked to them a couple weeks ago and purchased the NX9 Slope. No issues as of yet. They're no longer making the NX9 HD due to design feedback and performance costs/benefits.

[groach]

I just called them and nobody answered, so I emailed them.  My NX9 Slope just flat out stopped working in the middle of my round yesterday.  I'm asking for a refund and going with a different brand.  I've had bad luck with both the NX7 and the NX9.  

[groach]

Apparently they will not give me a refund because it's outside of the 90 day window, but, they are going to send me another one as a replacement.  The product up to this point has been sub par, but their customer service is very good.

[lchang]

2 minutes ago, groach said:

Apparently they will not give me a refund because it's outside of the 90 day window, but, they are going to send me another one as a replacement.  The product up to this point has been sub par, but their customer service is very good.

 

Yeah. 90 days is money-back.   But warranty is 2 years.  Let us know how it goes!

[MattM97]

On 8/23/2020 at 8:55 PM, ThinkingPlus said:

All laser rangefinders to some extent will provide limited performance under foggy, smokey, dusty, or rainy conditions.

 

This is a big factor, I use a very expensive handheld measuring laser for work and in certain conditions it will not read unless there is a reflector and honestly 98% of things I can't place a reflector. So if that has trouble in certain weather a golf rangefinder that is several times cheaper will struggle as well.

[ThinkingPlus]

1 hour ago, MattM97 said:

 

This is a big factor, I use a very expensive handheld measuring laser for work and in certain conditions it will not read unless there is a reflector and honestly 98% of things I can't place a reflector. So if that has trouble in certain weather a golf rangefinder that is several times cheaper will struggle as well.

Generally the more expensive LRFs use a narrower beam or higher power (or both) making it less likely to have these kinds of performance issues under conditions where you will actually be playing golf.  However it can happen, especially for non-augmented targets.

[lchang]

After a couple more rounds where in just the lightest little mist or fog, the Precision Pro didn't work at all, I just ordered a Leupold.  Gonna give my Precision Pro to a friend (after fully disclosing the fog issues with it!)

[Rfdong]

I have the NX7 pro and same issue.  But my partners who use Bushnell can pick up pins where the PP can’t.  Even in light fog it struggles.  If/when this one goes I’ll probably buy another brand.  It’s just the specs of PP.  In good weather it’s great, and their CS is great.  But it’s unusable in even light fog or mist

[swgolfer]

Thought I would chime in here, to be clear every laser on the market is Legally limited to the strength, a 905 Laser Beam (which is what's in Bushnell,PP.Nikon etc), when you get into hunting optics there are some differences. That strength Laser will not go thru fog, the beam is going to give a reading on the first contact it makes....no matter what brand. 

[snagy2000]

5 minutes ago, swgolfer said:

Thought I would chime in here, to be clear every laser on the market is Legally limited to the strength, a 905 Laser Beam (which is what's in Bushnell,PP.Nikon etc), when you get into hunting optics there are some differences. That strength Laser will not go thru fog, the beam is going to give a reading on the first contact it makes....no matter what brand. 

Exactly, you get what you pay for...

[pgetzen]

Late to the game on this thread.  Played in fog the other day, and my PP NX9 HD was unusable.  It was a light fog, could see the flag from 200 yards away. My friend’s Bushnell hit the flag every time.  My PP read 21-22 yards every time.  So not sure of the differences between brands, but it was consistently different.  If anybody knows if this was resolved with the newer model, I might stay with PP, but if not, would likely have to move on to another brand.  Also, I do agree the batteries seem to have a shorter life.  I always keep an extra new one in my bag.

[Rfdong]

10 hours ago, snagy2000 said:

Exactly, you get what you pay for...

He’s saying they are all the same?  Regardless of price?  But clearly there are differences in the units.