Sensitive Bushnell V5

[jaderhold]

Please read this post and protect your Bushnell V5.

Got caught in a rainstorm a couple of weeks ago. Trapped on far end of golf course in rain and lightening, we head for the club house. Range finder was on windshield frame and took on some water. Didn't realize it took on water through objective lens that apparently acts like a nice little drain to the backside of the lens and internals. Next day I went to use it  and noticed water spots behind the lens. I sent it to Bushnell thinking they would cover it under warranty. Well, V5 is not under warranty from water damage and it's non-repairable. Fully my fault for not putting it up when the rain started which I will do next time. Bushnell offered me 20% off should I purchase another directly from them. 

They sent my ranger finder back as is - water spots and now the water has taken effect on the motherboard and the yardages are so faint, you can't see numbers. You can only tell there's something on the display. 

Now useless, I decided to take it apart and see what makes it tick. I took the front plate off, no big deal with two little Torx screws. I was able to get the screw sleeve out with my fingernail to remove the front lens. There's a little o-ring to be aware of. 

I decided to take the objective lens out to attempt to clean the water spots off. The little rubber piece on focus dial was pretty easy to remove, a little pick under the rubber and that came off. The hard part was removing the objective lens. I broke the little pins that are on the objective lens dial. Decided I wasted enough time with and finally trashed it. 

 

 

Lessons learned

1. Put your rangefinder up in the event of rain, more importantly don't leave it on the cart with any lenses facing up, even in a drizzle. The rubber O-ring is not worth a crap and condensation will get behind the lens.

2. Don't waste your time sending it back to Bushnell as all they will do is throw you a minimal discount of 20%. You probably have a buddy at a store that can buy you one cheaper with their employee discount.

3. If you decide to take it apart to attempt to fix your own, you'll need to figure out how to get pins out of the track which I don't see a way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SheriffBooth]

I had to give up on the V5, not due to water intrusion but because of the terrible design of the battery door.  The door that came with mine dislodged randomly (I didn't discover the issue until the following hole when the door and battery were long gone) - and since the door doubles as a contact point without it the device is a brick.  Bushnell sent a warranty replacement, but the contact is intermittent at best and I'm constantly having to fiddle with it to maintain the power connection.  I finally gave up and just moved on to Precision Pro, which has been just fine.

[The Golfing Carpenter]

I had issues with mine when it got wet also. The display got messed up and a shadow of numbers stayed on the display for a long time. I also have issues with mine in the mornings, and anytime there is fog. It often won't lock on the pin for whatever reason.

[Miceli]

Sounds like i am wasting my time trying to repair the water damage to my Tour V5 but what the heck.  For those of you who have tried, what size size are the torx screws that hold the faceplate on the bushnell tour v5?