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Budget Range Finders


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I was looking at some prime day deals yesterday on Amazon, and found some deals on budget range finders, down to around $90. I am in college and can't really afford some of the higher-end range finders, is $90 too good to be true? I believe it was the Gogogo sport rangefinder. Would i be better off just looking in the classifieds sections for someone to be selling a used one?

Thanks all.

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You do definitely get what you pay for...but that doesn't mean a budget rangefinder can't be useful.

 

I've got the bargain basement Leupold Pincaddie 3 - no slope, no fancy target acquisition, stabilizers, and such. Just straight line distances. 

 

It works fine - but you've got to practice with it. It's tough to pick up the pin. It can be frustrating to constantly pick up background noise, telling you it's 225, when you know it's 160.

 

I grew up playing before GPS and rangefinders, so I've got a strong, long term practice pacing yardages and utilizing dead reckoning. 

 

I find a budget range finder to be a good addition to this practice - but it ain't going to do all the work for you. It just one more bit of information in the calculation.  

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Cleveland Launcher HB 10.5* - Stock Miyazaki C. Kua 50 Stiff
Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 13* - Aldila NV 75 Stiff
or
Callaway Diablo Edge Tour 15* - Accra Dymatch M5 75
Mizuno F-50 18* - Stock Stiff
or
Callaway Diablo Edge Tour Hybrid 21* - Aldila NV 85 Stiff
Callaway RAZR Tour Hybrid 24* - Stock XStiff
5 - PW Cleveland CG7 Tour Black Pearl - DGSL S300
Cleveland 588 RTX Rotex 2.0 50* DG Wedge
Cleveland 588 RTX Rotex 2.0 54* DG Wedge
Callaway X-Series JAWS Slate CC 58* Stock Wedge
Odyssey White Ice #7 - Golf Pride Oversize

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I bought a cheap one off Amazon for around $60 last year and I've had no issue.  My friend has a ~$300 Bushnell and we scoped side by side on a number of holes for par 3 tee shots and approach shots and the difference was less than 1.5 yards on every single shot.  I'm not joining a tour anytime soon so that is good enough for me. 

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I've had a gogogo for about two years now and dont have any complaints with it so far. 

 

No reason to break the bank if you're in school

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Lefty

 

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Jaws Raw 60* 12X

Phantom 5.5

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I've purchased three budget rangefinders from Amazon - the oldest being one I bought in 2018. They are all still working just fine.

 

Why have I bought three? The first was commandeered by my son for his bag - he uses it to this day and it works great.

 

The second one is on my spare bag for guests to use (and got for super cheap during some special offer that was going on at the time), and my current one I've had now in play for a few years now.

 

The newer one works a bit faster than the oldest, but they've all been perfectly reliable and every bit as accurate as the Bushnells and Nikons my buddies use. I'm not particularly easy on my gear, and these get their fair share of drops and knocks, too.

 

So, in this case, I'm not in the camp of "you get what you pay for".

 

 

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If you are a Costco member, then it’s hard to beat the CaddyTek v2 for $130. Just as accurate as other rangefinders I’ve compared it to and you can always return it if something goes wrong. It has pin vibration as well, which they added in the more recent model. 
 

 

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On 10/13/2022 at 12:51 PM, jholz said:

You do definitely get what you pay for...but that doesn't mean a budget rangefinder can't be useful.

 

I've got the bargain basement Leupold Pincaddie 3 - no slope, no fancy target acquisition, stabilizers, and such. Just straight line distances. 

 

It works fine - but you've got to practice with it. It's tough to pick up the pin. It can be frustrating to constantly pick up background noise, telling you it's 225, when you know it's 160.

 

I grew up playing before GPS and rangefinders, so I've got a strong, long term practice pacing yardages and utilizing dead reckoning. 

 

I find a budget range finder to be a good addition to this practice - but it ain't going to do all the work for you. It just one more bit of information in the calculation.  

 

jholz is right on. I also have a budget rangefinder that I picked up, and it has all of the same issues as he mentioned, e.g. hard to pick up the pin sometimes, gets confused by the background. It often takes a few tries to lock on to whatever I'm shooting. That said, when it does hit the flag, it's right on. I think as long as you learn to use it and you have enough common sense to know when it's obviously wrong then it's a value-add buy (my experience is that it's usually off by a lot when you're hitting something other than the flag, enough that you should realize easily realize it).

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If you prefer a major brand, the Nikon Coolshot series is pretty affordable.  Also, look at hunting laser rangefinders, since they don't have a "golf" sticker on them they're far less expensive and the internals are the same as "golf" labeled ones.

Paradym 9.5

Rogue ST Max HL 3wd (really a 4wd)

Apex Pro 21 3 & 4

Apex 21 Mixed Combo Set 5-A

Jaws 5 54* C-grind

PM Grind 2.0  58*

Odyssey Exo Mini 7s

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A Rolex and a Casio tell the same time.  One is just more expensive than the other

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Driver:    2021 Cobra Rad Speed Peacote 9* w Kuro Kage 60g Silver TiNi Dual-Core Shaft 

Fairway Woods: 2014 Adams Tight Lies 14° 3 Wood w Kuro Kage 65g Shaft tipped 1 inch

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Irons:  2016 Nike Vapor Fly 4-AW   

 Wedges:  2017 Cleveland CBX 56°& 60°wedge              
Shafts:  Matrix Ozik Program F15 85S Graphite Shafts 4i - 60°

Grips:   Superstroke S-Tech + 2 Wraps
Putter:  Gamer -  2020 Odyssey Stroke Lab 7s Black w Superstroke Claw 1.0 grip at 35in.

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