Nikon laser 550A S

[hektor]

Hello my fellow golfers.

I decided to purchase a rangefinder at last.

Where i live there are noone that sell the Bushnells, so after careful consideration i set out to get the Nikon 550A S.

I played my first round with rangefinder today, and boy was i pleased. It takes all the guesswork out of the equation, even tho i'm still only a 16 HCP player.

I dont think i've ever hit as many greens as i did today. I think i did something to my confidence as well because i had rough weather today, and let me tell you guys about my last hole.

 

I started out today, and i thought this was gonna be a pretty difficult day, sincve the wind was blowing so hard that it forced me to use 2 more clubs than usual. where i would normally play a 7 iron, i used a 5, and so on.

Now i get to the 18th hole which is a par 5, 456meters.

I tee up the ball and i pull the driver.

Wind was coming directly towards me. Unfortunatly i pushed my driver a tad, and ended up in a little rough. This kind of rough is knee deep, but luckily i found the ball since it had only just trickled into the rough.

We are now about 200m out, and i have 256m left to the green.

I pick my 8 iron out of the bag and figure that i would have to lay this one up. Reason for this is that the 18th, has a water hazard in front of the green. It streches from 120, to 80 meters.

Anyways i hit my 8, and it just barely goes past the 200 marker. as i walk up to my ball for my 3rd shot, i think that the par chance for this hole is pretty much blown. I arrive at my ball and pull my brand spanking new Nikon from the bag, and sure enough.. i got 197meters left to the pin.

Now i know that my 3w is the club of choice for this shot, but i am also thinking that my 3w normally is around 200m. Only.. today has been about a 2-club difference because of the strong headwind. Now keeping the watir in mind, and the watar hazard in a very dangerous position i pull my rangefinder once more. lenght is confirmed, and i say to myself "rangefinder tells me i can make this shot" (btw i got a very penetrating 3w trajectory), and so for the first time in my fairly short golfing "carreer", i choose my weapon, and i trust my rangefinder. and i pull it of!!!!!! Shot starts out a little to the right and i get the perfect draw which homes in on the target. ball comes down in the uphill slope on the green and starts rolling towards the pin. it comes to rest about 2 meters left of the hole but still pin-high. I put it past the hole, but put number 2 goes in and i save my par.

I know that many would say that everything came together iand i got very lucky. But here is my take on it; I get so confident when i now know the exact distance, that i can consentrate on just making good contact with the ball. I have never felt more at ease even faced with situations that previously would give me the shakes.

Hyped up bu the effect this had on my game i went straight out for another 18 holes. Total score wasnt all that great tbh, but that wasnt the point. I can now set up with confidence since i know how far i need to hit it. So in my opinion this is priceless.

 

While i remember; this particular model is NOT approved for tournement play since it has a "slope" function, but for practice...... It is perfect.

It has a "First target aquesition" system that allows it to easily pick up the flag, along with sevearl other features. All in all a very nice product.

 

So there you have it.

Sorry for wall of text but i am still high from the rounds :)

[Evolve]

I agree, I have the same model and its incredible-accurate, fast and easy to use. Although its not suitable for competition use due to the slope rating, its very useful to know exactly how much to take off or add when you're aiming for a pin from a perched tee box. All in all I would highly recommend it!

[nutsnbolts]

Here is a similar story but with the uPro GPS.

 

I was actually about 118 yards from a water hazard but was positioned in a way behind a mound which I could not see exactly how far I needed to carry. I ran up the top of the mound and saw the hazard but then went back down to my ball, took out my uPro and used the "SMART POINT" feature. It located me and showed exactly the distance I needed to lay it up before the hazard without taking the chance on trying to carry it over. I took out my 9 iron, and with one soft stroke the ball landed 2 to 3 yard before the water.

 

Impressed, the uPro, like the rangefinder builds confidence and the good thing is, it helps you train your eye to determine distances when comparing it to what the GPS is telling you.

[Azrano]

Just got the Nikon 550 A S after reading Hektor's review (and very much like Norway) Nikon is about the only rangefinder I can find in Malaysia.

 

Anyway...used it for the first time today and must say that the Nikon works brilliantly. The factory settings were pretty much geared for golf (ie 1st target priority setting), so i only had to change the yardage to 'meter' which was clearly described in the slightly challenging manual.

 

But once on the course the rangefinders simplicity of use was a great relief and welcome. Basically point and shoot. My preference is to use the continuous scan mode for pins ranged between 150-230 m which makes hitting the flag much easier and gives you an overall feel of the green ie clearing lip of the front bunker, distance to flag, jungle at the back of the green etc.

 

I start getting my readings within 2 seconds and i can do so very discreetly as the nikon is small and fits comfortably in my pants pocket, and it took about 3 holes before any of my playing partners noticed the gadget.

 

Point I'm trying to make is it did not slow down play or got in the way of my normal game play...and at the end of the day everyone on that flight relied and benefited from the rangefinder.

 

Thanks Hektor ....your review definitely helped me to follow through with the purchase! :clapping:

[hektor]

Nice to hear that this could help you Arzano.

 

I currently have about 10 rounds played, and i am using the rangefinder steadily.

honestly i can say that this made a huge difference in my game. Like i said earlier, now i can focus 100% on making contact. Not wonder if it's gonna be too long or too short.

And this little Nikon baby is so easy to use. Just point and shoot. First Target Priority make sure that i pick up the pin, and not background interference. I, much like you , also like the scan mode. It really helps if you got problems locking on to a flag, but i'm telling you, this only happens once every blue moon.

 

I am gonna keep using this baby. Trust me when i say... IT'S WORTH IT!

Also better than GPS when you play new courses, and the gps guys havent mapped that particular course.

 

Hektor