My review: GPS, Bushnell & Leupold

[Buddyjay]

Sorry...lengthy but a good comparison.

Range Finders:
Comparing the Sonocaddie V300 GPS, Bushnell Pro 1600 Tour. & Leupold GX 1:

First let me mention that I am not trying to start a debate on which is better. These are MY findings and personal opinions. I thought they might be useful to others that are trying to decide on what to get. I do apologize for the lengthiness of this review, but when comparing three different units, it's tough not to be wordy.

I have had the Sonocaddie V300 for about a year. It's a very good GPS that features full color representations of the holes. It has yardages for all types of hazards and you have the ability to "mark" whatever you want on any course and "map" your own course. It's a very versatile GPS. No subscriptions but they do have different membership plans.

As with all GPS units, the Sonocaddie will give you the yardage to the front, middle & back of greens. Yardages seem to be accurate but there is nothing to compare it to other than sprinkler heads. On any given hole, if there is a hole, (i.e. that doesn't show the yardage to a dogleg), you can "mark" that yardage when you get to the leg. Therefore, next time you play that hole, the GPS will show the yardage.

Recently on a trip to Myrtle Beach, I was playing a course and someone had a Bushnell Laser Range Finder. I didn't have my GPS and I wanted to know the yardage to a dogleg. He "shot" a tree by the dog leg and called out the yardage. I tried his Laser and liked the instant and exact readings. During the round he gave us readings to the pins that obviously, were very useful.

When I got back home I decided to look into the Lasers and wondered which would be better, the GPS or Laser. After reading many articles, forums & reviews, I noticed that many golfers like using BOTH. Arguments were:

GPS= Overall look of hole
Distances with blind shots
Can see hazards that are hidden, etc.

Laser = Exact distance to hole
Exact distances to dog legs, hazards, etc.
No downloading or membership fees

But, to me, the most compelling argument was:

The GPS will give you the distance to front, middle & back of hole and the Laser will give you the exact pin location. So if the GPS tells you 150 to the back of the green and the Laser tells you the pin is at 145 you know you have only 15' of green behind the pin. This, to me ,is invaluable; especially if the green is uphill and you can't see the ground at all. This really comes into play if it's a new course you are playing. I can't tell you how many times I thought the pin was in the front and it was in the back of the green.

Also, sometimes, my GPS will not have yardages to a front bunker so I don't know the carry distance.

After researching different Lasers, I had settled on either the Bushnell Pro 1600 Tour and the Leupold GX 1. I didn't want the slope feature for tournament legalities.

Bushnell Pro Tour. 1600:

This unit is not as big, or heavy as I thought it was but it is still larger than the Leupold GX. The carrying case is more like a fanny pack and you cannot "clip" it onto your bag, but you can wrap the large strap around it if you want.

The optics are bright and clear with a large field of view.

The unit gives almost instantaneous readings and the "pin seeker" mode really helps in getting the pin. When in this mode, a flag icon is shown in the display. When scanning for the pin on the green, the icon will get a circle around it when it reads the flag.

Another feature of my GPS is that it will tell me how far I hit a drive, or iron, I was able to do this also with the Laser, with more accuracy. I would get to my ball and "shoot" a tree or ball washer that I hit next to and get a reading. Or, if standing on the tee and I hit near something, I could shoot the object and get a reading.

The Bushnell, seems very accurate and the larger size doesn't seem to cause any problems. The display is crystal clear and the letters are jet black and very easy to read. They are also displayed at the bottom of the viewing area which makes reading very easy since the green grass is the background.

When shooting any object, whether it be a bunker, mound or even flat grass the Bushnell gives a very fast reading, every time.


Leupold GX 1;

This is a much smaller/lighter range finder that fits in the palm of your hand. The case can clip onto your bag which is nice. I was reaaaaally hoping to like this more than the Bushnell because of its size/weight but there are some problems with this unit. Again, in my opinion.

The first thing I noticed was it had no protective eyepiece cover like the Bushnell. Just a nice touch by Bushnell.

When looking through the unit, I immediately noticed that the field of view is smaller than the Bushnell and the Leupold has a slight yellowish tint. Not sure if this is supposed to be more comfortable on sunny days but I don't care for the tint. The Bushnell definitely has brighter and clearer optics. Also the Bushnell's readouts are more black and a bit easier to read.

I am also concerned about the Leupolds readouts being at the top of the display. When shooting a pin and you have trees lined up and behind the pin, the Leupold display is hard to see since the #'s are at the top where the trees are. It's especially hard if the trees are shaded. Even in their demonstration videos on their web site you can see this happening.

Another problem is, when comparing the two, I am getting different readings of sometimes 3 yards or more! This is not at the pins but at other objects. And to be fair, I don't know who is more accurate. I will have to conduct more controlled tests.

Unfortunately another problem I saw with the Leupold is a test I did at my house. I "shot" my neighbors front door and it gave me a reading of 50 yards. Then I shot their awning that hangs over their front door. The Leupold wouldn't pick it up until the fourth try. It then gave a reading of 52 yards. That's impossible since the awning hangs in FRONT of the door. The Bushnell gave the door a reading of 48 yards and the awning at 46. This house is red brick and the Bushnell gave me readings to their windows (48), shutters (47) and the bricks themselves (47). The Leupold gave me the windows only. It couldn't read the shutters or the brick.

Believe me, I'm not trying to bash Leupold.. I reallllly want to like this unit but it is showing many negative traits.

And despite what you may read I question the auto pin seeking it is supposed to have. Some reviews say that it does this automatically in scan mode but the manual says nothing about pin seeking at all. It doesn't even mention it. The box doesn't have any info on it either. It does have prism lock which is nice, but none of my courses use prisms. With Bushnell, pin seeking is actually a mode.

With pin seeking, you are not supposed to get any readings from background objects until you hit the pin. At least that's what their web site video says. However, as soon as I hit a tree, I get a reading to that tree. I am NOT using the scan mode either. Pin seeking is supposed to be automatic.

When trying the unit shooting through a window screen or through thick glass, the Leupold will not give me a reading, the Bushnell does with no problem. I know that this has nothing to do with it's ability on the golf course, but it just shows me that Bushnell's optics are better and that means more accuracy on the course. Again, this is just my opinion.

On the course, I do get almost instant readings on the pin and I do get the SAME readings with the Bushnell… at the pin. Unfortunately, when shooting the ground the Leupold gives very erratic readings, if I even get a reading. I would hit a ball approx. 70 yards. I then would shoot the ball with the Leupold and not even get a reading. The Bushnell would give me a reading every time.

When shooting a small mound about 125 yards out I would get a reading of:

Nothing, then 90 or 100… very un-reliable. It's as if it would read the ground an inch or so UNDER the reticles. The point is that IF it gave me a reading, it would be erratic. The Bushnell would give me the same reading every time. Period. The Bushnell reads everything, every time.

The one thing I really liked about the Leupold is that you really can shoot the flag with one hand if not too far away. It's a really steady unit and very well made. The Bushnell shakes a little bit more.

The Leupold does give you very fast readings when you hit the flag, but there are too many other problems of un-reliability. Maybe this unit is defective, but I'm not willing to keep doing mail order to find out. Plus the battery cost $10! Bushnell's 9 volt = $1.00.

But using both the GPS and Laser produced interesting results.

1. It showed that my GPS is VERY accurate. The GPS told me the front of the green was 160 and the laser said the same thing. The GPS told me the middle of the green was 160 yards, the laser said the pin was at 165 yards. When I got to the pin it was exactly 5 yards back from the center of the green. Now on some holes they did differ a little and I would believe the Laser before the GPS, but it does prove to me how accurate the GPS is… most of the time. When it was off, it was only a yard or two.

2. One hole the GPS showed 100 to the front and the Laser said 105 to the pin. Obviously a front pin location. But, knowing the exact location and that I had not much room in the front of the green, I decided to hit a very high shot at the pin ( I don't spin the ball well). It worked perfectly, I landed 7' left of the pin. All because of the knowledge of both units.

I know I bashed the Leupold unit and as I mentioned I really wanted to like this unit more. Also it was $70.00 less. But it was just too erratic in my testing and I prefer the Bushnell more.

I do not have any affiliation with any company's mentioned. I am a regular consumer that just wanted to know what unit(s) might be better.

Note: I think to be fair to Leupold, I will send the unit back for another one; just in case this is defective.

[KevCarter]

Very nice, detailed review. Thank you!

Kevin

[Chris_NH]

Nice review - thanks. And you *never* have to apologize (IMO) for having too lengthy/detailed a review. It's those details that provide a lot of the relevant info.

I just bought the GX-1 (used, here on GolfWrx) a couple of months ago, and am jonesing to get out and use it.

Myrtle Beach in 33 days, unless the weather continues its warming streak in the northeast. Which courses did you play in MB?

Chris

[highergr0und]

Thanks for the review.... I've been looking into lasers and the leupold was at the top of my list based off of the features. Now I'll have to look into the bushnell.

Did you notice a lot of difference between the 7x magnification of the bushnell and the 6x of the leupold? You mentioned steadiness between the two, which could be a factor.

[Mainlinegolfer]

Did you consider the smaller Bushnell Tour V2? (I got this one primarily because of its size).

[Buddyjay]

[quote name='Chris_NH' date='12 March 2010 - 11:17 AM' timestamp='1268410649' post='2311399']
Nice review - thanks. And you *never* have to apologize (IMO) for having too lengthy/detailed a review. It's those details that provide a lot of the relevant info.

I just bought the GX-1 (used, here on GolfWrx) a couple of months ago, and am jonesing to get out and use it.

Myrtle Beach in 33 days, unless the weather continues its warming streak in the northeast. Which courses did you play in MB?
Chris
[/quote]

I stayed at Legends Resort for 4 days. Played Parkland, Heathland, Mooreland & Heritage. Then went to Oyster Bay for a day after which I drove and stayed/played at Tobacco Road,N.C. for two days. Tobacco Road made the trip.


[quote name='highergr0und' date='12 March 2010 - 11:27 AM' timestamp='1268411233' post='2311427']
Thanks for the review.... I've been looking into lasers and the leupold was at the top of my list based off of the features. Now I'll have to look into the bushnell.

Did you notice a lot of difference between the 7x magnification of the bushnell and the 6x of the leupold? You mentioned steadiness between the two, which could be a factor.
[/quote]

Yes and no. The 6x on the Leupold was still easy to get the flag but the Bushnell brought it in a little closer. The big difference for me, was the Bushnell had a larger field of view and was much brighter. As I mentioned in my review, I'm not sure if the slight yellowish tint on the Leupold is normal. But what makes it hard to make a decision is the Leupold is SO much lighter and smaller. It really is compact. I am going to try another one. If the Leupold I had turns out to be defective and the new one is bright and picks up the ground better, then I am going to have a pretty hard time deciding. If the new one still has the yellowish tint, then the Bushnell gets the nod. The difference in the magnification would not sway me either way. They are both good enough.


[quote name='Mainlinegolfer' date='12 March 2010 - 11:58 AM' timestamp='1268413114' post='2311525']
Did you consider the smaller Bushnell Tour V2? (I got this one primarily because of its size).
[/quote]

I did. I tried it at a GG store. I was all set to get the larger 1600 until I tried the V2. I was surprised at how steady I could hold it. Liking that size is what made me try the Leupold. But the 7x magnification on the 1600 (6x on the Leupold) is what makes me not get the V2. My eyes are not that great.

[TML]

great review. I'm sorry the Leupold didn't work out for you since I was one of those that told you they were great. I have either not had the problems you mentioned or was never bothered by those same issues to the degree you were.

[Asleep]

This all bears out my own findings.

I have one of the first Pinseekers (all black) and it's still works fine. Only worse for wear is a oil smudge in the viewfinder, but it's off to the side & no issue. I've dropped it many, many times ... but it's still "ticking."

I plan to purchase a Skycaddie SGX to compare when they're out.

[soapyman12]

Good review, I used to have the sg5 and liked it. I just traded it in for the Bushnell 1600 and like it a lot more than the skycaddie

[rcncgolf]

Really sounds like you got a bum unit. I have the GX-1 & have none of those issues. Now I did not shott my neighbors, but tried numerous trees, mounds, etc on course & never a problem.

You do need to dial in the clarity with the eyepiece - I have 2 different sunglasses(prescription) & when I change between them need to refocus...
In scan mode (hold down buton) - I easily hit different targets and get readings, again no problems.. - gotta love the size.
My buddy, who has Bushnell, tried mine when I rec'd - & he wished he had looked at the Leupold, due to size.....
Good Luck!