i've done all the reading.....

[Sourpuss]

i'm so confused on which to get, GPS or LASER, how did u guy's decide and then which brand and which model......

please help

[highergr0und]

Laser all day long..... unless you play at a lot of courses that don't have prisms on the flag or you need a lot of non flag readings. It's still workable, but it's just so easy when there are prisms, and it can be a pain trying to shoot the bank of a hazard, etc.

My backstory...... had and used GPS. Thought it was great, could pretty much guess pin locations at my home courses, and did alright. Then I got a laser for the range, used it on the course, and started bringing the ball in closer to the pin almost instantly. Instead of looking at a pin sheet and trying to guess from the front/middle/back on the GPS I had exact distance.

Now GPS has its advantages in the realm of other obstacles on the course. It's nice sometimes to be able to see how far to carry some water or how far you are to a certain point on the fairway.

I would buy laser first and then think about a cheaper GPS if you play a lot of courses with lots of target golf to doglegs, hazards, etc.

[RookieBlue7]

Laser, and remember to subtract a yard or two to account for the fact that you're shooting the top of the flag instead of the base of the flag where the cup is at.

[hebron1427]

[quote name='highergr0und' timestamp='1337538609' post='4946512']
Laser all day long..... unless you play at a lot of courses that don't have prisms on the flag. It's still workable, but it's just so easy when there are prisms.

My backstory...... had and used GPS. Thought it was great, could pretty much guess pin locations at my home courses, and did alright. Then I got a laser for the range, used it on the course, and started bringing the ball in closer to the pin almost instantly. Instead of looking at a pin sheet and trying to guess from the front/middle/back on the GPS I had exact distance.


Now GPS has its advantages in the realm of other obstacles on the course. It's nice sometimes to be able to see how far to carry some water or how far you are to a certain point on the fairway.

I would buy laser first and then think about a cheaper GPS if you play a lot of courses with lots of target golf to doglegs, hazards, etc.

[/quote]

+1.

GPS was fine but laser is 100x better. i used golflogix on my iphone. it was slow to update. a lot of times, i would club up, hit the ball, and it would adjust after i hit it. when the ball flew the green, i would get pissed. i ended up reading sprinkllers to confirm what my GPS was telling me. although it gives you distances to some targets, you don't get the distance to EVERY target like you can with laser. laser can be a pain if you don't have reflectors on the course, but more and more courses are getting them. and, if you want to shoot a tree, a bridge, a mound in the fairway--you have it with laser. with GPS, you have to guess.

also, carrying my phone around with me wasn't fun. i mean, i always have it WITH me, but the battery would die, or i would get a phone call that i didn't want to take and never would've noticed if it were just in the bag. def go with the laser. i've been much happier since i got it.

[Sourpuss]

thanks u guy's any brand better than the other?

[FLOGMR]

Bushnell all the way....they are the standard of the industry.

[highergr0und]

Bushnell or Leupold would be my two choices. I like the binocular style (held horizontal with one or two hands), so it was bushnell for me. I have the older 1500 series, but the 1600 series is fantastic. It's 100% waterproof (drop in puddles) while pretty much any other model on the market is water resistant (use in light rain but not submerged).

If you are alright with a single hand held vertical model, the bushnell tour v2 and all the leupolds come into play. The GX 1 and GX 3 are no slope, and the GX 4 has slope. The leupolds have better magnification than the bushnell v2. Out of this lineup, I'd probably go for the bushnell tour v2 if my course had prisms, just for budget constraints. Still would pick the 1600 over anything else.

Now in regards to slope, it's your call. Nothing wrong with it IMO, but technically you aren't supposed to you a slope laser for any handicap or tournament rounds. If you're not playing in sanctioned events, it shouldn't be a big deal.....

[15Over]

Isn't there a new one out now that's a hybrid - laser + GPS combined?

[FLOGMR]

[quote name='15Over' timestamp='1337551162' post='4947292']
Isn't there a new one out now that's a hybrid - laser + GPS combined?
[/quote]
Yeah...there is...a friend has one. Pretty neat but he uses the laser to get his distances and the GPS feature to measure length of tee shots.......seems you just push a button and it locks the start position then walk to your ball and it tells you how far you have hit it....Usually way shorter than it feels As I recall it was quite a bit more $$$$$ than a straight Bushnell laser.

[eppey]

I have had a laser for ages and have zero issue with it. For the days that I have blind shots and just because I got a really sweet deal I picked up a golf buddy voice. So far I have seen it be up to several yards out in accuracy. I'm not sure if it's just that one device or brand and others gps units are better. I'm going to give the gps a s'more rounds on some other courses just to see what is going on but for me, so far, the laser is easily the winner. Just for the op, I have a Bushnell 1500.

[inthefairway]

I have a gps and I got one because I was playing away from my home course and wasn't familiar with some of the distances and two of the guys in my foursome had a gps and made distances easy with just a glance at the screen so I became a believer. I also have played with guys with lazers and it took them awhile to keep looking thru it and getting the distances. So for me a gps but to each his own!!!!

[Sniperman]

Long time laser guy, never ever considered a GPS. However, 2 months ago, I came across a Bushnelll XGC+ on the BST for $90 and I had just cashed a bonus check so I did what every golf ho would do...purchased it. Now, I use both on the course. Both units have their own advantages, but if I were to pick just one, then DEFINITELY a laser rangefinder.

[Sourpuss]

has anybody tried the new callaway's by nikon?

[mac2lad]

Laser. Longtime Bushnell user but I'm switching to Leupold. Tested the Bushnell Z6 against the Leupold GX3 and the Leupold was much quicker in acquiring the target. And it also has a neat scanning mode so you can make sure you're hitting the right target.

[Sourpuss]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all these r pretty nice

[strungoutt1]

For a quick check, GPS is nice. But for exact distances the laser wins out.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

If you are semi technically illiterate then a laser might be a better option because it's point and shoot, provided you have steady hands.

If you are a very low handicap and distance to flag is of prime importance then a laser is better.

A gps provides you more info about distances and course layout, and is especially more helpful than laser on courses you are less familiar with. GPS provides front center back of green distance, distance to and to clear hazzards and dog legs, and distance to features you can't see.

Also while a gps can't provide exact distance to pin, you should be able to estimate pretty closely if a course uses colored flags, pin sheets or similar, within a couple yards. And considering the top pga players average around 5-7 yards to pin from 50-125 yards out, a few yards of estimation error isn't going to impact most of us.

[TM_HOYER]

Your choice should depend on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a yardage book replacement to help you decide where to hit and the yardage to hazards and other targets, a GPS is way to go. If you are looking primarily for yardage to the pin, then laser would be the way to go. Also if you play a lot of different courses that you are not familiar with, the GPS would be the better choice. If you play the same course all the time and know what club to hit off the tees already, a laser would be your better choice.

[ktkn]

[quote name='TM_HOYER' timestamp='1337617218' post='4951106']
Your choice should depend on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a yardage book replacement to help you decide where to hit and the yardage to hazards and other targets, a GPS is way to go. If you are looking primarily for yardage to the pin, then laser would be the way to go. Also if you play a lot of different courses that you are not familiar with, the GPS would be the better choice. If you play the same course all the time and know what club to hit off the tees already, a laser would be your better choice.
[/quote]



+1. I have both and carry both during my rounds but I use my GPS 75% or more of the time. The only time I would use my rangefinder is if I was pinhunting because I wasn't worried about the dangers or hazards around the green. If you're good enough to pinhunt, you would probably want a laser. If you are one that likes a safer shot (eg. middle of green, or part of green away from bunkers, etc), then a GOOD GPS all the way. Notice the emphasis on GOOD, not all GPS are created equal which is why so many people do not like GPS as well. You use a crappy GPS, then you think GPS sucks. Rangefinders don't really have that problem. They all seem to do the job, and if you can't lock or have trouble locking on, then it's attributed to user error!

[Norboo]

Laser is great for approach shots and sneaking a peek at the cart girl two fairways over. GPS is great for new courses, layout and everything at a glance but lacks the exact yards to the pin.

I play with Bushnell Pro 1M and SkyCaddie SGX.

[baseballfrk8998]

Personally, I'd rather take 7-8 seconds more and have a distance directly to the pin rather than a distance to the front edge, middle and back edge.

I'm not familiar with the really high end GPS units but I do know that the a lot of the lower end units only show 3 yardages to the green. The problem with this occurs when you play a course with fairly large greens. Last week on a Par 3 with a red flag (front) I had the 3 following readings: 170, 188, 206. The GPS showed 170 to the front and that's a smooth 7 iron most of the time. I decided to laser it just in case and the flag was actually 182 from the tee box. It may seem minor, but that was a club difference for me.

I understand this was as much the fault of the guy who cut the holes and put the flags up as anyone else's, but it's nice to have an exact distance each and every time. I just have much more confidence when using a laser.

[kurob]

[quote name='RookieBlue7' timestamp='1337538699' post='4946518']
Laser, and remember to subtract a yard or two to account for the fact that you're shooting the top of the flag instead of the base of the flag where the cup is at.
[/quote]
Only do this if your course has flags the height of buildings.

[Stuart_G]

[quote name='Sourpuss' timestamp='1337565307' post='4948312']
has anybody tried the new callaway's by nikon?
[/quote]

I got one last year. Works great for me and absolutely no complaints but I must admit I've never tried any of the other brands.

[avgjoe]

If its a very slow day you can watch the group ahead putt if you have a laser rf

[lost&found]

Recently purchased the Bushnell Tour Z6. Great piece of equipment. Takes me 3 seconds to lock in the flag. I don't always hit my clubs a predictable distance, but I eliminate any doubt in my mind about the correct club to select. It's laser all the way. As for the brands out there, Leupolds and Nikons are probably just as good, but I can vouch for the Bushnell. My son has the older 1500 model. It is larger and easier to steady. It took me a couple of rounds to learn to steady the smaller Z6, but I have no problem now.

[EdMan63]

I bought a SGX last year because I had an older gun style laser which only worked if the pins had reflectors. It spent a lot of time riding on my bag unusable. I really like my GPS, but there is a lot of maintenance that goes with it. Charging, yearly fees, and having to download the course info for the advanced features. This can be a pain if you are traveling and unsure of the courses you may be playing. As a result, I decided I wanted a laser as backup. I purchased the Tour Z6 and so far, it's been great. So now I have both. You really can't beat both!!!!

[JJFWebster]

I have the SkyCaddie SGXw and Bushnell Pro 1m. I rarely use the laser. The GPS allows me to mark shots, enter scores, track stats, and gives me a great layout of the hole including distances to all hazards. My skycaddie has been within 1 yard of my laser everytime I tested and thats probably because I did the pin placement a little off. (The GPS allows you to move the target on the green to represent the pin position.) Another huge point is that the laser is only going to give you the distance to the flag. My home course is quite tough and I am not always attacking the flag. I need to play to a safe part of the green where I'm not left with a brutal downhill slider or something similar. My skycaddie shows those ridges on the green and let's me move the target to something more reasonable.

[Eternal]

I love my SkyCaddie SGX. Does everything I need at a quick glance and gives me a lot more information than a laser would.

As it has been said though, it is all personal preference.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

The more you like to screw around with electronic gadgets, the more you'll prefer a GPS to a laser. There's not much screwing-around involved with a plain, no-slope laser. Point it, press the button, read the number. Until you've got another target to shoot, you've pretty much exhausted the menu of options.

With one of the fancier GPS unit the sky's the limit, you can record your round in excruciating detail, calculate your handicap, file your taxes, install "updates" and "downloads" to your heart's content and read distances for a course on the other side of the world all while standing on your home course's eleventh fairway. A gadget lover's dream device.

With the laser, you take it out to shoot a distance and put it away again. Change the battery every year or so. It's for people who can amuse themselves with one single function in a device. Pretty boring, eh?

[matchavez]

I will echo a lot of this... get a laser. I always go out with Golfshot GPS and keep score with it. Golfshot gives me the water and bunker I didn't see from the tee, and I keep scores and stats on it. It's very fast. When I walk up to a Par 3, laser. Second shot on a Par 4 or 5, laser. The rest, not a big need. But for every shot to the green, laser wins 100%. The combination for me works very well. In fact I'm planning on getting a new leopold, but I'm in no hurry. Add some very distance-consistent Ping G15s, and I'm improving without improving.