Review by Jason W. Raines:

Great rangefinder! I purchased it from Amazon last week and took it to the course today. The GX-II was easy to set up and learn how to use. On the first hole I was using it instead of looking around for ranges on sprinkler heads. My speed of play was much better and so was my score. I shot 2 stokes better today and I attribute it directly to better club selection. The true golf range feature helped me determine exactly what club I needed to use. Another point to make is that a buddy golfing with me had one of the high end Bushnell rangefinders and a half dozen times we checked ranges together and they matched to the yard each time. Even with ranges over 225 yards. Great product!

Review by CB:

After comparing the Leopuld GX-II to the Bushnell V2 TOUR and the 1600 Pro I found the GX-II was the best for me.

The GX-II picks up lower reflective targets than the Bushnell and has better ergonomics.

After playing 90 holes of golf last week I’m convinced that I made the correct choice. My friend who had a Bushnell V2 Tour that was stolen replaced it with the GX-II after using mine.

Review by BarefootInTheHead:

I think this optical instrument should be mandatory on all golf courses. Just as iPods have obviated CDs, this device will completely obviate the need for yardages on sprinkler heads and the like. Here’s my normal round without the Bushnell Pinseeker: I drive out in the fairway — hopefully — and then have to find a sprinkler head. From there I have to pace it off to my ball. I get a yardage, but that’s to the center of the green. At my home course I go to a pin sheet which has a crude outline of the green with four numbers on the green — back left, back right, front left, front center. Now, assuming we’re playing the back left number, I have to do some speculative math to determine how far back left the pin is, add that to the yardage … you get the picture. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!! The Bushnell zeroes in on the flag and gives me an exact-to-the-pin yardage every time. DO NOT get the cheaper versions as the optics are not good and it’s almost impossible to lock in on the flag — you will be terribly disappointed if you get the under 0 one. And the one that factors in slope is not USGA legal. I just finished a round at famous Riviera C.C. I had a caddy. He was calculating yardages for both me and my partner and he was amazingly accurate, but the time he wasted pacing off yardages from sprinkler heads … and whenever someone hit it right or left in the Eucalyptuses he relied heavily on my Bushnell for the yardages. And he was not spot-on with his distances. This has been by far the best new thing I have put in my bag. It’s a little pricey but then no one thinks about spending 0 for that new driver that does nothing to improve their swing. One thing the Bushnell has done is to really refine my iron distances. I’m a single digit handicap and this beautiful little instrument has just been a fantastic addition. I don’t work for the company and I think their cheaper products are garbage. But this little guy is a beaut.

Review by CardBord:

The Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 Rangefinder (non-slope model) is easy to use and constructed for the elements. After using the Pinseeker for a few rounds I quickly learned how to focus and acquire the desired target in a matter of seconds. As I walk up to my ball I pull out the rangefinder, acquire the target, put it back in the case and hit the shot without adding more then 10 seconds to my preshot routine. This rangefinder is most definately a game improvement device and has helped me to select the right club, and in many cases made me aware that I needed to change clubs.

In my opinion it is better then the GPS devices whereas you must have a course loaded or manually enter the course info beforehand. If you ride in a golf car with GPS and are subject to cart path only, then the point where your ball lies will only be an estimate of the actual yardage. The Pinseeker can go to any course in the world and be used immediately on any part of the course.

If you are looking for a device that will help with club selection and game imporvement, then I would highly recommend the Pinseeker 1500.

Review by Paul Callahan:

I have used a skycaddie for two years. In fact, both only lasted about 6 months before they broke. In a panic, I bought a Bushnell V2 w/ Pinseeker the day before going to Pinehurst and played 4 rounds of golf with it, three of the courses I’ve never played before. It does everything Bushnell claims. Its very easy to use and the Pinseeker mode works perfectly. It never gave me an incorrect reading. One day I was with a Pinehurst member who had a laser designed to work specifically with a reflective element on top of all the Pinehurst flags. Every reading on every par 3 was exactly the same as his to the yard. If you have never used a Rangefinder or skycaddie, I’d recommend the Bushnell range finder. It does everything a skycaddie does AND you can laser anything on the course, not just the geographic references the skycaddie has in its course memory. I’m bitter about my skycaddies expenses, but this thing works better. When I get my skycaddie back, I’ll use it but won’t spend the money to renew the annual membership this fall.

Review by Marjorie:

The Bushnell Tour V2 is excellent, easy to use, accurate……when it is working. We bought one a couple of months ago and it has already gone through 2 batteries. It’s a bummer to use it and find it’s not working because the battery is dead. A battery is supposed to last for 10,000 uses. We’re going to try one more battery and if it goes dead quickly (as the other 2 have done), we’re going to return it.

Review by Jeffery A Raich:

Originally picked this up to use on the golf course, but afterwards found out that even Bushnell says this is not the unit for golfers. It’s small, lightweight and accurate, but does not have a scan feature, meaning the distance measurement does not change as you move the sight from one object to the next. You must “shoot” the object, pick a another and shoot it. I have kept it as it will be great for dear season, but aim higher in the Bushnell line for use on the golf course.

Review by :

I decided I wanted a range finder when I played golf with my father-in-law. He had the Bushnell Yardage Pro 1000 and it worked great. Just point, shoot, and the yardage to the hole was returned promptly every time.I was really excited when I first got this range finder …until I got it on the golf course. It is much smaller than the YP1000, but the Sport model’s superiority ends there. When you are inside 150 yards, it can range on a flag fine. Any farther than this and it becomes more trouble to use than it’s worth. You have to hold it very steady and it takes several seconds for the range to register (if it is going to register at all).This range finder may work fine for hunting, but if you are going to use it for golf then spend the extra money and get a better model. I am currently looking at the Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour XL 20-2025, but I haven’t tried it out yet.

Review by lordhamster:

Just tested this rangefinder for the first time on the course yesterday, and already it has helped me to shave a few strokes off my game.

I played a local course and took the rangefinder and my golflogix gps. The Golflogix told me I was 120 yards out, the Bushnell said 103. I hit my pitching wedge (normally goes 100) and landed a few yards from the pin.

So long as your approach shot distances are fairly consistent, you’ll benefit from not having to guess if the flag is front back or middle.

This particular unit is a little bulkier than some other rangefinders, but I find it very easy to hold onto. Also, the excellent pouch fits easily onto my golf bag, so taking it in and out to use is easy. I was able to easily grab pins under 200 yards instantly. Pins further out take a bit longer. Yesterday I was able to get a pin 353 yards out. An interesting experiment, but well beyond my golfing range.

I decided on this unit over a Leupold for 3 reasons.

1. The Bushnell comes with a 2 year vs 1 year warranty. These things aren’t cheap so that is important.

2. The Bushnell is really waterproof, not simply “weather resistant”. I could dunk this baby into a lake (should it happen to be be attached to my golf bag when I toss it in the lake).

3. Battery: I hate proprietary or hard to find batteries. The Bushnell uses a standard 9V, easy to find and replace.

Review by J. C. Adkins:

I checked out this rangefinder, Bushnell Pro 1600 Tournament Edition Laser Rangefinder with Pinseeker, against the GPS devices, as well as some of the older Nikon laser devices. This one has wonderful ease of use and accuracy. It gives readings which are very repeatable. It seems to be durable.

I found several things that another user of prospective purchaser might consider helpful:

1. The silicone/rubber surface resists all kind of inks, so that it is impossible to inscribe your name on the outside of the device. I even tried to write my name with a small soldering iron, but the cover even resisted this. Eventually I decided to include a label with my name on it in the battery compartment.

2. The pinseeker feature is excellent for picking up the flag. Using the other setting is helpful in picking layup distances.

3. The battery will become exhausted when you need the device most. Keep a fresh 9 v battery in your bag.

4. The door to the battery compartment will fall open if it is not securely and positively closed.

5. My pro tells me that this rangefinder IS now legal for use on most courses and in most amateur tournaments. This is a local exception to Rule 14-3 made by most local and tournament committees. Note that the model of rangefinder (Bushnell Pro 1600 Slope Edition Laser Rangefinder with Pinseeker and others) which computes slope IS NEVER legal, even if that function is not used, and local committees are not empowered to make an exception. It is the golfer’s responsibility to check with the local officials regarding the exception, and to point out prior to the round that this model does not indicate slope (gradient).

I am delighted with this purchase.

Review by Tech Nut:

I’ve owned a SkyCaddie SG3 for some time and, weary of its annual fees, glacial operating speed, and pedestrian display, I decided to go color. I purchased the Garmin Approach G5, but its display is very difficult to see in normal outdoor conditions. So I also purchased the Callaway uPro. I played an entire round on my home course, with all three GPS units mounted on the cart. My findings:

Build quality: All three units are rugged, with great fit-and-finish. The Garmin gets the nod, because it’s waterproof. The Callaway is water-resistant, and you can purchase a watertight skin for an outrageous .99 to protect it further. The SkyCaddie is not recommended for use in the rain.

Size: The Callaway uPro is the smallest and thinnest, about the size of an LG Chocolate phone. The SG3 is similar height and width to the uPro, but much thicker and heavier. The biggest of all is the Garmin, the size of an iPhone and four times as thick. It’s wide, heavy, and not good for the pocket.

Accuracy: The three units properly mapped my home course, agreeing on nearly all distances (within 6 yards of each other) and hazards.

GPS acquisition: The old-technology SG3 takes forever to acquire GPS, sometimes more than five minutes. Both the Garmin and the uPro acquire satellites almost instantly. The uPro has technology that, once it locks onto satellites, it really keeps them. After locking on, I took the unit indoors, and even put it in my pants pocket. It never had to re-acquire. Advantage: uPro.

Getting courses: The Garmin wins handily. All 10,000+ available courses come preloaded in its 1GB memory. No annual fees, no paid memberships. The Garmin Approach G5 offered every course I cared to search. Of course, your mileage may vary.

To make the most of your SkyCaddie, you need to pay for an annual membership on their website, and download courses individually. Some SkyCaddie memberships allow you to download as many courses as you want from all over the world…however, the unit’s paltry memory will only hold a few at a time. The uPro also requires that you sign up on their website (no annual memberships, though). With the uPro, Basic Mode (an alphanumeric color screen that resembles that of a SkyCaddie) is free for unlimited courses. For Pro Mode (the nifty aerial photography view of each course) you pay for only the courses you wish to play, a la carte. Your first Pro Mode course is free.

Information: All units show distances to the front/middle/back of greens. The SG3 also shows hazards on the same screen, but it doesn’t give you hazard carry distances, like the uPro does. The Garmin shows the entire hole, including hazards. But showing the entire hole means that the illustrations of hazards are tiny, as is the accompanying yardage text. Coupled with the Garmin’s dim display, it’s pretty useless. Curiously, the Garmin apparently doesn’t consider trees to be obstacles, so they’re not represented at all on the graphical display. The uPro (in Pro Mode) shows every tree and hazard – in fact, the entire hole, as photographed from satellite. It’s like viewing my actual course (including my house!) from above. There’s absolutely nothing like it.

On the home screen, both the SG3 and the uPro also give you the time of day, battery strength, and GPS signal strength. The Garmin gives you none of the above. You need to briefly press the power button to see the time. It also shows a battery icon, but that never moved during my round.

Battery: The Garmin and SG3 both take AA batteries, whether alkaline, NiMh rechargeable, or lithium ion. With any AA type, both units easily complete at least two rounds. The uPro uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Unlike SkyCaddie models that use internal lithium ion batteries, which are a real horror show to replace (SkyCaddie recommends you send the unit back), the Callaway uPro battery easily drops in. Callaway says it takes three hours to charge, but it didn’t take me anywhere near that long. UPro battery life is 6-12 hours, depending on how bright you set the display’s backlight. With my display settings (see Display, below), I easily completed a round with plenty to spare. As far as battery preferences go: For some, constantly recharging and changing out AAs is a grind. For others, recharging (and eventually, re-purchasing) internal lithium-ion batteries ( for the uPro) is just as bad, especially considering that the battery can leave you high and dry mid-round if you forget to charge it the night before. To each his own.

Display: The SG3 is monochrome, so it doesn’t stand a chance. Its display is dim and boring, but it does give you a button on the side for a backlight. The screen sizes on the SG3 and uPro are nearly identical. The Garmin’s touchscreen display is nearly iPhone-big, and drop-dead gorgeous…when you’re at home. Take it outside, and it washes out to the point of uselessness. Worse yet, to save power, the display times out a few seconds after you touch it, making it even dimmer. You touch the screen to wake it up, but when you touch the screen, the unit thinks you want to measure a distance, so the measurement feature pops up. You need to hit the “Done” button to exit that. There’s no way to increase the screen timeout or disable the screen dimming feature. Also, since the Garmin is a touchscreen, it’s a massive fingerprint magnet, so it only looks pretty for the first hole. The uPro wins the display contest handily, with a bright and functional screen. You can play two ways: graphically (Pro Mode), showing the course via aerial photography, or with big, bright alphanumeric text (Basic Mode). Since golf courses have very low contrast (lots of green color and not much else), I defaulted to the Basic Mode for easy readability. For the aerial view, you can always hit the Pro Mode button on the side of the unit, as it’s much more useful around the green. The uPro’s default setting is to power-save the display after (I think) 45 seconds. Unlike the Garmin, which dims its display, the uPro goes blank until you hit a button, which is an enormous buzzkill. Fortunately, you can get around this. You can change to a longer timeout, or disable standby altogether. As the uPro has a very bright display, what I did was take the backlight down to 25% (from a default 70%), and disabled standby completely. I easily completed a round with plenty of battery life to spare this way. The uPro and the Garmin use a reflective LCD technology that actually makes the display brighter in direct sunlight. The uPro’s version of this technology worked far better than the Garmin’s. The only time the Garmin display looked remotely readable was when you aimed it directly at the sun.

Just for fun, I took along my iPod Touch 2G, to compare all the displays outdoors. I figured that the iPod’s conventional LCD wouldn’t compete with the reflective technology of the Garmin and the uPro. Wrong. The iPod destroyed both of them. It wasn’t even close. So, if you have an iPhone (the iPod Touch won’t do GPS), you may want to look into the golf GPS apps at the App Store. If you do decide to use an iPhone, just remember, it won’t stand up to being dropped, kicked, and tossed around like these three ruggedized units, and it for sure ain’t the least bit water-resistant.

Hole-to-Hole: The simpler SkyCaddie wins here. It automatically advances to the next hole. If there’s any confusion (you’re playing past the current hole, for example), it’ll ask you if you want to move to the next hole. If you’re starting on Number 10, for example, the SkyCaddie makes that selection easier as well, with a grid from which you can select holes via cursor. The Callaway Auto Hole Advance is kind of a drag. If you’re anywhere near the green, Auto-Advance jumps to the next hole. You can’t measure your 40-yard pitch to the current green. And when they say Auto, they mean Auto. In Auto-Advance mode, there’s no way to back up to the current hole, or any previous hole, for that matter. The only way out is to go to either Manual Advance, or Manual Advance With Prompt (it asks you to press the center button to advance). Hitting a button on each hole is tedious. The Garmin Auto-Advances sequentially, but if you jump around (skipping a couple of holes to get around slow play), you need to touch the screen arrows for each hole advance.

Settings: The Garmin gives you almost nothing to customize, as it is both very intelligently designed and extremely automated. It would have been nice to be able to crank the screen brightness, or at least extend the timeout. Both the SG3 and the uPro give you a host of settings to mess with, including screen brightness (contrast only with the SG3), hole advance preferences, and much more.

Cost of ownership: The Garmin and uPro are color, so they’re not cheap. If you want to compare apples to apples, you could go to the color SkyCaddie SG5, but be advised that the SG3, SG4, and SG5 are virtually identical in functionality, screen size – basically, EVERYTHING – so you’re paying almost 0 more for color alone, which is the cost of a whole 20-inch color TV. (My SG3 is discontinued, so now I’m quoting price from the replacement SG4.) Couple that with the amazing wow factor of both the Garmin and the uPro, and the top-of-the-line color SkyCaddie SG5 is a terrible deal. To the SkyCaddie’s cost of ownership, add their totally outrageous annual membership fees. SkyCaddie also charges ridiculous sums of money for stuff like plastic cart mounts and batteries. The Garmin wins here, hands-down, with all available courses preloaded into memory. No fees whatsoever! For accessories, RAM Mounts makes a rock-solid, relatively reasonably-priced cart mount for the Garmin. The uPro, while not requiring you to pay for a membership, makes you download each course. They’re all free, if you want to use only Basic Mode. But if you want what makes the unit famous and awesome, which is Pro Mode video previews and flyovers of each hole, you need to pay. If you go for a 20-course package, for example, that’s . It’s still cheaper for most people than SkyCaddie, because there’s no annual fee. And the more courses you buy, the cheaper it gets per course. However, uPro accessories such as cart mounts are rarely discounted, and you’ll pay more for their little plastic add-ons than you would pay for a complete multi-handset cordless phone system or a new DVD player.

Extras: Each unit has (or will soon have, in the uPro’s case) the ability to track scores and aggregate player information. I don’t use any of that stuff. No amount of button-pushing or touch-screening could beat the ease and speed of marking stuff down with a pencil.

Wow Factor: The SkyCaddie is deadly dull, with zero Wow Factor, but highly functional. One would think the Garmin, with its big, beautiful touchscreen, would win. However, the screen is just too dim to view the image-based interface in normal outdoor lighting. The Callaway uPro, with its unique video flyovers of every hole, is the winner. While the flyovers may not be great outdoors (golf courses are green-on-green-on-green, so there’s little contrast), they’re great for previewing new courses in your home before you travel. Beyond that, the uPro comes with several preloaded video tutorials to help you get the most from the unit, and an earbud is in the box, so you can listen to the video narration. Voice Recognition, to allow you to change settings, holes, etc. by voice command, is built into the Callaway uPro, and they say it’ll be activated by late 2009.

Summary: Not one of these units is perfect, but the Callaway uPro is the runaway winner. It’s simple to use, highly customizable, deadly accurate, super-fast, and gorgeous to view. 2nd place goes to the SkyCaddie, even with its monochrome screen, pokey operation, and 20th Century technology. The Garmin comes in last, even though it’s the most sophisticated, intelligent, beautiful, automated piece, made by people who really know GPS. The thing is just too dim to use outdoors.

Review by George Madden:

My son and I used this on a local course for the first time and it performed great. No more looking for markers or taking the time to walk off an estimate (er, OK – especially when I’m not in the fairway). We have some large greens thankfully and being able to simply move the flag on the device for a much more accurate reading is super. Also, those few great drives I had – the G5 made it simple to get the exact yardage (did not break any records though). Only 1 of my 7 (regular home area) courses is not programmed in yet but I see it’s on schedule in the next update. If yours isn’t, simply let Garmin know like I did. Great unit, now if only my golf got better

Update note: Today (4/26) I downloaded Garmins latest course database to the device and now all my courses are available.

Review by Brent Liebel:

The premium 8x golf scope works great. The instructions are easy to follow and the scope easy to use. You do have to be able to see the flag stick on the green. This is not a GPS product, but a simple line of sight scope.

Review by C. Lopez:

This product is excellent for those that do not want to spend 0 to 0 for a golf GPS. It is simple to use and assists in the selection of the proper club to use. Good for public courses that do not provide a GPS in their golf carts

Review by T. Myers:

I purchased the Golflogix GPS instead of the more popular SkyCaddie because the Golflogix is made by Garmin. Obviously, Garmin knows GPS. The unit is actually a re-packaged Garmin eTrex. It is very solid and sturdy. When I bought it I found that three of the courses that I play were not mapped. I requested them and in one week they were available. Fantastic. I have also submitted questions via email and have been answered promptly. The unit is small and easy to use. It will increment holes automatically when I walk to the next hole. Most of the time I do not need to press any buttons. I would definitely recommend Golflogix.

Review by Rick:

I had one of the early models made by SkyCaddie, and this device is far superior. It’s easier to use, holds 20 downloaded courses (as opposed to 10), finds the course you are at (as opposed to scrolling through a list), is waterproof (as opposed to water resistant), cost far less to get a one year membership to downloadable courses, and turns on in seconds with distances (as opposed to minutes). The 2008 model measures the distance from your last shot so you can tell how far you are hitting each club.

It’s very easy to use. Just turn it on. I had no trouble downloading the courses, and I am a Mac user with the Mac Leopard operating system. The Garmin algorithn for finding distances is quick and accurate.

I really like it and can’t imaging playing golf without it!

Review by G. Nelson:

I used a SkyCaddie for about 3 years and was paying annual fees for downloads for my state. I started traveling out of state and wanted something I could use without added fees. This device was perfect for my needs. It allows me to shoot distance to any object. It is easy to use. It uses a 9-volt battery that should last for a year and does not need recharging. You need to be able to see the object you are targeting but I seldom play courses with blind shots where I need distances. The slope feature gives you adjusted distances to help your confidence in club selection. This is a great device!

Review by Grant Lovaasen:

Product was exactly what I expected at a far better price than in the retail stores. It’s use takes a little bit of practice, but it is far handier than pacing off from yardage markers and trying to guess at where the pin is relative to the center of the green.

Review by golf hacker:

Surprised my husband with the Pinseeker 1500 for Christmas, we “BOTH” love it!! It is soooo “user friendly” and best of all “visually” user friendly! GREAT for the visually impaired over age “40″ group who depend on the “Walgreen’s” reading glasses! No need for glasses or lenghty instruction books-just aim at the flag and click the button-shows two distances. The actual distance and the distance it should play because of the slope!! Having the SLOPE FINDER is the most important aspect-this is what gives you the ACCURATE yardage. The “slope” differance” is what normally what makes the difference of which club to use.Many of the cheaper models do not allow for the slope-so what good is that, there’s plenty yard markers on a course? It was fun to see what the course yardage markers read and then what the scope finder tells you. Makes your club selection so much more accurate! It’s price is on the higher side, but for the quality, it’s WELL worth it. My husband had tried a friends cheaper version, he actually could not use it because it was so hard visually to read. Before you buy one, be sure to check that out! Word of warning, your golfing partners will love to be in your golf group, asking you the yardage on “their” shots too!!

As another viewer mentioned-it’s the best club in the bag, we HIGHLY reccomend it!!! Now….if it could only make the ball actually go to that exact spot, we’d all be happy golfers!!!

Review by Rab N.:

I love my rangefinder! I’ve had it since Oct.2006 and forgot it at home only once.

I’ve trusted my Pinseeker over tee box yardage markers, a myriad of GPS in-cart units, sprinker heads and the usual variety of yardage to the center of the green course markers 200, 150, 100. I believe what it tells me and it has been highly accurate. I’m reluctant to share the yardage info with my fellow players unless asked, to avoid chatty debates and responsibility for their errant shots.(you’d be surprised…)

A few things to be aware are, the flags must be clearly visable of distant out of focus shrub branches that can interfere with the laser sensor, low light overcast conditions can be difficult to accurately measure distance and lastly, if you’ve heavily consumed too much COFFEE or too many martinis the night before, shakiness will prevail. You may want to add a tripod to your bag. % )