The Golf Rangefinder Shop

Best Golf Rangefinder 2012

If you’re looking for the Best Golf Rangefinder 2012 has to offer, you’re in the right place. Below is a list of our favorites in each category based on performance, price and customer reviews. If you know your category, start there. If you’re not sure of your category, take a look at our Laser Golf Rangefinder vs GPS article or our quick and easy Buyer’s Guide. If you’re looking for a great price, sign up for our Price Drop Alerts.

Best Overall

1. Bushnell Hybrid – Read Full Review
   If you want the best of both worlds (GPS & Laser), here it is. If you can remember to charge it every few rounds, this is the ticket!

Best LASER Golf Rangefinder

1. Callaway Diablo Octane – Read Full Review
   The price has dropped on Callaway’s newest laser rangefinder and the early ratings are terrific.
2. Bushnell 1600 – Read Full Review
   This powerful Bushnell has spent a lot of time on or near the top of our ratings chart. It has a powerful 7x magnification and is available in a tournament edition or with slope.
3. Leupold GX-3 – Read Full Review
   Users love the quality and the readability of the red OLED on the Leupold GX-3 and GX-4 series rangefinders.
4. Bushnell Medalist – Read Full Review
   Budget Friendly! Solid performer with 4x magnification. We consider it a great buy when it’s around $190.

Best LASER with Slope

1. Leupold GX-2 – Read Full Review
   For price and features, we think this is by far the best value out there for a rangefinder with slope. Since you’re breaking the rules anyway, you might as well get the extra bells and whistles offered only by Leupold.

Best GPS Golf Rangefinder:
(Full-featured: Yardages + Hole View Graphics)

1. Garmin Approach G6 – Read Full Review
   Pre-loaded with 25,000 golf courses. Early reviews indicate Garmin will be a top contender in this category.
2. Golf Buddy World – Read Full Review
   Pre-loaded, no fees and reasonable price
3. Garmin Approach G5 – Read Full Review
   Pre-loaded, no fees and sometimes the sale price makes this a real contender

Best GPS Golf Rangefinder:
(Basic: Yardages/Numbers Only)

1. Garmin S1 GPS Golf Watch – Read Full Review
   The ultimate in convenience – GPS on a wrist watch!
2. Bushnell neo+ – Read Full Review
   May be all you need in a GPS. No fancy graphics, but plenty of information.
3. Izzo Swami 3000- Read Full Review
   Can’t beat the price! if you’re only looking for front, middle and back of the green yardages.

New in 2012

2012 LASER Rangefinders

1. Leupold GX-3i - Read Preview
   Picks up yardages even faster and more accurately than it’s predecessor
2. Leupold GX-4i – Read Preview
   Laser rangefinder with slope. Picks up yardages even faster and more accurately than it’s predecessor.
3. Bushnell Tour Z6 - Read Preview
   Faster, easier to read Vivid Display Indicators, 6x magnifcation and improved battery life.
4. Bushnell Pro 1M – Read Preview
   7x magnifcation, easy to read Vivid Display indicators and improved battery life.

2012 Golf GPS Rangefinders

1. Garmin Approach S3 Golf Watch – Read Preview
   Garmin has an answer to its new competitors. This year’s golf watch offers several more features than its predecessor. It’s definitely more expensive, but Garmin’s reputation and experience have to be worth something.
2. Garmin Approach G6 – Read Preview
   Pre-loaded with more courses, smaller and lighter with longer battery life than it’s predecessor.
3. Expresso WR62 Golf Watch – Read Preview
   If this lives up to its promise, it will replace the Garmin S1 golf watch as the leader in Basic GPS models.
4. Expresso AG50 Navigation and Golf Watch Combo – Read Preview
   A reasonably priced multi-function device that will help you navigate your way to the golf course and then give you distances to front-middle-back and hazards. It can also be used as a media player.
5. Golf Buddy Voice – Read Preview
   Golf Buddy puts its huge database of golf courses into the smallest golf GPS we’ve seen. This basic unit provides voice and on-screen distances to the front, middle and back of every green.
6. MOTOACTV Golf Watch – Read Preview
   Yet another golf watch will hit the market in 2012, but this one has more bells and whistles than you would expect could fit in a watch. It’s preloaded with golf courses green and hazard information, provides scorecard, stats and online analysis.

Garmin Golf GPS Reviews

Our Garmin golf GPS reviews include both handheld devices and watches:

• Garmin Approach G6 – Read our full review
  This is the latest handheld device in the Garmin lineup and the early feedback indicates this will be one of the top contenders in this market. This compact lightweight unit is preloaded with more than 27,000 golf courses. It comes with all the bells and whistles you could want and promises up to 15 hours of battery life. The glove-friendly touchscreen has a transreflective Color TFT.
• Garmin Approach G5 – Read our full review
  This popular device comes preloaded with over 18,000 golf courses. It’s quite a bit bigger than the G6, and it has one of the largest screens in a golf GPS rangefinder. It has a color touchscreen and loads of features. The Garmin G5 is an excellent value.
• Garmin Approach S1 Golf Watch – Read our full review
  Garmin was the first to come up with a golf GPS watch and it has been a huge success. This watch was designed to do only basics, but it does them very well. It provides distances to the front, middle and back of every green on over 18,000 golf courses (preloaded). It’s always with you and you rarely have to touch it. It’s the ultimate in convenience and simplicity and users love it.
• Garmin Approach S3 Golf Watch – Read our full review
  Building on the success of the S1, Garmin added a new watch in 2012 that has several new features. First, it’s preloaded with over 27,000 golf courses and besides distances to the front, middle and back of the greens, this watch has yardages to doglegs, layups and hazards. Navigating the screens can be done with a glove-friendly touchscreen. It even has an image of the green shape with manual pin positioning and a scorecard.

Which is more accurate? Laser or GPS

It can be a little confusing trying to decipher which is more accurate, laser or GPS. For instance, I heard a commercial for SkyCaddie the other day that said something like “golfers surveyed think GPS is more accurate than laser”. Does that make it true? Of course not. An even more misleading statement can be found on the Izzo Swami web page.

Q: Why is SWAMI better than a Laser Rangefinder?
A: SWAMI is easier to use and more accurate. Unlike laser rangefinders, it measures distances without requiring a direct line of sight to the target. Lasers can only measure to the flagstick (or other defined objects that its sights can lock on) and its accuracy is highly dependent on how the unit is held and how far you are from your target. And the SWAMI is half the cost of most laser rangefinders.

I guess they are saying that GPS is more accurate because it doesn’t depend upon the player using it correctly. I don’t argue that the ability to use whatever tool you choose is important, but I don’t see how you can call the accuracy into question based on that factor.

On the issue of accuracy, the concern is really more about reliable accuracy. Laser is going to be accurate within two yards on every hole of every golf course you play anywhere in the world. GPS, is dependent on multiple factors, so it may be very accurate on a clear day on a golf course with no trees, particularly if it has a high-sensitivity multi-channel receiver. Even then, it’s likely to have more of a variance from shot to shot and it still won’t give you yardage to the pin. Your GPS may give you the ability to indicate roughly where the pin is and give you distance to that location. So in answer to the the question of reliable accuracy, laser wins hands down.

So why doesn’t everyone use laser? There are several good reasons that laser is not for everyone. The first is that laser is dependent upon the user being able to aim and hit the correct target. With most newer models, after learning the best technique for using their laser, most people don’t have much trouble, but some people will still struggle. Other people just won’t want to deal with having to laser their target on every shot. They prefer a glance at the GPS to get middle of the green yardage. People who play a lot of different courses or who play courses that have lots of blind targets may want the extra information the most GPS units offer, including distances to the front and back of the green and especially to hazards.

Another note about SkyCaddie… they improve their GPS maps with “ground verification”. That means they send people to every golf course to verify targets. We don’t have data on how well that works, but would guess that it probably does give them an edge over their GPS competition.

The bottom line is that laser rangefinders are more reliably accurate than GPS, but that doesn’t make them the best choice for everyone. We like seeing the two combined in the Bushnell Hybrid and hope to see more Hybrids on the market soon.