Golf Rangefinder Reviews

Leupold GX-3i Golf Rangefinder

The Leupold GX-3i has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Leupold GX-3i'

Leupold GX-3i
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The Leupold GX-3i golf rangefinder appears to only have a slight difference from its predecessor, the GX-3… SPEED. Leupold has engineered their own DNA engine to screen out noise better and provide faster and even more accurate yardages. The prices on these will likely come down as summer approaches, and I personally am putting this one on my short list. We’ll be reading customer reviews as they roll in and post our Reveiw Summary.

Leupold GX-3i User Rating: 4.69 out of 5 (97 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

Leupold GX-3i Features and Specifications

Leupold GX-3i
Slope	No
Vibration	N
Size (Width x Height x Depth)	2.9 in. x 1.3 in. x 3.7 in.
Weight	7.8 oz.
Battery	N/A
Battery Life	N/A
Display	red OLED
Rainproof	Yes
Magnification	6x
Maximum Range	450+
Minimum Range	5
Notes	With Prism Lock, holding the rangefinder steady becomes much less of a concern, and you can be assured your distance measurement is exact,
USGA Compliant (local rule)	Yes
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We work very hard to obtain the correct information about product features, but cannot make any guarantees about the accuracy. Please double check with the merchant or manufacturer before making a purchase.

Tagged: Laser Rangefinder Reviews, Leupold, Tournament Legal

SkyCaddie SGXw vs SGX vs SG5

For the SkyCaddie fans out there, here is our SkyCaddie SGXw vs SGX vs SG5 summary and feature comparison…

SkyCaddie SGXw vs SGX vs SG5

All three SkyCaddie GPS devices offer something that no other brand does and that is ground-verified course maps. What that means that is beyond using satellite images, SkyGolf has people walk every golf course with special equipment to verify the yardages. This may give them a slight edge in accuracy, but it does come at a price. Most of that price is found in the required annual membership fees which start at $30 a year. If you’re looking for something without an annual fee, check out the Golf Buddy World or the Garmin Approach G5

With each new device comes additional features, but that’s not always a good thing. The SkyCaddie SG5 doesn’t have the bells, whistles found on the SkyCaddie SGX and SGXw… but it does have the highest user ratings of the three devices.

SkyCaddie SG5 vs SGX

The SGX has a 3″ high-resolution color TFT-LCD screen, while the SG5’s screen is a 2.2-inch LCD.
The SGX has dual navigation, so you can use the buttons like the SG5, or you can direct an on-screen cursor using a multi-directional joystick.
The SGX is preloaded with basic information of 30,000 courses. Registration and membership are still necessary after 30 days.
The SGX can store up to 50 full-featured course maps at a time (plus the basic green courses), whereas the SG5 can only store 20 course maps at a time.
HoleVue image on the SGX is interactive, which allows you to move an on-screen cursor to adjust the line of play and see shot distance. It can also zoom in and out to help you dial in on a specific point of the hole. HoleVue image on the SG5 is static.

SkyCaddie SGX vs SGXw

The SGXw offers WiFi connectivity for downloading courses and uploading scores.
The SGXw has a faster processor, but it takes up more battery, so the SGXw gets a maxium of 10 hours where the SGX is rated for up to 14 hrs. In real life, you should charge either one of them after every round.
The SGX Joystick has been replaced with an optical trackpad on the SGXw. The jury is still out on this.
Dynamic RangeVue<sup>TM</sup> is new on the SGXw. Preset yardage arcs adjust dynamically over fairway landing areas and over greens to allow you to select the best club for every shot much more quickly.

Full comparison of features

There is no question that SkyCaddie devices offer some nice features and that many users are very happy with them. Looking at our GRS Scores compiled from user data, we would buy the SG5 if we had to buy a SkyCaddie. We got that same recommendation from a Live Chat representative on the SkyGolf website. That said, we honestly think there are several full-featured golf GPS devices that come preloaded and don’t have any annual fees, that make more sense for most golfers. For more on that, take a look at our “quick & dirty” Golf Rangefinder Buyer’s Guide.

Tagged: Comparisons, SkyCaddie

Garmin G6 Approach Reviews

The Garmin Approach G6 has been retired. Check out our current recommendations for today's best golf rangefinders..

'Garmin Approach G6'

Garmin Approach G6
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The Garmin Approach G6 isn’t the newest golf GPS on the market and it isn’t the most expensive. But in our opinion, it’s still the best legal full-featured golf GPS on the market.

User reviews continue to be excellent for the G6 and quite frankly, there hasn’t been all that much competition.

Garmin Approach G6 User Rating: 4.20 out of 5 (648 reviews)

Score compiled from multiple sources.

There are only three brands that contend in the full hole view handheld golf GPS market: Garmin, SkyCaddie and GolfBuddy. SkyCaddie charges an annual fee for getting your course maps and generally they receive pretty lousy ratings compared to Garmin. GolfBuddy makes a somewhat larger handheld device, but it’s not in the same league with the Garmin G6. Fortunately for golfers, the Garmin handhelds are excellent and the price on the G6 is unbelievable!

The other competition to the G6 comes from Garmin’s own G7 and G8 models. These are both excellent devices and they have some fun bells and whistles, but the price difference is significant.

When you consider the pros and cons that we aggregated from feedback from over 100 users, keep in mind that positive comments far outweighed the negatives.

Most Mentioned Pros: (most frequently mention on top)

Screen brightness in sun or clouds
Compact size
Easy to use
Accuracy
Preloaded with golf courses
Quality
Battery Life (3 rounds was about average)
No fees
Quickly locked onto GPS
Lightweight
Responsive touchscreen
28,000 golf courses and growing
Value/price
Touch targeting
Easy stat tracking
Easy to use scorecard
Green View made it easy to set pin and see approach distances
Ready to go out of the box – even had enough charge to play
GPS lock was fast and the lock was solid
Easy to read (as mentioned, a few users had trouble)
Shot measuring capability
Yardage layup arcs to 100, 150, 200 and 250
Stats and scorecard analysis on computer
Waterproof
Auto hole advance
Free lifetime updates

Most Mentioned Cons: (most frequently mention on top)

Some fonts too small
Some units experience shutdowns during the round (if this is yours, we suggest returning it as defective)
Not enough hazard information and carry yardages
Battery life not as long as advertised (only 3 users mentioned this)
A few users found pars and handicaps were wrong on their golf courses
Slow to acquire satellites (many more users found it to be quick)
Doesn’t automatically find the hole you are playing if you turn it on a hole other than #1
Scorecard could be better
Couldn’t find battery meter (FYI:Pressing the power button will display the battery meter and signal strength)
Some accuracy issues
Screen was not bright enough (many more users felt the brightness was excellent)
Screen scratches easily
Screen is too sensitive (most felt it was just right)

Garmin G6 Approach Features and Specifications

Garmin Approach G6
Course Download Fees	No
Pre-loaded with Courses	27,000
Full Hole Views	Yes
Slope / Elevation	No
Battery Life	up to 15 hrs.
Battery	Rechargeable Li-Poly
Size (Width x Height x Depth)	3.7 in. x 2.1 in. x .8 in.
Measure Shot Distance	Yes
Screen Size	2.6
Resolution	160 x 240
Display Type	Transreflec ColorTFT
Weight	3.37 oz.
Rainproof	IPX7
Touch Screen	Yes
Touch Targeting	Yes
Manual Pin Positioning	Yes
Stat Tracker	Yes
Digital Scorecard	Yes
Computer Analysis Tools	Yes
Ground Verified	No
Alternate Targets	Yes
Green Rotates to your shot angle	Yes
USGA Compliant (local rule)	Yes, if Club Averages feature is not used.
Notes	-
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User Manual for Garmin Approach G6

Tagged: Full-Featured Golf GPS Models, Garmin, Golf GPS Reviews, Tournament Legal

Hank Haney – Tiger Woods Book

The Hank Haney ‘Tiger Woods’ book, The Big Miss will be released in March. Haney will divulge details about their relationship and his observations about Tiger. As Tiger’s swing coach for about six years, he claims they spent time together 110 days a year and talked to each other as much as 200 times a year. He also says he stayed at Woods house for 30 days a year. With all that, he probably has enough material to write a real page-turner, even though he didn’t know anything about the scandal. But should he have written it?

My first reaction is ‘No, not unless he had Tiger’s blessing.” This comes from my general belief is that we should try not to do things that we know will hurt someone, unless there is a really good reason to do so. (Disclaimer: I’m quite sure I haven’t lived up to my own belief system on many occasions, but I do try.) Can you imagine how awful it would feel to have someone you once trusted reveal the best and worst parts of you to the whole world?

But let’s explore the question of whether or not the book should have been written a little further…

A little background… If you’re over 35, you can remember a time in professional golf when golf teachers (now called ‘swing coaches’) rarely if ever traveled to a PGA Tour event to give a lesson. We didn’t know much, if anything, about the teachers behind the players. Head to the driving range of a PGA Tour event today and you’ll find a bevy of swing coaches amidst the players and caddies. Clearly they’ve become a more integral a part of the game of today’s players. And as players get more famous, so do their swing coaches. They get credited and they get blamed by the media and by fans. They also get interviewed on TV, in newspapers, magazines, websites and more. You may have noticed that some of these swing coaches take plenty of the credit for themselves and say a little too much in the interviews. Regardless of their level of humility, they’re no doubt getting paid well for their services and any extra attention is probably good for business at home.

When you’re employed as a swing coach by Tiger Woods it probably not only launches your career and income to a new level, it probably wreaks havoc on your whole life. Hank Haney no doubt made sacrifices in his personal life to be Tiger’s swing coach. Does he deserve something more for his sacrifice? Does he deserve the right to tell his story? Maybe so.

Love him or hate him, it’s fairly likely that Tiger Woods will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes of all time. His performances have left us shaking our heads for lack of any words to describe what he has done. Does history deserve to understand more about him? Maybe so.

Regardless of the answers to the questions, the book is available and I bet a whole bunch of them will sell. Tiger and other celebrities may think more often about requiring those they hire to sign non-disclosure agreements. But it goes beyond that, we live in a world where privacy is disappearing. We all know it and some people fight it. Maybe the silver lining will be that all of us will try to bring our “A game” more often when it comes to behavior, no matter who we think is watching.

Tagged: Golf Talk

Is Your Golf Rangefinder ‘Legal’?

Of course what I mean by asking “Is your golf rangefinder ‘legal’?”, is does it conform to the rules of golf?

For those of you looking for the quick answer…
The USGA and R&A provide a “local rule” that with the exception of most major professional tours (PGA, LPGA etc), is adopted for almost all competitions. So unless you’re a high level professional golfer, this most likely applies to the events you play.

The local rule allows the use of distance measuring devices. If your device (laser rangefinder, smartphone, or GPS rangefinder) measures other conditions such as Slope or wind speed, those features must be turned off or disabled. If you can’t turn off those features, then it’s not legal, but if you can and do turn them off, it is legal.

See our Best Legal Golf Rangefinders if you are looking for recommendations for laser golf rangefinders. All of the GPS devices on this site would be “legal”, so check out our Best Golf GPS page to find the one that is right for you.

For those of you who are interested in getting a full understanding of how the rule has evolved, let’s explore the joint USGA / R&A rule and decision that allows or disallows GPS and laser rangefinders to be used.

Rule 14/3b prohibits a player from using any artificial device or unusual equipment for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play. That alone would make all golf GPS and laser rangefinders against the rules and the penalty for the breach is disqualification. However…

In 2006, the USGA and R&A decided to allow tournament committees to have the option of adding a local rule that allows “distance-measuring devices”.

If this local rule is in effect, artificial devices that measure distance ONLY, are permitted. Prior to 2016, devices that measured slope or provided other prohibited information were not allowed even if the features were turned off.

In 2016, the USGA and the R&A revised the rule (see Appendix IV-5) to allow devices with the capability of measuring conditions other than distance, as long as those features were turned off.

The exceptions to the earlier rule were the now retired Bushnell Tour X and the the Leupold GX-4i². Both of these laser rangefinders had gotten special approval from the USGA by using a brightly colored faceplate to turn on the Slope feature, thus indicating to anyone paying attention that the device was not legal. When the bright faceplate was removed, the devices were (and still are) legal.

With the new rule, it’s more of an honor system. Faceplates are not required, and manufacturers have implemented a simple ON/OFF switch rather than the faceplate system. The player will simply switch the device out of Slope mode to make it legal.

As far as golf GPS devices go, most have been legal in competition since 2006. However, this new rule change did affect a few devices that were previously not allowed in competition. The Garmin Approach G7 and the Approach G8 both have a “Plays Like” feature and a “Club Advice” feature that are not allowed in competition, but those features can be turned off, which means that as of 2016, these devices can be used in competition.

Smartphone golf GPS apps also benefitted from the rule change. They may now be used in competition as long as no prohibited features are being used within the app OR on otherwise on the device.

Most organized golf tournaments utilize the local rule, but it’s always a good idea to read the rules sheet or check with the tournament organizer before using your golf rangefinder or GPS. Elite professional events and some high-level amateur events do not adopt the local rule. You won’t find these devices being used during a PGA or LPGA tournaments, but if you’re out there during the practice rounds, caddies and players will be using laser rangefinders and taking notes diligently.

So if you know that your golf tournament or golf group has adopted the local rule, then there is only one question remaining. Did you buy a GPS or laser that measures ONLY distance or has an on/off mode for prohibited features? If your laser binoculars measure “slope” or provide other prohibited information and those features cannot be turned off, your rangefinder won’t be allowed.

If you’re playing a friendly game, just make sure your group is in agreement about what rules are in effect. With regards to posting scores for your handicap, the local rule is in effect. You should post all scores when using your distance-only measuring device. See the USGA Rules FAQ.

Below are our top picks for legal laser golf rangefinders. If you have any questions, please leave us a message in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Best Legal Laser Golf Rangefinders
Bushnell Pro X2 - Read Full Review We're very excited about the Bushnell Pro X2! Bushnell was quick to adapt to the 2016 rule modification that made rangefinders with Slope legal as long as the slope mode could be turned off for competitive rounds. The sophisticated faceplate hardware change is no longer required, so Bushnell put a simple toggle switch on the side of the unit. The Pro X2 utilizes Dual Display technology that allows the user to choose standard black or red VDT for displaying distance information. Just press the logo on the side of the rangefinder while ranging to switch modes. This unit also features 6x magnification, is fully waterproof, has Jolt technology that vibrates when it locks the pin, and it ranges accurately to within a half yard. Rating: Magnification: 6x Slope: both Weight: 8 oz. Legal: Yes* When Slope Switch is turned off.	Order from Amazon
Bushnell Tour V5 - Read Full Review Size, speed, and accuracy evolved with a new generation of tech — featuring PinSeeker with Visual JOLT, BITE Magnetic Mount, and next-level clarity and brightness. Rating: Magnification: 6x Slope: No Weight: 8 oz. Legal: Yes	Order from Amazon
Bushnell Hybrid - Read Full Review We are so excited to see Bushnell bring back a Laser/GPS Hybrid Rangefinder to its lineup. They've added all the features we could have hoped for on this 2018 hybrid rangefinder. This time you have Pinseeker with Jolt, making it fast and easy to know when you're locked on to the flag, but better than that, you'll also see the GPS distance to the front and the back of the green right in the laser display! Besides that, the GPS displays on the side of the unit and has distances to hazards available there. We love that there is one battery for GPS and one battery for laser and we love that you can update the courses wirelessly via Bluetooth and an app. The app also has full holeview and distances, as well as flyover views. We think Bushnell has knocked this one out of the park! Rating: Magnification: 5x Slope: No Weight: 6.1 oz. Legal: Yes	Order from Amazon
Bushnell Tour V4 Shift - Read Full Review The Bushnell Tour V4 Shift replaces the Tour V4 Slope model. Both are legal in USGA competitions that allow rangefinder as long as the Slope feature is disabled. The difference is that the V4 Shift has a slider switch on the side that is simple to use and displays on the outside of the unit when it is in Slope mode. We like this improvement from the Bushnell V4 Slope that gave no indication of the mode until you looked into it. This model will likely become the best-selling laser golf rangefinder with Slope on the market. It has Pinseeker, Jolt, and 5x magnification. Rating: Magnification: 5x Slope: both Weight: 5.6 oz. Legal: Yes, if Slope Switch is Down (Off).	Order from Amazon
Bushnell Tour V4 Jolt - Read Full Review The Bushnell Tour V4 replaced the extremely popular Bushnell Tour V3. This model is a little bit smaller and had an easy to use focus ring. Although we think the Tour V4 is a terrific rangefinder with Jolt and Pinseeker, we think its popularity will be shared with the Bushnell Tour V4 Shift. The Shift version has Slope, but also allows you to turn it off to make it legal for most competitive events as of the 2016 rule change. If you have not interested in Slope, the Bushnell Tour V4 is an excellent choice. Rating: Magnification: 5x Slope: No Weight: 6.6 oz. Legal: Yes	Order from Amazon
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