How many of you guys have and use them?

I have a Bushnell yardage pro and it is a fantastic piece of kit. I originally bought it for practicing but the R&A intoduced a rule a couple of years ago permitting their use in play as long as the club introduced a local rule permitting their use.

When I wrote to the match & handicap committee requesting they introduce the rule they answered negatively stating that they felt the evidence suggested the use of such devices would slow play.

I was wondering if anyone has evidence contrary to this or can point me somewhere that I can quote when sending a new letter in.

Cheers.

This arguement is similar to the one about motorized buggies slowing down play . In both situations the answer is yes They do slow down play if used improperly. However if you use a rangefinder correctly they like G.P.S. systems can actually speed up play.Our course has just introduced G.P.S. with the local rule in place & I have not noticed any appreciable difference in the speed of play in competitions.

I’ve been doing a little research of my own since posting this and am getting lots of ammo to overturn the earlier decision.

How accurate are these things? Better than GPS (which is about 3m at best)?

I would say it depends on what you pay for them. Surely for golfing purposes accuracy to within 3m is acceptable.

I would use it for golf AND fishing. A few locals have great spots within a few hundred yards of the beach and a laser would let me triangulate (is this a word?) their mark … all’s fair in love and fishing!

As for GPS, current “non military” accuracy is something like 3-10m and this is a big variation on a golf course – mostly the accuracy is good but there are so many things which inflence the reading. A base station will assist the accuracy greatly (is there one at The Willows?) and you can get close to survey accuracy. A laser, if a good one, should be accurate to less than a meter but I wonder about the quality of the Bushnell system and this is the reason I asked.

I found this Australian site http://www.lasertools.com.a... which features the Bushnell range. They are expensive suckers if you want to get good results at 200+ yards.

Yes there is a base station. I believe they can even disable the motorized carts if necessary. On the subject of fishing, You,d be able to do that in your backyard at the moment wouldn,t you. I.ve never seen the Ross river this high & thats with the dam wall finished.Might need the G.P.S. to find home shortly. :)

P.S. Triangulate is a word

whitednj, bushnell are regarded as the best in the world – they are the ones the caddies on the PGA tour use.

As for accuracy, they are accurate to less than 3 feet. The model I have has an option that you can use to make it even more precise (you just need very steady hands!)

I’m thinking about getting myself one to play around with, the information isn’t really required when half my shots are 20m left of target and half are hit thin along the ground but I’m always keen to try new technology for a bit of fun.

Have a look at the prices – you could buy a new set of irons instead. I’d like to borrow one for a day and map out my course and driving range.

Have a look at the prices – you could buy a new set of irons instead. I’d like to borrow one for a day and map out my course and driving range.

I agree, I think the cost vs amount of use makes them a toy instead of a tool. Having said that if I had the money spare I would buy one since I am fond of my toys. :)

They don’t seem to be that much? You can’t use the ones with the slope compensation feature so there’s no point paying extra for it. Looks like you can get the new bushnells golf tournement edition ones for $250-300 through Ebay out of the states.

I reckon they would be priceless because you could get accurate measurements of how far your irons actually go. I think with most people it is an approximation.

The models that are rated for 200 yards at a “flag” by the company spin doctors are $A900+. Reality probably means a shorter range. I’ve had a little bit to do with surveying gear which is horribly expensive and without a stable base (solid tripod) accuracy is severely compromised when you are trying to get a fix. If you are a photography it would be like using a 300m lens from 180m and trying to get a clear shot on a small bird at a speed of 1/50 – almost impossible. But I could be proved wrong if someone gave me one (sponsors?).

That said, I would expect they are better than a toy and the accuracy should be really good less than 100m and OK at 150m. But I don’t know about you, I struggle to measure 150m+ and club this properly on fairways. I guess I’ll continue to work on my “pacing”.

whitednj, you are awfully critical of a product you have never used! As I’ve said before, they are terrific and like most technology will reduce in price the more they are used. They are very accurate as well, I’ve played with someone who had a different model from me and we were consistently getting the same figures from the same spots.

A a further example of how we Australians are treated like fools let’s look at rangefinders:

Bushnell 450 Pro in Australia

Bushnell 450 Pro in the U.S.

Now that U.S.$151-00 price is a retail price available to ordinary retail customers in the U.S. (wholesale cost to distributers here would be substantially lower) and equates to Au$168-00. Lets allow a maximum of Au$40-00 freight to Oz (of course that is freight one at a time) and 10% GST and we now have a total of Au$229-00. Comparing that to the offering of Au$418-00 by our Australian distributers, somebody is on a nice little earner. Never mind, the usual lame-duck excuses of freight, exchange rates, etc.will be offered as justification for the necessity of having such prices rather than a simple attempt to gouge the Australian consumer. I wonder when we in Australia will ever wake up to ourselves, particulary when it comes to anything related to golf.

Whambam – It’s the same in most industries not just golf. Walk through a mall in the US and things like clothes, electronics etc are way cheaper.

It’s just how it is unfortunately – they have an economy with 300 million people and talk in a GDP of trillions while we have an economy of billions with 21 million people.

I’ll take living in Australia and paying higher prices any day though :)

Whambam – It’s the same in most industries not just golf. Walk through a mall in the US and things like clothes, electronics etc are way cheaper.

It’s just how it is unfortunately – they have an economy with 300 million people and talk in a GDP of trillions while we have an economy of billions with 21 million people.

I’ll take living in Australia and paying higher prices any day though :)

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You are simply wrong and falling for the usual claptrap given for why we in Australia need to pay far higher prices here. This argument may well be true for locally produced goods such as the car industry where design,tooling up, lower production runs etc for for a smaller market will result in substantially higher local production costs per unit. In this particular case Bushnell has a production run of X number of units at Y overall cost, leading to a fixed production cost per unit. They simply do not have a production line producing rangefinders at one cost per unit for the higher sales volume U.S. market and a separate line producing lower volume units at a far higher cost destined for export to smaller markets such as Oz. I don’t want to disillusion you but the equation “advantage of living in Australia=paying far more that the rest of the world” is just one more of the furfies offered up as a justification. Local distributers of goods need to open their eyes. Their business will simply vanish as the local consumer becomes more internet savvy and aware of their ability to shop overseas for more competitive prices.

why don’t you just buy it from the US?

Thats what I do, the import tax beefs the price up but its still cheaper.

Better yet, get the seller to mark it as a gift and theres no tax to pay (in the UK anyway)

Any recommendations on models? There seems to be about $50 dollars difference between the Bushnell Pinseeker1500 and the Tour V2… i can’t find any significant difference that qualify’s a $50 price difference.. Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Mate you are way wrong about all things being cheaper in the USA. This is an old wives tail as i i have just returned form the states, before i left i packed several golf & electronic catalougues fro Aus. specifically to compare prices of these items. Guess what they were significantly dearer??? I’ve been hearing for years that things are cheaper in the US, unfortunately mostly it is just an urban legend But it is like anything you just have to look for a bargain. The rangefinders are definitely cheaper in the States, we are getting touched up!!

Whambam – I got a fair idea of what I am talking about? What industry do you work in?

drafroswus – Read my posts again – I didn’t say all, I said “things like clothes and electronics” and from what I have seen first hand having been to the US several times is that is very true. I am not saying 100% of electronic goods are cheaper in the US but most are.

We get touched up in Australia because we have a smaller market in which to make the money.

Are either of you guys in the retail or wholesale industries?

Just ask Boz what it’s like trying to sell a golf product in Australia and make a buck.

Hopefully the internet will empower the people and lower prices but that will probably just mean fewer products will be available locally because noone will take a chance to be a distributor and keep stock when there’s less margin in it.

I use a sureshot gps unit and think is it great. No more walking over to markers, and when on other faiways etc, you know the exact distance, helps in club selection. My course has been programmed with distances to bunkers/hazards etc, and you can store up to 10 courses on the unit.

Whambam – I got a fair idea of what I am talking about? What industry do you work in?

drafroswus – Read my posts again – I didn’t say all, I said “things like clothes and electronics” and from what I have seen first hand having been to the US several times is that is very true. I am not saying 100% of electronic goods are cheaper in the US but most are.

We get touched up in Australia because we have a smaller market in which to make the money.

Are either of you guys in the retail or wholesale industries?

Just ask Boz what it’s like trying to sell a golf product in Australia and make a buck.

Hopefully the internet will empower the people and lower prices but that will probably just mean fewer products will be available locally because noone will take a chance to be a distributor and keep stock when there’s less margin in it.

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So it is your contention that retailers in say Sydney with a population base of about 4.5 million cannot supply goods at a similar price to retailers in Dallas which has a metropolitan population somewhat the same and moving the same amount of product. How then do Dallas retailers remain in business if Australian business cannot sell at these same prices and survive. Are you not aware of the laws of supply and demand …......... ie higher price will mean fewer sales while lower price means increased sales…....it is a balancing act. Look at this very site. How often has a discussion re. rangefinders come up with potential Australian buyers baulking at the prices asked here…...therefore no sale. Are you arguing that Bushnell for instance, is supplying rangefinders to retailers in Dallas far cheaper than they are supplying them to Sydney retailers(both of whom are moving the same amount of product). Sorry but it does not compute. And yes I have been in business for a very long time and are currently still in retail so that won’t fly. I stand gob-smacked that not only do distributors/sellers get away with it but my fellow Australians insist it is a good and necessary thing. When all Australian golf distributor’s business’ are dead and buried because of lack of sales they will have nothing to blame but their own shortsightedness.

So Whambam, what would you have us believe? That there is a conspiracy to bankrupt everyone living outside of the US?

C’mon man!

2 reasons behind pricing – profit and competition. Bushnell and most other companies will look at the Australian market and see a small market in the first place, they will then see the hassle involved in having a satellite office if they oficially distribute there. To make it worth their while they price accordingly.