Bushnell Pro 1600 SLOPE Laser Rangefinder

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.

I am anal when it comes to making comparisons. Especially if I am buying through mail-order. I will research items for a long time.
When it came to picking a range finder I had it narrowed down to the Leupold GX 1 and the Bushnell 1600. The first comparisons I did were at my house.
The Leupold was small and lightweight,about half the size of the Bushnell. The first thing I noticed was the Leupold had a slight yellowish tint when looking through it. If I didn't have the Bushnell to compare it to (very bright and clear),I probably wouldn't have noticed it. Leupold said it was the coating on the optics. Whatever it is, I didn't care for the tint. I then started taking measurements outside my window. My neighbors house is brick and the Leupold would NOT read the brick at all. I then "shot" their front door and got a 50 yard reading. I then shot their awning which overhangs their door and it wouldn't give me a reading. After the 4th attempt it finally said 52 yards. That's impossible since the awning is in front of the door.

The Bushnell: has much larger, clearer and brighter optics. The eyepiece is larger also. I did the same test and the Bushnell gave me a reading off the bricks. Off the front door it told me 48 yards (2 yards different than Leupold) but more importantly, it read the front of the awning (46 yards). I then shot my neighbors shutters and it gave me a reading; I then shot their bricks right next to the shutters and it gave me a reading of 1 yard more. That was impressive. I really wanted to like the Leupold because of its size/weight but the Bushnell was winning.

I then took it to the golf range. The Leupold continued to give me slightly different readings than the Bushnell but what really bothered me was the Leupold would (sometimes)not give me a reading to different parts of the ground. Many times I wouldn't get a reading shooting the ground at 50 yards. The flag, yes, no problem; but the ground no. The Bushnell gave me a reading EVERY time,no matter what distance to the ground I aimed.
Also the pinseeker on the Leupold was questionable. It's not a mode like the Bushnell. The Leupold is supposed to not give you a reading until you hit the flag, at least that's what their video on their web site says, but I would definately get background readings no matter what. In fact, their manual does not even mention anything about pinseeker. Nothing. Nor does the box have anything on it either. I called Leupold about this and they said that their pinseeker "mode" is really ONLY for flags with prisms on them. None of the courses I play have prisms so this does not interest me at all.
The Bushnell, in pinseeker mode, shows a flag on their display and when it "hits" the flag,on the green, a circle goes around the display flag verifying that you captured the flag.

The other thing that botherd me about the Leupold was the readout is on the top of the display. When reading a flag and you have dark trees behind the green, the read out is hard to see. The video on their web site shows this also. They are scannning targets and the read out completely disappears when it its the treeline.
The Bushnell displays it's #'s at the bottom and they are more easy to read since the background will always be the grass. The display #'s also are blacker than the Leupold. The Bushnell, so far, is definately better.

One last test - At my house it was raining and I tried shooting through my window SCREEN. The screen has water droplets all over it and the Leupold would not read through the screen at all... but the Bushnell did, every time. That was the deciding factor. I know that some will say that you are not shooting bricks, windows, awning on the golf course. But to me, if the Bushnell could do all these things and the Leupold couldn't, then that shows me that the Bushnell has better optics. Also the Leupold had trouble reading the ground at short yardages where the Bushnell had no trouble at all.

The one thing that bothered me was if the Leupold was defective and that was the reason for the yellowish tint. I went to a sporting goods store and although they didn't have the GX 1, I tried their 750 model... same thing. A slight yellowish tint.

The Bushnell is a much better unit, in my opinion. Brighter/clearer optics, the field of view is larger, 7x mag compared to 6x on the Leupold, better pinseeker technology and better accuracy at reading mounds and small bumps. What impressed me was the door/awning test. The Bushnell gave me the accurate readings whereas the Leupold couldn't read the awning at all.
The only slight negative of the Bushnell, is the size/weight. If all range finders were the Bushnells size, nobody would complain at all. The Bushnell is technically NOT large or heavy, it's just larger/heavier than the Leupold or the V2 for that matter.

The other positive the Leupold had was it was steadier than the Bushnell. The Bushnell shakes a little bit more but it still is no problem getting the flag at 200 yards.

In summary - I am very happy with the Bushnell. I can't tell you how impressed I was when I was able to get a reading,of a tree,through my rain soaked window screen. I have sinced used the Bushnell for two rounds and get very accurate readings. How do I know their accurate? Because I also use a Sonocaddie V300 GPS. Originally, I was going to buy the laser and sell the GPS. The GPS gives a view of the entire hole with readings to all hazards. For the green, it gives readings for the front, middle and back of greens. Many times, I thought the pin was in the front of the green when it was in the back (aging eyes). With the GPS it will tell me, i.e. the back of the green is 170 yards and the laser will tell me the pin is 165 yards. That tells me the pin is in the back and I only have 15' of green behind the pin. That, to me, is invaluable information, especially since I am trying to get into single digit handicaps. Is this over kill? Probably. But it definatley gives me more confidence knowing all that information.
If I didn't have a GPS now, I would at least get an app for a smart phone and buy the laser. Best of both worlds.

Great product.

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.