Latest / PlayBetter's Golf Tech Weekly / #16: The Best Golf Rangefinders in 2026
Transcript
- PlayBetter: Aaron Rye just won the PGA Championship at Arana Mink, ending a 107-year English drought. But there was another quiet storyline last weekend. Rangefinders were legal again. No slope, no wind, tournament mode only, and plenty of players used them anyway. Even with caddies and yardage books, the world's best still want an exact number when they can get one. Today, we're breaking down the five Rangefinder brands shaping 2026. and figuring out which one makes the most sense for your game. I'm Mark Shaforgian, he's Daniel Fitzpatrick, and this is Golf Tech Weekly presented by Play Better. All right, Daniel, ⁓ you are a low single digit handicap. ⁓ Obviously that still makes you a far cry from the level of play that ⁓ we watched this last weekend at the PGA Championship. But for an amateur recreational player, you are on the more skilled side. And so I'm curious, do you use a rangefinder when you play golf? Yeah, thanks Mark. Yeah, I use a rangefinder every single time I play tournament or regular round. ⁓ Like you, you know, we're fortunate enough to test a lot of these rangefinders that we sell at playbetter.com. So I've been tinkering around with some models here and there to see which one kind of fits my eye or, you know, per se, or even, you know, just fits the style of golf I like to play or the technology I like to use. So ⁓ It's been a fun spring and an early winter to kind of testing out the new products that came out and and kind of comparing and contrasting and finding which one suits me best. So ⁓ yeah, definitely something I use every time I play. I might start wearing two gloves and use a castle tee and try to channel my inner inner Aaron Rye as much as I can. Yeah, yeah, it was a put on a hell of a show this last weekend, a little bit anticlimactic coming down the down the stretch. ⁓ He had that baby wrapped up, certainly after he hit the putt on 17, for sure. I think that undeniably, rangefinders from the top of the game all the way down to kind of the lowest level amateurs do have a lot of benefits. And there are so many kind of different innovations and developments that have happened throughout these past several years with rangefinder technology. that we're now kind of to the point where it's not so much a matter of can a rangefinder help you, but which rangefinder would help you best. Because ⁓ different ones do different things, there are different features that are valuable or important to different types of players. And then obviously, all of these things cost different amounts of money. that's what we're gonna try to sort through today. We've kind of reached the point of option overload. ⁓ And we have so many range finders available to us in 2026 that I think it does get a bit confusing for the average consumer. At the end of the day, the basic functionality of a range finder is quite simple and pretty much the same ⁓ from product to product. But again, there are so many subtleties to sort through and I think ⁓ that it can be a bit overwhelming. So we're gonna try to kind of pare things down a bit. focus on the five brands that we think are potentially the most significant or relevant in 2026, those being Bushnell, Blue Tees, Arcos, Garmin, and maybe a surprise pick, Pinned. So we're going to walk through the product catalogs for ⁓ each of those brands, kind of hit some of the high points and talk through maybe which products might be a fit for which types of players. ⁓ Daniel, to kick us off here, why don't you help us with what you look for in a range finder? Are there specific things, important things that jump out to you as ⁓ what you're trying to sort out when you consider a range finder? Yeah, I think there's like five categories that you kind of rate things on or look for when you're going through this decision, basically. ⁓ The first one being speed. in my opinion, because believe it or not, some rangefinders are faster at hitting the button, getting the target and bringing it back to the viewfinder. ⁓ And with speed comes the second point, accuracy. ⁓ Because if you use multiple different rangefinders, you'll see that some rangefinders, you have to hit your target three or four times and kind of confirm that distance where some of them, it's a one click and hit and you're ready to go. Speed and accuracy are two of the first things that I kind of look for. And then I look at optics because there's different magnifications with different products. Typically the more magnification, the more expensive it gets, not all the time, but in most cases, the more that binocular kind of zooms in for you, the further you can see your target. So if you approach screens from over 150 yards a lot, the optics can be important to understand how easy and clear it is to be able to see through that glass. Another one which may not be as important as maybe it used to be is going to be the slope and how easy it is to toggle between slope and non-slope for tournaments if you're a person who plays in competitions. Maybe 15, maybe even 10 years ago, that wasn't really even thought of because there was either a slope option of the rangefinder or non-slope and you kind of chose if you were going to buy one or the other. Whereas now it seems like almost all of them are coming with that some form of toggle to go between slope and non slope. And we'll talk a little bit about the accuracies of those between brands too. ⁓ But then lastly, you now that I'm starting to get into where I want my products to pair with each other, I want to look at any ecosystem integrations or how it can benefit other parts of my game. ⁓ You know, if it connects to an app that tracks my stats or things like that. So. I think I look at all of those five areas. It's kind of similar going into like buying a launch monitor or something like that. Like you kind of want to go through almost a process of elimination and saying, hey, this is what I want. And then we can start looking at the benefits, pros and cons and things like that. Yeah, totally. ⁓ So when we kind of consider those five kind of ⁓ foundational ⁓ metrics or things that I agree with you that are most important when looking at a rangefinder. There's one brand that still jumps to mind probably for everyone kind of the Kleenex of rangefinders the most Commonly used by the top players in the game including at this last weekend's PGA championship You know, was looking at the Darrell survey results from the 2025 PGA championship this by the way Is what the fifth year in a row that they've let them use rangefinders at the PGA and in 2025 it was I believe it was over 98 percent rounding up, I think, to 99 % of the players who using a Bushnell ⁓ laser at the PGA Championship, which is very interesting. But for those people that use a lot of different kinds of rangefinders and have held the various products in their hands and felt the differences and build quality and noted the differences and all the things Daniel just mentioned, the speed, the accuracy, the optics, the ease of the slope on and off, and now most recently, the ecosystem integration. ⁓ Bushnell is still kind of leading the pack. Do you think they're still the gold standard, And if so, how do they sit in the market in 2026? Yeah, mean, market-wise, they're definitely more on the higher price end of things. But I think they should be. just based on, when you compare these range finders to each other, I mean, you can pick up two of them and you can instantly tell, you know, the build quality of the Bushnells is right there on the top. ⁓ When you look through the viewfinder, the glass is beautiful. The crosshairs, I think, are the best in the business. I just find it really easy to hit the flag with their pin-seeking technology and their vibration jolt tells you when you hit the flag. I mean, it... It tells you plus the feature people don't talk enough about is the bite magnet. I mean, I've got a V7 shift here. The magnet on this thing is absolutely incredible. It literally suction cups to that that bar on the golf cart. So, ⁓ yeah, I think they set themselves apart in every single category. And I think that they've started trends that now every other rangefinder is is starting to follow suit. And so ⁓ there's a reason pros use them. ⁓ They're accurate, they're reliable. It's not just that they might get it for free. I mean, they could use any range finder and get it for free. ⁓ They use Bushnell because they feel it's the most accurate. And when they hit a target, like I was talking earlier, when you shoot a target, you don't have to shoot it three or four or five times. You can shoot it once and know that you've got the accurate reading. So much of their of what they've introduced as innovations have now become kind of industry standards, just like you talked about the bite magnet, they're the ones that introduced it, there's a still the strongest, their, their case, the carrying case is now kind of become the standard throughout the industry. Again, they're the ones who introduced that ⁓ the the jolt vibration. Now we see that kind of throughout the products throughout the industry, still theirs is the most ⁓ the strongest and most kind of confidence inspiring. And then again, the ecosystem integration, they and their sister company, Foresight, they're the first ones that paired a range finder with a launch monitor so that you could get ⁓ club recommendations in your viewfinder. We now coming off the 2026 PGA show are starting to see that as an industry standard. Once again, something rolled out initially by Bushnell. So definitely the pioneers or the trendsetters in the space. ⁓ maybe kind of like the Apple of range finders at this point, ⁓ premium, reliable, probably the most trusted, the most marketed, the most advertised, the one that top players are using, but for all of those same reasons, ⁓ a little bit more expensive. And so even though they might be kind of uniformly or universally agreed on ⁓ as the best or the most premium overall, ⁓ they're not necessarily the best value and they're not necessarily the best pick for every type of golfer. ⁓ So before we get into kind of some of the Bushnell alternatives, ⁓ Bushnell's got a lot of range finders available at this point. Many of them still current and available in 2026. But I think there's a few of them that are kind of their ⁓ their most relevant and up to date and ⁓ most kind of ⁓ focus worthy products in 2026. So let's talk through kind of the top of their catalog, ⁓ what do you see as ⁓ their leading products this year? Yeah, well, it all starts with like the Lamborghini of range finders, right? With the Pro X3 Plus, ⁓ which I know you have, Mark. And you can just tell when you pick it up. I mean, it's heavy, but it's a damn nice piece of technology. ⁓ That's what the pros are using, right? So it has every piece of feature. And I mean, you can just tell by the look of it with the chrome plated edging and everything. Everything is just so thought out and easily used. And the slope switch is very easy to change and everything is thought of. And there's a reason that is the most expensive rangefinder that's pretty much out there. ⁓ But it has the link enabled technology. It has every piece of hardware and software that you can get into a rangefinder. ⁓ It is the top tier. like I said, Lamborghini of range finders in my opinion. Right. But it's $600. So it is like a Lamborghini of a range finder, That's 100 bucks does get you a 7x magnification does get you a ⁓ dual display with red and black. You get wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, elements, compensation, just as you said, the link enabled pairing, IPX seven waterproofing 1300 yard range, but you're going to pay for that. ⁓ And so just as you say, ⁓ it's the one that the top players are using, but is it the one that everyone should be using? Does everyone have to pay $600 for a range finder? Probably not. ⁓ You know, I guess if you have the money and you want the top product, that's probably what you would go and buy. ⁓ If I was maybe a solid, you 15 handicapper below and I wanted a really nice Bushnell rangefinder. I'd probably look more towards like the V7 shift or the tour hybrid option. Even the tour hybrid might be more popular with that, you know, eight to 15 handicap player ⁓ because it's so honestly easy to use. I was able to test it on course and you don't even have to do anything. It just knows what golf course you're on, what hole you're on. And when you shoot the flag, you get front center and back of the green and the flag distance. which is really cool. I mean, like I said, you don't have to pair it with an app. You don't have to update anything. does it all wirelessly, which is so cool. That is so cool. To have that GPS chip built into the device is a really distinctive feature because we have seen that kind of ⁓ compatible GPS functionality with other range finders, but they always require pairing with an app. And so that's just kind of one additional step. additional potential for disconnection and having to reconnect or kind of babysit the product as you're playing. Just as you say, the Tour Hybrid asks you to do nothing other than turn it on. It is literally like having a golf watch built right into your rangefinder. That's $500. Probably pretty tough to beat if you have $500 available to spend. But even still, $500 for a rangefinder is not inexpensive. And you mentioned the Tour V7 Shift. We did a whole episode on this product because it is that exciting. And I think we both agreed that at this point at $400, it may really sit in the sweet spot of the Bushnell line. Tell us about that product. Yeah, and I think there's just enough technology behind it and just enough build quality that it fits a lot of golfers. ⁓ I find probably almost every sub five handicap player. This is probably what they're going to buy. Honestly, as with all the testing I've done, it's the one I've been using the most recently. ⁓ I love the way it looks. I'm a guy who's pretty subtle, so I don't like stuff being loud colored or anything like that. So it's blacked out. It's easy to see. And I love the dual OLED display. ⁓ Seeing the red, trusting the green as they like to say. ⁓ I think that's awesome. I like the red lettering to begin with. I think it sticks out on the greens when you're shooting flags and targets and stuff. So ⁓ I just think it's a perfect blend of everything. Price, features, reliability, accuracy. I think it's like you said, I think it's right in the sweet spot of everything. And if I was to buy one for 400 bucks, I'd be happy with the purchase, honestly. Absolutely. I think it's kind of the no brainer easiest product to recommend from the Bushnell line and potentially from all of the rangefinder products available, honestly. couple things to note about it. One, they didn't raise the price from the outgoing V6 shift and yet they added some pretty significant upgrades. You mentioned the dual color OLED so that you get that slope adjusted number in green. It really pops out to you. The optics and display are outstanding. It is 6X magnification, so it's not 7X like you would get in the Pro X3 Plus, but of course it's a couple hundred dollars less expensive than that. You get now this new yardage range recall feature, which even the Pro X3 Plus doesn't have, which allows you to press a button and get your last yardage. We kind of walked through kind of the use cases where that would be applicable in our dedicated episode. And kind of interestingly, It used to be that if you wanted to have that connected ecosystem, if you wanted to pair it with a Bushnell Launch Pro or a four-site CC3 and do the bag mapping and then get your ⁓ club recommendations right in the viewfinder, you had to step up to the Pro X3 Plus. Again, 600 bucks, not kind of a choking point for a lot of people. Now with the Tour V7 Shift, you have access to that same technology for only $400. So ⁓ just a lot of compelling points. about that product and again probably the just right option for ⁓ the most number of golfers. Additionally, another kind of cool product that I think is still really relevant in the Bushnell line is the A1 Slope. This is ⁓ actually a bit of an outdated model in that it's got their blue ⁓ color scheme that they went to temporarily. They're now back to their kind classic Bushnell orange and black. I actually have the magnetic skin on this right now, but this skin is removable. If you want to have the skin on, of course you can attach it to a cart post, but to remove it, it gets even that much smaller. And what I really like about this product is it's pocket sized. Initially, I didn't think that would be something that would appeal to me, but as I've played with it more often and actually used a rangefinder in my pocket, this one is small enough that honestly I can swing. without it interrupting anything or without it bothering me. I didn't think that would be the case that surprised me. And I've actually come to really kind of love it. I kind of like having just the rangefinder even that much simpler for me to grab and pull out, especially when I'm wearing like, you know, shorts with larger pockets in the summertime. I just find it to be a surprisingly cool way to play. A1 Slope is only $300. So again, 6X magnification, removable magnetic skin, I think it's kind of a cool product at a kind of a niche product category with a pocket sized rangefinder. Yeah. And I think that's great for people who want to walk and play a lot too, just because if you want to put it in your pocket or is having to get it out of your bag or like for me, like I have a pocket in my bag for when you're walking, that's like right next to you and it's small. So the A1 would, would slide in there a lot easier than maybe some of the larger rangefinders would. So, I think that's great. Plus it has rechargeable battery, which is kind of rare in the Bushnell lineup to go rechargeable. That's right. You're exactly right. ⁓ Yes. Cool. yeah, Bushnell ⁓ kind of still the king. Really are. ⁓ You know, if you if you watched and we talked about this a little bit, it was interesting to see watching the PGA coverage. ⁓ You would catch some some glimpses of caddies pulling out the lasers, which again, were legal at the PGA Championship. They are legal on tours like the Corn Fairy, the LPGA, Live, other events that you may watch on TV, you'll see them. And yet we kind of both noticed that when you're watching the coverage on CBS, it's almost like they didn't want to show, like the camera or the production of the broadcast was kind of trying to almost hide that feature a little bit in some ways. I don't know if that was intentionally or if that was just something that that just happened to catch our eye. ⁓ But that was somewhat interesting. That said, ⁓ all of those guys were using lasers. They all want all the information they can get. And it's not to say that because they could use range finders that they weren't still walking the course prior to ⁓ pacing off all of their distances, consulting their yardage books the same way as they always are. And even when they can get a distance to the flag, that doesn't mean that they still don't need the distance to the front and all of their carry distances. It's not like it's the end all be all to them. It's just one additional piece of information. Is that fair to say? Yeah. And they don't get to use slope or front middle back feet. They basically just have direct distance to target. And the other part about Ironimink is that it's not a golf course where you're just going to snipe flag sticks all day, especially where they were putting them. It was more reference point and then they were kind of figuring out, okay, well, where's my land point to get as close as I can to that distance? So ⁓ yeah, they were definitely still using them, but they were at a little more limitation than what we're able to use in our regular rounds of golf, which I think as we go down these product lines, we're to get into some features that aren't going to be as heavy on the pocketbook, which is going to be enticing to a lot of our viewers. Yeah, let's get right into that. Kind of our next product group. is from the brand Blue Teas. And this might represent the best overall value in 2026. Tell us about kind of their two new lasers that they debuted at the 2026 show. Yeah, so Blue Teas has always kind of been in that. competitive pricing tier of range finder since they started using them ⁓ They've now gone into getting speakers out there or GP They even have GPS watches and now they're launching a new launch monitor on Father's Day weekend is the plan for the rainmaker ⁓ And with that comes two new range finders as well, which they've already launched called the captain pro and the captain air And they're a little bit different. The Pro has a little higher magnification, some better waterproofing. ⁓ But they've been very good at adding all the features that your high-end range finders would typically have for the most part at a really affordable price. So they usually always have the magnetic cart mounting. They always have slope on them. Again, they have good solid optics for the price you're getting. And their battery life is always really solid. ⁓ You know, think if you compare them to Bushnell, you'll notice a little bit of build quality right off the bat, just by the feel of them. ⁓ But that's to be expected, because again, you're not you're not paying the premium price that you're paying for with Bushnell. ⁓ But the nice part about these new range finders is that there's going to be some integration like we've talked about with with the Rainmaker launch monitor. So I'm kind of excited to see how that pairs and how that ecosystem works together. ⁓ and how it pairs with like their GPS speakers and maybe some smartwatches. I just want to see how the whole ecosystem is going to pair together. I think that's really exciting. Yeah, I likewise I'm excited to see that we'll have an opportunity to get hands on once the rainmaker drops. ⁓ Captain Pro $300. That's the flagship 7X magnification multicolor OLED 1200 yard range ⁓ for 300 bucks is very, very competitive. The Captain Air is 50 bucks cheaper. but you get 6X magnification, you do not get the OLED, you get a little bit less of a range and the weather proofing drops from IP67 to IP65, so not quite as weather resistant. Truth be told to me personally, think ⁓ well worth spending the extra $50 to step up to the Captain Pro, that's my own personal opinion. But either of them interface, as you said, with their game app. It does require a bit of a subscription, but it's pretty reasonable. It's like 150 bucks for three years, and then that does open up the opportunity to pair with all of their other products so that all of your data lives under one umbrella, and you can get those ⁓ personalized club recommendations right in your range finder or right on your speaker, all based on your launch monitor data, which is incredibly cool and something that's now becoming that much more commonplace in 2026. Blue T's making serious, serious noise with the value play. All of that for a flagship product that's only $300 to kind of have all of those features is, it's a disruptor. It absolutely is. ⁓ I'm I just want to say one thing here. I think with the captain pro, I think it's just the visual is very clear through the viewfinder. I think when you get a lot of these features in there, it gets a little clustering and almost hard to see everything in one in one small little screen. ⁓ But I'm excited to see how the club recommendations and how that all works just for the main fact that like Yeah, it's been well documented. I use the I4 rangefinder for a long time with club recommendations and weather and everything. And it's something I spent my own money on to buy. it is a really, it was really reliable for me, but I transitioned back to Bushnell because of the quality I felt was better, the accuracy I felt was better. And I play the same golf course all the time. I just didn't feel the club recommendations were really that necessary. So I use the V7 shift without the club recommend. I just kind of simplified things a little bit. Okay, that's great. I'm excited to test this Captain Pro with some Rainmaker data because I like the way that it visually looks. ⁓ I think that it's less clustering and I'm just curious to see how it works in comparison ⁓ because this is kind of the growing trend is to pair in this type of virtual caddy on your on your round of golf. ⁓ And for them to kind of jump in here right when they've launched their launch monitor is kind of exciting. Yeah. Well, speaking of kind of that growing trend of connected ecosystems, Garmin might be the ecosystem king. They were kind of the ⁓ ones that probably have the most robust overall ecosystem. ⁓ Huge company, obviously doing things far beyond golf. And they've got a lot of different kind of technology. roads or pathways to pull from. so consequently, they've come up with some very, very innovative products. Tell us what are some of the ones that jump out to you from their line in 2026? Yeah, well, not only their watches and they've even got club sensors, but they do have rangefinders and they have the Z82 and the Z30 and they've got some really unique features with these rangefinders. ⁓ The beautiful part is if you're like us, Mark, me and you, I we use the Garmin watches. So when we play, we've got our front center back right there on our watch. And if you have one of these range finders, you can shoot the flag maybe at the beginning of a par five, and it'll show that flag distance the entire way until you're done. So it locks in the flag and puts it right there on your watch. You don't have to go back and shoot the flag. Maybe if you have a couple of approach shots or something like that, you never have to get that information again, which is really cool and a little bit unique. There's not many systems out there that do that. ⁓ Plus they have the, which is really rare and maybe might save you from ever having to buy a rangefinder again. They've got to find my rangefinder feature. So if you leave it behind, it tells you where you used it last and it'll tell you maybe where you left it. Maybe you just left it on the cart. Maybe you left it. on the tee box or the hole back a couple holes. ⁓ they've got things built in that no other system does. And they just make playing golf easy with technology, which is pretty rare in today's world. So if you're not really like that techie, but you want to use technology, they make it really user friendly, in my opinion. Yeah, I agree. I think that if you are a Garmin user, if you're a Garmin power user, if you're already a Garmin watch golf watch owner, and there's a lot of people, myself included, Daniel, thank you, included as well, who use both. I mean, it may sound ridiculous, but hey, if you've got the, if you got it available to you, ⁓ it's really, really nice to use both a golf watch and a rangefinder as you play. ⁓ I personally do that all the time and love that. ⁓ And so if you're using a Garmin watch already, these products are kind of no brainer. ⁓ The Approach G82 is $600 and it is about seven years old at this point. It does do some things that are incredibly cool, including ⁓ a GPS ⁓ hole and ⁓ overview or overlay right in the viewfinder, which is really, really neat. ⁓ But again, it's an expensive product. ⁓ The Z30 is about 150 bucks less than that and includes that range relay feature that you're talking about where you can hit the flag and then have the number on your watch for the remainder of the hole. Super, super cool. ⁓ And I think personally, maybe the better value play of those two products if you're a Garmin user. ⁓ I don't know that these range finders make a ton of sense for a non-Garmin user, ⁓ only because I think there are alternatives that might be, ⁓ might make a little bit more sense for the features that you're getting. But if you're going to take full advantage of all that the Garmin ecosystem includes, and you're already wearing a Garmin Golf watch, than the Z30 or even the Z82 are really, really, really cool. So. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be a Garmin specific watch or a golf specific watch either. I mean, a lot of the multi-sport fitness watches, the diving watch, it'll pair with all of those too. As long as it has that golfing capability, it'll pair with it. So I think that's important too, that if you're in the market for a watch, you don't have to go golf specific. A lot of these. these Garmin watches are multi-sport and have the golf capabilities too. Like I use the Phoenix 8 and it does everything just because I wanted to be more multi-sport with it. But ⁓ like S70, S50, all those watches will do it too. Yep. Great point. Speaking of that connected ⁓ theme that is becoming so prevalent, ⁓ Arcos with their new smart laser has done something very, very innovative. ⁓ totally different that we've not seen before. I know this is a product that both you and I have been testing quite extensively over the last month or so. I've now gotten a handful of rounds in with it. I know you have as well. Tell us a little bit about the $300 Smart Laser by Arcos. Yeah, it's honestly, it's blown me away. ⁓ I didn't expect much of the Arcos system. Honestly, I didn't know much about it until we started testing all of it. And just for reference, we've been testing the rangefinder with the ⁓ the new air system, which doesn't require club sensors, but it's honestly so user friendly. I was blown away with how easy it was to set everything up on the first tee box. ⁓ There's hardly any connection that you have to do with it. ⁓ It gives you weather or wind gust distance ⁓ as you're playing, which is really cool. And what I love about this, and I'm going to go back and I don't mean to tear the i4 down because I really do like this rangefinder. But the one thing I hate about it is that to get like verified distances or play as distances with that, you have to be like within 10 feet of your phone. With the Arcos, you can walk all the way across the fairway, two holes over, you don't have to be anywhere near it and it still knows which direction the wind is blowing on the hole you're playing and gives you that play as distance or that distance with wind gusts, which is huge to kind of feel like you're unconnected while still being connected per se, I think is awesome. And the way it integrates just with the Arco system alone. mean, if you haven't used Arcos before, you should probably try it because just the feedback and the stats and everything is so cool. So I've been blown away by it. I think there's some critiques with a little bit with build quality and maybe the subscription to it that kind of seems annoying. ⁓ But then when you use it and you actually try it like overall, it's a pretty solid rangefinder and it's not crazy high priced for what you for what you ⁓ capability wise you get out of the rangefinder. I think it's really awesome. Yeah, 300 bucks does require that subscription, annoyingly without the subscription, I think is $99 a year just for the smart laser subscription and without the subscription you can't even use the rangefinder. That is a bit of an annoyance. Probably a product that makes no sense at all if you're not an Arcos user, but if you are an Arcos user, this becomes the product you have to have because it automatically sets the pin for you, which as Arcos users, ⁓ anybody that is one knows that you're constantly forgetting to manually set the pin each time. And so that means that your data is never going to be pinpoint accurate. It's always going to be to the center of the green. So your approach shots, your chip shots, your putts. ⁓ With this, as soon as you hit the laser ⁓ on the flag one time, anywhere on the hole, it's locked. for the remainder of that hole and locked forever. So all of your data is now going to be pinpoint to that accurate specific yardage. I have never seen a rangefinder that factors in wind gusts. We have seen wind speed and direction, but this actually gives you ⁓ your plays like distance recommendations based on the wind, but then also tells you the kind of the max potential of how much your shot could be knocked down if you catch that gust. ⁓ That that's blowing at the moment Which is really really cool ⁓ So another one of those products that if you're in the Arcos camp makes a ton of sense if you're not in the Arcos camp makes no sense at all And we're kind of getting that way in a lot of ways with with some of these brands It's like you've kind of picked a horse and and once you're riding that then you know the brand is inviting you to use all of their products and really kind of ⁓ almost kind of herding you into that direction. There is a brand that is not messing around with any of this connected ecosystem mumbo jumbo and keeping things very simple and really doing some things that are, that's really, really compelling. And that is Pinned, a kind of disruptor brand in 2026. And the thing that I think is so interesting about the Pinned Prism Plus is that for $260, you're getting 7X magnification, 4K OLED and that is kind of the whole pitch right there. 260 bucks, 7X magnification, 4K OLED ⁓ for that price. ⁓ Yeah, no, we don't see that. so also it comes in seven different bold color choices. So if you are somebody that wants to kind of flash a little personality on the course with something bright, ⁓ you can get this in red, navy, white, black. green, pink, I think they have a USA themed option. ⁓ And so, a lot of cool things, slope on, off switch. If you've used a Bushnell and you're used to that vibration confirmation, when you use this pinned and you hit the flag, you do get a vibration confirmation, but it's almost like, it vibrate? It's very, very kind of weak feeling, ⁓ which I found to be a little bit annoying, but that's because I'm spoiled and I've. to use a lot of Bushnell's, but if you didn't come from that background, maybe you wouldn't even notice. ⁓ So I think that's a I think that's an interesting value play in kind of the disruptor brand of twenty twenty six. Any thoughts on pinned? Yeah, I think it hits the point of if you want a rangefinder and you want a solid one, you don't want to go after like a cheap Amazon one. Check out pinned because overall quality experience is pretty solid. ⁓ It honestly, at the end of the day, it gets the job you need done. Right? You need a distance. It'll provide you with that distance. And again, I think if you're someone who wants to be loud or have a cool colored rangefinder, this might be the brand for you because they're always coming out with unique themes. Kind of they even do kind of one off stuff once in a while where they have maybe a holiday specific one or something like that. ⁓ They're pretty cool, honestly, at the end of the day. And, you know, there's some things that might be. ⁓ Untasteful, I guess, in our opinions at times, like the pinned lettering at the top of the viewfinder can kind of become a distasteful thing. But that's just our preference, right? Maybe people don't even notice it. That's just our because we get to review so many of them. It's just something that we we noticed. ⁓ They have gone with the rechargeable battery option, which kind of seems like you're either on one side of that or the other, ⁓ depending how easy it is to find the the CR two batteries in your location. ⁓ Or if you don't want to carry an extra battery, I most golf carts do have that charging port now. Hopefully it's working and ⁓ You can you can get that recharged ⁓ So yeah, I think overall like it's a nice blend of features and capabilities that is just right for your recreational golfer that wants a rangefinder. Yeah awesome, well ⁓ Those are a handful of the rangefinders that we think are the most interesting in 2026 Far far cry from all of the range finders available. There are so so many That's why we thought that this might be interesting to do just to kind of help people kind of wade through all of these choices and ⁓ Maybe pick out some of the kind of the sure thing winners ⁓ I really think that anything on this list that we just went through is Going to deliver a lot of value and it kind of comes down to what you want If you really want to go for the whole shooting match and you want the one that the pros are using It's the Bushnell products 3 plus link Best value play it might be the Blue Teas Captain Pro or for $50 less the Captain Air Kind of the sweet spot or maybe what might be the best for the most number of golfers Maybe it's the Bushnell Tour v7 shift or if you're a Garmin user the Garmin z30 Analytics nerds you got the Arco smart laser Something that's a alternative look different wants to keep it kind of simple straightforward the pinned prism plus. ⁓ And if you're interested in experimenting with a rangefinder in the pocket, ⁓ the Bushnell A1 slope. ⁓ So those ⁓ are kind of ⁓ the top of the rangefinder class as we see it in 2026. ⁓ Daniel, is there anything we missed? No, I mean, I know that there's a lot of range finders out there. I think these are the, you know, some of the most popular, if not the most popular. Plus, I think they're the best performing overall at the end of the day. ⁓ There's been new products and they're still showing relevancy to some of the older ⁓ advancements that are still relevant in today's golfing world. So ⁓ there are still some new features that are pushed out, which are really making wins and starting to become, you know, loved already. Yeah, I think this is a great list. think ⁓ any golfer would be happy with any of these purchases. But obviously, if you're conflicted or confused, let our golf experts know. We'll help you decide. Great point. Please do call us. ⁓ If you have questions, that's exactly what Daniel does. Helps consumers wade through all of this and make the best decision. I really appreciate everyone watching. ⁓ If you're enjoying the show and want to support the channel, Please remember to like and subscribe and join us next week for another episode of Golf Tech Weekly.