Lasered in with Leupold The traveling golfer’s best friend & 15th tool in the bag
T
he fastest way to shave strokes off your score, says Leupold, is by having all the facts. The Beaverton, Ore.-based company has been in the business of giving facts to land surveyors, engineers, the military and outdoorsmen, for 114 years. Leupold’s just won its 10th consecutive ‘Optics Manufacturer of the Year’ Award from the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers recently, and why it has always preferred laser to GPS. It certainly has its fans, but Leupold regards GPS as a decidedly inferior method for gauging distances. “GPS gives the distance to the front, middle and back of the green,” says Leupold leadership. “It’s a shotgun approach. Our GX rangefinders give you the exact distance to the pin — more of a sniper-rifle approach.” An engine comprising well-established Leupold technologies powers the 2021 GX line-up. Digital Signal Processing, which cuts out surrounding digital noise, and Digitally eNhanced Accuracy which gives you distances to within a tenth of a yard be it on a straight line on flat ground via Line of Sight and True Golf Range (TGR) by taking critical factors into account such as temperature, altitude, and slope all of which can influence the effective. After entering you average striking distances into the device, another Leupold trademark, Club Selector, can give you club recommendations based on your TGR. It’s like having your own caddie without the $100 tip. If you play a lot of rounds at high-end resort courses and take a caddie every time, a good quality rangefinder could save you quite a bit of money over time. These standard GX features, in concert with additional Leupold innovations, give the golfer a level of certainty and assuredness he might not get with other brands. And, as every golfer knows, even a nano-second’s indecision rarely ends well in this game. Pinhunter 3 eliminates false readings caused
28 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R
by unsteady hands. One-Touch Scan Mode allows you to range multiple targets with a single sweep simply by holding down the power button, enabling you to plot your way down a lengthy par 5 for instance. Fog Mode delivers fast and accurate readings no matter the weather. Prism-Lock Technology locates the flagstick’s in-built prism instantly and gives you an audible alert the moment it does, and Flag-Lock Technology identifies the pin rather than surrounding obstacles such as trees and bushes. It’s an impressive package by any measure. The flagship of the new GX family is the GX6c which, to put it mildly, has it all. An attractive (aluminum housing), durable (rugged rubber armor coating) device, it features every Leupold technology eliminating errors and guaranteeing accuracy. It features a bright, red OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display that is much easier to read than traditional LCDs, offers three reticles (pattern of lines in the eyepiece that aid measuring distances, locating objects, or aiming) – Cross, Criss-Cross, and Circle, and has a maximum reflective range of 700 yards. Image Stabilization Technology works in conjunction with Pinhunter 3 Laser Technology to reduce excess movement caused by shaky hands. The emphasis, as always with Leupold, is on accuracy. It’s waterproof, USGA legal (as always ensure rangefinders adhere to local rules), magnification is 6x, it features Fog Mode, and the battery will last for more than 4,000 actuations which, assuming you’re measuring twice on Par 4s and 5s and once of short holes, means it will last for about 125 rounds. The similarly feature-heavy GX-5c can actually ‘see’ 100 yards further than the 6c, giving it a total Reflective range of 800 yards. Slightly smaller and lighter than its big brother, the 5c offers three different reticles – Plus Point, Bracket Circle, and Bracket Circle Duplex. Next in line is the GX-3c, which could almost
be described, as GX-5c-lite. Everything is pretty much the same — size, weight, reticles, USGA conformity, battery life, Bright Red Display, Fog Mode, 6x magnification, 800-yard Reflective range, Scan Mode, Pinhunter 3, Prism Lock, and DNA. What it lacks though, and what makes it significantly more affordable, is TGR and Club Selector. Some will certainly miss that particular capability, but if weather conditions in your neighborhood are fairly consistent, your course is pretty flat, and you want to save yourself some money, the 3c will do just fine. At a slightly more attractive price-point still is the GX-2c, which is a great choice for those who want the features but don’t mind losing Leupold’s distinctive black/silver look and the Bright Red Display. The cosmetics may be different, and the display is less powerful (traditional LCD not OLED), but the accuracy remains constant, and the Reflective range extends to 800 yards while the pin/flag range is a more than adequate 350 yards (you won’t be able to range the pin from the tee on a 600-yard par 5, but we’re guessing you might need two, or more likely three, shots to reach the green). Battery life is strongest of all on the 2c (over 6,000 actuations), and the reticles on offer are Reticle with Plus Point, Diamond with Plus Point, and Diamond Plex. That leaves the entry-level, eminently affordable PinCaddie 3, which might not offer Leupold’s most powerful and up-to-date technologies but does feature PinHunter 2, Flag Lock, and Scan Mode in a lightweight polymer housing. Pin/Flag range is 300 yards and battery life extends beyond 5,000 actuations. Waterproof and USGA-compliant (remember those Local Rules), the PinCaddie 3 will ably serve a great many golfers needing accurate measurements to their target. Golf is booming and products are flying off the shelves, so go to LeupoldGolf.com and laser in on saving strokes today.
