Precision Pro Titan Elite

[iacas]

TITAN ELITE RANGEFINDER

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The new gold standard in golf rangefinders, the Titan Elite features a robust aluminum shell and a best-in-class IP67 dust and waterproof rating. The Titan Elite stands alone with seamless integration to the...

I'll be testing out the Titan Elite from Precision Pro.

This is their first aluminum frame model, the previous ones being plastic. The main features are told in this graphic:

They are:

• USB-C rechargeable battery.
• Aluminum shell/frame.
• Pulse vibration and visual flag indicator.
• Slope switch.
• IP67 dust and waterproofing.
• Clear optics up to 999 yards.
• Magnetic grip.
• 3-year warranty.

The Titan Elite also integrates with your phone to give you:

• "Find my Titan Elite"
• Front/middle/back yardages directly in the viewfinder.
• MySlope, which lets you plug in launch monitor data for your clubs to help you choose a true "plays like" yardage that's unique to your game.

The Titan Elite is $399, though you can find it for $369 through Father's Day, and normally small discounts for Precision Pro are widely available.

[iacas]

Some updates after using the Titan Elite for three rounds.

This will be a semi-random assortment of thoughts.

Battery

The Titan Elite still says it has a full charge, so I'm not worried about the battery at all. Though a CR-2 battery will seemingly last more than a full season, the documentation for most of these rechargeable batteries says they'll last about ten rounds with Bluetooth on, and 40+ with it off. Not quite the years I get from a CR-2, but… not so few that "range anxiety," errrr, "battery anxiety" is a real thing. Plus, more carts have USB chargers for phones these days, and the supplied USB-A to USB-C charger should charge in a cart. (I keep a pair of USB cords in my golf bag these days anyway.)

Heft and Magnets

Previously in reviewing the NX9 I remarked on little things like the feel or heft of the unit as well as the strength of the magnet. Neither are concerns with the Titan Elite: the aluminum body gives the TE a satisfying heft, and the magnet — beneath the Precision Pro logo on the left side of the rangefinder — gives a satisfying pull with good strength.

The Precision Pro App

I won't be reviewing the app's functionality beyond that which directly interacts with/affects the Titan Elite. You can use the app to keep score and do other things, but I'm going to talk about MySlope and the Bluetooth connection almost exclusively.

Basic App Features

Unlike some other apps that require your phone to stay pretty much loaded up at all times, the Precision Pro app can work in the background. To get into the app quickly, you'll find a notification present on your lock screen at almost all times. Tap it and you're back into the app.

The app will do basic performance tracking, but it's limited. Here you can see I selected a Driver, and basically, you do this when you're standing on the tee and, when you arrive at your ball, you tap a button to end tracking and the distance of your tee shot will be noted in the app. It's basic, and may fulfill a need, but I won't ever really use it.

Slope

Both the Titan Elite and the app feature slope capabilities. In the rangefinder itself, it's as you expect: you switch a button on the top of the rangefinder, and the slope turns on or off. It works just as you'd expect, and is nice and accurate. I'll say more in the MySlope section later.

A small quibble: I have found myself accidentally hitting the button and toggling slope on/off a few times when grabbing the Titan Elite from the cart (it has a great magnet to stick to the cart). Accidentally turning the slope on could cost an honest player strokes in an event, so I wish the slope switch was either tougher to toggle, in a different location, or ideally, both. Also, the state isn't super obvious, to you or any people you're playing with, while other rangefinders make the state more obvious.

In the app, you can turn slope on to use GPS/map elevation data to tell you what the effective playing distances of shots are, as seen here:

MySlope

I've never really cared for slope in rangefinders because I've never been totally certain that the slope calculations were right for me. Though you probably could assume about a 45° landing angle (which makes the math pretty easy - one yard up or down would equate to one yard longer or shorter in distance, until you get to larger elevation changes), the Titan Elite pairs with the app to let you put in literal launch monitor stats (not just carry yardages) — ball speed, launch angle, and spin — to calculate a ball flight/trajectory to adapt to any type of situation.

In testing, I don't have the largest of slopes at Whispering Woods, but the numbers have felt pretty spot on. I'll continue to test this, particularly at some courses around Pittsburgh, and will post should I notice anything more.

If you don't have the launch monitor stats for all of your clubs, you can either estimate the ones in the gaps, or just leave them blank and the app will make estimates. They'll still likely be better than the standard guesses from other rangefinders.

MySlope requires your TE to be connected to your phone to work, though I haven't sought clarity on whether it will continue to work once you've connected the device to your phone the first time or whether the Titan Elite reverts to a stock slope model. I've emailed and will let you know the answer.

GPS

The Titan Elite has two modes — laser rangefinder mode and… GPS mode. The GPS uses your phone (and the Precision Pro app) to give you front/center/back yardages. Toggling is as simple as tapping a button on the top of the Titan Elite. For example, you can see "147 playing 144" in the laser mode, then tap a button and see that the front/center/ back are 143 / 155 / 167. You have almost all of the information you need to hit a good shot to the fat side of the green. 😄 

Of course, GPS mode requires that your phone be with you (and somewhat recently woken up, as I had a yardage for a hole three holes ago once when I hadn't used or awoken my phone in awhile). I prefer to play golf without my phone on me, so on days when you can park a cart nearby (a push cart or a driving cart), no sweat. But on cart path only days? You might get some odd numbers, and should rely only on the laser rangefinder mode.

In other words, if you have your phone on your or very close nearby, this is a nice feature. Otherwise, you won't find yourself using it much. Perhaps a future version will have a GPS chip in the rangefinder itself, and can do a little calculating (even if the map is just sent to the rangefinder from the phone on each new hole or something).

Find My Titan

If your Titan Elite disconnects from the phone for more than two minutes, you'll get an alert. If your TE is still with you, you can dismiss this, otherwise, you're shown a map with a red dot where your Titan Elite was last connected to your phone. It's not true "Find My" because the Titan Elite doesn't have a GPS chip in it, doesn't connect to the phones of strangers, etc., but it's helpful to know when you last used your Titan Elite, and given the range of Bluetooth isn't too far, and two minutes isn't too long, you should have a pretty good idea where your TE was last "seen" by your phone. If you get close but can't find it, you can ping your TE and it will beep.

Some Extra Photos

The eyepiece, like every other rangefinder I've used for the past decade or so, is adjustable focus.

The USB-C port for charging and the Bluetooth on/off switch:

The case is not quite the same as the usual "latch the elastic over a post" type case, and I kinda like this variation a lot.

The slope on/off switch is the one with the green showing (green = slope is on). The button with the two arcs on it is the mode switch button: pressing it will switch between laser range finding and GPS range finding.

[iacas]

Some updated thoughts, some of which are much smaller than the others 😄:

• The case being black makes it easy to miss in the recesses of a cart. I have for as long as I can remember put my wallet and keys in the case so I'm highly unlikely to forget the rangefinder stuck to the cart, but if you're not that type… the rangefinder and case aren't exactly bright or stand out, so be careful about forgetting it.
• The heft is nice. The balance is good. It feels really good in the hand.
• The magnet is quite strong. It has a satisfying "thunk" when it attaches to the cart, and the rubberized pad is sufficiently grippy to add to this feeling.
• The slope on/off switch is a bit, well, I wish it was tougher to flick back and forth. If you're playing in an event and accidentally click the slope on, you could be subject to a penalty. The other buttons are fine but lack an authoritative "click." They're a bit soft.
• The materials are good, and solid.
• The focus adjustment is good. I might have liked more marks or something if I need to reset it, but it's pretty tight so it shouldn't move (and hasn't) very easily.
• If you don't use your phone too frequently, sometimes it can take a little bit to catch up to whatever hole you're on. But… it doesn't seem to be confused on parallel holes or something, or if you hit it into another hole's fairway.