Non golf specific rangefinder?

[Smidd4]

12 hours ago, Will82 said:

How do they work compared to golf specific?  

I asked for gift cards to Golf Galaxy this year for Christmas so I could buy a rangefinder.  It turns out my best friend bought me a rangefinder off Amazon.  Problem is it's not golf specific.  Very kind of her to do this for me, but obviously it's not what I had in mind.  And I'm sure she had no idea about golf specific vs non golf specific.  

It's a Nikon 8397 Aculon..   Reviews on Amazon seem very mixed for golf.  Any idea what I can expect?  I'd feel horrible asking her to return it.  

You're in a tough spot. Your friend is obviously cooler than my friends. Were you counting on a gift from your friend? I would keep it and get your gift cards and buy the one you want. They don't have to know anything about it. My buddy bought a cheap one from Walmart and it was pretty accurate from about 150 in. Beyond that, my bushnell dominated his. 

[Will82]

9 hours ago, Smidd4 said:

You're in a tough spot. Your friend is obviously cooler than my friends. Were you counting on a gift from your friend? I would keep it and get your gift cards and buy the one you want. They don't have to know anything about it. My buddy bought a cheap one from Walmart and it was pretty accurate from about 150 in. Beyond that, my bushnell dominated his. 

Thanks.  I may do that.  I'll definitely give this one a shot though.  Hopefully it will surprise me.

[davechen]

The impression I get is that the difference between the golf and non-golf range finders is the way they filter the data.  For the golf range finders, they take a bunch of distance samples and pick the nearest one.  For the hunting ones, they take an average of the samples, or something like that.  So it's more designed to pick up large objects, making picking out a flagstick more difficult, although not impossible.  You probably would need a steadier hand.