BushnellGolf Phanton 3 Slope Red/Blue

I live in Michigan, and I do not have a winter home, so that means that the only comments I can leave about this range finder so far are my initial impressions. I've been using the Tag Heuer golf app on my Apple Watch, and when it works, it's beautiful and fast to calculate distances. But, in the past 2 years it's gotten very very wonky - to the point that it became unusable last summer. It just couldn't seem to maintain a connection with the satellites. But this puppy - well, I don't think I'm going to have that same issue! I opened the box, pulled it out and turned it on and immediately it was able to find a long list of courses - the nearest which was still about 8 miles away. And I was in my house! So my first impression about connectivity is Awesome!My second first impression was about the display. It is a very low-rez, large-pixel screen, not particularly pretty. It reminds me a little bit of the birth of video games and how they looked way back when. But I doubt anyone over 40 who struggles with reading small print will have any complaints here! It's getting harder and harder for me to read the numbers on my watch or phone when I used a golf app, but this simple display will be easy to read even for my old peepers.I bought this on the strength of so many positive reviews, and the unique slope feature. To say. I'm looking forward to getting out and actually using it is an understatement. I know this also links to an app on your phone - I haven't looked into that yet but I'm looking forward to checking that out too.I'll update this review once I actually use it on the course. But it looks very promising!Note: a lot of reviews mention the loose fit on the plastic holder that comes with this. I thought it was terrible too- the device falls out really easily. BUT - I fiddled with it, and found that you need to attach the holder bracket at the bottom first - then snap the top bracket on. It will click when you do this, and it is very secure. If you try to snap on the top bracket first it will fall out.

First of all using a rangefinder will make anyone a better golfer so if you aren’t using one you are giving strokes away! With that said, I have used a hand-held GPS and a laser rangefinder. They are work well. The handheld I had didn’t give the slope (until this one) and pin location could be an issue on big greens that you couldn’t see well. The laser rangefinders are very nice but I like seeing the whole hole layout for any unseen obstacles. Especially on a course you haven’t played before. They are great for giving you slope compensation. Also trying to shoot a trap or other obstacle could be difficult with a laser.The Phantom 3 is the total package in my book! It gives you distances immediately (front, center, and back of green). You can even move the pin and you can get distances to obstacles. And why I got it, is for the slope feature. So far it as good as my Bushnell Laser rangefinder. Huge plus for me. The thing that is not advertised enough and pleasantly surprised me was the interaction with the Bushnell Golf App. They connect with Bluetooth on your phone. Every course I have ever played is on the app and the Phantom 3. Now when you pull up to the first tee you see the entire hole layout so no surprises. You have lay up distances, hazards, etc. you can tap where you want to lay up and it gives you that distance plus the distance to the flag! It interacts with the Phantom 3. So easy to use! Just drive up, see the distance and swing away with confidence! You can keep stats in the app or on the Phantom 3. They sync with each other. I absolutely love this thing especially with the slope feature and app interaction! Since I have the laser finder I’ll still use it occasionally for those tricky pin locations but the Phantom 3 is definitely the go to! Highly recommend!!!

I used this unit last season and it's very useful. I've found that it's quite accurate both for measuring flat distances and with slope. My wife has a Garmin watch and I think this is more accurate. Plus, her watch doesn't account for slopes like this unit does.They like to advertise this as so easy to use that you don't need a manual. I have a lot of experience with technology and that wasn't the case for me. If you want to used the advanced features like score keeping, I recommend that you download the manual and read it.I'm still struggling to understand the hazard distances. There are something like 70 different 3-4 letter codes and a couple numbers for each, so I when I'm on the course, I don't always know what the hazard is or what the numbers mean. I'll have to work on that more this year. The app is more useful cuz it shows a picture of the hole, but that takes some time to use and I'm already a pretty slow golfer.When I arrive at a course, the GPS receiver (GPS) usually connects to the satellites in under 30 seconds. It's automatic course detection has worked well for me mostly, but I find that it's a good idea to look for the course on your app before you go out (while you're on wifi) and download it. Otherwise it will download the course after it connects to the satellites and that may take a few minutes using your data plan.It's sometimes a little tricky to get the app and the GPS synced properly. I've started and abandoned several games on the GPS because it synced to the app after I hit the "Play" button on the GPS. I'll have to review that bit in the manual again.I like the size of the data on the screen. I need reading glasses most of the time, but I'm able to read this screen without any glasses. That's the reason I don't use a watch. Watch screens are too small.It has a clip and holder you can put the unit in, but I've found that to be a very unreliable item to use. I've almost lost this unit several times using it. I glued a metal strip onto the back of the holder so the magnet would assist in keeping the unit in the holder and that did help, but I don't trust it. Now I just use the magnet directly on my cart. It's not as convenient, but I've had no issues with losing it. The magnet is quite strong. It also fits in my pocket very comfortably.I'm not a good enough golfer to care about the front and back distances, and I'm not really willing to take the time to estimate where the hole is on the green and mark it on the unit, so I don't really use those features.Overall, I'm glad I bought this unit. It has helped me a great deal on the course and as I (hopefully) improve as a golfer, I think it will be quite valuable.