Nikon Coolshot Pro II Stabilized Laser Rangefinder Review

Nikon Coolshot Pro II Stabilized Laser Rangefinder Review

If your hands shake even the slightest bit while using many rangefinders, they will be useless to you. Nikon has mastered the antidote here, with its proprietary stabilization technology borrowed from its camera and lenses. In our testing, we deliberately trembled - and also did so unintentionally - while seeking the flag, and the view through the eyepiece held steady the entire time. And once it finds the flagstick, it locks onto it within 0.3 seconds by giving you visual and audible confirmation.

The OLED eyepiece magnifies the view by 6x, so that zeroing in on a pin from out in the fairway is never a problem. Nor is finding objects from up to 1,200 yards away. Distance numbers and mode icons pop up in bright, high-visibility orangish-red. You’ll see them just fine against a grass background.

If you’re not playing in an official tournament, you can activate the incline/decline technology with a push of the “mode” button. This displays the slope-adjusted distance, in addition to the actual distance, for an uphill or downhill shot. We tested this out on a very hilly course and it was loads more accurate than the cart’s GPS system. In fact, it saved us several times from using the wrong club, making us contemplate calling this a game-improvement device.

When you are playing in a competition, you can toggle off this feature and an external green light flashes to confirm the tournament mode. You can also continue pushing the power button up top and get eight seconds of continuous measurements as you pan across various targets. All these features make it one of the best golf laser rangefinders around in our opinion, if money is no object.

The device itself is substantial without being too lightweight - a common issue with cheaper devices that are easy to shake. The Nikon is also waterproof and fog proof, so you get that peace of mind if the weather takes a bad, unexpected turn or you simply want to use it all-year round. The lenses are layered multiple times with anti-reflective coating, to maximize light transmission, brightness and contrast. And the monocular eyepiece can be turned to adjust for clarity - perfect if you’re using it with and without glasses during your round.