All I want from a laser rangefinder is to quickly focus on the flag to give me an accurate yardage, so I can choose the right golf club to try and get my ball close. If I have any doubt in how far it is, this doubt leads to bad swings, and bad results. So a good rangefinder can be a golfer’s best friend, and the gateway to better scores.
Canon’s new PowerShot Golf ($329.99/£329.99) is a unique device that aims to give you faster focusing for better yardages, but as well as being a laser rangefinder, it’s also a camera so you can take photos and videos while on the course.
Canon’s PowerShot Golf uses the standard rangefinder design, with three ‘lenses’ at the front. These work in unison to obtain accurate readings. I can confirm the Canon PowerShot Golf provides highly accurate yardages, comparing the figures to other Bushnell rangefinders, and my Garmin GPS watch, and golf playing partner’s GPS screen on his PowaKaddy electric golf trolley.
(Image credit: Future)
Color on the course
Compared to using my trusty Bushnell Rangefinder Tour V4 Slope Edition, the Canon PowerShot Golf’s viewfinder offers a full-colour view. This is thanks to its electronic viewfinder (EVF), a similar digital view to what you see in modern mirrorless camera. Whereas most rangefinders have optical viewfinders – what you see is what you get. A red crosshair grows from small to large once focused, plus yardage figures are in white, with the ‘Slope’ figure in yellow above. Plus there’s a green square in the centre when you’re taking photos.
Those of you unfamiliar with cameras, may well find using the Canon PowerShot Golf tricky to begin with, as it has a shutter button like Canon cameras – rather than a button you press to switch on a rangefinder, then press again to focus on your intended target.
On the Canon PowerShot Golf, you fully press the button to switch it on (a green flashing light appears at the rear), then you only ‘half press’ the button when you look through the viewfinder and focus on the flag. You get a reassuring vibration at the same time the yardage figures appear on screen, so you know you’ve achieved focus.
Canon’s PowerShot Golf has a 6x optical zoom, and an optional 12x digital zoom if you need it, although I rarely zoomed in any further on the flags as I could lock onto targets with the 6x optical zoom nearly all the time. It’s handy to have this extra digital ‘zoom’ in the bag, such as when I was struggling to focus on…
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