First off, let me say if this is in the wrong forum, sorry, please move, wasn't sure what this would fall under.

Secondly, if I am wrong in any of my assumptions for how the angle compensators in a few of the range finders work, please correct me, but from the cheap seats it looks like a scam.

I took a little time to whip this up:



All numbers are feet (plus some extra on the angled parts) all numbers are just for illustration.

Stand was set at 20 feet up with the ranges taken at 5' above the platform height, of course the higher you go up the tree the steeper the angle and the angled numbers will go up accordingly.

Now, the way I understand how the angle adjusment feature in a range finder works, is it takes the LOS (line of sight) from where you are standing to a point on the ground, or as seen above, to the first, deer (or the best deer I could draw) then it does a simple conversion with the angle the range finder is at in relation to the LOS and calculates the distance the deer would be from you if you were standing at the base of the tree on flat ground.

Great, but what good does that do you? The arrow still has to travel the LOS distance, right? Which with the above example means even though the range finder says the deer is 30 feet way, in reality it is almost 37 feet away (ya, I know, 12 yards instead of 10 yards should smoke them regardless)

Even at longer ranges, say rifle, the bullet will be travelling the LOS distance never the flat land distance.

Am I seeing this wrong? or is it a pure gimmick by the range finder manufacturers to try and squeeze a couple more bucks out of you?