Originally Posted by
2bowhunter
Don't waste your money as stated in post they are chinese maid. For a few dollars more you can buy a good one fron nikon or bushnell. Nikons are better quality,little more $. Bushnells are pretty good for the price especially the compacts. I have te older version Bushnell 400 had it for years and it still works fine. There is a big difference in the optics though the nikon.s have much better optics.I still own and use a TLR-75. Though it is not a laser rangfinder it works well for me and it is compact.Just my 2cts.
That's a bit bias, I got one of these and it's the XRT model, so far so good. I had a Tasco one that was twice the price and this one was more consistent in picking out the yardage, give or take 1, 2 yards, but that's usually the case with rangefinders.
As for the made in China comment, I disagree. One of my other jobs is selling cameras and "most" cameras and lens are NOT made in Japan anymore which has the best optics. I own a Nikon SLR and the Nikon lens is made in Thailand, Canon lens are made in I believe Taiwan now. Ya, maybe way back in the days but these days it's hard to tell anymore.
"for a few dollars more...", I got this Halo XRT model for $75 cdn, the closest one to that is $200 and the Nikon/Bushnells are $250 and up, hardly a "few" dollars more. How long this will last, that remains to be seen, seems no one has had this more then a few months to answer this question. I have a year over the counter return/exchange policy so at least that's good. Unfortunately for the budget bow hunters, we can't go blow a grand on a bow, $300 on a rangefinder another $200-$300 on hunting clothes etc etc. Heck, if I had a money tree, sure, I'll go pick up two Nikon rangefinders and keep one as a back up
In the end, if I can get a good reading at 40 yards and down give or take a yard or two, I'm happy for the price. As a bowhunter, that's more then the average shot. A yard or two won't make a difference in your aim with a bow. If you're bow hunting above 40 yards, imo, you should be taking up shotgun or rifle hunting. I know colleagues that hunt at 60-80 yards, that's just crazy and risky. They are shooting them everywhere but the vitals, as long as they hit the deer, they could care less. Unethical.
Good hunting all!