I picked up the Nikkon 440 for 159 $ on line at natchezss.com and it works great i'm happy with it

burnie is right on...judging distance from the ground is not too much of a challenge with practice and even with a range finder, i think its valuable to learn how. at my peak this summer, i was able to call 3d targets within a yard each time out to 40yds. thats with being new to shooting 3d targets and all the different shoots i went to having different targets so i couldnt judge by size. what i would do is practice by seeing something, calling the distance, and checking it with the range finder. or when walking somewhere, spot something, call it and pace it off in my head. i know where my legs need to stretch to to measure right about an even yard.

but range finders are super handy tools and take the guess work out of it. when in a treestand im utterly useless. i figured on a tree being about 20yds from my stand...paced it when i got down and it was 12!!! i couldnt believe that...i dont know what was wrong with me that day..thankfully i was hanging stands, not hunting. after that i borrowed my buddies rangefinder and practiced calling distances from my tree.

im also shopping for a range finder before next season, but i want to go with something with a long range and maybe with the trajectory programs if they ever get better reviews...still get alot of mixed reviews on those..i dont want it or the long distance for bowhunting, but enjoy long range shooting/groundhog hunting when im not bowhunting...alot of range finders wont range close to what they say...id like something accurate to atleast 500. 600-800 would be awesome.

I have a nikon pro staff it seems to do the job and it's withen a half of a yard