Widgeonus

At 15 (5 yards) up in a tree you will be .3 yards off at 40 yards, .4 yards off at 30 yards, and .6 yards difference at 20 yards.

So, unless you plan on shooting at extreme angles, like in canyons or valleys, then a normal range finder without the ARC function will suit you just fine.

englum_06

Ditto.....

sportsman22

Shoot your bow more, no need for a RF.
or
During the off season, mark out some of your stand that you know will be there next season. Take a notepad and write down certain landmarks (you could even mark them out with ribbon if you get confused) and their respected distance.

Range finder = $400.
Time it takes to do this for 4 stands = 2 hours.

YOU ARE MAKING $200 p/hour!!! God I want your job.

SouthDakotaHunter

I wish I had your memory (course I can't stand flagging tape either)! Half the time I can't remember trees I range 1 hour ago, much less months prior.... Course my wife says I do have CRS....

If your looking for a great range finder at a good price, check out the Nikon 440's.... I've had mine for a long time, put it through a lot and it's still going strong. Also seems to range better than some of my other buddies units - at least in my experiences when shooting\hunting with them....

KCMO Cityboy

I agree. Don't waste you money on the ARC feature. Not practical.

dyb3and88

I got my Bushnell range finder on e-bay, and my moltrie game cam for that matter. I think I spent $200 for them both. The cam was used and the range finder was a refurbished. I have had them both for 2 years now, no problems. I love e-bay. Check your local sporting goods store also. This time of year they might start putting that stuff on clearance

wis_rifle_hunter

i just bought one 3 weeks ago. i had the money to get one and i thought it would be the greatest thing. theres not a lot of difference between the archers choice than a regular one. i should've bought a regular one and saved the rest of the money for my new deer rifle i want.

KYDeerHunter03

Like the others have said, no there isnt much of a difference at all. I was kinda disappointed in it, but oh well...glad I didnt pay for the one I got haha

Another lousy thing with the Nikon Archers Choice, is that it only goes out to about 125 yards... I was so bummed!!

Rob/PA Bowyer

I don't own an "arc" rangefinder, hell I still have the original Bushnell 400 from over 10 years ago however, the "arc" system is far from a gimmick.

Sure, on flat land and standard tree stand heights, the differences of horizontal distance and ranged distance from a treestand is always under 2 yards and at worst, subtract a yard and shoot HOWEVER,

And I learned this from experience that on sloped land and 25' treestands there can be as much as 5 yard differences between horizontal distance and ranged distance. This certainly comes into play.

In IL last year, there was a gate that most of the deer jumped to come from the bedding area to the cut bean field. MY first day in the treestand I ranged the gate, it said 41 yards. I knew better.

The next day I got down and went to the gate to scent it up and I ranged back to my tree that I was in, the real distance was 36 yards. That's extreme and could have resulted in a miss! I'm not sure if the "arc" system would have caught that as I've never played with one.

I can assure you that if my Bushnell ever finally dies, I WILL own one that is capable of the "arc" system.

It's not a gimmick.

Widgeonus

So that means that either were waayyyy up in a tree or you were hunting on the side of the hill. If your measured distance with your range finder was 41 yards and your true distance was 36 yards then you were 19.6 yards (or 58.86 feet) above your target. If on flat land, you were almost 60 feet up in a tree???? If you were hunting 25' feet up a tree your true distance would have been 40.14 yards unless, of course, you were hunting on the side of a hill.

There is no denying that the system works, but it is not needed unless hunting from extreme elevations or hilly/mountainous terrain.