My leupold rx-600 worked fine for me till I went to Nebraska this year and hunted the ground. The brush would not give me a good reading. Is there a rangefinder that has a "brushbusting" feature that may resolve this issue? Under $300 would be nice.

That's a good question. It stands to reason that all rangefinders need an unobstructed view to their target. Perhaps some are just more "sensitive". I just picked up the new Leica 7X24 CRF 1000. I'll see what it does in similar ground surroundings. BTW, these sell for $599... which I think is a very fair price.

I never had a problem from my treestand with it. My buddy had the same model and couldn't get a reading either in the grass.

If the beam is obstructed by brush,etc it will either not give a reading because to close or a false positive...doesn't matter what name is on the LRF. However the more expensive rangefinders like lieca (to name only one) have smaller cones or beams, making them less suspect to false readings. I hunt exclusively from the ground and use a lieca, FWIW.