distance estimating devices

[gkeberhart]

I am wondering if anyone has ever used a hand held GPS or lazer range finder to estimate distances for their course or a local course. The reason I am asking is I am going to start making caddy books when I go to courses (I played ball golf on a competitive level several years back and I relied on them heavily). I know distance estimating devices greater than 10m are not PDGA legal which is why I only will use them in a casual round when developing my caddy book.

so I guess which ones have you use and how accurate were they; I would like to stay under $100. any help would be appreciated

 

[Robinhood]

I have used MotionX-GPS for the iPhone to measure distance while mtb and road biking, seems like it would work well for disc golf as well.

 

[Robinhood]

$.99 also

 

[gkeberhart]

haha yea but I dont have an iphone...actually i cant even access the internet from mine

 

[Robinhood]

maybe a cheap used gps?

 

[ERicJ]

For a couple years now I've been using a Nikon laser range finder with great success.
http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Pro...angefinders/8356/Monarch-Laser-800-Black.html
Accurate to +/- 3ft. Instantly report the distance on anything you can see through the lens. I'm a huge fan of this. I try to update DGCR for all the courses I've played with laser accurate distances.

I also have a portable Garmin GPS for mapping courses. Accuracy on that is best case +/- 10' on each point. So tee to basket error is likely +/- 20'. It's good for mapping purposes, but not so great for accurate distances.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Usually gotta spend $125-$150 to get decent accuracy from a rangefinder +/- 1 yard. This is a bargain at $110: http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Yard...=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1300398771&sr=1-4

 

[gkeberhart]

I see one like Ericj has for $75 so I might jump on that otherwise I will start looking at a little higher priced stuff

 

[Mr. America]

I have a Nikon laser range finder. I bought it for ball golf, but it works very well for DG also. It was one of their lower end models, and that was a few years ago. I forget what it cost then, mid $1**'s. I remember that it is allegedly accurate to within 1 yard.

The biggest problem I've seen with mine and any laser range finder is that it's damn hard to hold it on small objects at a distance. But for DG that's usually not a problem as we aren't talking golf hole distances.

 

[Iberian_55]

Nikon

Nikons are a bit pricey. Here is the range finder product page
http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Products/Rangefinders/index.page
This is the low priced unit @ $299.95*ESP
http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Products/Rangefinders/8350/Callaway-LR550-Yellow.html
*estimated sell price

But I'm going to look for other brands

 

[ERicJ]

I see one like Ericj has for $75 so I might jump on that otherwise I will start looking at a little higher priced stuff

Nikon makes quality stuff. The Monarch I have is weather proof and works great with just the two modes it has. I use the "priority" mode 99.9% of the time.

Just checked ebay... the Monarch 800 prices have gone up. You used to be able to get them buy-it-now for ~$230.

 

[gkeberhart]

yea, if I have to buy brand new Nikon gear I get a hook-up. My grandfather was a very well know photographer in Chicago that shot Nikon back in the day. Pays to have some ins

 

[Bglo]

 

[sidewinder22]

I say boy, I use my big pecker for measuring.

 

[jenb]

Just crib the hole info from the course pages on this site. Easy peasy.

 

[Wheelz]

I have a Garmin Forerunner 205 watch. I used to run alot and used it all the time, it is a watch that has a gps in it so you can track how far you've run, pace, calories, etc. I've used it to measure disc golf courses, it is almost dead-on accurate with google earth's ruler measurements.

 

[U_NICED_ME]

Wasn't there an article in one of the past PDGA pub's about using your thumb vs. size of basket to estimate distance? Like if it's only the size of your thumbnail it's ___ ft and if it's to the first joint it's ___ ft.

Are you looking to mark a course though?

 

[Dave242]

Be aware that GPS's are not going to give accurate measurements on wooded holes. You are doing well to get an accuracy of +/- 50' in the woods.....so that is +/-100' when you measure both ends of the line.

Spend some time on a football field and learn to pace consistently at 3' strides (10 steps for 10 yards) and you will be plenty accurate for your purposes. And a lot cheaper and easier. If you are off by 3-6' it really does not matter that much....and you should never be off by more than that.

 

[gkeberhart]

yea that is how I normally do it (once again a ball golf background, I have that 1 yard down) it just gets skewed on hilly courses that is all. This probably all falls back on a comfort thing, I like to know the distance I have left even if it only is a light mid or putter up-shot

 

[garublador]

I wouldn't trust a hand held GPS device to be accurate enough for disc golf. It might work some of the time, but it doesn't need to be that far off to potentially cost you a stroke. It's not like ball golf where you just have to get to the green and then take your two putts. You have to hit a 15'-30' radius circle (depending on how good your putting is) in disc golf and I don't think a hand held device GPS will do that two times in a row often enough to be super useful.