Rangefinders?

[change-up]

I am a bowhunter and wanting to buy a rangefinder. Does the ones with the angle feature a must? I dont want to break the bank, just looking for a good product. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[tvc184]

[quote name="change-up" post="939473" timestamp="1293661026"]
I am a bowhunter and wanting to buy a rangefinder. Does the ones with the angle feature a must? I dont want to break the bank, just looking for a good product. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
[/quote]

The angle feature most of the time is almost meaningless to a bowhunter. Now if you are 30 feet up in a tree it might. If you are gun hunting at 100 yards on a slope then it might make some difference but even then not much. If you are a long range shooter then it really comes into play or if you are hunting in Colorado.

From 15 feet up in a stand and at 20 yards my arrow flies about 1" high. That is not enough for me to worry about and most of the time the arrow is more accurate than I am anyway.

I've owned the Leupold RX-600 and it worked just dandy. I crushed it though by accident.  :-[

Now I use a Bushnell that I got from a guy second hand and it seems to be just as good as the Leupold.

EDIT: It was the Leupold RX-1 that I had, not the RX-600.

[tvc184]

Looking at prices and reviews, it appears that the Redfield Ranger 550 might be a good one. For about $175 it is one of the cheapest out there with good reviews. There are others in that price range but that one seems to have people liking it better. I might try to find one in the off season and check it out.

[Lefty99]

I've got the Bushnell that runs for about $130 at Academy.  I can't remember which model but I believe it is the 400-450.  It has worked very well for me.

[tvc184]

I will add this.. I would stay away from anything from Wildview be it a rangefinder or a game camera.

They are unbelievably low priced and there is a reason. They don't work. Actually they work well at times and at other times are a piece of junk. It is a complete guess if you are going to get the about 50% of them that work off of the shelf. They sell their game cams for about $45 at Walmart when other brands in the same range run about $150 or more. They have a rangefinder that is $99.

I am not all for spending $1,000 for an item when a $200 will work about 95% as good. I hate to spend $100 though for a product that is 10% as good.

[change-up]

Thank you for all the input, I saw the good reviews on the redfield.