This has a lot more features then similarly priced rangefinders I've tested. But, it's not clear how useful they all are.
The brightness feature provides the normal black overlay I've seen on others; but, it adds 3 levels of brightness with a red backlit overlay. This red backlit overlay is handy when there isn't a bright background that contrasts with the black overlay for easy viewing. It's particularly useful in low light.
Measurements have 1/10th precision. This doesn't seem like a big deal until you consider the size of the units being measured. A 17.3m reading actually measured to be 17.28m. With another brand's device, a 58' reading actually measured to be 57'2". With similar rounding in metres or yards, that's a potential 3' inaccuracy. So, that 1/10th makes a big difference.
MEASUREMENT MODES
M1: Golf: the standard features other rangefinders have
M2: Horizontal Distance: provides three measurements… the distance to the point, the angle of tilt, and the calculated distance parallel to the ground (0°).
– I tested this standing on my raised deck and aiming at a particular point ~14m away. I then moved to ground level at the same distance and measured again. I tried this a few times, moving back and forth, and the measurements were consistently reasonably close to each other.
M3: Vertical Distance:
– This is not documented beyond telling you which results are shown on the screen. But, I could not figure out what it was doing. None of the measurements it gave matched anything in reality. So, I have no idea what this does.
M4: Vertical Distance (2-Point): calculates the height between two points (top/bottom) by measuring the distance to each point.
– I tested this standing in three different places and elevations, each time calculating the height of a shed ~14m away. Though each point distance matched the same measurement done with M2 mode, the calculated height seemed to vary 0.1m – 0.2m from each other, and all were taller than when I measured it with a measuring tape.
M5: Speed:
– I tested this out on a car driving past at a known speed (52km/h)… it reported 74km/h. It's not clear how this is to be used. I suspect that you need to be far enough away to see the full object you're measuring the speed of.
SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS
Contrary to the manual, this does not have support for feet, only meters and yards.
The big measurement number at the top of the overlay always grabs your attention first – by the very nature of it being the biggest thing showing. But it's usually not the number you want, unless you're measuring to install a zipline. Most often, the number you want is the smaller number at the bottom right which is calculated based on angle, etc. This is confusing.
Others I've tried had a soft rubber covering all over. This has a ribbed rubber grip area and the rest is plastic.