Canon announces the PowerShot Golf Laser Rangefinder

[Canon Rumors]

We have been waiting for this product to be announced with breathless anticipation. Canon, today, announced the Canon PowerShot Golf Laser Rangefinder for $349.99. I have to admit, it’s kind of cool. I wonder how accurate it is, and if you could use it for any other distance measurement versus just golf. With my golf

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[yankiefrankie]

As someone who golfs, I think this product is 10 years too late. I would think *** based phone/smartwatch apps would do this far better.

I use the golf app on my Garmin, watch and it works very well. The course map is already loaded into the watch, and the app uses *** to tell me how far away from the pin I am. This lets you account for obstacles and any dog-leg turns. You can place a cursor in the app on the landing spot you are aiming for, and the app tells you the distance. This is MUCH better than trying to shoot a laser at some distant object.

 

[Brown]

Does it still use an integrated battery?

 

[koenkooi]

Does it still use an integrated battery?

The specs say so, I hope it's straightforward to replace!

 

[Loswr]

This is MUCH better than trying to shoot a laser at some distant object.

Yeah but...

 

[Navism]

When search this product in youtube, it will shows other regular brand. That means it has its own market.
But is it a large market for Canon to make it?

I don\'t understand why they use the powershot name.
The camera is 400mm. People can\'t take a photo next to him to play golf!

 

[P-visie]

Who needs the R1 or the R5 Mk II when you can get a camera with a built in laser (or vice versa) .

 

[Loswr]

Who needs the R1 or the R5 Mk II when you can get a camera with a built in laser (or vice versa) .

Maybe the R1 has one...

 

[P-visie]

This camera does not have WIFI, so the good news is that there still three stills cameras to be announced. Apparently this was the rumoured ‘third week of may announcement’.

 

[Sporgon]

One of my life’s ambitions is to never, ever swing a golf club.

 

[Finn]

This product would have made way more sense as a wildlife device that has animal AI tracking and third party animal and bird ID support/SDK for popular wildlife identity apps.

 

[derrald]

I'm so glad Canon is going to release this product. I can finally get a hole in one on that stupid windmill course. Happy Gilmore, here I come!

 

[Mattias Lindberg]

This product would have made way more sense as a wildlife device that has animal AI tracking and third party animal and bird ID support/SDK for popular wildlife identity apps.

I think that it excatly what this is! As a birder I've been looking for a small binocular to carry in my golf bag. Now I can have a range finder that allow me to switch to 12x magnification when I want to look at an overflying raptor or small bird on a branch. And as a bonus I can document it and further investigate any non-obvious species at home. Perfect for me!

 

[kten]

This product would have made way more sense as a wildlife device that has animal AI tracking and third party animal and bird ID support/SDK for popular wildlife identity apps.

as mattias mentioned using one that way I suspect that it is the same going from all the other brands I am familiar with basically make 1 type of range finder and brand them in 2 lines as either wildlife/hunting rangefinders or golf. Sometimes they have slight different features in firmware regarding focus but a lot of the time it seems to just be colourways that differentiate them.

 

[Botts]

Just saw this and I'm going to try and track one down to play with.

Two thoughts:

1. It flabbergasts me that this didn't launch focused on the sporting (birding/hunting) market first.
2. If OIS is only in play for the visible light optics, hitting a pin (or a deer) might be fairly difficult as your laser would drift differently than what you see through the monocular.

The second one is less of an issue for golf as most pins have retroreflectors in them now, but for 300yds on an animal? That'll be tough.

That said, super neat product and I'll be interested to test it vs the hunting focused options I have already.