What rangefinder do you use while doing BS5837

[beardedone]

Like the title says just curious what people use. Seen alot of golf range finders or hunting range finders and wondered if a specific one for trees is needed. (looking to do the AA course and mentions needing one). 

Cheers

[daltontrees]

The hunting and golfing ones are not very accurate or precise, you'd be lucky to get one that's sub-metre accurate.

 

I use a Trupulse, can't remember the model, but it's not the 360 which is mega expensive and incorporates a very precise compass. I get + or - 0.3m. It can be tripod-mounted for really very accurate surveys, as I found recently in dense woods with no GPS signals, I just measured a traverse all the way through it, and closed the traverse at about 0.6m accuracy after 20 sightings.

 

If it's just for crown spreads and  height measurement, Leica do a really robust one that's not a sighting rangefinder, but it's got a little daylight-visible screen on top and is about the size of a TV remote. Point at the tree and fire. I used one for a whole winter in Wales in horrendous conditions and it never let me down. BUuilders use these types and they seem to be pretty tough devices. You have to get one ofr outdoor use though, teh wmpy ones that only work indoors will not hack it adn do not work in bright light.

 

But 99% of the time I count paces, for distances up to 30m I can get it within 2%. No good on steep slopes though.

[Gary Prentice]

I’ve a Nikon Forestry Pro, the downsides are trying to get a base reading - two blades of grass and it won’t read. And it won’t read from less than 10m away so useless for crown spreads. 

 

It occasionly throws an odd reading up, which is so far wrong that you look at it and ?????, but comparing it with others it  seems pretty comparable for accuracy. 

 

Im looking to upgrade myself, but don’t know to what yet.

[Alycidon]

In the hunting sphere I use a Lieca,  had it probably 20 years,  other than an odd new battery its never missed a beat.   Accuracy at 200 yards is usually +/- 5 yards.  Only down side is no warning when the battery is dying,  its just stops period.  Takes a normal 9V square battery.

 

A

[Mark J]

I use a truepulse too.  It's a few years old but accurate.  Keep an eye on ebay.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Mark J