# ....Nikon Rangefinders....



## fairfax1 (Jun 12, 2003)

Folks&#8230;&#8230;I need a little insight here.

My 3yr old Bushnell rangefinder (labeled as a Cabela&#8217;s VLR-II) has steadily declined in its&#8217; ability to acquire target and register a distance. Cabela&#8217;s won&#8217;t stand behind it&#8230;.says it is out of warranty. They instructed me to contact Bushnell, the manufacturer. Bushnell won&#8217;t stand behind it either&#8230;&#8230;says it is a discontinued item and the parts are obsolete.

So I&#8217;m giving up on Bushnell.

Now I&#8217;m looking hard at Nikon&#8217;s collection of rangefinders. 
But, I gotta admit, it is confusing. 
They have 8 price-point differentiated models listed on the Cabela&#8217;s & BassPro websites.

The desire by sellers to have a range in price-points is understandable but the description as detailed by the retailer&#8217;s buyers on their webpage&#8230;or perhaps it is Nikon&#8217;s marketing staff&#8217;sown verbiage&#8230;&#8230;is less than transparent. Meaning, several of these models are described with essentially the same features&#8230;.yet there may be a $40 or $80 or $100+ price difference between &#8216;em. 

The marketing text does not adequately explain why anyone should pay $230 for a ProStaff 5 vs $150 for a ProStaff550&#8230;&#8230;and what features does a Monarch Gold have that justifies its&#8217; $200 premium over the ProStaff 5&#8217;s $230?

1.	ProStaff 550&#8230;..$150
2.	ProStaff 3&#8230;.$180
3.	ProStaff 5&#8230;.$230
4.	Archer&#8217;s Choice&#8230;$260
5.	Riflehunter 550&#8230;..$290
6.	Riflehunter 1000&#8230;.$350
7.	Archers Choice Max&#8230;.$390
8.	Monarch Gold 1200&#8230;.$430

Can some poster on these forums offer their experience or any insight at all on one or more of these models?

(none of the prices above are for the silly feature of camoflouage. On a rangefinder, for heaven's sake.)

fx



(am posting this over on the Firearm sub-forum also.)


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## sbooy42 (Mar 6, 2007)

I have a prostaff 550... no complaints


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## STG8008 (Sep 14, 2011)

sbooy42 said:


> I have a prostaff 550... no complaints


Same here.


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## SPITFIRE (Feb 10, 2005)

sbooy42 said:


> I have a prostaff 550... no complaints


 same here


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## fairfax1 (Jun 12, 2003)

I examined the Nikon line of rangefinders today (all except the Monarch). It appears that the ProStaff 550 is being discontinued. The Prostaff 3 and Prostaff 5 are Nikon's next in line. 

Both Cabela's and Bass Pro are heavily discounting the Prostaff 550 as a promo item. The optics guy at Cabela's told me it was being discontinued.

I liked the Nikon products....though ruled out some of their line. Also looked at several Leupolds, they were impressive in brightness of optics and their small size.

Still shopping.


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## SPITFIRE (Feb 10, 2005)

fairfax1 said:


> I examined the Nikon line of rangefinders today (all except the Monarch). It appears that the ProStaff 550 is being discontinued. The Prostaff 3 and Prostaff 5 are Nikon's next in line.
> 
> Both Cabela's and Bass Pro are heavily discounting the Prostaff 550 as a promo item. The optics guy at Cabela's told me it was being discontinued.
> 
> ...


 if you dont need the angle compensation and dont want to spend alot of money,the 550 will be hard to beat. If they are discounting them heavily as you said I would jump all over it.


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## NovemberWhitetailz (Oct 10, 2008)

I've had the Archers Choice for 2 years..... use it all summer long when I target practice and obviously during bow season, not one problem or complaint to report back. My brother has the same one and he's never had any problems either. 
It's main focus though is archers therefor it doesn't range more than 150 yds, which is fine for me because I no longer gun hunt. If you're looking for a longer range i'd go with the 550


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## outdoor_m_i_k_e (Feb 3, 2005)

Ill second the archers choice. I have it just for archery hunting, and although the angle compensation is not needed to archery, it is a great rangefinder, and has worked perfectly!


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## Crowhunter (Aug 27, 2005)

You will like the ProStaff 550 .Bud


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## MI.FISH-N-HUNTER (Feb 11, 2010)

I work for a Major Golf Retailer, and we carry Bushnell, Leupold, and Callaway (Nikon) I handle all Warranty issues, Manufactureres Returns of all defective units. Bushnell, if the unit isn't covered under warranty and can not be fixed, they always send the unit back with a explanation of the problems found within the unit also they offer a replacement unit at a pretty good discount. I would try to get in touch with a customer service agent at Busnell especially if Cabelas wouldn't do anything for ya.

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