50 Words or Less
The Pinned Golf Prism rangefinder is a strong performer that has most of the high-end features that you want. Quick and accurate. Easy to use.
Introduction
With new rangefinder brands popping up seemingly every week, it’s hard to know what to buy. Many have enticing prices and some have great lists of features, but are they well made? We tested the latest rangefinder from Pinned Golf, the Prism, to bring you those answers.
Set Up & Ease of Use
The Pinned Golf Prism rangefinder comes out of the box ready to use. Like most rangefinders, it has two buttons on the top. The power button turns it on and brings up your distance. The “Y/M” button switches the units between meters and yards. There is also a slide on the unit’s side which turns the slope adjustment on and off.
One thing that’s unusual about the Prism is that it’s powered by a rechargeable battery. The device comes with a USB-C charging cord that plugs into the port shown above. This is a feature I hope more rangefinders move to in the future as batteries are expensive and you never know when yours is going to die. Pinned states that their battery lasts for 60 rounds.
Accuracy & Performance
As always, we start with accuracy. I compared the Pinned Golf Prism rangefinder to several other premium rangefinders and found that they were all within a yard of each other, even at longer distances. No issues for the Prism there.
When it comes to speed, the Prism is just short of the fastest units like the Voice Caddie TL1 [review HERE]. You can barely blink in the time between pushing the button and seeing the yardage on the screen. As I’ve stated in previous reviews, there is a difference between the slowest and fastest units, but it’s not a meaningful one.
The display on the Prism has 7X magnification and changes from red to black in bright conditions. This is the first time I’ve seen a unit manage its own display color change, and I thought it worked well. The numbers and symbols inside the display are clear and laid out well.
Moving on to the secondary features, the Prism doesn’t miss much. It vibrates when it locks on the pin, has a magnet to attach to your cart, and is water resistant. It also comes with a two year warranty.
Value
The Pinned Golf Prism Rangefinder carries a regular retail price of $330 (it’s on sale for $230 at the time of this writing). This places it in the middle of the rangefinder market. There are a handful of bargain lasers around $200 and bigger names with cutting edge features at $450 and up. The Prism sits at the crossroads with solid features and a two-year warranty. It’s also available in six colors – pink, white, black, red, green (seen here), and a vomit-inducing light blue.
Pinned Golf does deserve an extra nod for getting the little stuff right. The included case is very sturdy. They also load the box with some nice extras like a ball marker, sticker, cleaning cloth, and a printed user manual. If you want a more stylish case, Pinned Golf has some interesting cloth and leather options on their site for $40 to $50.
Conclusion
The Pinned Golf Prism rangefinder is everything that it claims to be. This laser is easy to use, loaded with strong features, and, most importantly, accurate. If you want a straightforward rangefinder at a fair price, you won’t go wrong with this one.
Visit Pinned Golf HERE
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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So to be clear, the rechargeable battery will work for 60 rounds before you have to plug the unit in? Having to plug it in frequently, seems like a nuisance as opposed to just having an extra battery in your bag ready to go.
Ian,
Correct, one charge lasts 60 rounds.
-Matt
This was on sale before Christmas, and I almost pulled the trigger. Bummed I didn’t, but I’ve had a lot of good use from a Garmin watch and their golf app. Kind of annoying to load the course and make sure it’s on your watch before play, but works great otherwise. The Prism looks like a very compelling option though.
Even if it’s 60 rounds, I don’t need to bring another thing home that I can forget to bring to the course.
Charge it in the car on the way to the course.
7 yards is a far as it will read, piece of junk !!!
Charged for 24 hours ND WILL NOT COME ON
My son teaches high school students how to caddie so that they can work towards a scholarship to university. The Pinned Rangefinder keeps the young caddies ahead of the game. It’s great to hear and see the caddies deliver those numbers with confidence! Awesome.