Shot Scope PRO L1 Laser Rangefinder Review

It's not quite a Tiger Woods "hello, world" moment, but Shot Scope's entry into the golf rangefinder market (to quote Ron Burgundy) is kind of a big deal.

The new PRO L1 laser rangefinder excels in accuracy, speed, distance range, and ease of use.  It even incorporates some high-tech pin seeking features like slope measurement.  And for a price less than $200, you'll be hard pressed to find a quality rangefinder at a better value.

You'd think all rangefinders would be easy to use, but unfortunately that's not always the case.  The Pro L1 however is extremely easy to use.

There's a power button and mode button on top (I'll talk about the three modes more below), a switch on the left to turn slope function on or off, and a button on the right to toggle between black and red optics.  No menus to deal with or multiple steps to get to specific features.  Pro L1 is very intuitive, easy, and fast to use.

With a rubberized hatch design grip on the top and bottom, Pro L1 is comfortable to hold.  The grip makes it feel more secure in your hand.  It's one of the lighter rangefinders I've used as well.  The eyepiece is also rubberized and soft feeling.  Anytime my eyebrow touched it (or even if I pushed the eyepiece deeper against my eyelid) it was always very comfortable.

 

 

Pro L1 lens and display are outstanding.  The LCD display screen gives you a beautifully clear and sharp readout.  It's not the brightest screen on the market, but I'd still call it a bright screen.  And optics can be switched between black and red, making it very easy to see in bright sunlight and poor weather.  I used Pro L1 on a sunny day and also a cloudy, overcast day and clarity was great in both conditions.  Pro L1 is water resistant as well, but I didn't actually test it in the rain.

I'm not sure what kind of lens Shot Scope used for the Pro L1, but here again the visual is fantastic.  The lens is also big enough for uncluttered, relatively wide views of the course when you're shooting at targets or using scan mode.  Contrast and sharpness is impressive.

Pro L1's distance range is one of the best available.  Measuring distances of up to 875 yards, it was very easy for me to pick up flags and other objects with clear views 350 yards to 400 yards out.  It features a 6X magnification, which isn't the highest on the market, but that's plenty serviceable when you need to precisely see whatever objects you're measuring.  For those of you new to rangefinders, 6X magnification basically means objects 300 yards away will look like they're 50 yards away.

You can also add incredibly superior distance accuracy to to the list of things Pro L1 does exceptionally well.  In fact, with an accuracy to 3.6 inches, that's probably more exact than 99-percent of us will ever realistically need.  I compared Pro L1 against one of my more expensive rangefinders, and accuracy and consistency were right there with the higher priced unit.

 

By now you're probably getting a good idea that the Shot Scope Pro L1 rangefinder maybe isn't the absolute best in every laser rangefinder performance category, but it comes pretty damn close.  No, you don't have automatic brightness adjustment, but the quality lens and black/red optics still deliver clear, crisp images and readouts.  And while you might not get some of the more expensive bells and whistles like say 3D flyovers, you do get the ones that arguably matter most.

Two of those for example, are target lock technology and adaptive slope technology.  Shooting targets can deliver inconsistent yardages or take a long time to read if you're hands are shaky.  But Pro L1 image stabilization is excellent, and delivers a quick jolt (or pulse) when you've locked on to confirm your targets with impressive consistency and speed.  And this jolt ensures you don't have to worry the laser is picking something else up behind the green when you're shooting at the flag.

 

I took multiple reads of the same targets from the same spot over and over to test how consistent the yardages were.  And each time I got yardages that were identical or practically identical to previous reads.

And again, compared to my more expensive rangefinder, Pro L1 locked on to targets almost immediately.  Shot Scope says measuring time is half a second to a full second, and that's what I found in the ultra-majority of shots.  A few instances it was maybe a split second more, but honestly it takes me a second or two to process what I'm looking at anyway.  Cheetah fast?  Maybe not.  But still lion fast, and that's pretty damn good.

Slope technology isn't legal in tournament play, but I wouldn't buy a rangefinder without this feature.  Pro L1's adaptive slope function measures the actual distance on uphill and downhill lies as opposed to merely the horizontal distance.  Simply flick the switch on the left side of the unit, and the readout shows this slope-adjusted distance along with the slope angle (which is also a great learning tool and advantage over GPS).

As mentioned earlier, you have three modes with Pro L1.  And all you do is press the mode button to change between these modes.  M1 is scanning mode.  Scan mode is exactly what it sounds like.  You can continuously scan for hazards, mounds, and trees to get immediate and accurate distances to help you better prepare for your shots, know where to place your shots, and even help with ideal club selection.

M2 mode is your target mode (or what Shot Scope calls golf mode).  This is the mode you'll use most often and where target lock vibration and adaptive slope function come into play.

And finally, M3 is the speed mode.  This apparently shows how fast a moving object is traveling.  I didn't test this mode out, but might be fun to see how fast your buddy can run to grab the wedge they might have forgotten on the last green (happens to the best of us).

 

In addition to the Pro L1, Shot Scope also gives you a lens cleaning cloth, carry clip, lanyard, and pretty solid carrying case all included in the box.  And as you'd expect, the manual is pretty straightforward and easy to digest.

Pro L1 is a laser rangefinder that's simple to use, fits comfortably in one hand, and let's you hit a button or two to get exact, reliable yardages to flags, hazards, and other areas.

 

And when you add in features like red and black optics, 6X zoom, 0.1 yard accuracy, slope adjustment, target lock, and continuous scan, you have a high quality laser rangefinder from Shot Scope that flat-out performs.