Although I have an older, but accurate and still functional, Bushnell 600 Laser rangefinder, I could not really pass a bargain up on a newer one.
I have justified the purchase to myself as "needing
" a more compact and lighter one for shooting Gophers, and the price was too good to pass up.
Yesterday, I visited the Brandon, Mb., Canadian Tire Store to buy a couple of bags of dog food for the Labradors, and decided to take a stroll through the sporting goods section. There was a yellow tag discount card on an unadvertised special, that being a Bushnell Sport 450 rangefinder, originally priced at $169.95, and the discounted price was $79.95. Too good of a price to pass up.
The Bushnell Sport 450 is an entry level rangefinder, with one button to push and simple to operate. The Manufacturers advertising states it will work from 5 to 999 yards, but you have to look at the back of the box to see the working conditions. At 999 yards, you had better have a large reflective target like a red barn or house, but it shows that trees are able to be ranged out to 450 yards, and things like a Deer or flag on a golf course could be ranged out to 200 yards.
While 200 yards is a medium range shot with a high power rifle, it is at the upper limits of practical .22 Rimfire range, so that is why this post was made in the Rimfire section of this Forum. A bit of a field test this morning has shown that larger rocks, small mounds of dirt, fence posts, and trees are well within the capability of this unit. Unfortunately, the Gopher population has gone to sleep for the winter, but a neighbours brown Cocker Spaniel was ranged at 187 yards.
While my thoughts were for a compact, light weight rangefinder mostly for hunting while using the .22 Rimfire, someone who Golfs, Bowhunts, or hunts from a blind or tree stand might find this rangefinder useful. A hunter in a blind could range some prominent objects such as large trees or rocks, or in the pre-hunting season park a truck near where the blind is, and walk to various locations such as fence corners, signs, or whatever. By using the rangefinder back from these objects to the truck, and making up a range card for that location, a hunter would have a fairly good chance of getting his Big Game animal as he would have a good idea of the ranges involved.
A check of the Cabela's website shows that the plain black Bushnell 450 rangefinder is $189.95 and Wholesale Sports shows a camouflaged Bushnell 450 rangefinder at the same price. So the $79.95 I paid for this one is less than half price.
Please don't flame me if you happen to live in Last Chance, Newfoundland, or some other similar location, and your local Canadian Tire Store does not have one in stock, or it is not on sale there. All I am doing is saying that this one particular store had these on sale for a great price, BUT, if you are going into your local CTC store today, you just MIGHT find one as an unadvertised special IF other CTC stores are participating too.
.
I have justified the purchase to myself as "needing
" a more compact and lighter one for shooting Gophers, and the price was too good to pass up.Yesterday, I visited the Brandon, Mb., Canadian Tire Store to buy a couple of bags of dog food for the Labradors, and decided to take a stroll through the sporting goods section. There was a yellow tag discount card on an unadvertised special, that being a Bushnell Sport 450 rangefinder, originally priced at $169.95, and the discounted price was $79.95. Too good of a price to pass up.
The Bushnell Sport 450 is an entry level rangefinder, with one button to push and simple to operate. The Manufacturers advertising states it will work from 5 to 999 yards, but you have to look at the back of the box to see the working conditions. At 999 yards, you had better have a large reflective target like a red barn or house, but it shows that trees are able to be ranged out to 450 yards, and things like a Deer or flag on a golf course could be ranged out to 200 yards.
While 200 yards is a medium range shot with a high power rifle, it is at the upper limits of practical .22 Rimfire range, so that is why this post was made in the Rimfire section of this Forum. A bit of a field test this morning has shown that larger rocks, small mounds of dirt, fence posts, and trees are well within the capability of this unit. Unfortunately, the Gopher population has gone to sleep for the winter, but a neighbours brown Cocker Spaniel was ranged at 187 yards.
While my thoughts were for a compact, light weight rangefinder mostly for hunting while using the .22 Rimfire, someone who Golfs, Bowhunts, or hunts from a blind or tree stand might find this rangefinder useful. A hunter in a blind could range some prominent objects such as large trees or rocks, or in the pre-hunting season park a truck near where the blind is, and walk to various locations such as fence corners, signs, or whatever. By using the rangefinder back from these objects to the truck, and making up a range card for that location, a hunter would have a fairly good chance of getting his Big Game animal as he would have a good idea of the ranges involved.
A check of the Cabela's website shows that the plain black Bushnell 450 rangefinder is $189.95 and Wholesale Sports shows a camouflaged Bushnell 450 rangefinder at the same price. So the $79.95 I paid for this one is less than half price.
Please don't flame me if you happen to live in Last Chance, Newfoundland, or some other similar location, and your local Canadian Tire Store does not have one in stock, or it is not on sale there. All I am doing is saying that this one particular store had these on sale for a great price, BUT, if you are going into your local CTC store today, you just MIGHT find one as an unadvertised special IF other CTC stores are participating too.
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