Bushnell A1-Slope vs Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII

The Quick Verdict

Same price, different priorities. Get the Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII. The red OLED display is a genuine advantage in low-light conditions, the 5-year warranty is hard to walk away from, and the battery situation — CR2s you can grab at any CVS at 6am — means you're never scrambling before a round. The Bushnell A1-Slope only makes sense if size is genuinely your thing, like "I want this in my back pocket, not my bag" your thing.

What They Have in Common

Both are $299.99 rangefinders with 6x magnification, ±1 yard accuracy, slope mode, and a slope-switch for tournament compliance. Both have cart magnets. Both will hit the flag reliably out to 350-400 yards, which covers the vast majority of shots you're actually measuring. The baseline is solid on either side.

Where They Differ

Display and Low-Light Performance

This is where the Nikon pulls ahead. The COOLSHOT 50i GII uses a red internal OLED display — Nikon calls it a red display — and it's genuinely better in low-contrast conditions: early morning rounds, overcast days, shaded targets. An LCD display, like the one on the Bushnell A1-Slope, works fine in full sun but can wash out or feel flat when you're reading it in imperfect light. Nobody reads a rangefinder in perfect light all the time.

Battery and Long-Term Convenience

The Nikon runs on a CR2 lithium battery rated to around 10,000 measurements. That's years of rounds on a single battery you can buy anywhere. The Bushnell is USB-C rechargeable with 50+ rounds (~3,000 actuations) per charge — genuinely solid capacity, and USB-C is the right call for a rechargeable design. But rechargeable does mean you need to remember to charge it. Seems like a small thing until it's 7am and you're in the parking lot. CR2 batteries don't have a memory, they don't need a charger, and they're at every pharmacy in the country.

Size, Weight, and Form Factor

This is the one category the Bushnell wins clearly. At 5.1 oz and roughly the size of a thick index card, it's legitimately small — Bushnell calls it their smallest rangefinder, which I have no reason to doubt. The Nikon is 7.2 oz and noticeably larger. If you carry your bag and you're particular about weight and pocket space, the Bushnell is the better fit. But most golfers with a cart or a caddie bag won't notice the difference once it's in the side pocket.

Warranty and Water Resistance

The Nikon comes with a 5-year warranty. The Bushnell specs don't list a warranty duration in the input data, so I can't make a direct comparison — but 5 years on a $300 rangefinder is legitimately generous and worth factoring in. On water resistance, the Bushnell has IPX6 (direct water jets) vs. the Nikon's IPX4 (splashes from any direction). So the Bushnell handles harder rain better on paper. Whether that matters depends on how stubborn you are about playing through weather.

Who Should Buy Which

Get the Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII if:

• You play early morning rounds where the display needs to work before the sun fully shows up — the red OLED earns its keep on those overcast October tee times.
• You've ever shown up to a round and realized your rangefinder is dead. CR2 reliability just removes that variable entirely.
• You play enough golf that a 5-year warranty feels like actual value, not just a marketing line.
• You want a solidly built, full-grip rangefinder and you're not trying to stuff it into a back pocket.

Get the Bushnell A1-Slope if:

• You carry your bag and you've already trimmed every ounce you can — this is the only $300 rangefinder that genuinely fits the same footprint as your phone.
• You walk courses where remembering to charge one more device is already part of your routine and USB-C fits that system.
• IPX6 matters to you — you play in real rain, not just drizzle, and you want the extra protection.

The Bottom Line

These are the same price, which makes the decision cleaner than it sounds. The Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII is the better buy for most golfers: the OLED display is meaningfully better in low light, the CR2 battery removes a friction point from your routine, and the 5-year warranty is genuinely hard to ignore at the $300 tier. The Bushnell A1-Slope is a real product with real advantages — it's lighter, smaller, and handles rain better — but those matter to a narrower slice of buyers.

If you're the person who genuinely cares about a 2-ounce weight difference or needs the smallest rangefinder on the market, the Bushnell makes sense. For everyone else, the Nikon wins this at equal price.

Get the Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII.