The Quick Verdict
These two are separated by four cents. That's not a typo. At essentially identical prices, the Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII is the better buy for most golfers — it has slope, a five-year warranty, and a red OLED display that's genuinely easier to read. Get the COOLSHOT 50i GII. The Tour V6 makes sense only if you want a tournament-legal unit with no slope mode to toggle, full stop. Check price at Amazon →
What They Have in Common
Both rangefinders hit 6x magnification, claim ±1 yard accuracy, run on CR2 lithium batteries, and come in at the exact same price point. They're both solid, purpose-built golf rangefinders — not multifunction GPS hybrids. The optics and core ranging function are comparable on paper, and neither is going to embarrass you on the course.
Where They Differ
Slope Mode
This is the ballgame. The COOLSHOT 50i GII has slope with a physical switch to turn it off for tournament play. The Tour V6 has no slope at all — it's built tournament-legal from the ground up. If you want slope-adjusted distances for your practice rounds (and most golfers benefit from them), the Nikon is the obvious choice. If you play competitive golf where you'd rather not think about toggling a switch — or if your club doesn't allow slope even casually — the Bushnell earns its place. But for the majority of recreational golfers, slope is a real, useful feature, and paying the same price to skip it doesn't make a lot of sense.
Display and Optics
The Nikon runs a red internal OLED display. The Bushnell uses a traditional LCD. This is a meaningful difference on the course — OLED contrast tends to read better against complex backgrounds, and Nikon's red reticle shows up cleanly in varying light. Nobody reads a rangefinder in full sunlight; you're usually squinting into shade or cloud cover, and the display quality matters more than people expect until they've struggled with a dim LCD. The Bushnell's PinSeeker with Visual Jolt vibration is a solid feature — confirmed flag locks are useful — but the Nikon's Dual Locked-On Quake system does similar work on the feedback side.
Water Resistance and Warranty
The Tour V6 is rated IPX6, which means it can handle direct water jets — real weather protection. The COOLSHOT 50i GII is IPX4, which covers splashes but not sustained rain. If you regularly play in serious downpours, the Bushnell has a genuine edge here. That said, most golfers aren't standing in a thunderstorm ranging pins, and IPX4 covers the typical early-morning dew and light rain scenario just fine. What tips this toward the Nikon anyway is the five-year warranty. That's an unusually long coverage window for a rangefinder at this price, and it suggests Nikon is putting real confidence behind the build. My read is that's a deliberate move to close the brand-recognition gap with Bushnell — but whatever the reason, the buyer benefits.
Flag Range
The Bushnell reads the flag out to 500+ yards. The Nikon is rated to around 400 yards to flag. In practice, you're almost never ranging a flagstick from 400+ yards anyway — that's a 4-iron into a par 5, and you're not dialing in yardage at that distance, you're guessing. So this spec gap is real but unlikely to affect your rounds.
Who Should Buy Which
Get the Nikon COOLSHOT 50i GII if:
- You want slope-adjusted distances for practice rounds without buying a second rangefinder
- You're the kind of golfer who plays 60+ rounds a year and wants five years of warranty coverage backing the investment
- You play in standard conditions — morning dew, light rain — where IPX4 is plenty
- You're buying your first "serious" rangefinder and want every feature available at this price
Get the Bushnell Tour V6 if:
- You compete in tournaments regularly and would rather have a device that's tournament-legal by design, not by switch
- You frequently play in heavy rain and want IPX6 protection without thinking about it
- You're the golfer who genuinely doesn't use slope — maybe you play fast, maybe you just trust your yardage book — and want Bushnell's proven reliability in a clean package
The Bottom Line
At four cents apart, this is purely a features decision. The COOLSHOT 50i GII brings slope, a better display, and a five-year warranty to the same price point. The Tour V6 answers with stronger water resistance and a no-slope-to-manage simplicity that appeals to tournament players. For most golfers, slope is worth having, and the Nikon's warranty is hard to argue with.