2023 Official Member Review: Cobalt Q-6 Range Finder

[Tom the Golf Nut]

24 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

Testers,

What rangefinder are you guys using currently, if any? 

For those of you using one, what's it going to take to beat out your current one? 

 

I have a lot of the info in my intro which I wrote up today. I will post it in the very near future.  But anything will beat out what I have currently. Take a look at the photo then I will explain. 

Yardage Pro 500 was my first one.  A nice two-handed dinosaur from 2005 era (roughly). Due to an unfortunate bounce, out of the cubby in the golf cart and me hitting the brakes trying not to run it over. Well, unfortunately I was as a second to late and hit the brakes when the unit was under the rear tire. Thus, skidding the unit for a few feet.  Sickening feeling. But the unit still works as long as I don't take it out of the case. The trigger is under the gray spot on the top. The case is the only thing holding the trigger in place.

I then went to a Logitech GPS which I hated as it only held about 5 courses. You had to pay a service fee every year to be able to upload different courses. But you had to delete them all then pick 5 again. I had enough of that. It also was not accurate at all (at least for my home course). 

Now comes the Tec Tec Tec laser. It worked great for a few years and then I forgot to take it out of my golf bag and put it in my carry on when flying. The pressure in the baggage area caused a leak and then half the display was gone. Customer service told me to leave it on the car dashboard on a hot summer day for 4 hours. This will burn out the fog inside the display. It worked for a few months, and then I had to repeat it every few months. You only get hot summer days in the summer so I couldn't always clear it out when I needed it.  But it is working currently. One of the digit locations is lighter than the other but you can tell the yardage for the most part. But this unit requires you to be rock steady or you can miss the flag and pick up a tree in the background. 

I'm looking forward to the Cobalt Q6. It has some nice features that my other units did not have. 

[glenmore5]

Well done to all the testers...looking forward to your reviews.

[Bang60]

Sorry no good to me I shake toooooooooo MUCH apparently, but I can hold a FULL glass of RED WINE and no problems lol...

[GolfSpy_BNG]

Congrats to those selected for testing. I can say without a doubt, that as a guy that never used a rangefinder before testing the Voice Caddie SL2 a couple years ago, it helps tremendously on new courses and wayward drives lol

 

Cant wait to hear your thoughts. 

[vandyland]

16 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

For those of you using one, what's it going to take to beat out your current one? 

Currently using an amazon rangefinder (WOSPORTS w/ slope about $90) which, honestly, is not going to be hard to beat. The Cobalt is in such a price range that I think comparing it to my current rangefinder exclusively would be a disservice to this forum. I will compare it my current one but I will also use a friend's bushnell ($500) as I think that is much more relevant to the readers. Honestly, the Cobalt is more than I was willing to spend on a rangefinder several years ago when I got my current one (first one I had ever bought) so I will be coming at it from a "is there a SIGNIFICANT difference between this and a budget rangefinder." 

Here's what I would expect, target locking to be quick and easy. If I shoot the same thing multiple times it should give me the same number every time (my current range finder will jump around 3-4 yards on a flagstick which makes no sense as it is not like there is going to be something 3-4 yds behind the flag stick that is getting picked up. 20-30 yds would make more sense if it is alternating between the flag and trees behind it. The feature that I am VERY excited to see is the "magnification" feature. I don't currently have that so it makes shaky hands + small target = time consuming frustration. 

My goal above all is to give an honest, thorough evaluation of this product. If people are going to spend this much money I want to give them a lot (maybe TOO much?) of information.  

[DaveP043]

You can see how excited we all are, 3 of the introductions are up, less than 30 hours after this thread opened.  To answer the one question I've seen, I currently use a Bushnell V3 (no slope.  I also own a V2 WITH slope that I don't use.  I did have a Precision Pro NX9 Slope rangefinder that I managed to lose.  I've rarely used GPS for golf, only occasionally on a new course where I wanted to see a bit of the hole layout.

[GolfSpy_APH]

11 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

You can see how excited we all are, 3 of the introductions are up, less than 30 hours after this thread opened.  To answer the one question I've seen, I currently use a Bushnell V3 (no slope.  I also own a V2 WITH slope that I don't use.  I did have a Precision Pro NX9 Slope rangefinder that I managed to lose.  I've rarely used GPS for golf, only occasionally on a new course where I wanted to see a bit of the hole layout.

Make that 4 of 4!

[Gary F. Sweat]

Currently playing with the University of Central Florida Golf Association in monthly tournament play.   UCFGA handicap is a 23.4  and a USGA handicap of 17.8.   Currently use the Arccos system tracking  and a GPS rangefinder.   Would love to compare what I use with this model.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Just now, Gary F. Sweat said:

Currently playing with the University of Central Florida Golf Association in monthly tournament play.   UCFGA handicap is a 23.4  and a USGA handicap of 17.8.   Currently use the Arccos system tracking  and a GPS rangefinder.   Would love to compare what I use with this model.

Testers have already been selected. Or intros are up and as soon as we have the unit in have we will have unboxing photos then start the reviews. 

Be sure to follow along! 

[sirchunksalot]

Well done on all the intros, guys! This should be a fun test to follow along with. 

[Splatt]

Congrats, testers.

This is perfect, a rangefinder is one of the major bits of kit I'm missing. I nearly bought a super cheap knock-off brand rangefinder one time for $100, but I thought better of it and I'll wait until I have the spare cash for a decent one.

I currently use a Garmin Approach S60; I wonder if there would be much of a difference between what the watch says to a hazard of centre of the green to what the rangefinder says?

[cnosil]

8 hours ago, Splatt said:

 

I currently use a Garmin Approach S60; I wonder if there would be much of a difference between what the watch says to a hazard of centre of the green to what the rangefinder says?

The thing to keep in mind is that commercial GPS can be a few yards off based on available accuracy levels and shooting to the center of a green will only work if the flag is in the center since you have to bounce the laser off of something to get a distance.  There are pros and cons to each and as a player you need to figure out what works best….I am a fan of the combined units since they give the best of both.  

[Berg Ryman]

Very cool to get to follow along in the journey and I know this is a small things considering, but very happy to see the return of the intro post in thread instead of the set apart design from the last bunch of test threads. Much more of an enjoyable follow!

[mtcowdog]

You guys are going to love this rangefinder. I picked up the Q6 slope last year. The optics are fantastic. 

[MattWillGolf]

Congrats testers. Looking forward to seeing this one. I’m particularly intersected in how well it locks onto the flag. I don’t have the steadiest hands so sometimes locking on can be a challenge for me. I’ve gotten rather good at measuring the distance to trees behind the green.

[vandyland]

On 1/6/2023 at 5:55 PM, MattWillGolf said:

Congrats testers. Looking forward to seeing this one. I’m particularly intersected in how well it locks onto the flag. I don’t have the steadiest hands so sometimes locking on can be a challenge for me. I’ve gotten rather good at measuring the distance to trees behind the green

This is me as well. I am hoping the magnification eliminates some of that. Also, I played this past weekend in VERY gray weather and my current, non-Cobalt, rangefinder was basically useless. I was literally walking distances off from sprinklerheads which I haven't done in a few years. This will be one of my main points in the review. 

[vandyland]

Update  It has arrived

 

[GolfSpy_APH]

1 hour ago, vandyland said:

Update  It has arrived

 

Another 2 weeks and maybe mine will get here!

[vandyland]

It came very well packaged and I already came up with what I *think* might be an interesting test for it. First up, it has to beat my amazon special. That will be like the play-in game before the big showdown against the type of range finder it is obviously targeting which I would imagine is the Bushnells of the world.

First impressions are that you would have to be VERY unaware to not know that the slope was turned on as there is a large red light AND you have to slide a button rather forcefully to switch it (it isn't difficult but it isn't something you would do on "accident" which is good). The case is interesting as it used a stretchy/pulley close rather than a magnet or velcro. Right now it feels VERY secure and I like it but I wonder if it loses its stretch over this review (TIME WILL TELL!). The towel is a nice touch though I am not sure it is my "style" but I will see how it performs. It is microfibre so I think it will dry quite quickly. The rangefinder itself feels solid without being super heavy, fits in my hands well (I have pretty small hands) and has a "brightness" toggle which I have never seen before on the display but will probably work well in low light situations. The color scheme is a bit busy for me but, at the same time, I can understand that Cobalt is trying toget their name out there and it probably helps to have an eye catching design. Packaging was VERY secure and there were several "boxes within boxes" to protect the  rangefinder. Arrived promptly and securely. Looking forward to testing it!

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I received my package as well.