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Few 21st-century golf products have been more dominant than the Titleist Pro V1. Ever since it was released, it has been the clear #1 choice of professionals and enjoys widespread amateur use. It has had a more than quarter-century stranglehold in golf.
But in terms of category dominance, the Pro V1 actually runs second to Bushnell, whose laser rangefinders enjoy a staggering 98% usage rate among PGA Tour players and caddies. "Bushnell" is synonymous with quality and accuracy, the two criteria that matter above all others to people whose livelihoods rely on their ability to know the distance between their ball and the cup, even if rangefinders are only allowed during practice rounds.
Many other rangefinder brands exist, of course, and rank-and-file golfers enjoy not just Bushnell but a host of others, including some solid low-cost options as well as other would-be disruptors.
The newest of these wanna-be "Bushnell-killers" is Rokform, an accessories company based in Irvine, California and a somewhat quiet success story within the industry. Founder Jeff Whitten got his start patenting and manufacturing magnetized smartphone cases in the 2010s after he found himself frustrated that his own iPhone 4 case was not sticking snugly enough to the bar of his golf cart. Rokform became a successful vehicle for delivering consumers a better-mousetrap smartphone case. I have had a Rokform case on my own iPhone for the last couple of years and swear by its build quality and sturdy magnetization. Likewise, Rokform makes a Bluetooth speaker that I use often, and its Golf Shooter phone stand is what I use to help make social media videos on the golf course.
There are a lot of flimsy, aesthetics-over-functionality golf brands out there. I find it refreshing that Rokform is the opposite. They are not afraid to make something slightly chunky if it means optimizing for durability.
Reviewing the Rokform Rangefinder 18X
"Slightly chunky" ends up being an understatement as it pertains to Rokform's foray into the rangefinder space. The Rokform Rangefinder 18X is by far the largest and heaviest rangefinder I have tested. At a beefy 16.2 ounces, it is 86% heavier than the popular Bushnell Tour V6 (8.7 ounces). Its unique silhouette also separates it from other rangefinders; it looks more like one half of a set of large-format binoculars or a telephoto camera lens than its more rectangular competitors.
Rokform has a reason for this. The 18X is so named because it allows the user to adjust the optical magnification from 8 times up to, you guessed it, a whopping 18 times. By comparison, even Bushnell's top-of-the-line, $600 Pro XE+ rangefinder offers a fixed magnification factor of 7x. Many other golf rangefinders are in that neighborhood.
What good is this extreme amount of magnification? Rokform insists that it can help golfers peer down the entire length of long par 5s from the tee box, gain greater clarity on semi-blind shots and have a better idea of what precisely they are scoping on the course, especially when it is far away.
While testing the 18X during several fall rounds and practice sessions, I played around with its variable-zoom capabilities. I determined that turning the eyepiece dial to zoom much past 10x or 12x - never mind all the way in - made it more than a little bit irritating to find the object I wanted to scope in the greatly narrowed field of view. Also, zooming in that much on something only a couple of hundred yards away made it tricky to hold the rangefinder steadily enough, even with two hands, to lock onto my target without a bit of trial and error. Ultimately, I defaulted to the 18X's minimum 8x magnification setting, which I do really like as a baseline. But I do not foresee using the higher-power zoom outside of very rare circumstances.
In order to challenge Bushnell's dominance, other rangefinders are going to have to bring features that are not just novel for the sake of standing out, but actually useful. Beyond its maximum magnification, the Rokform Rangefinder 18X's standout feature is its Apple Find My and Google Find Hub compatibility. Golfers misplace their rangefinders all the time, and chances of recouping them are often slim. Any golfer who has mislaid a rangefinder or two in the past should be excited about the 18X's Bluetooth-based Find My feature, which can send automatic notifications to a smartphone when it is parted from the rangefinder. Discovering you've left your rangefinder in the golf cart before you exit the parking lot is a nice way to make sure it doesn't stay lost long. It may not be a core feature, but it is a great addition that could save forgetful golfers several hundred dollars multiple times over.
In terms of the core functions of a golf rangefinder, the Rokform 18X is excellent. It has reliable flag-lock vibration, on/off slope-measuring functionality and is IP54 waterproof-rated and highly dust-resistant. True to the company's heritage, its magnets are very strong; even significant bumps are not going to knock it off your golf cart bar. The Find My integration is easy to set up and track, too. Rokform claims the disposable CR2 battery the 18X uses will only need to be replaced once a golf season or so. Time will tell whether this is true.
The sheer size of the 18X takes some getting used to, but on balance I think the in-hand fullness of it gives reassurance and makes picking up the target slightly easier. I have tested some very small and lightweight rangefinders and find these shakier to use. The 18X is not shaky at all, except when zoomed in.
I found the ergonomics of the 18X somewhat counter-intuitive. My first instinct was actually to hold it upside down, with my thumb pressing the yardage button and multiple fingers resting in the textured rubber space. But the numbers in the viewfinder come through upside-down, so I had to abandon that grip. After a few more uses, I somewhat reluctantly settled into holding it as intended.
The final verdict on the Rokform Rangefinder 18X
Should golfers expect a takeover in the rangefinder space by the Rokform Rangefinder 18X, supplanting Bushnell? Probably not. But golfers who are already familiar with Rokform's other products will likely gravitate towards it because they can expect a similarly high degree of build quality and durability. Beyond Rokform loyalists, its hefty, innovative design and the headache-saving potential of its Find My feature make it worth a long look.
Rokform Rangefinder 18X: $499.99 [Rokform.com]
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