By Jason Bruno
We’ve been testing just about every type of distance measuring device over the past 12 months or so, and the latest rangefinder to arrive for review this summer – Blue Tees Series 3 Max is the company’s new flagship offering. We had awareness of the brand, but this was our first opportunity to test/review anything from their product line.
The Blue Tees story –
A group of golf crazed friends were seeking to buy a value-based rangefinder, after purchasing on Amazon the device broke a short time later and after several repeat purchases ending in the same frustrating result, they pondered the question: Why was it this difficult to find a high-quality, well-designed rangefinder without breaking the bank?
They discovered a simple explanation – Golf equipment is a multibillion-dollar industry dominated by a few brands who command artificially high price points and reap unnecessarily large profits from the consumer. Instead of just taking the beating, they took matters into our own hands and started Blue Tees Golf.
By utilizing their industrial design expertise, selling direct-to-consumer, cutting out complex operations and designing products in-house, they began creating high-quality, high-performance, golf products at a fraction of the price of their competitors. Not totally convinced? Blue Tees products come with a 60-day money-back satisfaction guarantee and a 2-year manufacturer warranty.
Presently, Blue Tees offers three models – Series 2, Series 2 Pro Slope, and their top-of-the-line edition Series 3 Max (pictured above).
If first impressions mean anything, the packaging (below) and presentation of the product caught our attention, a good sign of a high-quality device. Even the leather carry case for the 3 Max is nicer than most offered by competitors. Aside from the usual accessories that come with most rangefinders, the 3Max comes with 3 extra batteries, which is enough juice to get you thru more than a season of shooting at flags. A sweet perk. Also included with the extra batteries and case is a locking clip, and lanyard.
Most value-priced rangefinders are easy to use, and offer a few premium features, but none of the previous models we’ve tested offered everything on our must-have checklist (below):
- Slope
- Flagstick/Pinseeker Lock
- Pulse/Vibration
- Rugged high-quality casing
- Red/Ambient display
- Magnetic strip (cart mount)
- 500+ yard range (Series 3 Max boasts 900 yards of range)
- Weatherproof
- Extra batteries
- 2 year manufacturers warranty
*Blue Tees S3 Max is the first value based device (under $300) to offer all the above features
Testing:
The device has a solid feel, with all buttons and switches located exactly where you’d expect. Two modes on the Series 3 Max – Scan Mode & Golf Mode.
Scan Mode – simply hold the power button down and move the rangefinder to view any object on the course, readings automatically change as you scan the golf course . Golf Mode – the standard distance measuring operation that includes target lock & vibration to ensure that you’re getting the exact distance to your desired target. Golf mode will also show you the adjusted slope distance, and the angle value when slope is enabled.
The slope toggle switch is positioned right on the side of the device. The opposite side contains an internal magnetic bar that allows for easy mounting on any golf cart support.
Perhaps our favorite feature of this loaded device is the Auto-Ambient distance display that automatically adjusts the color display according to the present light conditions.
Overall:
The Series 3 Max gave us every single feature we asked for and then some. In the dozen or so rounds used prior to this writing, the device was easy to use, precise and stays put with the built-in magnet. The display is bright and easy to see during early morning dew sweeper rounds as well as my favorite chasing the sun sessions in the evenings. At $259 MSRP – it’s quite simply the finest value priced distance measuring device that we’ve tested to date.
