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Vortex Anarch Rangefinder Review

I got my Vortex Anarch based on the reviews in this thread. I'm pretty disappointed. Right out of the box, playing on my home course where I'm really familiar with the yardages/slopes, it's not accurate. Line of sight is pretty accurate, but the slope calculations are way off. I tested it today with 3 friends with my Vortex vs a Bushnell, a Cobalt and a Voicecaddie TL1. The Vortex read pretty far off the other 3 every time. With my familiarity with the course, it was pretty easy to tell. The Vortex slope readings often being more than 5 yards off the other 3 rangefinders which were consistently close. It's clearly a defective unit. I get it, these things happen.

However, I called Vortex and their answer was to send this brand new unit back to them for repair instead of just swapping it out for me. I could understand their position if I'd had the thing for a while and it could be a wear/damage issue, but inaccurate right out of the box? So now I have the time it takes to ship it to them, the time for their people to look at it (I'm told 7-14 business days), then the time it takes to get it shipped back. So I'm probably without a unit for at least a month in peak golf season.

Mark me down for not being a very big fan of Vortex.
 
Ever since you guys helped my addled mind get through the menu, I am loving this anarch. Easy to get pins even from long distance.
 
Muchmore said:
I have to get used to not shooting a flag like three or four times. The number never changes, but I'm so used to having to do that with past rangefinders. I'll break the habit eventually
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Haha, this is something that just hit me with your post just now. I used to shoot a couple times and now I’m finding that I’m not having to do that.

Can’t wait to give this a go at Ballyhack.
 
I used my Vortex for the first time today and really loved it. However I was paired with a guy with a Voice Caddy and the difference between my slope readings and his were way different. The Vortex was much lower. I don't know what the slope actually was. But I know one of us was wrong.
 
cnl390 said:
I used my Vortex for the first time today and really loved it. However I was paired with a guy with a Voice Caddy and the difference between my slope readings and his were way different. The Vortex was much lower. I don't know what the slope actually was. But I know one of us was wrong.
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You may have a defective one like mine. Did it read “lower” on the slope everywhere? With mine, it would read a shot as downhill even when it was slightly uphill. On true downhill shots, it would read a good 5-8yrds more downhill slope than there actually was.
 
mts25 said:
You may have a defective one like mine. Did it read “lower” on the slope everywhere? With mine, it would read a shot as downhill even when it was slightly uphill. On true downhill shots, it would read a good 5-8yrds more downhill slope than there actually was.
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Yes it read much lower. I'm going to compare to my brother-in-law Bushnell under more controlled conditions
 
Played a few holes yesterday around dusk and as it was getting darker I realized I must have had the auto brightness turned off when I last messed around with settings. Back to auto brightness and I was then able to read the display and get the target lined up with the reticle. Probably the feature that doesn’t get enough attention, but it really makes the Anarch easier to use without messing with buttons or settings.
 
I have not had any ranger finder for a while and have just been using a GPS app. GPS is great when you are on the tee trying to figure out where to go. From there I prefer a range finder. I love the slope and speed of this thing. Played a hole the other day that i could have sworn was down hill. After shooting it, it was dead flat!!
 
cnl390 said:
I used my Vortex for the first time today and really loved it. However I was paired with a guy with a Voice Caddy and the difference between my slope readings and his were way different. The Vortex was much lower. I don't know what the slope actually was. But I know one of us was wrong.
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My Anarch slope reading is suspect also as I have previously noted. Not sure a replacement will fix it. I think the algorithm they use causes it to read low. That is my experience anyway. I still love the image stabilization and don't never mind the slope.
 
ULEWZ said:
My Anarch slope reading is suspect also as I have previously noted. Not sure a replacement will fix it. I think the algorithm they use causes it to read low. That is my experience anyway. I still love the image stabilization and don't never mind the slope.
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There is clearly a problem with the slope feature on some of them. I was able to compare my Anarch vs. another Anarch. My slope was way off, while my friends Anarch was right in line with a Bushnell and a Voicecaddie unit. The Vortex algorithm is fine, but some of the units are not.
 
Muchmore said:
Hmmmmm, now I can't remember what color pin I was shooting. That will be something to keep an eye on!
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I played Saturday and noticed it not giving the feed back a lot and it was white flags. I won’t get out for a bit so I gave it to my dad to try out so I will ask him to confirm. It’s picking up the flag no problem just not always giving the feedback.
 
mts25 said:
There is clearly a problem with the slope feature on some of them. I was able to compare my Anarch vs. another Anarch. My slope was way off, while my friends Anarch was right in line with a Bushnell and a Voicecaddie unit. The Vortex algorithm is fine, but some of the units are not.
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That is interesting to know. I probably wont send it back as I need it.
I wonder if it has anything to do with what settings we are using?
I use the Circle with Crosshair rectile with pin seeker on. Autobrightness on also.
 
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cnl390 said:
I used my Vortex for the first time today and really loved it. However I was paired with a guy with a Voice Caddy and the difference between my slope readings and his were way different. The Vortex was much lower. I don't know what the slope actually was. But I know one of us was wrong.
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Every brand has it’s own algorithm to calculate slope and it’s not going to fit every golfer. A high swing speed, high ball hitter might hit 7 iron from 180 yards while some older or slower guys might be using a 3 wood from that distance. The slope algorithm of any rangefinder could be wrong for both of them.

My old club‘s 11th hole was a 190 yard par 3 that dropped about 100’ to the green surface. I remember standing on the tee will 3 buddies that all got different readings from their rangefinders and all of them were wrong for my trajectory. I knew after playing the hole hundreds of times that it was -12 yards and the closest reading from their rangefinder was -15 Yards.

It’s easy for me to make elevation adjustments if I have a line of sight distance and I also want to record all of my rounds into GHIN for handicap purposes and that’s against the rules if I’m using the slope function. I buy without slope or turn it off.
 
Been slacking on reviewing this thing. I told myself before purchasing that I wanted to get a Vortex rangefinder, but I bet I wouldn't use it much. That was a lie. I dont' pull it on every hole on my home course, but I've pulled it more times than I thought i would. Played my first night of league last week and my playing partner was using it more than me. Comparing it to his rangefinder and just blown away by the simplicity and clarity of it.

It's come in handy more times than I can count. And yeah - I know my yardages at my home course, but there are times when I just want to confirm where the pin is on the green compared to the center of the green I'm aiming at. I'm pretty excited to have this added to the bag this year.
 
I only get the haptic feedback on about 50% of the pins I shoot. My course has pins that have the prism on the top. If I aim at the top of the flag I never get a reading. If I aim at the middle of the pin I get a reading. I am wondering if the calibration is off on the actual aim point compared to the image. I will get the haptic feedback on trees and rocks behind the green more often than I do pins. While I think the optics are great it's just another average laser. I am having to range multiple times on every pin. I only trust it when I get 2-3 ranges that match with what I know is close. I am having to check the Bushnell wingman quite often.
Its built well, the stabilization is great, the optics are unparalleled in golf rangefinders, however it's not as great as other are saying. Now I am seeing others say the slope is off by quite a ways. I am not sure if it is or not as this is my first rangefinder and I have never used a slope feature before.
Is it as good as is out there. Yes.
Is it perfect. Far from it.
Would I buy it again. Yes.
 
Had a good round with the anarch yesterday...though a few notes:

-Very fast picking up the distance - no issues with that whatsoever
-Did not get the haptic feedback anytime I shot a white colored flag. Not a huge deal but wanted to mention it
-My magnet was no cooperating. Feel off the cart bar 3 times early on so I just put it in the cup holder. Maybe I had an issue with what I was doing? But it didn't wanna stay, and I felt like it wasn't any rough terrain

Still digging the unit and it gave me very reliable distances...a little concerned with the magnet issues, but we'll try again
 
rhinosparky said:
I only get the haptic feedback on about 50% of the pins I shoot. My course has pins that have the prism on the top. If I aim at the top of the flag I never get a reading. If I aim at the middle of the pin I get a reading. I am wondering if the calibration is off on the actual aim point compared to the image. I will get the haptic feedback on trees and rocks behind the green more often than I do pins. While I think the optics are great it's just another average laser. I am having to range multiple times on every pin. I only trust it when I get 2-3 ranges that match with what I know is close. I am having to check the Bushnell wingman quite often.
Its built well, the stabilization is great, the optics are unparalleled in golf rangefinders, however it's not as great as other are saying. Now I am seeing others say the slope is off by quite a ways. I am not sure if it is or not as this is my first rangefinder and I have never used a slope feature before.
Is it as good as is out there. Yes.
Is it perfect. Far from it.
Would I buy it again. Yes.
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I have experienced similar issue. I think the pin lock feature is different than other brands in how it determines it’s a pin or not. My guess is something to do with background depth.
 
The next time I play I’m going to take some notes on what color the flag is and if I get pin lock first go or not. At my home course I have experienced false or no pin locks, but when I was playing in Florida a few weeks back it worked flawless

Also, in regards to slope, I never use it but will test it again to see how it relates to my adjustments I make for elevation change. Curious to see if mine seems to be tuned properly or not.

Would be cool to hear from Vortex on how these functions work to better understand why the rangefinder might not be locking onto pins or giving a certain slope adjustment that seems off.
 
Over the last few weeks I have had more people ask me about this range finder than I care to count. Something about it (when slope is on) and the green light grabs ppls attention and they ask about the brand and what it is like.

I really only have amazing things to say about it and with how good the warranty is I am pretty sure I can say I am set for life with this model.

If you haven't tried one yet, do yourself a favor and get into the Vortex family of rangefinders. They are truly top notch and I don't know why anyone would consider anything but them. But that is just my take.
 
golfs_happy said:
Over the last few weeks I have had more people ask me about this range finder than I care to count. Something about it (when slope is on) and the green light grabs ppls attention and they ask about the brand and what it is like.

I really only have amazing things to say about it and with how good the warranty is I am pretty sure I can say I am set for life with this model.

If you haven't tried one yet, do yourself a favor and get into the Vortex family of rangefinders. They are truly top notch and I don't know why anyone would consider anything but them. But that is just my take.
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Love to hear this!!
 
xThor said:
Ohhhhhh my god just realized I left my rangefinder on the cart after today’s round and I’m soooo mad. It’s a private club so hopefully it’s in the shop in the morning
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We need an update. We know you already called the club by now.
 
@e1iterate had his out at ballyhack. It is a nice piece of equipment. Feels super premium, quick, very accurate, and the placement of the magnet is nice.
 
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