I Test Golf Gear for a Living and This Amazing New Rangefinder Helped Me Shave Strokes Off of My Rounds

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On a certain level, golf is about data. The stock yardage of your 9 iron, the distance from the ball to the pin, the distance from the front of the green to the back of the green, the elevation change between the tee box and the hole—golfers obsess over data, which is why pros carry journals in their back pockets to record every aspect of every shot and every nook and cranny of the course they’re playing. It’s also why amateur golfers like me spend hard earned money on GPS-enabled watches and apps that have the layouts of every course in America, and laser rangefinders that tell us the exact distance we need to cover down to the half-yard. Give me enough data and maybe, maybe I can shave a couple of strokes off my round. 

This is where the new Mileseey GenePro G1 rangefinder comes in handy, as it puts more data in the hands of a golfer than any other rangefinder on the market. I’ve spent the last three weeks testing the GenePro G1 during multiple rounds at courses throughout the mountains of North Carolina. Here are my thoughts on this new tool that’s designed to help average golfers make better decisions on the course. 

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What It Is 

Mileseey is a tool company that predominantly makes thermal imaging and laser-measuring devices for construction, but they’ve also made a name for themselves in the golf world by creating hyper-accurate rangefinders. Their latest in that category, the GenePro G1, is a feature rich rangefinder that promises to bridge the gap between the GPS-enabled watches and apps that are flooding the market and the traditional rangefinder’s that many golfers rely on for the majority of their shots. 

Yes, the GenePro G1 has a super accurate rangefinder, but it’s loaded with extra features that take it beyond the rangefinder category. Built-in GPS and a cache of detailed maps for more than 43,000 courses that you can access via a large touchscreen help the GenePro G1 compete with the best golf watches and apps on the market, while other golf-centric features help you decide where to lay up and what dangers lie ahead within your shot’s range, giving golfers the kind of data that you typically only get when playing with a caddie that’s super familiar with the course at hand. 

Mileseey GenePro G1 Golf Rangefinder Overall Impressions 

I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to figure out how to use the GenePro G1 on the course. The standard rangefinder application is straightforward and works exactly the way other rangefinders work, so you can take it out of the box and onto the course and have that main feature at your fingertips with no problem. The Slope toggle, which turns slope on or off and gives you an adjusted distance of your shot based on that slope, is also easy to figure out. But it took me several rounds and several consultations with the manual and online tutorials before I figured out some of the unique features that set the GenePro G1 apart from other golf tools. That’s the give and take with having a single device that can do so many things; there’s a bit of a learning curve involved. 

But once I figured out the nuances of the GenePro G1, I fell in love with it. There’s still some room for improvement with this device, but it outperforms other rangefinders I’ve tested because of the sheer tools available at your fingertips. Having an interactive touchscreen with course layouts means I don’t have to pull out my phone to access an app with similar data, and having built-in features that help me decide what club to use on any given shot, gives me the sort of knowledge it takes to make good decisions and score low. 

Other than the steep learning curve (I got stuck in Ball to Pin mode for one round rendering the rangefinder aspect of the device useless), my only knock against the GenePro G1 is that it doesn’t have a magnetic shell, so you can’t slap it onto the bar of your golf cart. You have to buy Mileseey’s magnetic case ($40) if you want to attach it to your cart or bag, and then you have to unzip the rangefinder out of the case every time you want to use it. Adding that extra step slows down the process, and I’d like for Mileseey to find a way to incorporate a magnetic element to the rangefinder itself in future versions. 

Key Features and Tech

It’s actually hard for me to distill everything the GenePro G1 offers, because there are so many features in this tiny tool. But a couple of key elements will be super useful to the majority of golfers. The first is the Shot Arc feature. Push the flag lock and it gives you three different yardages: to the pin, the front and back of the green. That’s a feature on a lot of rangefinders, but the GenePro G1 gives you more key data. Look at the touchscreen after shooting the pin, and you’ll see an arc showing you what’s in play at the same distance on either side of the green so you’ll know the exact consequences of an errant shot. 

Another one of my favorite aspects of the GenePro G1 is the Lay Up feature, which allows you to touch a finger to any spot on the hole you’re playing on the touchscreen, and it shows you the distance to that spot, and then the distance you’ll have from that spot to the center of the green. So you know exactly what club to use if you want to play it safe, and then you’ll know what sort of shot you’ll be facing after playing it safe. This allows you to tailor your approach to the clubs you hit the most consistently. I’ve been working on my course management and focusing on not just hitting the longest club in my bag for each shot, so the Lay Up feature has become my de-facto caddie, helping me play through the course more thoughtfully. 

But the handiest feature in this rangefinder, especially for golfers who use carts, is the Ball to Pin mode, which allows you to measure the distance from your ball to the pin when you’re sitting in the car on the cart path. The biggest hassle of using a cart during the round, especially if the course is cart path only, is you have to guess the distance from your ball to your target before you’re standing next to your ball. So you bring three clubs with you, or you forget to take three clubs with you and you have to try to muscle it with the wrong club because you misjudged the distance left to the green. The GenePro G1 lets you know the exact distance by triangulating the distance from you to the ball, and then you to the pin. It’s genius, it’s accurate, and it’s the handiest feature within the GenePro G1’s suite of features in my opinion. 

It took me a while to get the Pin Pointer feature working. I had to recalibrate the device’s compass, but once I had it dialed in, I appreciated the feature. I play mountain golf with so many hard dog legs and steep elevation changes hiding pins, it can feel like you’re playing blind. This easy-to-use feature takes the guesswork out blind shots by pointing directly at the pin from your location. 

Pros

• Feature rich device 
• Waterproof 
• Provides more data than other rangefinders 
• Replaces the GPS watch and apps with a single device

Cons

• Magnetic carry case sold separately 
• User interface isn’t intuitive

Final Verdict 

The GenePro G1 offers the average golfer a lot of tools in a single device. Having all of this data at my fingertips has absolutely helped me make better decisions on the golf course. But it took a while for me to understand all of the tools at my disposal, and golfers should be prepared for a bit of a “break-in period” where you learn how to use the device to its fullest capacity. But if you’re looking for a single tool that gives you deep levels of data for every shot you’re facing, then the GenePro G1 is the rangefinder for you. 

Why You Should Trust Me 

I’ve been testing and reviewing gear of all kinds for more than 20 years, writing about everything from the best golf clubs for beginners to the best backyard grills for Men’s Journal and other national magazines. I’ve spent a lot of time fiddling with the GenePro G1, comparing it to other rangefinders in my quiver, as well as the golf apps and watches that I’ve come to rely on in recent years. While I’m not a professional golfer, I am on a quest to lower my handicap and reach scratch for the first time in my life. It’s a process that has me playing golf multiple times a week while also analyzing the gear in my hands on a regular basis. 

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