A $300 laser is not $300. It is $300 divided by every round you will play with it before it breaks, gets left on a cart, or gets replaced by the next model. Put in your numbers and the calculator does the division, next to what the app would cost you over the same years, at the plan prices on this site.
What this leaves out. A laser gives the distance to whatever you aim at, usually the flag, to about a yard; Yardage gives the distance to the center of the green. If you play tournaments with a no-slope rule, or you want the pin number on every approach, the laser is the right tool and this calculator will not change that. Money is one input, not the answer.
How to read the result
The two big numbers are cost per round: the laser's price plus whatever you enter for batteries and repairs, minus what you would sell it for, spread over your rounds; and the cheapest Yardage option for your rounds per year, spread the same way. The table underneath shows all three app options, because the cheapest one changes with how much you play. Play a handful of rounds a year and paying $1.99 per round wins. The annual plan takes over once a year's rounds, bought one at a time, would cost more than $29.99; the table shows where that line falls at the pace you enter. If you play only from May to September, the monthly plan for those months can beat both, which is what the "months a year" field is for.
The break-even line answers a different question: how many rounds before the laser has paid for itself against paying per round, and how many years before it has paid for itself against the annual plan. Both are the laser's price divided by a Yardage price, so the calculator works them out from the prices on this site rather than from anything typed into this page. With the defaults, a $300 laser over five years at twenty rounds a year, the laser costs $3.00 a round. At today's prices both break-even points land after those five years, so at that pace the app comes out cheaper; keep the laser long enough, or pay less for it, and the laser wins. That is the honest shape of it: a laser is a fixed cost, so the more golf you play for longer, the better it looks. The verdict under the table says which way your own numbers fall.
One more field worth using: resale. A two-year-old laser from a known brand sells, and entering a realistic figure can cut the device's cost per round by a third. Enter zero if you know you will keep it until it dies, which most of us do.
Things the calculator leaves out, in the interest of not pretending: interest on the money, the odds of losing the device (real; ask around), the resale value unless you type one in, and the joy of owning a nice object. If you enjoy the laser, that is worth something and no spreadsheet will price it. How much a golf rangefinder costs has the price bands by feature if you are deciding what to buy in the first place.
When a rangefinder is the right buy
We make a golf app, so take this with that in mind, and then notice we are saying it anyway. A laser is the better tool in three situations.
You want the number to the flag. A laser measures the distance to whatever you aim at, and Bushnell's manual for its Tour V6 states ranging accuracy of plus or minus one yard out to 500. Yardage shows the distance to the center of the green, from GPS that under open sky is typically accurate to within about 5 meters, roughly 16 feet, according to GPS.gov. If you are a good enough player that the difference between a front pin and a back pin changes your club, and you play greens deep enough for that to matter, the laser earns its place.
You play competitions with device rules. Under the Rules of Golf distance-measuring devices are allowed unless a Local Rule prohibits them, and even where they are allowed, a slope reading is not. A laser with slope switched off is a known quantity to a tournament committee; check with yours, and see do you need a rangefinder for the fuller picture.
You are at a course that is not mapped. The app works only on the 14,987 courses whose greens we have mapped; a laser works on any flag it can see. If you travel to obscure places, the laser is insurance.
What the app does better: the number without aiming, including blind shots and doglegs where the laser has nothing to hit; the number on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island so you do not fish anything out of the bag; and no device to charge, carry or lose. The full comparison sets the two side by side without the sales voice, and pricing has the plans in plain terms.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a golf rangefinder cost?
Golf laser rangefinders run from roughly $150 for basic models to $500 and more for the tour-series units with slope, magnets and better optics. The calculator takes whatever price you would actually pay, not a list price.
What does Yardage cost?
During the TestFlight beta, rounds are free. In the App Store version the first round is free. After that a single round is $1.99 for up to eight hours, a month of unlimited rounds is $5.99, and a year is $29.99. The calculator reads the same prices, so its numbers always match these.
Is a rangefinder worth it?
If you play a lot for many years, a laser you keep can work out to well under a dollar a round, and the calculator will say so. If you play twenty rounds a year and would buy a new one every few years, the per-round cost is closer to three dollars. Money is one input; the other is whether you want the flag number or the middle.
What does the calculator ignore?
Interest on the purchase, the chance you lose the device, resale unless you enter it, and the fact that some golfers just like a gadget in the bag. On the app side it counts the free first round once over the whole period, not once a year.
Does the app do what the laser does?
No. A laser measures line-of-sight distance to whatever you aim at, usually the flag, to about a yard by the manufacturers' specifications. Yardage shows the GPS distance to the center of the green, without aiming, including blind shots, on the Lock Screen. Different tools, different numbers.