Before delving into the matter of if a magnet will or can mess up a rangefinder, let’s talk about why anyone would want to incorporate a magnet into a rangefinder.
Rangefinder users add magnets to their rangefinder in order to mount the rangefinder onto something like a stand or a golf cart. However, a lot of people wonder if the magnets will have any impact on the performance or accuracy of the rangefinder.
A user actually asked if the impacts could be slow but inevitable? While there are no hard and fast rules about things like this, it will always be important if you carry out a thorough background work and factor in the type of magnet being used as well as the type of rangefinder.
Do Magnets Affect Rangefinders
However, if I were to answer this from a generic point of view, then the answer to the question of this article would be No, magnets cannot mess up a rangefinder or impact it.
As a matter of fact, a lot of people seem to think that magnets affect all electronic devices but that is simply not true. A magnet will only affect a device if the device is a magnetic storage-based device in the first place.
Some examples of things that can be affected by a magnet that is magnetic-based are magnetic tape, a hard drive, the strip of a credit card, and a floppy disk. The magnet impacts these devices by disrupting the magnetic patterns used in making these devices store data.
Now, unless you know about the existence of a magnetic rangefinder, magnets could hardly have an impact on the rangefinders we commonly know and use.
On the other hand, a lot of people believe that a magnet just has to be the right brand and of the right strength and it would be able to destroy any electronic device it comes in contact with.
Devices like televisions, flash drives, laptops, and even mobile phones. The basis for this is that there are specific components in certain devices that are sensitive or reactive to static electricity or magnetism.
In the same vein, some magnet users stated that the only time a magnet is harmful to any electronic device is when the magnet is either very large or it’s a moving magnet that is generating some form of electric current. And even at that, the movement has to be rapid enough to be considered fatal to electronic devices.
If you have the intention to modify your rangefinder by strapping on some magnets for whatever external reasons, then it is totally fine, the magnet will have no effect on the rangefinder. However, you should endeavor to use a light or thin magnet that is not very powerful.
Some rangefinder users have given reviews that even though they strapped their rangefinders with magnets, the rangefinder did not experience any effects. These users had Bushnell rangefinder, Nikon rangefinders and others.
Many rangefinder users are actually afraid to attach and use a magnet with their rangefinders because the laser rangefinder uses a chip and they are worried that the magnet would impact the chip but there is no need to be.
As I mentioned before, some factors need to be in place for a strong magnet to impact an electronic device and the magnet needs to be large and moving at a rapid pace to generate electric current.
But if all you want to do is strap on some magnets to the rangefinder so that you don’t have to dangle the device from your neck or hold it anymore, then, by all means, you can.