These are two of the cheapest ways to stop guessing your yardages, and they answer the budget question in opposite ways. The Nikon Coolshot 20 GIIis a tiny, no-slope laser that is always tournament-legal — nothing to switch off or forget. The TecTecTec VPRO500is the budget laser that started the value category, adding a genuine slope mode for elevation help on hilly casual rounds. Both are 6x, both are light and cheap, and both put an accurate number on the flag — so the real decision is about slope, not about which is the “better” laser. Check the live prices above.
Choose the Nikon Coolshot 20 GII if…
You play competition, or you just don’t want to think about the rules. Because the Nikon has no slope function at all, it is always tournament-legal — there is nothing to switch off, nothing to forget on the first tee, and no risk of an accidental breach. It’s also one of the smallest and lightest lasers around (Nikon lists roughly 4.6 oz), genuinely pocketable, and its multilayer-coated 6x optics give a bright, clear view, with First Target Priority favoring the flag over the trees behind it. If you want a clean, simple, always-legal laser and don’t care about elevation help, the Coolshot is the honest pick.
Choose the TecTecTec VPRO500 if…
You play hilly or unfamiliar courses casually and want the “plays like” number that accounts for uphill and downhill shots. The VPRO500’s slope mode is the feature the Nikon deliberately omits, and on an elevated tee or a steep uphill approach it turns a guess into a number — genuinely useful information for casual and practice rounds. You get the same 6x magnification and a listed one-yard accuracy, at a rock-bottom price that doesn’t sting if the laser lives at the bottom of a bag. Our full VPRO500 review covers it in detail.
How they actually differ
On the core job — putting an accurate number on the flag through 6x glass — these two are close, and both are honest value. The differences cluster around slope and its consequences. The Nikon has no slope, which makes it always legal and dead simple but gives up all elevation help; the TecTecTec has real slope, which helps on hilly casual rounds but means you must disable it for competition — and its slope isn’t flipped by a quick external switch the way premium units do it, so getting to a genuinely tournament-legal mode is fiddlier. Neither has a magnetic mount, and the Nikon is the more compact, more clearly rainproof-rated of the two (Nikon lists IPX4). In short: the Nikon trades features for simplicity and legality; the TecTecTec trades convenience for the slope feature.
Skip the decision entirely if…
You want a slope laser you can flip on and off cleanly for competition — because neither of these is that. If you play a lot of counting golf and want easy, switch-toggled slope, step up to a value laser with a proper external switch like the Blue Tees Series 3 or the Bushnell Tour V5 Shift; the switch alone is worth the small premium. Skip the laser question altogether if what you really want is a wrist-glance and the whole green at once rather than a pinpoint number to the pin — that’s a GPS watch’sjob. And whichever laser you choose, remember the rule: using slope in a counting round is a breach, so it must be off — the Nikon sidesteps that entirely, the TecTecTec asks you to manage it. See are rangefinders legal.
The honest verdict
Pick the Nikon Coolshot 20 GII if you value simplicity and always-legal peace of mind, or the TecTecTec VPRO500 if you want slope for hilly casual golf and the lowest possible price. Both are legitimate budget lasers that put the right number on the flag; the choice is simply whether elevation help matters more to you than a laser with nothing to switch off. If you find yourself wanting both slope and easy legality, that’s the signal to spend a little more on a switch-equipped laser rather than to split the difference here.
