It’s the SHOT Show’s third morning, and I’ve already received 11 different text messages from friends and family asking what the coolest products I’ve seen are.

While I’ve seen many, one of my favorites has to been Nikon’s new Monarch 3000 Stabilized Rangefinder.

My first impression: it’s compact, balanced, clear and fast. The fully multicoated optics were crystal clear, and target acquisition was rapid. Target-distance read back was also fast — really fast (.03 seconds) — and the red OLED reticle display only made my smile widen. If I’ve had one gripe with Nikon rangefinders over the years, it would be the black inside reticle display. That gripe is gone.

As bowhunters, we know getting a perfect stabilized read on a target can be almost impossible, especially when that target is made up of flesh and blood. The rise in heartrate and boost of adrenaline can cause our hands to shake, and if we’ve been crawling for hours as we make the perfect stalk, our arms and shoulders can be a little wobbly as well. Nikon’s Image Stabilization Technology remedies this problem. Even if you’re shaking, you’ll get a stable view and an accurate read on your target.

The Monarch 3000 Stabilized offers a maximum reflective distance of 3,000 yards and a maximum on-game-animal distance of 1,000 yards. Some bowhunters may see this as overkill. Not me. I use my rangefinder to plan my stalks just as much as I do to range animals during the moment of truth. When I know exactly how far I have to go to a certain bush, tree or fence post, I’m able to get from spot to spot more fluidly and make fewer mistakes. I’ll take all the reflective distance I can get in a rangefinder.

Water- and fogproof, the Monarch 3000 Stabilized showcases a wide 7.5-degree field-of-view Tru-Target Technology that allows the bowhunter to switch between First Target and Distant Target modes, and ID Technology promises an accurate distance regardless of the up or down angle.