Nikon Forestry Pro

Am teaming with another guy to build a pretty long stretch of UTV trail in a mountain range near me. The lower part is not a concern, nothing more than 15% and a couple boggy spots to bridge. Easy enough.

The upper third has got some grade to it, some probably in the 2 or 3/1 range with timber and rock to deal with. I’d like to spend more time getting distances, cut/fill requirements, estimating trail cribbing, etc. before we start.

Wondered if anyone had used the Nikon Forestry Pro for doing rough layout. Combines rangefinder and Abney level functions, does the trig on-screen for heights and grade pitch. Seems like a pretty useful tool, and I’m tempted to buy one for this job.

I have one I bought to use with a crane that I leased out to another company. For my use it worked great, making sure I had the ready and height to get the grapple to the tree.


After I make sure I can find it, I would be fine with selling it... I think it’s in the filing cabinet.

Very occasionally I need to drop a tree next to something I really don’t want to nick - was thinking it might come in handy for something like that, too. And measuring for poly line, etc. when stepping it off or getting a tape around obstacles is a pain.

Realistically, I hope to aim higher and have it wind up forgotten behind the seat of the work truck.