I really can speak only for my UC4H VL53L1x UAVCAN sensor modules (http://www.olliw.eu/2018/uavcan-for-hobbyists-blog/#20190223, http://www.olliw.eu/2017/uavcan-for-hobbyists/#chapterrangefinderbuild) (where I don’t bother with a 2.8V LDO, which is fully within specs according to datasheet; I also did some tests with the module which Tim_D linked to and if there are effects I couldn’t notice them)
My experience with the VL53L1x so far is that indoors it works up to 4m, but the data gets (can get) quite noisy above ca 3m, so that the range which can be used reliably is ca 2.5-3 m or so (longrange mode).
Outdoors it gives just crap in longrange mode, totally unusable. In the short range mode ppoirier was referring to it works better, and for downfacing it might (!?) be usable, but for forward, when it tends to see more bright light, etc I wouldn’t want to rely on it.
Outdoors I’m using it only to bridge the low-distance gap of the TFMini, to have rangefinder data also at short distances for somewhat improved/smoother landing.
EDIT: for OF applications I think one also needs to take into account that it’s not beam-like, but has a FOV of 2X°, i.e. when tilted its data usally won’t show the on-axis distance, I would wonder if this effect is properly accounted for in current codes, and if that might render it un-suitable