Rangefinder ???
Equipment
I have Bushnell Elite 1500 Rangefinder but looking to upgrade. I'm looking at Leupold® RX®-1000i Rangefinder with DNA™ and TBR®. Does anyone have suggestions, input, concerns?? Thanks
Leica 1600B IMO, and be done with it for YEARS!
the Leica 1600B is worthless for bowhunting as the angle comp doesn't work under about 90 yards.
The Leupy 1000i TBR w/ DNA is the best archery rangefinder you can buy today.
For mid range rifle I will let you know in a day. It appears that the 1000i requires you to use one of their ballistic "groups" when in TBR mode for a rifle. This results in additional calculations to the cosine value on angled shots. The Leica does the same thing. Those calcs may be wanted/needed for long rifle shots, I don't know.
I haven't seen a Vortex 1000 but it apparently only uses cosine. I have seen bad reviews of the Vortex however and have stayed away from it.
WapitiBob,
I would appreciate if you would let me know how the TBR works and any other info!
Thanks
Leopold 1000i tba. Awesome rangefinder
I second WapitiBobs opinion! Leupold RX 1000i TBR w. DNA is outstanding rangefinder for bowhunting! Only serious competition should be Opti Logic's new model.
Janez
I have a Leup Rx-750 w/bow mode and it quit the first time it rained in the same county! It'd be hard to sell me another Leup.
I have a Leupold 1600-B and a Leupold RX 1000i TBD w/DNA. The Leupold is the one to buy for a bowhunter as it gives you horizontal range at bow distances. The Leica does not as stated above. Compared to the Leica, the Leupold was 1/2 price, has decent optics, is an ounce heavier and is about an inch shorter.
I will be selling the Leica 1600-B. I ran a Leica CRF 1200 since they came out (7 yrs ago?). It was a great unit. Unfortunately the advertising on the Leica 1600-B didn't mention the fact it doesn't work at bow ranges. Disappointing if you buy one and find out the bad news.
Before you all sell your rangefinder maybe you could get some help from a sixth grader and his math book. Assuming you are in a tree twenty feet off the ground and are shooting at a deer at thiry yards you have a right triangle with a height of twenty and a base of ninety(feet). The straight line distance to a ground target is the hypotenuse which can be calculated by sqaring the height (20x20=400) and the base (90x90) or 8100. Add the two (8500) and take the sqare root to caculate the hypotenuse or lin of arrow flight which is 92.195 feet. The difference is about two feet or 2/3 yard at thirty yards. That is not a significant differnce in aim point. The companies that sell those range compensators have done a remarkable marketing job on you guys though.
Darn! Just as I was rounding down to 91 feet the monster stepped out of my shooting lane. Go figure
I made that exact switch and would never regret it! The Leupy is a wonderful rangefinder and I shipped it to my door for $400. I also have done the "sixth grade math" before, but upgraded due to size, clarity of optic and LED readout. As petedrummond would also be able to explain to you it does come in handy in some situations like mulie hunting where you are on an inline and the buck is as well and it is hard to judge the actual horizontal distance.
So for the $$ spent, and the literally "no" time lost in computing to get the readout (literally 2-3 times faster than the Bushnell 1500) I don't mind having the angle feature as well.
On a side note I owned the 1500 since they were brand spankin new, and it was an awesome investment. But I've got to say, being able to put the Leupy in a shirt pocket is very very nice.
I have been using the Nikon Riflehunter 550 and recently bought an Optilogic Micro II. I like the small size, light weight, affordable price and red display of the Optilogic better, but its is a very simple - almost crude - unit. Hopefully I will have more (positive) feedback on it after some use.
The Optilogic is also odd in that it ranges on the release of the button rather than the depression of the button. To contrast, you push the button down, the aim point comes on, you put it on target, release the button and you get a range. Other RF's require you to push, release to get the aiming point and push again to get the range. The Optilogic method is probably faster, but takes some getting used to.
Horizontal yardage is dang useful for me. I spent 14 days hunting stone sheep this year and hunt mountain mulies and black bears every weekend. So I may not be 20' above a critter like Pete states above. I often am at angle of repose, (37 degrees) or on a cliff above a critter at an even steeper angle and out to my maximum effective range.. Using a trig table written on masking tape on the bow quiver, then doing the math using the Leica 1600-B angle readout is not optimum but is where I was this year. By the way, 45 degrees means a 30% reduction in yardage, which is very steep, and also very significant unless you are shooting at close range.
For the flatlander, there is little to be gained knowing horizontal distance, but things change if you are a mountain hunter.
"Horizontal yardage is dang useful for me. I spent 14 days hunting stone sheep this year and hunt mountain mulies and black bears every weekend."
Agreed. Even though there are many scenarios where the actual and horizontal distances do not differ much such as the example above, even a sixth grader would understand that there are many scenarios where the difference between the actual and horizontal distance is the difference between a clean kill and a miss - or worse yet, a cripple.
I just bought the Leupold 800i with TBR. The first one I bought would never read an angle different than 0 degrees. The Cabelas guy worked on it for 1/2 hour and couldn't get it to work so we eventually traded it for the display model. This one seems to work correctly. I had tried to write the Expert at Leupold to ask about the finder, but it took them more than a week to answer back. By that time I needed it for a hunt out west so I had to call them. Just a bad model, I guess. I will know more about how good it is after a hunt in MT this month. The small size was one of the buying points for me.
I don't think that WapitiBob's comment above is exactly correct (unless the 1000 is quite a bit different than the 800). The basic mode shows you actual and horizontal distance. You can use one of their other modes if you want to view holdover in inches or milliradians, MOA or TRIG info. There is also a trophy feature to put in antler width, but I haven't messed with that.
I tried out the Leica 1600 but couldn't get used to the display. The finder box would appear on the first push, but then disappear when you were really scanning. It is probably something that wouldn't bug you when used a lot.
How about an affordable range finders.
My wife uses Archers Choice Max by Nikon for 250.00 and I use the Bushnell Scout 1000 for 250.00.
We love them and have killed many deer with them. You dont have to spend the money the guys above are suggesting to mark distance for a deer that is 100 yards and closer.
Most cant afford models listed above nor would I spend that kind of money to range a deer at 40 yds. Just my opinion.....
Seriously guys this guy may be simple man with limited funds like the rest of us.
Redfield Raider is a serviceable and inexpensive rangefinder for about $169. Redfield is owned by Leupold now. Gets five stars at Midway USA and they are out of stock if that tells you anything.
tndeerhunter - "How about an affordable range finders"
Most here were recommending the Leupold - I paid $319 for the 800i at Cabelas. Probably cheaper elsewhere. I use mine for archery, muzzleloader and rifle so it seemed like a good compromise.
BTW - the Cabelas help at the optics desk were recommending the Nikon finders to everyone that was asking. They really like the way that Nikon implemented the angle compensation feature.
Lost my Leica rangefinder on opening weekend. Really liked it, but now that I have to replace it, I was looking at the Vortex model. Anyone have one or used one?
Pete , I see that redfield has a $50 rebate available as well. Anyone ever use one of the redfield raider 550?
GET THE LEUPOLD... love mine! Incredibly fast and love the ease of changing the settings.
GEN, I've had the vortex rangefinder since April. I was able to get one before they shipped out to the dealers. I used it in Africa and also this year elk hunting. I absolutely love it! I know some people have had problems with them, but so far mine has performed flawlessly.
I love my Nikon Rifle Hunter. It has range comp and works out to 500 yards for rifle hunting and fits in my shirt pocket. Very simple two buttons one to switch between angle comp and regular and one to range. I like the KISS method.
I am very pleased with my Opti-logic micro II. I still have their much earlier model in which they pioneered angle compensation; it still works fine but I like the smaller model. Can't see myself changing from them.
"The Optilogic is also odd in that it ranges on the release of the button rather than the depression of the button. To contrast, you push the button down, the aim point comes on, you put it on target, release the button and you get a range. Other RF's require you to push, release to get the aiming point and push again to get the range. The Optilogic method is probably faster, but takes some getting used to."
Matt, if you hold down the button, after a few seconds, it will go into scan mode and give the range while you are holding it down.
Leopold over the vortex. I've heard the vortex has slow readings. Leopold is awesome
Jd, I've be en out antelope killing and havent had much time to diagnose the rifle aspects of the 1000i. Just point n shoot so far.
Amoebus, the 1000i is different than the 800i. One range only when in tbr/bas mode. The only slope I could range so far gave a reading within 1 yard of bow mode. I'm interested in it's angle comp when in those modes because it requires a selection of a ballistics group. I'm in wy so the long range coupled with up/down is limited so far.
Bought the leupold this summer, 1000i,tbr,dna. Love it. If I lost it or it was stolen, I would buy another. Wouldn't look at anything else.
I bought a Redfield for my Dad and we couldn't get it to read/range ANYTHING! Returned it and bought him a Nikon 550. Great Unit.
Matt...Your last post is priceless and SO SPOT ON. I've had the exact same argument with many.
I am currently using the Swarovski EL Range Bino unit. This could potentially be the perfect unit but it won't range under 31 yards!!! Some say "not a big deal"...I say it is a huge deal in the mountains when you are 100 feet above an animal and trying to figure out whether that animal is 15 yards or 30 yards.
If/when Zeiss adds angle comp. to their bino unit, it WILL be perfect.
Since switching over to the single combo units, I will have a hard time going back to two units. (bino and rangefinder) By the way, I've owned the Leica BRF combo unit, the Zeiss Combo unit and the Swaro El Range. My favorite by far is the Zeiss but it has no angle comp. The Swaro is good but can't range under 31 yards. The Leica just never worked out for me and mine went back to Leica 3 times before I finally sold them as binos.
Went with the leupold, so far it's a great product!! Nikon doesn't even compare.
This is my 4 Opti-Logic range finder, the 1 one worked great & wished I never sold it. Next got the Micro 1 & had problems with it not being accurate would take 4 shots of an object & get 4 different reading with as much as 8 yards difference, then I got the “New Micro II which was suppose to be the latest & greatest! Well it was a total disappointment as if cold would loose the ability to see the red dot & read out & also the same accuracy problem as the last one. Contacted them & told that there was a electric board problem but was out of warranty but they said would knock off $100.00 so I got my 4 Opti-Logic range finder & now having same problems but also out of warranty & not receiving any support after having 4 of there range finders & spending almost $900.00 total on them. For the amount of money I have spent on them I wish I had got a Leica range finder as a friend has had 1 for almost 10 years & the only thing he has had to do is replace batteries They are not customer service friendly & they warranty SUCKS. Very disappointed customer that wouldn’t be returning!
I had the Vortex and was not real happy with it. I bought the Sig Saur 2000 and could not be happier.
switched from Nikon to leupold a few years ago, I really like it. The more compact size is great.
Wow can't believe this thread is 6 years old already. I guess that explains why my Leupy is got all the rubber coating worn off already. I believe it's over 10 years old.
Yes, time flies, per this thread I bought my Leupold in 2012....thought it was ‘13.
My wife boldly bought the Sig Sauer 2200 for my B Day and the court is still out on it. I did kill 3 pigs on May 16 and 2 on the 19th but court is still out on it. The real test is in a month when the grass is high to obstruct kill zones and you are try to get pin point readings off of the upper body and back line. Red display is the only way to go.
these are what I have right now. leica 1600R, leupold RX full draw dna, sig kilo2200
they all work well enough. If i had to take on it would be the leica
I have a garmin exro sight on the way and providing i like it in use as much as i likied it when i tried it...i am thinking of ditching my hand helds and going with xero and El ranges
THe Leica has best optIcs but mine did not angle compensate so I went to the sig and love it
Bou you must have had the older b version. The R versions now have angle compensation.
Trial, how fast does the Leica 1600R take to display the angle corrected (horizontal) yardage? Does it angle correct down to 10 yards? Why I ask is the 1600B would only angle correct BEYOND 110 yards so was worthless for bowhunting in the mountains (in my view). And my Leica 1000R takes about 3 seconds to display the angle corrected yardage after first displaying line of sight....which is ridiculously long if you are in a spot and stalk and want to range an animal below you multiple times to get a confirmation of yardage. I was curious if the 1600R has corrected these deficiencies? Thanks!
Kurt, it’s pretty quick to range,can’t be more then second or two at the most. It’s not noticeable slower then either my sig or Leupold. It is way more positive then the other two by far, what I mean by that i seem to have less miss hits, you press the button and you get a range. The angle compensation is said to be down to ten yards, and I haven’t had reason to doubt that. The glass is excellent, noticeable better then anything else I have or had, and the red automatic readout been super, it auto adjusts to light and background. My Leupold buy comparison is very dim in a lot of conditions. The only thing I think could be improved on with the Lecia is a last acquired setting. meaning if you take a long range say at 300 yards, then quickly take another range of the same object but inadvertently range say a branch at 150 yards there are setting that could stop that based on the last reading. The Lecia doesn’t have that. It also doesn’t tell you the angle per-say, it just builds the chop right into the reading. All in all I think it’s the best standalone unit for its size at this point, I am sure they’re better out there but not at the size and price.
Trial, Thanks, so the Leica 1600R only displays the angle corrected yardage and that is what pops up when you range something? If so that would be great, unlike the Leica 1000R that first displays the actual yardage then 3 seconds later displays the angle corrected yardage which is the only info I want as a bowhunter. I agree the Leicas are nice units as per optical quality, longevity, elegant design, decent screen, etc. I've had three...the first CRF1200 without angle correction was a great unit for me for many years, and I sold it for a decent amount of $$ when it was 5 or 6 yrs old. My 1600B was a bust, as is my 1000R, all due to poor design for bowhunting use related to angle correction. Hopefully they got it right in the 1600R!
I replaced my vortex ranger with a Leupold, the Leupold is so much better in every way except it doesn't have a belt clip, that was the only good thing about the vortex!
Agree with carcus on the Leupold. Great archery rangefinder. I use mine preferentially to the Leica 1000R I have as a backup.
Yes Kurt, single reading with the angle cut built in.
Rick, less then 50 yards and less then 30degress I would say you’d be close enough not to matter with a subtract 5.
Over that and you might be in miss and wound territory
Angle technology is not needed for 99% of deer hunting but is too cheap and available in any rangefinder not to buy in the odd case you are hunting in hilly territory and need it.
The Sig 2000 has worked well for me.
APauls: you said that angle technology is not needed for 99% of deer hunting.
Are you referring to whitetails, mule deer, Sitka blacktails, and Coues? Or are you referring just to whitetails in ag land?
