range finders

[deadidarren]

gday all i'm here to get educated , i have this on another site as well .

now i don't know a lot about range finders other than i have spent a fair amount on them

i have had 2 Leupold 1000 XBR a zeiss prf and still have Leupold 600 and a leica 1600B

and to be honest all of them are hopeless at ranging anything smaller than a car over 1000

yards is there a technical reason they cant make a range finder with a beam divergence

of .5MOA so i can get a beam on some small targets out in the distance .


cheers D

 

[dkhunt14]

Unfortunately they have to be eye safe. That is what makes the problem. The best is a Terrapin Vectronix. Unfortunately they stopped making them so you have to find a used one and most aren't going to sell them. The G7 is probably the next best one. There was a good article on the internet about rangefinders. I don't remember what it was called. JamesnTN posted it awhile back. If you type rangefinders in search and look for a post he made you will find it. It was post 6 on my search. Matt

 

[Frankr]

Humm if you have the leica 1600 my opinion the best rangefinder out there.
I have the leica 1200 range master and it has ranged for me out to 1200 yards most of the time.I have never not had it range to 1000 yards. except in fog,thick humid air. or intense sunlight.
my buddy has the leica 1600 and when mine would only range to 200 yards in rain,foggy day his would do 600 easy.
I also have a 2015 G7 because I like all the information it can give me. it has ranged for me on a good day to 2,100 yards. I could range out to 1,650 yards as far as I could see that it would pick up, I could see a hill or two over but must have been beyond 2,500 yards. from what I have seen the leica 1600 will range out to 1600 yards easy if you can see that far.

Wont pick up or read...hazy/foggy super bright sunlight or shaky hands all degrade the laser back to the finder.
low battery will also cause it not to work.
I would say if you have a leica 1600 and it wont range out to 1000 yards easy I would be on the phone to leica and be sending it in to be tested.

 

[deadidarren]

Unfortunately they have to be eye safe. That is what makes the problem. The best is a Terrapin Vectronix. Unfortunately they stopped making them so you have to find a used one and most aren't going to sell them. The G7 is probably the next best one. There was a good article on the internet about rangefinders. I don't remember what it was called. JamesnTN posted it awhile back. If you type rangefinders in search and look for a post he made you will find it. It was post 6 on my search. Matt

thanks will have a look

Humm if you have the leica 1600 my opinion the best rangefinder out there.
I have the leica 1200 range master and it has ranged for me out to 1200 yards most of the time.I have never not had it range to 1000 yards. except in fog,thick humid air. or intense sunlight.
my buddy has the leica 1600 and when mine would only range to 200 yards in rain,foggy day his would do 600 easy.
I also have a 2015 G7 because I like all the information it can give me. it has ranged for me on a good day to 2,100 yards. I could range out to 1,650 yards as far as I could see that it would pick up, I could see a hill or two over but must have been beyond 2,500 yards. from what I have seen the leica 1600 will range out to 1600 yards easy if you can see that far.

Wont pick up or read...hazy/foggy super bright sunlight or shaky hands all degrade the laser back to the finder.
low battery will also cause it not to work.
I would say if you have a leica 1600 and it wont range out to 1000 yards easy I would be on the phone to leica and be sending it in to be tested.

yes i have a 1600B and there is no way it will range a rabbit , fox , or ferel cat at 800 yards let alone 1000+

 

[Frankr]

deadidarren it wont pick up the ground ? I can just point at the ground(earth) shoot it and get a reading to the ground.
so if anything is there I have the distance. I was ranging a bobcat at 500 to 600 yards the other day with my leica 1200 range master. yea we just shoot the ground and get a reading. a lot of times hunting we will pre-range different spots we are shooting incase a deer just appears there we just know how far it is. cause whitetail,coyotes,bobcats are skittish and don't stick around long. so we know how far most of are shots are because we pre-ranged most of it.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Rangefinders have advertised ranges on reflective targets. So a 1600yd rangefinder works perfect at 1600yds if youre ranging a car covered with reflective tape like a stop sign. Non reflective targets are about half that. My gong sled has reflective trailer tape on the frame like from a truck stop. It really extended the distance on my terrapin

 

[dkhunt14]

Usually I can range to 2500 yards or farther with my Terapin on a big object like a tree. They have to be tripod mounted to range accurately. Matt

 

[5spd]

As stated above, call leica & they will take care of the 1600b issue if it has one.
I have no problem picking up coyotes at 900 yards in tall grasses w/my 1600B.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Rangefinders have advertised ranges on reflective targets. So a 1600yd rangefinder works perfect at 1600yds if youre ranging a car covered with reflective tape like a stop sign. Non reflective targets are about half that. My gong sled has reflective trailer tape on the frame like from a truck stop. It really extended the distance on my terrapin

False. My Leica 1600 will range 1600 yards on pine tree branches EVERY time on an overcast day. And that's holding it standing with one hand.

I've even ranged a treed mountain slope at over 2000 yards on a bright sunny day by holding it in scan mode. Got two readings in about 10 seconds. One at 2010, and another at 2017.

The OPs Leica 1600 must be faulty because mine will reach its nameplate 1600 yards with no problem on NON reflective targets. Heck they don't even have to be flat or perfectly vertical.

 

[Frankr]

Rangefinders have advertised ranges on reflective targets. So a 1600yd rangefinder works perfect at 1600yds if youre ranging a car covered with reflective tape like a stop sign. Non reflective targets are about half that. My gong sled has reflective trailer tape on the frame like from a truck stop. It really extended the distance on my terrapin

Yea that sounds like a Leupold Range finder(lol) IMO the worst one I have ever used.
my Leica 1200 RM will range the ground(hill side) tree's deer to 1200 yards.
My hunting buddy has the Leica 1600 he bought it because how well my 1200 worked.
It will range out to 1600 yards and sometimes even beyond 1600 yards on tree's,dirt deer.
I have a 2015 G7 I have only used it a few times so far but seems to work as well as the Leica but can range out to 2500 yards puls it gives a lot of information. even ALT,Temp,RH. Incline. wow it really is so much more than just a Rangefinder.

Now I thought what if you were somewhere where it was flat for 3 miles and had to pick up just a rabbit nothing for the laser to hit but the rabbit. I don't know if you would get a reading or not. We have a lot of uneven ground and steep hills so it's easy to get something for the laser to hit. As I said we a lot of times set up glassing and ranging the whole area we are shooting and a lot of times we will pick a small clearing and just shoot the ground to get a reading.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Yea that sounds like a Leupold Range finder(lol) IMO the worst one I have ever used.
my Leica 1200 RM will range the ground(hill side) tree's deer to 1200 yards.
My hunting buddy has the Leica 1600 he bought it because how well my 1200 worked.
It will range out to 1600 yards and sometimes even beyond 1600 yards on tree's,dirt deer.
I have a 2015 G7 I have only used it a few times so far but seems to work as well as the Leica but can range out to 2500 yards puls it gives a lot of information. even ALT,Temp,RH. Incline. wow it really is so much more than just a Rangefinder.

Now I thought what if you were somewhere where it was flat for 3 miles and had to pick up just a rabbit nothing for the laser to hit but the rabbit. I don't know if you would get a reading or not. We have a lot of uneven ground and steep hills so it's easy to get something for the laser to hit. As I said we a lot of times set up glassing and ranging the whole area we are shooting and a lot of times we will pick a small clearing and just shoot the ground to get a reading.

The Leica 1600 gives temp, angle, and ballistics drop calculations. I believe it also gives Barometric pressure too, but can't remember. Would a have to dig it out of the safe to be sure. They added a lot of technology that the 1200 did not have.

Altitude would be a great piece of info. I might have to check out the G7. How big is the G7 in comparison the the Leica CRFs?

 

[Frankr]

Yea the 1600 has some features but not in any way like the G7. The G7 is a ballistic computer, once programed with your rifles ballistic curve,at your ALT,temp. It will read the range,Give you drop data to target in MOA, Mill,ballistic turret in corrected values for your temp,alt. out to 1400 yards.It will then give you wind hold values for your load in corrected values for you conditions in 5mph to 30 mph. Plus it will give you incline deg,current Alt,Temp,RH. maybe something else I cant remember. You can program up to five different Ballistic profiles. It is much Bigger and Bulky then the Leica's but kind of a great tool ..No Charts,No computers. I really like the idea.. It seems to work as advertised. Allthough I have not got to spend as much time with it as I would like. to get everything maped out and be able to use it as effectively as I would like. I shot three whitetail doe using it this year. 420 yards, 410 yards, 501 yards. The 410 yard was a tough shot shooting over tree tops,down hill and back into some trees. I dialed the 3.9 moa. very tough shooting position. very akward . Hit right here I held. one and done. And I really don't have it maped in good.I hope to have two rifles dialed in and running for next season. maybe three.
It is big bulky but not real heavy. Very expensive..But I had to try one. I have lost so many charts over the years. then I have forgot load data. but sometimes I could just remember my dial to 500 yards but then what is the wind hold. ect where is that chart...yea it is really nice.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Yea the 1600 has some features but not in any way like the G7. The G7 is a ballistic computer, once programed with your rifles ballistic curve,at your ALT,temp. It will read the range,Give you drop data to target in MOA, Mill,ballistic turret in corrected values for your temp,alt. out to 1400 yards.It will then give you wind hold values for your load in corrected values for you conditions in 5mph to 30 mph. Plus it will give you incline deg,current Alt,Temp,RH. maybe something else I cant remember. You can program up to five different Ballistic profiles. It is much Bigger and Bulky then the Leica's but kind of a great tool ..No Charts,No computers. I really like the idea.. It seems to work as advertised. Allthough I have not got to spend as much time with it as I would like. to get everything maped out and be able to use it as effectively as I would like. I shot three whitetail doe using it this year. 420 yards, 410 yards, 501 yards. The 410 yard was a tough shot shooting over tree tops,down hill and back into some trees. I dialed the 3.9 moa. very tough shooting position. very akward . Hit right here I held. one and done. And I really don't have it maped in good.I hope to have two rifles dialed in and running for next season. maybe three.
It is big bulky but not real heavy. Very expensive..But I had to try one. I have lost so many charts over the years. then I have forgot load data. but sometimes I could just remember my dial to 500 yards but then what is the wind hold. ect where is that chart...yea it is really nice.

Thank you for all the detailed info