idahoelkinstructor

About three weeks ago I posted a question (in the bowhunting forum) about which rangefinder to choose from between the Leica and the Swarovski, well I have made my decision andnow for the past 2 days I own theNEW compactLeicaRangeMaster 1200. Talk about a awesome piece of equipment! Itwill pick anything up with ease out to 1200 yardsthat I point it at,and depending upon the reflectiveness of and object it will go out to 1600 yards or more. My farthest reading so far has been a hillside with a piece of sheetmetal that was a little under 1800 yards (1793). From what I have leanedI think itsa tad better than the Swarovski 1500 in terms of its ranging ability, I haven't got to prove this yet but will this later month when I compare them with a friend who owns the Swarovski's. One advantage it does have is the fact its so small, size wise its equal to the smallest 500 to 800 yards compact rangefindersmade by Nikon and Bushnell and Leupold.But yet it outperformsthem with ease with from what I have seen so far. Anyway if you are wondering why I am posting about them its simply because I am so inpressed. And for those who don'tmind spending a bit more on quality equipment, I sure recomend them to anyone!

bigcountry

I have a bushnell waterproof legend. I seriously doubt it would pick up a moose at 500 yards. It will a stop sign or anything reflective. Its supposed to work up to 930 yards. But I have yet to get it too.

Glad you like it. You can't beat leica, great stuff. Do you think you could pick up a moose or bear at say 800 yards if you could hold it steady enough.

trailer

The Leica range finders have a threaded insert for a tripod same as a camera. Nice little extra feature if required...

idahoelkinstructor

Not a problem at all, it will do that with ease. Honestly from what I can tell with playing with it so far, it will pick up about anything out to 1200 yards, trees, rocks, ground up on a mountain side, cows and horseslol. Ihaven't go to test it yet on elk and deer but Isure will and will let you know of myresults if you so wish.Granted you still have to hold it steady and that is not always easy becasue its so compact and small. Beyond 1200 yards its just becomes a matter of how reflective the object is and what angle it is tome.I shouldlet you knowthat the piece of sheetmetal that was 1793 yards awaywas part (about half) of a roof of a old hey shed. Not only was it a big object that gave good reflection but the angel to me had to be close to 90 degrees or so.

Not mine, this is the brandnew (2006 model) compact hand held only Rangemaster CFR 1200 it does have the same scan mode as the older model but its no longer in the name. The older 1200 yard scan model, still in production is the LRF 1200 Scan Rangefinder. The 1200 yard Scan is a bit bigger and yes it has a threaded insert for a tripod. Two years ago I played with a friends 1200 yard scan rangefinder, and it ranged very well but I don't feel I would actually need to put it on a tripod for anything out to 1200 yards.I could be wrong but I think they have inproved the rangeing abilities/system in this new model for 06 becasue it seems to go a bit more than my friends older model and it does seem quicker than I remember his being. Another bonus is this new model is water proof, verses, water resistant. I plan on doing some test between these two and also between a Swarovski rangefinderthat another friend has. When that happens I will let you all know of our results. I posted pics of my new Leica in my hand over in the bowhunting section, but I post them again for all to see here.

idahoelkinstructor

And another



Granted I am a big guy with big hands but this is a very compact rangefinder, which will come in handy when it comes to hunting.

chiefks

Just outa curosity why do we need range finders that range things to distances WAYYYYYY beyond what we could shoot at??? Who the heck cares if that critter is 1200 yards or 2,000 yards. He's still WAYYYYYY out of rifle range. Most people don't shoot over 200 yards unless they are out west where shots can reach a tad bit further. Some guys don't have any business taking those shots that are a tad bit longer.

trailer

No kidding new, I haven’t seen that model yet but sure looks good and with a small body. Being waterproof is definitely a plus. Thanks for the pictures...

idahoelkinstructor

The answer is simple its because we can.


Ok being serious I plan on attenting gunsmithing school here in about a year. I plan on learning to build some guns that aredead onaccurate out to a very long range. But to be that accurate we do need to know the exact range. Does that mean we should shoot at big game animalsatlong rangesif we have a gunand the skills todo it? Thats a hot topic and will bring up argument after argument to no end. I myself am a bowhunter at heart and like animals to be very close. With a rifle I havekilled 3 elk at longer ranges and can say they were not much fun compared to a close rangerifle or archery kill.But on the other hand I do like to shoot at long ranges at targets and maybe a varmit or two for fun. Also I like to know the range of something just for fun. I don't feel that their is anything wrong with knowing the range of something, even at longer distances.Heck maybe if more hunters had rangefinders they would not try shooting at a animal that they think is only 300 to 500 yards away, when in actuality its 600 yards or more.

Power

That looks sweet! I really came close to buying a Leica last fall, was in the market for one but they just weren't water proof. I even emailed the company and they said, "water-resistant" and not waterproof. I really wanted to buy the Leica as it was a very nice display and the red led display is so much easier to read than the black lcd display all others have.

I ended up buying the Bushnell Elite 1500. Got a read off a big white steel building at 1542 yards and it does just fine on deer out to 500 yards. It's waterproof so I'm happy with that. One thing I don't like about it is the display stays on for 45 seconds and tends to eat 9v batteries. Wish they would drop that to about 5 seconds. Just dumb why it's on that long.

The new models have an angle compensator as does the new one from Leopold. That looks real neat and wish i'd waited to buy one now but that's water under the bridge and the one I have will do.

Rammer

That is definately a sweet new toy! I have the Nikon Buckmaster 800 and its marginal I'd say at best. I don't know if mine is defective (bought it the first year they came out), but in low light the lens appear to be shattered when you range something, and if you aren't perfectly steady (resting it on something) you can't range anything beyond 200 some yards. I've pretty much gave up on trying to use it for long distance and use it mainly for archery now.