Best low light range finder?

[Xbow hunter]

I am looking for a range finder that will work in the dark southern swamps. The Leupold I have is very hard to see in early morning and late afternoon. I don’t really need anything long range capable. Not much opportunity to shoot long range in a swamp. Thanks

 

[trailblazer75]

Following.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Best low light would be Wilcox Raptar S. I’m guessing you don’t want to spend that much on a LRF though.

 

[Axlrod]

Leica is it.

 

[Brian Fahs]

Leica crf series.
No complaints.

 

[eamyrick]

I just bought a Leica over my older perfectly functioning Leupold for this reason.

 

[OspreyZB]

Is the readout hard to see, or the actual image? A red readout will be easier to see than a black one, against a dark background. If the image is too dark, you want to look for one with a larger exit pupil and higher light transmission.

The problem is, most rangefinders have a small exit pupil, and light transmission under 80% due to the complexity of having electronics in the optical system. Even the best rangefinding binoculars will have a few percent less light transmission in the barrel that houses the electronics. Leica's solution to this was to use perger porro prisms in their alpha rangefinding binoculars, which in theory should allow for higher light transmission than traditional SP-roof prisms. Some users on birdforum actually use the 8x42 Geovid 3200.com for birding, and just ignore the rangefinding capabilities, because they prefer it optically to Noctivid, EL, NL, SF, etc. Probably overkill for what you're looking for, but if you're in the market for new binos you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I have a Leica rangefinder, I think it's a 7x24. It's about as good in low-light as you would would expect from an optic with a small exit pupil and transmission around 80%... It's useable enough until the end of shooting light most of the time, but switching to my 7x42 binoculars is like turning on a light switch.

 

[Slimshooter]

I have a leica 3500 and it works great in low light

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Leica 2800 here and no complaints.

 

[Rich M]

In FL and know a dark swamp. I run a Leupold. No issues so far, the big red x lights up at the first touch, range pops up on second touch. It is bright so i just shoot a few land marks to know the ranges for each stand location.

 

[gr8fuldoug]

GPO Rangeguide 8x50 Binocular Rangefinder, The 50mm objective lens, coupled with GPObright™ high-transmission lens coatings, make these binoculars exceptionally bright in low light