Rangefinders

[idelkslayer]

I'm in the market for a rangefinder and in addition to my own research I am interested in the experiences of this forum. I'm looking at a budget of less than $300. I am willing to buy used and have been watching a lot of ebay auctions to get a feel for final price of different models. I don't shoot past 400 yards but the ability to range further would help when planning stalks. I would appreciate your hands on knowledge of any rangefinders you have taken on a hunt. I have the following questions which I think could help me narrow my search.

Which rangefinders have you owned?

Which would you not recommend?

Which do you currently use?

 

[Cant hit em]

I had A Leupold 600 i liked worked so well but didnt have angle comp. so i sold it, i bought a Nikon Pro Staff 7 , its ok , optics are good but fails on reading on occasion , i would not buy another

 

[mtnwrunner(Trandy)]

I'm in the market for a rangefinder and in addition to my own research I am interested in the experiences of this forum. I'm looking at a budget of less than $300. I am willing to buy used and have been watching a lot of ebay auctions to get a feel for final price of different models. I don't shoot past 400 yards but the ability to range further would help when planning stalks. I would appreciate your hands on knowledge of any rangefinders you have taken on a hunt. I have the following questions which I think could help me narrow my search.

Which rangefinders have you owned?

Which would you not recommend?

Which do you currently use?

I'll be blunt. I have personally used bushnell, leupold, Nikon and leica.
Hands down, buy yourself a leica 1600B. Small, RELIABLE and has a great beam divergence.

Randy

 

[roknHS]

Hey mtnrunner,
He said his budget was under $300 dollars............the only way he's gonna get a leica 1600B for $300 or under is if he buys it from the slimey meth addict that just stole it out of your house.

Elkslayer, look for a used Leuopold. Probably won't get you much past 800yds on trees and rocks but it should be in your price range.

 

[WRO]

There are some good deals to be had on the old leica 900s if you watch around.

 

[mtnwrunner(Trandy)]

Hey mtnrunner,
He said his budget was under $300 dollars............the only way he's gonna get a leica 1600B for $300 or under is if he buys it from the slimey meth addict that just stole it out of your house.

Elkslayer, look for a used Leuopold. Probably won't get you much past 800yds on trees and rocks but it should be in your price range.

Well, excuse me. Didn't see that. Now that you pointed that out-----I'd still save and buy the leica.......................
And for 300 bucks, you're gonna get a 300 dollar rangefinder.

Randy

 

[mtnclimber]

A rangefinder can be the single piece of gear to make or break your hunt. After using Leica, nikon, Leupold, and Swarovski the Leica wins hands down everytime. Best ranging system of all brands IME. You'll be fine with a 1000-R. Just look around for used ones or sell a piece of gear to make up for the extra cash.

 

[kodiakfly]

I had a Leupold Full Draw that worked well until my buddy drove over it with his truck. It actually still works off and on, even all busted up and cracked. The antler judging thing was gimmicky to me, but the optics and actual ranging worked well. And you can get those for less than $300 pretty easily. I just now looked at Amazon to make sure I was remembering that right, and I actually saw a Vortex on there for $324....

Which brings me to the Vortex...that's what I bought to replace the Leupold and I like it a lot more. It just feels better built, better optics and other than having to drop the money on, I'm glad my Leupold got busted and I had to buy the Vortex. Just wish the Leupold was covered or repairable.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I am with the Leica fans. Buy once cry once or find that meth head with Randy's Leica If your truly only going to shoot to 400 and might need to hit 6-800 yards occasionally most will work. I have ran all the major brands in the $300 range and Bushnell has been the most consistent.

 

[Screamrider]

I've owned the Vortex Ranger 1000 and now have a Leica Rangemaster 1000-R.

Hands down I prefer the Leica over the Vortex for the following reasons:

1. Optical quality and light gathering ability is fantastic
2. Very fast at displaying range
3. Excellent auto brightness on the reticle
4. Great at burning through mild vegetation/grass and hitting the animal you're ranging

The only negative to Leica is their customer service. They eventually sorted out 2 faulty units I had, but it was painful and took longer than it should have.

 

[Arbutusbucks]

I bought a Nikon rangefinder 10 years ago and it worked great for archery the model name rubbed off so I am not sure what it was, either way I lost it somewhere and replaced it with another Nikon this past season.My new Nikon does not work well in fog...registers 5 yards for everything. So yeah, basically I'd steer clear of Nikon.

 

[HellsCanyon]

I have a Leica crf1200 I bought back in 2009 I'd sell you. Works perfect but it's spent extensive time afield.

 

[roknHS]

Well, excuse me. Didn't see that. Now that you pointed that out-----I'd still save and buy the leica.......................
And for 300 bucks, you're gonna get a 300 dollar rangefinder.

Randy

It was meant to be funny................No offense intended.

If the budget is less than $300, then you do the best you can with the budget. Its not a matter of buyin and cryin.......he's got a budget to work with and all the wishin in the world isn't gonna get him a high dollar finder. The old champagne taste on a beer income deal. I suffer from the same ailment.
Ryan says Bushnell.......no experience on that. I'm pretty sure with some looking you could find a used Leupold in the budget.

 

[Frosty82]

I found this gem in my gear a couple weeks ago...willing to part with it for about $292.74!!



Crazy to see how far rangefinders have come. Guessing I bought this in the mid-late 90's.

 

[idelkslayer]

Thanks for the input so far guys. The budget is fixed, I could wait another 3 years and have $1000 dollars to spend on a rangefinder but to be honest, I'm not willing to pay that much for any piece of hunting equipment. I don't need bells and whistles and I understand the quality will be less in my price range but I accept that. I'd be happy with a single duplex reticle push a button get a distance model but they all seem to be wasting money on multiple reticles and other features. It would be nice to find a bare bones 1000 yard rangefinder but I'm not seeing it yet.

From what I've seen most rangefinder that list their max range it is based on a reflective surface and the max range for actually hitting a deer or elk is about half of the reflective range.

I've seen a lot of Leupold RX-II on ebay but I've read a lot of bad reviews for that model. The RX-1000i are going for under $300 so I am mostly focused on that model but I'm just looking for additional input before I start bidding. I'll check for leica rangefinders and see what they are going for. The reading I've done on the Nikons hasn't impressed me much, even their own product pages don't sell it very well.

 

[5MilesBack]

From what I've seen most rangefinder that list their max range it is based on a reflective surface and the max range for actually hitting a deer or elk is about half of the reflective range.

I've ranged animals out to a little over 800 yards with my Leica CRF 900, and rocks, trees, and ground out to about 950. There really is no comparison. I know you said $300, but keep an eye on Cameraland as they sometimes have had these in the $425 range. I'd even consider their golf model if it wasn't bright white.

 

[WRO]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leica-LRF-8...964?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fcebf6c4

here you go

 

[HellsCanyon]

Just put my CRF in the classifieds if you're interested.

Mike

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

I think I saw the leupold 1000 whatever its called for $280 on the cabelas website the other day

 

[mtnwrunner(Trandy)]

It was meant to be funny................No offense intended.

If the budget is less than $300, then you do the best you can with the budget. Its not a matter of buyin and cryin.......he's got a budget to work with and all the wishin in the world isn't gonna get him a high dollar finder. The old champagne taste on a beer income deal. I suffer from the same ailment.
Ryan says Bushnell.......no experience on that. I'm pretty sure with some looking you could find a used Leupold in the budget.

So was mine---an old Steve Martin line.
But I'd still buy a leica

Randy