Best glass quality in a rangefinder?

[Ice_Man_207]

Hey everyone - kind of an unusual question since I'm sure glass clarity isn't the #1 priority in most rangefinders.

I'm more or less blind in one eye after an accident last year. Since then, it's occurred to me that there's really no point in lugging around a pair of binoculars if I can't even use half of them. Why not just carry a monocular, which cost less and weigh less?

But I just had another thought - why carry both a rangefinder and a monocular? I had a Sig rangefinder for a while, but with a 22mm objective lens it wasn't super bright, and glass clarity wasn't the priority. It definitely wasn't something I would've substituted for binoculars.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any rangefinders with a really good reputation for clarity, FOV, and brightness. Again, I realize this is not the primary goal when designing a rangefinder, and I think that's why I haven't seen a lot about it on forums or in marketing materials.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ericacymcdonald]

I had a older Leica 1200 before I upgraded for a newer range finder with angle compensation and the glass on the old Leica blows the Nikon, sig and Leopold I've had since out of the water on glass quality. If I had no budget id get a Leica with angle compensation. till then I'll deal with subpar glass

 

[Blue72]

Been down this road before, for the same reasons

without a doubt it’s the Leica…I even used it for astronomy a few times

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Leica is the finest optically in hand held rangefinders

 

[WoodBow]

I bought a leica this year for this exact reason. Was originally planning on a leupold full draw but this forum swayed me. I am very happy with it.

 

[josef]

Leica for sure on glass quality. That being said all of them are going to be worse than a standard monocular due to the notch filter required for the display. You will see color shifts (usually to the blue) in all of the LRFs that have red LED displays.

 

[Ice_Man_207]

I appreciate everyone's replies, seems like it's pretty unanimous. I'll have to take a look at Leica.

They definitely don't come cheap but since I'd be saving money on a pair of binoculars... we shall see.

 

[Holocene]

Leica for sure.

You can probably find a used or old stock 1000-R for a good price.

I’ve had one 7 years and it’s great.

 

[5MilesBack]

I've had my Leica CRF-900 for 15 years now. Clarity is second to none, great glass. I use it a lot instead of my bino's when I just want to quickly verify what I'm looking at through the timber.

 

[tylorklein]

I just bought a used swarovski 8x rangefinder on the forum classifieds and I can tell you it's insanely better optics than my leupold or Bushnell. Not even comparable. Its kind of big though.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Sled]

Leica is also the best glass in a RF I've used. Maven is a close second. The rest don't come close, though I have not used a swaro RF.

 

[GotDraw?]

Leica
I often use it first rather than grabbing binos

JL

 

[RogerNH]

I am interested in the Leica Rangemaster CRF 2400-R but was wondering if anyone here can comment on how it compares to the Kahles Helia RF-M.

 

[Rick M.]

Leica for me as well.