Need a new hand held range finder-Please help

[section8mainiac]

I just came off a CO mule deer hunt and had my Vortex Ranger 1500 fail me. It was somewhat cold (7 degrees) and the sun was very bright on the fresh snow. The deer was across a drainage and the rangefinder would NOT pick it up or any trees or anything around it. My brother came later with his Leica RF binos and found the range to be 412 yards. Not acceptable for an optic advertised at 1500 yards reflective or 750 for animals.

I am looking at something reliable and possible something like the Sig for long range.

Any input is appreciated.


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[BadDogPSD]

Sig Kilo 2200 , or if you want the ballistic solver version, the Sig Kilo 2400 ABS.

 

[trophyhill]

Love my Leupold 1300’s. Haven’t had that issue with them. Bright light and low light conditions negatively affecting ranging were a regular occurance on the last RF I had. Wish I would have got the Leupold to begin with

 

[HuntnPack]

Leica 2800.com either as stand alone or paired with a Kestrel 5700 Elite.
Exceptional performance. Excellent glass, Precise, Accurate Tight targeting ability, fast, aim point centered in reticle.

 

[Travis Hobbs]

The Sig’s are garbage in my opinion until you get into the higher end, like 2400. You’ll face the exact same problems with Sig 2200, etc.

The new leupold’s are definitely impressive, much better than the Sig’s. I would get at least a 2k though. I’m also very impressed with the 4K Vortex.

I think rangefinders are a bit of a scam the way they advertise yardages.

 

[Kyle Wheeler]

I had the Ranger 1800 and had issues in 4 degree weather. I decided to go with the Razor 4000 and it has been much better. Temp rating -4 degrees and it reads extremely fast. I really like that Vortex warranty also applies to electronics for life.

 

[gcronin]

I just came off a CO mule deer hunt and had my Vortex Ranger 1500 fail me. It was somewhat cold (7 degrees) and the sun was very bright on the fresh snow. The deer was across a drainage and the rangefinder would NOT pick it up or any trees or anything around it. My brother came later with his Leica RF binos and found the range to be 412 yards. Not acceptable for an optic advertised at 1500 yards reflective or 750 for animals.

I am looking at something reliable and possible something like the Sig for long range.

Any input is appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey there - the Ranger 1500 should be more than capable of picking up that distance! I would recommend to swap the battery. Sometimes even brand new and fully charged batteries can give weird electronic results.

If you are having troubles it is fully covered by the VIP Warranty. Give us a call at 1-800-4VORTEX ext. 6 and we will get you setup to send that in, my friend!

 

[nobody]

Yeah, doesn't really surprise me. It seems that these failures always seem to happen on the hill, far away from the post office or a warranty facility....

I would recommend looking at a Sig of any vintage. Every optics company seems to have that one thing that seems to be their bread-and-butter, that thing that made them famous. For Vortex, it's their warranty. Leupold's scopes put them on the map way back when, Nikon's bino's gave them a great reputation. Swaro... well, we all know who they are. Sig's strength, in my experience, is in their Rangefinders and scopes. When I bought my Sig, I went to a gun shop in Idaho Falls that carried pretty much every halfway reputable rangefinder, and I spent several hours comparing ALL of them. Sig Sauer, by far, had the lowest variance between their low and high end units. When ranging the same thing (cattle at about 500 yards in a field), all the Sig units were within a yard of two of one-another, no matter if it was their low or high end. The other brands had variances of between 12 and 20 yards between the low and high end. For example, the "entry level" vortex gave an average reading that was about 25 yards different from their "high end" unit. Leupold was about 15 yards different, the Nikons were about the same.

Bottom line, from my experience and research, Sig seems to have the most consistent performance across their entire array of products. On top of that, I've frequently ranged about 50% further than my Sig Kilo1200 says I should be able to. 15/10 would HIGHLY recommend!

 

[BluMtn]

I have been very happy with my Sig Kilo 2000. It has worked in every condition I have ask it to. I also love their rifle scopes. Especially the ones with the Hunter milling recticle.

 

[section8mainiac]

Hey there - the Ranger 1500 should be more than capable of picking up that distance! I would recommend to swap the battery. Sometimes even brand new and fully charged batteries can give weird electronic results.

If you are having troubles it is fully covered by the VIP Warranty. Give us a call at 1-800-4VORTEX ext. 6 and we will get you setup to send that in, my friend!

Thanks for the reply. That’s exactly what I
did. I always carry a spare battery. I even heated it up in my mitten before installing it.

Still got - - - -

 

[JGRaider]

It's not uncommon for a RF to got tits up in cold weather. My Geovid did it, but my Sig 2200 has not in the two years I've had it. The RF in my Sig runs circles around the Geovid (403model) I had.

 

[Ucsdryder]

My leupold is starting to give me issues. It’s the 1200. Bright light it was struggling to range my car at 400 yards. Of course I’m about to get told to pound sand by the customer service reps at leupold because it’s out of warranty. I really don’t want to buy a new rangefinder. I’m hoping it was just having a bad day. Maybe I’ll try swapping out the battery even though it shows good on the indicator.

 

[gcronin]

Thanks for the reply. That’s exactly what I
did. I always carry a spare battery. I even heated it up in my mitten before installing it.

Still got - - - -

Gotcha - I would say that one should come in for service then!

 

[section8mainiac]

I’m between the Sig 2400 ABS and the Leica 2800.com.

Sig seems to be out of stock on our Rokslide sponsor sites.

Do I go with the Leica or wait for the Sig?


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[TimeOnTarget]

Leica all day man.

 

[Crusader]

Leica, for sure.

 

[Wassid82]

I had a vortex range finder and liked it enough that I bought a another with extended range. They my bro in law bought a Leica and I saw how good it was.....no I have a Leica and a slightly lighter pocket but a bigger grin. Its worth it. How much money would you have paid to get an accurate reading on that deer in the snow? Easy choice.

 

[Bater]

Leica 2400 for stand alone or 2800 w/ ballistic solver

 

[Deplorable77]

I have a Leica 2700 or 2800, its compact,lightweight and easy to use in the field with gloves on,, but extremely unreliable past 400 yards on any surface. "Ping" the same target 10 times and get 10 different results with a spread of +/- 150 yards.
Mounted on a tripod at the range its slightly more accurate on steel to 650 but not reliable enough that I don't range the same target 3-5 times hoping for repeat numbers. I have yet to get the same reading twice on any type of target.