New 10x42 Leica Geovid 2700 HD-R Landed

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Have only unboxed, put the battery in, and adjusted diopters at 475 yards to house shingles down the block and switched to imperial units, quick test of the true horizontal range up a tree and quickly compared to my long time existing love affair of my 10x32 Leica Ultravid Hd's and Leica CRF-1600 rangefinder. Sadly they didn't show up before the bear hunt so didn't get a chance to field yet, front street only so far.

I didn't want to miss capturing my initial thoughts and forget what they were, so they are to be in this first post and I'll follow up with more in depth thoughts after getting more time behind the wheel. Ultimately I will compare this to the new PRO's but first they have to see how they do against my high bar Alpha's.

Ok, I'm used to those tiny ultravid hd's and you can't really speak to just how small and compact those are until you put a full size bino up next to them so initially I was like wow these things are chunky. I know that I'm coming from maybe the most compact alpha option going though so not a big deal. They certainly won't fit in my small SG bino harness lol, the Large FHF is on the way. Having said that however the range finder must be compared as well so the bulk becomes more moot point with the two pieces vs the one and the second case on my SG bino harness as well.

Both units brow weld equally, the 2700 has longer eye relief so the cups have come out a peg or two where the ultravids are screwed all the way in for same positioning and filling the fov.

Initially noticing a slightly more stability handholding with the larger size/weight.

Image is great in the 2700, really close on initial compare to the ultravid, but like always happened over last 10 years with the tiny ultravid every time I bring those little boogers up to my face I get that sh1t eating grin of disbelief at how incredible and comfortable that image is.

The FOV is slightly larger with the 2700's, initial look appears maybe 5-10% however I never really look other than center and move Bino's to suit, have always seen more than enough in the little 32's.

So the ultravid hd initially still gave me that wow factor as it always has, the 2700 didn't but it's as research is expected, we're very close, and very Leica...so similar color/hue etc. so felt good to my Leica eyes. These 2700's are alpha level to me so I'm very pleased and appears I could spend a lot of time behind them happily. That leads to next step and get them afield in varying conditions.

They ranged within 1-2 yards of the CRF handheld at 475 yards. It was a little easier to range accurately with the 2700 as both hands already supporting, the CRF I usually have to use 2 hands for anything over bow or pbr ranges anyway. The handheld will rule for bowhunting so you lose some versatility with the combo unit if you're a combo hunter. I don't do as much bowhunting now but can afford both systems so will likely use the Ultravid/CRF combo for stick and string but can see no issue using the 2700 for mountain hunts and all other rifle duty.

Weight, 1 lb 11.5 oz for Ultravid/ CRF combo (27.5 oz) and 2 lb 4 oz for 2700 (36 oz), for 8.5 oz difference and I'm guessing if I took the Aziak off the 2700 it would be exactly an 8 oz difference.

Thanks for the tips on the Aziak tripod mount, it went on right after the battery went in, slick bit of kit.

It may take some time before you hear more on this. I've seen enough initially that it warrants a lot finer comparisons and testing, so this is great initial impression, otherwise you'd see an add in the classifieds, I'm not going to be easy on these...they have big shoes to fill. ;)

And if they survive to stay then I'll be looking for some PRO 32's to compare to see if they have some sort of optical voodoo magic other than size/weight.
 
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OP
S
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A quick update as I play in the dark kitchen on shady side of house right now and glass out to a spruce tree bud in the yard lit by the sun. The 2700 is bringing in more light, it's a brighter show and they are both spectacularly resolving the bud. No surprises to anyone on the light gathering difference from 42 to 32 but just bored so playing and relaying the things I notice. I think the resolution and color is going to be every bit the match to the ultravid. This comparison, especially in the resolution has me really impressed with the 2700 and it fully has my attention now, this will be a fun showdown.
 
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I checked out some Pro 32’s outside of a shop the other day. The optics were outstanding. The glare resistance was a lot better than any Swaro I’ve used. I bet you would have a hard choice choosing between the 42 and 32’s.
They weren’t for me however, as I find the field of view difference and the seemingly awkwardly positioned focus knob compared to my NL’s too much of a sacrifice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OP
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Messages
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Yes that's a thing between binos and rf binos...where do you choose to put the range button vs the focus wheel, one of them needs to land under the finger naturally...and in the Leica case it's the range button, it's uncannily perfect under the finger. I'm ok with adjusting to move the finger up to focus and in time it will become as 2nd nature as the current thing I'm used to. I'm happy with the arrangement, both are important enough to have under the finger naturally so I guess take your pick.
 
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Another update as I ran them both from my patio till past legal light here (which is 30 min past sunset)...we have a few street lights so both kept on going. They were essentially equals from this particular test on resolving at low light. I had a few smaller white points of interest on shingles of a house about 460 yards away that I knew would be a challenge to keep in view as the light faded and there was a point around 10 minutes of legal light left where the 42's appeared to have an edge but it was brief and at actual legal dark they were essentially the same.

The interesting part as I still found a bit more comfort in the view from the ultravid was depth of field focus. There was a small peak at 83 yards that was far more in focus with the ultravids and same with beyond the 460 yard house, there are trees and even mountains with snow on many miles away so everything around the focal point stays far more in focus with the ultravids. This is an alpha thing no doubt. Porro's are supposed to be the champs at this and I do have some dr. nobilems that if didn't fog one side after a couple hunts they would still be my number one mounted bino as they were unreal, you could pretty much set the focus and forget and cover off so much country without touching the wheel...I digress. The ultravids win this category easily and the 'perger porro' of the 2700's don't offer gains in this area as porro's are supposed to.

Within the focus area however the imaging on the 2700 isn't giving up anything to the ultravid yet, it's pretty impressive. After dark I could see some street light interference messing with the 2700's and giving some reflections or glares appearing to be the laser range finding stuff but this isn't a situation one would run into in the field it will be one to see during sunsets facing the sun and see if it's a thing there.

The long hours of glassing comfort and ease is going to go to the ultravid just on that depth of field focus imo. Stay tuned, I'll be dragging these things into the field to get extra serious at some point and then some fall hunting will finalize how long I'll be comparing them.
 
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