I had one of the early Leica RF before my Leupold and I had nothing but problems with it . However, the glass in it was superb and at 7x I would sometimes use it as a monocular to check out game while rangefinding instead of swapping between the RF and binos...
I've been pretty happy with the Leupold and wouldn't mind buying another, but it seems these days you have to check to see if QC has gone in the toilet before plunking down your cash. I've heard the rumblings before about the Sig units and I'm a bit nervous about going that direction because of it. In fact, several people in our hunting group have the Vortex units and they have been very happy with them. I've checked them out and I can't really say anything negative about them to be honest. I'm not much of a Vortex fan to be honest, but that is a personal thing... I've got a little time but it would be nice to get one before an upcoming coyote and sage rat hunting trip .
Thanks for the input guys- keep it coming
To me it sounds like you are set on buying Leupold. I realize you only live 30 miles away from there. However, I don't trust many things that say Leupold on it. Also, you don't say what your price point is. For your intended purpose (yotes and sage rats), you don't need a high dollar LRF. My dang Nikon 1000 that I've had for 10 years would work well enough for that. Sometimes when I go yote hunting, I just grab that one. However, it struggles to range stuff even at 700 yards now. I'll tell you, the glass and ranging abilities of the Leica are phenomenal compared to other LRF's I've looked through. My buddy only uses Vortex, like some of your buddies do, mainly because of their warranty. That's always an option as well, but if it were me, I'd throw a little more money at it, and get an excellent range finder. I realize you probably don't want to pay $600.00 for a CRF 2400 R, there is a less expensive model: The CRF R. It ranges out to 2,000 yards. it also has the angle comp feature as well. That model sells for around $400.00. Maybe something you might want to talk to Doug about. Good luck with your decision!!
The Leupold TBR1400 and 1600 are attractive mostly because they are in the $200 price range I'd like to keep it at if possible, but reliability is more important than price - which is why I'm asking for info here. 