LJB,
Thank you for your honest opinion. It was about 5-6 yrs back I contacted Hamilton Boykin, Education Manager for Leica Sports Optics. He's was quite accessible, easy to talk to and very helpful; to the point I bought my HD-B's....which have performed flawlessly since the day they arrived. Over the years, when I would have an issue to solve, but couldn't, I'd call or email him and he was always, again, helpful. Well, I called the other day, leaving a message and he returned that call the next day. We talked and I again, bought a pair of the 3200.com. Today, he and I talked and he mentioned something about a "cheat sheet" (my words, since I can't recall what he said) he was sending me. Maybe he'll be able to help you as well. He also mentioned when building a gun/optic in the phone app, to try and keep things all MOA or MIL; not both. Also, to try and keep the zero range distance the same; 100, 200 or 300 yds. Just wondering if your issue could have something to do with that. I can pass along his contact info if you wish.
Thank you,
Alan
Hamilton Boykin is a very knowledgeable and helpful gentleman. He is an excellent resource for Leica, and I would strongly recommend reaching out to him if you have any Leica questions or concerns.
I think I may have spoken to Hamilton at SCI and DSC in the past. If he's the same guy I'm thinking of, yes he is very knowledgeable and helpful. With GSSP's suggestion to contact Hamilton, I took the time to write down a few of my observations/opinions on the 3200.COM. I'll share them below for 3200.COM owners/users as a PSA and for entertaining the general 24HCF crowd. I know, I promised to take this offline, but who knows someone out there might find my ramblings beneficial. Read on if your interested...
Stream Of Consciousness Thoughts on the Leica 3200.COM Binocular
Leica 3200.COM
Question: Does the unit include the atmospheric correcions when calculating the ballistics solutions from a user supplied custom curve?
According to Panhandle Precision video, and the user’s manual it does when the Equivalent Horizontal Range (EHR) option is selected, but not when “click” mode is selected. Haven’t tested this yet myself, but that’s likely how the bino’s are set up. Having a bino that can measure and correct for changes is atmospherics is a huge asset. In fact this was another huge selling point for me. For example, one day you’re hunting at the base of the mountain and the next day you’re 4000’ higher at the top. Having the bino measure and correct for this on the fly is super nice. Correcting for atmospherics (using Density Altitude I presume) in the EHR mode is good, but would be much more useful in the “click” mode because that’s how most hunters will use it (a presumption on my part of course). For example, in the field, the shooter ranges the target and calculates ballistic solution based on EHR, then estimates windage corrections based on line-of-sight distance rather than the equivalent EHR/DA corrected distance. IMO, the unit in AbC mode should display LOS distance and actual (that is corrected for DA) ballistic solution in either MOA or MILs (BTW this is what the Kestrel 5700 calculates and displays).
Needs a G7 drag model option for longer distance shooting solutions. However, with that said, the Leica calculated G1 ballistic curves that I’ve used are very similar to the Applied Ballistics CUSTOM curves generated by the Kestrel 5700. Certainly very usable for a hunting application from 0 - 700 yards.
Manual should instruct user to input standard ICAO atmosphere sea level pressure and temp for custom ballistic curves IF integrated atmospheric sensor measurements are used. Wait, why do that? Standard ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) sea level conditions are the same world wide, aren’t they? So why need to input them? I would think that if the bino corrected for measured atmospherics it would just use a sea level baseline reference in the software and go from there to be accurate.
It would be nice for the unit to display a reference windage correction with the ballistics holdover solution for reference purposes only. From what I can tell, Swaro and Zeiss don’t display windage corrections either. I imagine the German/Austrian development teams conclude the bino doesn’t measure wind speed, so why presume one and display it - that would be wrong. However a presumed wind correction is very useful for shooters so they don’t have to start from scratch. For example if your shooting a 7 mph gun (0.5 MIL perpendicular wind deflection at 500 yards) enter 7 mph into the bino and have baseline windage corrections displayed for any range and the shooter can then take if from there if the shooter hasn’t memorized, or forgotten the range/wind relationship. IMAmericanO displaying a presumed wind solution would give the Leica a slight, but real competitive advantage over the competition.
Overall, the user’s manual is hard to understand and full of errors. The menu map on page 16 is a good example.
Question: Once you go through the menus and select a configuration, it appears that if you need to change any one thing you have to go back all the way through the set up. Is this a correct description? For example, there doesn’t appear to be an easy/direct way to turn bluetooth on/off without going through the entire set up procedure. Kinda a PITN. Will look more into this when I have more time/motivation.
The unit should display holdovers in MILs as well as mm clicks. MILs and mm clicks are NOT the same. I know it’s super easy to just add a decimal to convert to MILs, but on the other hand, it’s lazy/sloppy engineering to mix MOA (angle) with mm/100m (length) in the same display mode. That’s a little harsh, the apps does label each option “Clicks”, which is technically correct. My frustration is getting the better of me.
When a custom profile is entered and being used, the bino does NOT display this mode of operation anywhere. The user must remember what profile is in the bino.
As I’ve mentioned before, the Kestrel 5700/3200.COM paring is buggy, but I haven’t taken the time to detail the issues. In general, the bluetooth connection seems slow and spotty and a power suck. I doubt it would be useful in the field - too much overhead. However it would be useful at the range. This is a disappointment for me because this feature was the main reason to purchase the 3200.COM. Ironically, the range finder and on board ballistic profiles are plenty accurate for field use and wicked fast. I wasn’t expecting that.
iPhone Application Observations:
Can’t get the Select Profile: Kestrel mode to work. Select "Activate Kestrel Mode" button and pop up just says, “Kestrel mode not activated”, “Kestrel mode could not be activated, please try again”, “OK”
Question: select Kestrel right arrow and Kestrel pop up displays Kestrel Instruments instructions to set Rangemaster to “Lat” (latitude) in the menu. Doing so allows connection between the bino and the Kestrel, not the app. Will the app connect to the Kestrel? I think not.
Ballistic table is good. Better if displayed trajectory correctin in MILs/MOA with windage as well. Should also display profile name at the top the table.
Looks like atmospheric corrections (i.e., density altitude - DA) is used in the EHR mode. However the EHR mode and MOA/mm Click mode are mutually exclusive. Does this mean the DA is NOT used when the MOA/Click mode is selected? If true, then this is incorrect IMAO as stated above. Shooters/Hunters need to have DA corrected atmospherics for proper MOA/Click adjustments
It seems to me the vast majority of these issues can be “fixed” with firmware/software upgrades with about 160 person-hours of engineering/test/qual effort. The hard part is convincing “Wetzlar, we have a problem”.
That’s all for now.
