i just came into possession of an older (original) g7. it seems to eat batteries… FAST. i went through 3 of the cr123s over the weekend just playing around with it. when it’s low, i get an error 36, the manual says that’s an inclination error, which should not have occurred from the experimenting i was doing. after messing with factory resets and other attempts, the low battery signal finally came on. a new battery seemed to fix it… until i tried it the next morning. the manual says it’s low end range of operating temp is 32 degrees. it was 29 outside, and i kept getting error 36 again. that could be a major problem.
comparing it to the leica 1600, the g7 display is blocky and all the reticles are big and clunky. with the continuous targeting mode, it’s easy to range something like a feeder or blind and determine where in the reticle the laser is hitting as you move it around. if you’re off the target you get stuff way behind it. however, if you’re ranging animals and miss, you will probably get brush right behind it and could easily retrieve the wrong yardage. the ranging laser on my unit occurs in the middle of the bottom block of the reticle, not the open space in the center. once i determined that, i ranged animals and brush out to 1,000 yards easily and dense brush piles out to over 1800 yards with both units. the leica reticles definitely make me feel like i’m actually hitting my target. when i was confident i had a good range, both units delivered very close and consistent results.
i programmed a couple of the settings for the moa readout. that’s a nice feature for me since i had been using the leica for the yardage and looking up the moa on a phone app. throw in the reading glasses i need to read the table, and the moa readout of the g7 was looking pretty good. i noticed the setup didn’t require bullet caliber or weight. i guess it doesn’t need it as long as it has the bullet’s bc. however, when setting up the unit for horizontal range, those variables are required.
perhaps i wasn't hitting the correct button at the right time, but it seemed like when i selected a particular pre-programmed setup, i had to exit the same as if i just programmed that selection. that is, it is supposed to take about 14 seconds to calculate the ballistics, according to the manual. mine actually took about 20 seconds. now being an old bowhunter, i’d like to think i’m pretty patient. i can live with that when programming it, but unless i was doing something wrong, that's ridiculous to wait that long just to select it.
when i look through the unit, i’m ready to range. if the reticle is too bright or dark, i want to change it immediately. unfortunately i have to enter program mode and then use the arrow buttons. they have changed that with the new unit, and you can adjust the brightness immediately with the arrow buttons. the new unit also handles mils as well as moa, has a tighter beam divergence which ranges farther and also boasts better algorithms.
the glass in both units was decent. i think the leica is 6x and the g7 is 7x but it wasn’t a noticeable difference to me. the g7 seemed clearer in the dark morning but the leica seemed brighter in the daylight. neither was at a disadvantage that i could tell.
i really wanted to like the g7, but it had too many problems for me to depend on it. when i’m ranging something far away, i usually have time to check the ballistic app anyway. i’d just rather not if i didn’t have to. if i had to choose one or the other i’d take the leica even if they were the same price. if the g7 worked as expected i might change my mind, but i certainly don’t see twice the value at twice the price.
