Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Which Range Finder

I just booked a hunt for this fall to Wyoming for antelope. I decided a range finder might be a useful piece of equipment, but have no experience with them. I've been a Leupold guy forever, but have been very happy with the quality of a couple of Vortex scopes I've bought the last few years. I've been looking at their Ranger 1300 range finder, and was wondering if anyone has any experience and opinions on them, or other brands at the same price point. Thanks

Take a look at the Leica CRF-2400 R. Great rangefinder with superior optics.
Glad to answer any questions for you

Thanks, Doug. It's a Leica, so I'm sure it's a great product. However, it's a little too spendy for me at twice the price of the Vortex. Again, I'm looking for feedback on the Ranger 1300 or something else in the price point

Year and a half a go I bought a Vortex Ranger 1500. Like other lazer rangefinders your results vary with ambient light and a quality reflective surface. 4 days after I bought it and used the heck out of it scouting it worked perfectly fine on a nice antelope buck at 398 yds. I looked hard at the Sig at the time also. just my 2 cts worth. MB

i also have the vortex 1500 works great warranty clinches the deal.

Ed

I've got the Sig 2200mr. Excellent unit that I would recommend and not real pricey.

Those Leica 2400's for under $500 are amazing.

I have a Sig Kilo 2200. It's nuts that Leica doesn't make a model that will just give you equivalent horizontal distance. I'd own a Leica if they did.

I am using the Ranger 1500 and like it quite well. The glass is lacking, but I don't have an issue since I am only looking through it for mere seconds when compared to my bino or scope. And, AFAIK, Vortex is the only lifetime warranty on the electronics aspect of the LRF.

There are "better" LRFs available, but for a hunting LRF, the Ranger does very well.

I use an older Leica 1200, haven't found any reason to replace it yet. They do come up for sale now and then.

Thank you, all for the responses. It looks like the Vortex Ranger 1300 or 1500 is the way to go. Gotta love that unconditional lifetime warranty.

I was too, but a shooting school out in Idaho with a Leupold 1200 definitely showed that it could not hang with the Sig Kilos.

Several flavors of the Kilos were in use from the 1800, with the 2200 being the most popular, to the 2400 used by the instructors.

The Kilos repeatably out performed the Leupold at the same ranges, and had extra yardage they could reach.

Buy a Leica and leave all the junk behind. Why settle for cheap Chinese crap? Leupold included.....

No comparison IMO, Leica
https://www.eurooptic.com/Leica-CRF-1600-R-Rangemaster-40537.aspx#Write

My Vote go's to Leica as well.

I have the 1200 and also have a pair of the Giovids 10x42

I don't go in the field without them.

I'm absolutely positive that the Leica and Sig units will outperform the Vortex, or any other unit at the $250 price point. And they should, at twice the price. If I was going to be using the unit quite often, I might consider a higher end unit. However, I will likely be using this unit only for a once a year hunt out west. Back East I don't need to use a range finder for anything I hunt inside 200 yards or so.

All the more reason not to buy a piece of junk. Why let a couple hundred bucks spoil a $4K hunting trip? Some older models like Leica 1000-R and 1200 can be had on close outs. Happy Trails

I have been using a Sig Kilo 2000 for several years now. Spot on. I wish the aiming ring was a bit smaller, but it has worked great. I have ranged antelope at over 700 and really never tried it farther, as it was not necessary.

Yeah, I'm sure the pricey Leica works out very well for you. However, given the reviews and Vortex's rep for NOT producing junk, I doubt that their rangefinder will be the cause of a spoiled $4000 hunt. Not to mention that I'll have a very experienced guide giving yardage input to verify what the cheap Vortex reads, including equivalent horizontal distance.

It doesn’t get any more simple than buying a used Leica CRF 900-1600 rangefinder, all that other stuff is just almost and you won’t get new what you will with the used Leica CRF...

How do these older square ones compare to other $200 class LRF available new?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leica-Rang...unting-Golf-More-With-Case-/173791421842

.

They work well, the CRF are preferable due to the single hand use over the flat square model...

I had a Nikon 600 RF, and I liked it a lot. But, it had a max pig/coyote range (deer too) of 400 yards. Maybe if the light was right it would range to 405 yards. I needed a range of at least 500 yards, so with a bit of google research I decided on a SigKilo 1250. Tried it out for a week or so, and the ranging was spotty. I’d range a deer at 600 and then I couldn’t range one at 500. Sometimes no reading at all. Frustrating. I sent it back and bought a Leica 2000B, and that rascal really works. Even on dim foggy rainy days it ranges great. I was using it to range some deer right at dusk on that dim drizzly day. Ranged them easily at 350 and 360 and when I overshot them, it ranged the dark woods on the other side of my hay field at 511 yards. Longest ranging so far was at a deer at 770 and a cow at 1290 yards.

I really like this Leica 2000B and the way it works, but I can’t say that a more expensive SigKilo than the 1250 won’t work as well.

When I was trying to decide what to buy, I noticed that most RF reviews were based on ranging targets and not on little brown coyotes at distance, so the reviews really didn’t give me the info I wanted. But I now have the RF I needed.

I have used for years a Leica CRF 900, bought it on a great deal from Cameraland when it became obsolete with the demand for more range. With fresh battery, I have routinely ranged well over 800 yards, and a few times over 900. It is very fast, portable, easy to use. No ballistic junk, just range. Highly recommend Leica.

Whatever LRF you buy, I'd test it thoroughly. If it doesn't perform as expected, send it back. I think there is more to it than make/model. The variability from one unit to another, from the same company, can vary.

I have looked at many units from many manufacturers including sizable numbers at once and have never seen any variability within a model under identical conditions. I have seen a number of people ranging the same object at the same time and all ranges come out exactly the same after taking into account a step or two within the group.

There are people that cannot find a range standing at a tee with the description of the hole in front of them, but that ain't the LRFs fault.

I have an older Nikon 400. Very rarely, if conditions are perfect, it will reach 400. Usually around 350 to 375 is the max.

I was out on a golf course yesterday with my Leica CRF and can read the flag on the green to nearly 200 yards, that is a pretty small target...

The Leica CRF-2400-R is the way to go

I found the 2000B on sale, which is why I bought it. Can’t remember the actual price, but it was very attractive. Still paid more than the SigKilo 1250 had cost.

A little quick fix for the CRF Leica's, when you remove the battery cap look at the little ring around the threads. That is the ground connection. If it is dirty or "flat" and not sticking out it can be a problem. Not working or intermittent. Clean the outside edge with a pencil eraser or 600 grit sandpaper and carefully bend it back out so there is some tension. Things will then be good to go again. Only issue I have seen with the Leica CRF series.

Good for you. I have seen problems, and it wasn't the operator at fault.

I have too 4th point, I had two CRF 1200's that absolutely sucked. Sent them both back. Using an RF isn't exactly rocket science, more like point and shoot assuming you have a solid rest for the "one handed" units. Lots of RF's have trouble giving readings depending on the weather.

This is good advice that applies to any piece of gear and is particularly apt when considering a sophisticated instrument.

Whatever works out for you works best, I suppose. I think I only paid around $500 for my Leica and that was a few years ago. Most of the Vortex stuff is not the quality you think it is since most, if not all, is Hecho en China, Happy Trails

I'd be willing to bet Leica's (and everyone else's for that matter) laser/electronics are Chinese as well. If it wasn't it would cost twice what they sell for.

I wonder how Vortex manages to stay in business with their lifetime unlimited warranty on all that "junk"...

I’ll bet you are correct on that. I’m sure the innards of many LRF and some scopes are from Asia and/or countries other than the country of assembly. It is hard to avoid Chinese stuff in anything electronic these days. I have just found Leica optics work very well and probably due to the standards and quality control in their manufacturing process. Happy Trails

Could be, I just picked up a like new used Leica 1600 for $200 - it is heads and tails better than the Nikon Aculon that it replaced. Ranged off some rocks the other day at over 850yards. The Nikon was good for around 300. Not to mention the optic is amazing as well. Watch for a used Leica.

So the new Leicas were way beyond my means. On the advise from centershot, I started looking for a deal on a used one. I found one like new, that's never even been hunted. It was just a bit more than a Vortex 1300, but comes complete in original box with all documentation, a Leica tripod mount and extra batteries. Should arrive by the end of the week.

Just wait until your bargain used Leica goes tits up and you find out you have no warranty. You will wish you had the Vortex which has a lifetime warranty, new or used.

If it doesn't work when it arrives, it goes right back. If it does work. it should continue to with proper care...it is a Leica. The particular unit I bought was very lightly used just to sight in the former owner's firearms from atop a tripod. It never underwent the abuses of a hunt. I hear what your saying about the lifetime warranty. That and price were the reason they were my original first choice. However, I've read quite a few reviews where the 1300's had problems reading half the distance advertised. I don't see any bad reviews on the Leica as far as failures. Mostly minor things like missing documentation or wrong unit sent from vendor. So I took a shot. The Leica is also 7X, where the Vortex is 6X.

Vortex does have a great warranty. But they are not in the same league as Leica. IF mine craps out I'll call them and see where it goes. IF that does not work I'll probably buy a new Leica 2400 for $499. Till then I'm very much enjoying the 1600 that I have.

Right. My Leica CRF-1000R has worked just fine and provides ranges out to 900 to 1,000 yards as advertised. I don’t need to know ranges out past that. Not calling in artillery or air strikes these days. Happy Trails