Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Range finder for big game hunting

Leica, Leica, Leica. We have tested a few side by side and time after Leica has been the most accurate and most dependable.

George,

You'd love the range finding abilities of the Fusion!

Have an Leica 900 that's got 9 seasons going on it, and still working great.

Leica 1200 here, works great. However, I hope to buy a set of rangefinding bino's over the next year.

This one...excellent range finder.

gary

Leica 1200. Zero issues and zero complaints.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at the range finding binoculars. Saves packin two pieces of equipment, and saves time , while you're looking at a critter punch the button and know what you need to do to take the shot.

I've gone from leica, to zeiss and back to leica. The zeiss ranged well, but the leica was brighter and much handier to have along.

I have one of the nikon 550's. My buddy had a Leica and we would range targets side by side and they were consistent with each other.

Leica lrf 1200 here.

I use Leica Geovid 10x42 binocs with built in rangefinder.
The more I use this setup, the more sold I am on it. One less gadget to carry around, not to mention less time for use- spot your game, range it, shoot.

This season, I was able to look over the bull elk I ended up shooting, at last legal light, clearly see antler points, range it, and put him on the ground. The optical quality of Leica is very hard to beat.

I use the reticle subtentions in my scope to estimate range. But I'm not shooting much over 200 to 300 yard ranges either.

For compact, easy to use, the Leica CRF is about the best. Along with compact Ultravids, they are a great bow-hunting combination. But for the best of the best in Rangefinding binoculars, the EL's do shine. Geovids are good, but the Swarovski is better...

Swarovski. Like them very much

Leupold 600. I've ranged deer out to 525, and reflective objects to 594.

I hunt big ag fields and wish it had more range, but what it does, it does well.

I wish someone would make a rangefinding binocular with an inclinometer, ballistic program, and superb optics. I'd sell blood until I could afford one.

I have the Leica Geovid's in 8x42. The glass is excellent but I am a little dissapointed in the rangefinder. It's not bad under optimum conditions but...hard to hold steady on a target of any distance. The laser box seems small compared to some other brands. Also, I've never got it to read anything over 600 yards. So..love the glass..but thinking of carrying a smaller rangefinder for the more distant targets.

I've used Bushnell, Nikon, Leupold, Vortex and now, the Leica CRF 1600B. The Leica is, hands down, the very best in all weather conditions and against all background types. All of them are pretty good in good weather and against hard backgrounds. The Leica is the one that I have found to be by far the most reliable against foliage and grass backgrounds, and it blows away the others at longer ranges, plus it is clearly superior in rain and snow. And its as light and compact as any of them and lighter and smaller than most.

This fall I tested the latest from Leupold, Vortex and Leica (thanks to a friend that owns an optics store). After actually using them side-by-side, outdoors, against varying targets at varying ranges and varying lighting conditions, I grabbed the Leica 1600B and never looked back.

While antelope hunting in Wyoming in October, I ranged targets out past 2000 yds with the Leica. One of my hunting partners had a Nikon and the other had a Bushnell and neither could range half that distance consistently. Although I wouldn't shoot much past 400 yds, it was really nice to be able to range out to around a mile and a quarter or so to see how far it was to a hill, rock, tree, coulee, or some other terrain feature when planning a stalk on a prospective goat. We were surprised how often we were wrong about which terrain feature was closer than another one when hunting uneven country. That Leica saved us a lot of unnecessary hiking.

On the last day of our hunt, a rain storm, which quickly turned into a near-blizzard of snow, blew in. The Leica was the only one of the three range finders that would give readings in that weather.

In addition, the 1600B has uphill/downhill angle compensation built-in, which I found was confidence inspiring when I had to shoot off the rim of a canyon down into its bottom. This is a feature that I didn't think that I needed, but now I'm glad it's there.

I'd say grab the Leica and forget the rest. To me, the Leica is certainly worth twice the price of the Nikon or Vortex and 1.5 times the price of the Leupold.

Hi Plainview,

The laser box or reticle is small for a reason. It helps you be more certain of what it is that you are actually ranging. The laser beam is 2.5m wide by .5 m tall at 1000m. You need both a small beam and a small reticle to be certain of what it is you are ranging. Just like shooting a rifle (but not as bad) it is going to be tough to hold steady on objects at long distances.

As to your Geovids not ranging anything past 600 yards, if that is the case, there is definitely a problem. Send them back to Leica and ask them to check collimation of the laser. Email me if you need any help.

Sdog:

Thanks for the advice. The other problem I have is that the box is about the same size as a deer at 300 yards. Any movement off the target at all and I get no reading what-so-ever. I find that I have to cycle the laser switch twice to get a reading.