Ive been looking for a rangefinder for a long time. Ive never been impressed with the junk on the market which usually doesn't reach past 500m. arguably, ranges which you don't need a RF for. I was looking for alternatives which had me looking at leica, vectronix and newcon optics. I finally settled on one for now:
Leica crf 1600 b
they run for around $800-850. Considering the other stuff on the market, this is pretty reasonable. But since this is 2014, i was hoping it had more of the basic features such as if it comes up with a double return and it should clearly say on it the band sizes since the manual doesn't say. From what I read on the web it's something like 0.5x2.5 milrads. (so .5 vertical and 2.5 horizontal (i hope)). It would be nice to know the exact reticule dimensions to so you can know exactly where in the lasing square the beam is going. I guess I'll have to do some math, print out a little diagram with the band data and tape it to the side.
This thing is fairly small and compact. There's a .308 snap cap there for reference. The whole unit is smaller than my cellphone. One other thing that would have been nice would have been a rubber or similar objective lens cover to reduce scratching. The store model had smudges all over it, and after the first outing so did mine.
The 7 power optic is fairly good. I assume this is European glass if it's a german company and made in portugal. Glass qualities have pretty much 2 tiers: excellent, and the rest. I'm not sure this qualifies as excellent, but it's extremely close. There is blurring around the outside edges of the lens close to the tube, but I didn't really play with the focus too much, since it seems really stiff and fragile around the eye piece. Probably just my eyes.
I went out in the snow, which is usually difficult for RFs to pick up. Which it showed since I had to re-lase many times. but it went out to 1500 meters and everything in between. I hope it goes further in the summer, but for now, that's good enough. I lased everything free hand, so a little tripod would probably enhance results significantly.
The angle button is great to have.
The temp reading was way off since it was around my neck, thus probably isn't very useful. I am unsure of if the ballistic program uses the temperature or not. If it does, then your drop data might be way off. It will take much more testing to see how good it is, but i don't hold much out for it. They should probably have had different buttons for the ballistic program.
Until December 31, you can get a surefire flashlight if you send in the sheet for it. I assume WSS where I bought it was a legit dealer, so hopefully this will end up being a good deal.
Final thoughts, Good deal. Unless you can find a RF that goes to 2k for under 800, there really is no other option.
