Author Topic: Looking at a new rangefinder (Read 792 times)

daddywpb · « **on:** October 21, 2005, 10:37:24 PM »

I currently have a Bushnell Sport, and it has served me well, but I was considering getting a new unit that can track a moving animal and give ranges as it's moving. I don't need it to work at 1000 yards or anything like that. Any suggestions?

Siskiyou · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2005, 08:03:24 AM »

Glad you are up and moving this morning. I thought you would be "tracking" Wilma on the weather channel.

I have been interested in range finders for a long time but I have never tried one. Before sporting ranger finders came out I used a topo map to get a feel for the range in some of the canyons I hunt on a regular bases. Later I did some verification using a mapping program. The bottomline is that beyond two hundred and fifty yards my "eyeball" error rate increases. I tend to over estimate the range.

The proof in the pudding was that as a kid I over shot a number of bucks at long range. I know that if I had a good range finder I would have set up the shot differently. As I grew help from elder hunters, the addition of a scope, and some practice on jack rabbits improved the score. But those long range shots are still tricky.

daddywpb · « **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2005, 11:00:06 AM »

We are tracking Wilma. It should be here by Monday afternoon. I hope it keeps moving the way it's moving now. If so, it will be over quickly unlike last years storms that got here and just seemed to stop. I've lived in Florida all my life and have never seen anything like the two last year. We will be putting up shutters tomarrow. It's a lot of work. We have five retired racing greyhounds. One of them got a nasty, quick growing form of bone cancer about a month ago. We had surgery done on her which worked for a while, but yesterday we had to end her pain. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. There is a big empty space around here, and no one is in the mood for this hurricane crap. As soon as my daughter is out of high school, we are out of Florida. Never thought I'd want to leave, but I've had enough. Windstorm insurance is required by our mortgage company. It won't be long before we can't afford it anymore. As far as I'm concerned, they can have the house.
Nikon and Bushnell both make a handheld rangefinder with a "scan" mode. I didn't think I needed that extra, but it would be nice. Maybe next year.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2005, 02:38:53 PM »

daddywpb: Hope you and your family are okay. Wilma must of shut you down? Wishing you the best.

daddywpb · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2005, 04:54:07 PM »

Finally back from Wilma. Power was out for seven days. Internet access was down untill a couple days ago. What a mess it was. Now I can look forward to dealing with the ins company and FEMA to get our roof fixed.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2005, 07:30:26 PM »

daddywpb: Glad you are back. Hopefully your family and you are okay. I have been watching with concern for a post from you. I kept checking back on that Oct. 22 post and thinking about the safety of your family and yourself.

Are you still in your home?

I know there were a few post in this forum that I was looking forward to your input.

daddywpb · « **Reply #6 on:** November 19, 2005, 10:57:41 PM »

Siskiyou,
Thanks for the welcome back. Everyone here is ok, and we are very lucky to still be able to live in our house. The roof will have to be replaced, but it is not leaking as far as I can see. Wilma was a rough one, and caught everyone, especially the forecasters, by surprise. It was supposed to be a Catagory one hurricane when it came thru here, but turned out to be a strong Cat two, almost a three. Everyone in the house slept thru the whole thing except me. I was wide awake, in the dark, no way to see outside and listening to the roof creaking with each gust. I really thought it was going to come down. The damage around here was something to see, and the further south you went the worse it got. Broward County, about 20 miles south of here caught the worst of it. There were places there where the power was off for weeks. At the end of our street there was a small car that was pushed thru a concrete power pole.
I still have not heard from an adjuster with the windstorm insurance. I will be calling them today, just like yesterday and tomarrow, until I get some results. Citizens Insurance, which is the ONLY place to buy windstorm insurance, has announced a 19%, uh-huh, 19% rate increase for the coming year and is asking the Florida insurance commissioner for another 50% increase over the next couple years. At that point we will no longer be able to live here.
It's a bit overwhelming, but there are a lot of people in worse shape than us.
Thanks again,
Steve

Rum River · « **Reply #7 on:** December 05, 2005, 06:45:26 AM »

Check out some of the Leica models, they have the scanning capability you're looking for.

I have one of the 1200 series, which is great. As you mentioned, you don't need one for long range, but some of the lower models may have what you want.

I use mine for prairie dogging, so the long-range capability is something I really use a lot. I've gotten readings off of prairie dog mounds at 400 yards, and hard-target readings at 900.