Best glass binos with LRF, but not fancy ballistics

[littlepod]

I have a Sig Kilo 3000 BDX. The glass is so-so, ranging is great, and I don't bother connecting it to my Kestrel ever. I just range and type things in myself to the Kestrel, and my binos are usually shared with multiples at the range who are spotting/ranging.

So I'm looking at Leica's but I don't need all the 3200.com abilities. I do want to range at similar distances as the Sig, so it seems the Geovid-R's 15x56 with only 1200y is limiting. Maybe the 3200.com is the way to go even if I don't use any of the EHR functionality.

 

[chutinlead]

So it looks like you want the vortex fury 5000s. Great ranging, similar glass to the Sig, no bluetooth.

 

[littlepod]

So it looks like you want the vortex fury 5000s. Great ranging, similar glass to the Sig, no bluetooth.

Sorry I meant to clarify that I want better glass. I got behind a friend's Nikon LRF binos and they were a good amount crisper than the Sig. I assume the Leica's are another big jump in quality too.

 

[EXSOCAL]

Go with the Leica 10x42 HD-R 2700’s. Excellent glass and ranging capabilities. If you want the ballistic function, go with the HD-B’s.

 

[kriller134]

Get the swaro el range. My buddy has one and they’re great.

 

[littlepod]

Go with the Leica 10x42 HD-R 2700’s. Excellent glass and ranging capabilities. If you want the ballistic function, go with the HD-B’s.

Is the glass on the 2700 vs 3200 the same? Looks like the 3200 is only like 280 more. But yeh I don't need any of the 3200 features so I think I'd just get the 2700 if the glass is equally good.

 

[AFancyPenguin]

So full disclosure i know this isn't what you asked but thought I'd give an option ONLY because you could have taken that question from my head a few months ago. I nearly bought a set of leica lrf binos myself. If you are sold on the current path just ignore this.

If this is mainly spotting / range work, I really like where I ended up. I got an arca rail from Amazon and put meopta binos on a bino adapter with a leica 2800.com next to it. I have a great range finder with a great seat of 15x56 binos. Best of both worlds. So far no issues that others have had with BT with kestrel and leica but you dont need to use it and it has better beam divergence than their binos from what I found. I spoke to Doug at cameraland and he convinced me on the meopta. Essentially as close as you can get to swaravski 15x56 SLC without the $$ tag. I love mine.

 

[littlepod]

So full disclosure i know this isn't what you asked but thought I'd give an option ONLY because you could have taken that question from my head a few months ago. I nearly bought a set of leica lrf binos myself. If you are sold on the current path just ignore this.

If this is mainly spotting / range work, I really like where I ended up. I got an arca rail from Amazon and put meopta binos on a bino adapter with a leica 2800.com next to it. I have a great range finder with a great seat of 15x56 binos. Best of both worlds. So far no issues that others have had with BT with kestrel and leica but you dont need to use it and it has better beam divergence than their binos from what I found. I spoke to Doug at cameraland and he convinced me on the meopta. Essentially as close as you can get to swaravski 15x56 SLC without the $$ tag. I love mine.

Hmm.. that might be what I do then. If I don't need ballistics built into my RF, the 2400-R seems like it would suffice? Saves me another $200. I should look at the Meopta binos..

@gr8fuldoug Are Meopta's your goto still or has anything new come out in the last few months that changed your mind?

 

[Meety Peety]

So full disclosure i know this isn't what you asked but thought I'd give an option ONLY because you could have taken that question from my head a few months ago. I nearly bought a set of leica lrf binos myself. If you are sold on the current path just ignore this.

If this is mainly spotting / range work, I really like where I ended up. I got an arca rail from Amazon and put meopta binos on a bino adapter with a leica 2800.com next to it. I have a great range finder with a great seat of 15x56 binos. Best of both worlds. So far no issues that others have had with BT with kestrel and leica but you dont need to use it and it has better beam divergence than their binos from what I found. I spoke to Doug at cameraland and he convinced me on the meopta. Essentially as close as you can get to swaravski 15x56 SLC without the $$ tag. I love mine.

I run a similar setup to this with Meopta B1 Plus 15x56 and a sig range finder on an Abel table. Good setup especially while spotting for others as seeing impacts with 10s can be a pain sometimes on those longer targets. Id still like a pair of range finding binos for certain uses, and for that leica 3200s are on my short list.

 

[littlepod]

I've only ever used my 10x binos, primarily for 25-400 yards on NRL/NRL22X matches. I haven't gotten out to do much PRS yet. Are 15x too much for spotting the rimfire-esque distances or do you guys find the 15 fine?

 

[AFancyPenguin]

I've only ever used my 10x binos, primarily for 25-400 yards on NRL/NRL22X matches. I haven't gotten out to do much PRS yet. Are 15x too much for spotting the rimfire-esque distances or do you guys find the 15 fine?

I recently swapped from the meostar 12x50 to 15x56 with no regrets. PRS no question on a tripod I think 15 or 18x is the best. 15x is nice with 22 if you like to spot for youth (i.e. help with shot corrections) or watch where the guy/gal in front of you was hitting targets (nice wind data) and just in general I like it more. I mean there is rarely a stage you dont have to pan with 12x so why not just go 15x and get some awesome data from your squad mates lol.

 

[littlepod]

I recently swapped from the meostar 12x50 to 15x56 with no regrets. PRS no question on a tripod I think 15 or 18x is the best. 15x is nice with 22 if you like to spot for youth (i.e. help with shot corrections) or watch where the guy/gal in front of you was hitting targets (nice wind data) and just in general I like it more. I mean there is rarely a stage you dont have to pan with 12x so why not just go 15x and get some awesome data from your squad mates lol.

Is there a good 15x w/ a reticle in the binos? Might as well add that to the list and have some sort of mil reticle.

 

[AFancyPenguin]

Is there a good 15x w/ a reticle in the binos? Might as well add that to the list and have some sort of mil reticle.

Not that I am aware of. Easy to make rough corrections by target size or by getting one of the guys with a reticle (or your own scope!)to mil it before the stage to know the size.

 

[ma smith]

Is there a good 15x w/ a reticle in the binos? Might as well add that to the list and have some sort of mil reticle.

meopta looks like 2020 they launched a 10x with reticle,
no workd on 15x ....and not even sure if this is for sale yet due to covid

Meopta MeoStar B1 R, RX, MeoPro AIR and MeoPro Optika LR - Optics Trade Blog

Meopta started 2020 with a lot of new products. They introduced a few new binoculars, from 3 different series, all designed for a different purpose of usage

optics-info.com

 

[Meety Peety]

meopta looks like 2020 they launched a 10x with reticle,
no workd on 15x ....and not even sure if this is for sale yet due to covid

Meopta MeoStar B1 R, RX, MeoPro AIR and MeoPro Optika LR - Optics Trade Blog

Meopta started 2020 with a lot of new products. They introduced a few new binoculars, from 3 different series, all designed for a different purpose of usage

optics-info.com

I asked Meopta about putting a reticle in the 15s several months ago was all they would say was that they were going to release the low power reticle binos first (I was told summer 2020 but that was before covid) to see how the market reacted before thinking about doing 15s. They also said a custom one-off order of 15s with a reticle was not possible due to different size components involved. So I guess what that means is you guys should all go buy the 10s so they will want to release 15s.. and then I'll buy those haha.

 

[CrabsandFootball]

Leica Geovid 10 x 42 3200.COM

Can be had for around $2k with mil discount. Hard to beat at that price.

You don't have to use the ballistic functionality. I don't.

Its a killer laser with Alpha Glass for not much more than a Terrapin.

 

[deersniper]

I vote for the rangefinding binoculars I got the HD-B 3000s even though I prolly won’t use the ballistics.

This guy has great deals

Optics - Leica Demo Deals

Leica Demo Deals We just got more great Demo Optics in from Leica.... #40804 10 x 42 Geovid HD-R 2700 Rangefinder Binocular only $1,999.99 #40803 Geovid HD-R 2700 8x42 Rangefinder Binocular only $1,999.99 #40428 Geovid 10x42 R - Yards Rangefinder Binocular only $1,199.99 #40054 Geovid HD-R...

www.snipershide.com

 

[seansmd]

So full disclosure i know this isn't what you asked but thought I'd give an option ONLY because you could have taken that question from my head a few months ago. I nearly bought a set of leica lrf binos myself. If you are sold on the current path just ignore this.

If this is mainly spotting / range work, I really like where I ended up. I got an arca rail from Amazon and put meopta binos on a bino adapter with a leica 2800.com next to it. I have a great range finder with a great seat of 15x56 binos. Best of both worlds. So far no issues that others have had with BT with kestrel and leica but you dont need to use it and it has better beam divergence than their binos from what I found. I spoke to Doug at cameraland and he convinced me on the meopta. Essentially as close as you can get to swaravski 15x56 SLC without the $$ tag. I love mine.

The latest leica fw update resolved the 2800.com bluetooth issues.

 

[AFancyPenguin]

The latest leica fw update resolved the 2800.com bluetooth issues.

I need to check that out still.

 

[M77]

I have a Sig Kilo 3000 BDX. The glass is so-so, ranging is great, and I don't bother connecting it to my Kestrel ever. I just range and type things in myself to the Kestrel, and my binos are usually shared with multiples at the range who are spotting/ranging.

So I'm looking at Leica's but I don't need all the 3200.com abilities. I do want to range at similar distances as the Sig, so it seems the Geovid-R's 15x56 with only 1200y is limiting. Maybe the 3200.com is the way to go even if I don't use any of the EHR functionality.

i recently got a pair of Leica Geovid HDR2700
glass is fantastic and laser is excellent , have ranged out to 2615 metres repeatably .
the glass has a very natural feel to it and you can spend many hours behind them .

 

[Wyzrd]

I don’t shoot PRS, but for my uses (hunting and practicing out to 1000+ yds at range) the older 10x42 Leica Geovid HD-R have been working out great. Ranges to just over 1200 yds, and glass is amazing! I still have a Sig Kilo 2000 if I need to range a little further. Now with that said, I still wouldn’t mind upgrading my LRF binos to ones that can range farther. I love the glass quality in the Leicas, but I also don’t need all the ballistics software. So, I may snag one of the Vortex Fury HD 5000’s, or sell some stuff and spring for the Swaro EL Range LRF Binos.... decisions decisions.

 

[Dobermann]

I run the Swaro EL Range.

Already had some Zeiss Victory SFs for standard binos, which I love, but the glass on the Swaros literally had me swearing out loud the first time I looked through them ... super-clear, and even with poor eyesight, they let me pick out fine detail at 1000 m with ease.

Range speed and accuracy is good too.

Can't recommend them enough!

 

[CrabsandFootball]

i recently got a pair of Leica Geovid HDR2700
glass is fantastic and laser is excellent , have ranged out to 2615 metres repeatably .
the glass has a very natural feel to it and you can spend many hours behind them .

I am thinking of the Geovid 10x42 3200.coms. Can snag a pair for $2k and really having a hard time saying no.

Think they are worth it?

 

[HayStax]

Super happy with my Leica demos from @gr8fuldoug

He has some great deals right now!

 

[littlepod]

I am thinking of the Geovid 10x42 3200.coms. Can snag a pair for $2k and really having a hard time saying no.

Think they are worth it?

For me it looks like the 2700's are bout $300 cheaper than the 3200s... leaning towards the 2700s.

 

[M77]

I am thinking of the Geovid 10x42 3200.coms. Can snag a pair for $2k and really having a hard time saying no.

Think they are worth it?

You would be insane to let them go . Seriously, if you can get them you will not be disappointed

 

[M77]

For me it looks like the 2700's are bout $300 cheaper than the 3200s... leaning towards the 2700s.

Same glass , do you need ballistics ? Do you need to laser past 2700 metres ? If not go the HDR 2700 .

 

[deersniper]

Same glass , do you need ballistics ? Do you need to laser past 2700 metres ? If not go the HDR 2700 .

When looking at max rangefinder range, the farther they will range a reflective target , the better they do in adverse conditions at closer ranges.

Ie a 3000 rangefinder will do better in bad conditions / targets at 2000 yards versus a 2000 yard rangefinder.

 

[M77]

When looking at max rangefinder range, the farther they will range a reflective target , the better they do in adverse conditions at closer ranges.

Ie a 3000 rangefinder will do better in bad conditions / targets at 2000 yards versus a 2000 yard rangefinder.

i understand that , and know all about ranging from ridge to ridge etc . the leicas are known to laser past the advertised anyway . but yes 300 metres more may not be worth an extra $300 dollars more

 

[SSSamurai]

Another vote for Leica HD-Rs, I love mine!