Guys I'm looking for a rangefinder for coyote hunting under all conditions. I currently am using lieka geovid hd-r and yesterday in full sun and heavy Mirage I had problems ranging coyotes in the 500 to 800 yard range. This is part of my living I need something that's going to perform better what would you recommend in range finding binoculars. I had my boss with me and luckily connected on 2 of the 3 but letting coyotes go is not a good policy.
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Rangefinder for coyote hunting
- Thread starter Brent Parker
- Start date
For yotes:
RAPTAR - Ranges out to 5,000+ yards at night ... and 1,750 yards consistently in the day. I've gotten to 4,000yds in the day off a galvanized tin shed.
At the bottom of the pic is an IR-Patrol with a Radius mounted and zeroed, providing a handheld thermal range finder. If used off something like a commanche bag off a tripod, to steady it, this is good out to 3000+ yds at night and 1,100yds consistently in the day, with 1,400yds in the day in good range finder conditions.
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The RAPTAR uses a 1550nm ranging laser which is eye safe and hence can be significantly more powerful than the 905nm ranging lasers in commercial range finders.
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For Ranging Binos in the day, I use Ziess 10x45x with a 3x multiplier. With the multiplier on the left barrel I'm at 30x magnification on the left barrel and can still use the right barrel on 10x for ranging. This one ranges out to 1,100 yards in the day, consistently.
Shown, the Zeiss are being used off commanche bag off instrument housing on the 4 wheeler, a field improvisation. The 3x multiplier is shown on the left barrel.
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Nick V. chart from PRB article, testing various range finders:
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Chart showing factors which improve or degrade laser performance. As you can see, bright sun degrades performance.
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That chart shows what I was using effective to roughly 500 more yards than I could get yesterday. But thank you for the information and I will look into those.
For lrf binos
The new zeiss are much better than the previous model
I can hit 2k yards plus in any conditions, hand held
The new zeiss are much better than the previous model
I can hit 2k yards plus in any conditions, hand held
I agree. I have a set of the Gen 2 Zeiss Victory RF 10x42’s and have yet to have an issue ranging 2000+ yds consistently regardless of the condition. The farthest I’ve ranged with them is about 2760 or so. Not to mention it’s tough to bear Zeiss glass....
Gen 2? I thought the Victory RF was a new release, previous release were just Victory Rangefinding binocular, I believe the "RF" designation has only been assigned to the latest version, but let me know if I'm mistaken because I'd hate to buy the "old" model by mistake.
OP - I did a brief review of several LRF bino's last year, Sig Kilo 2000, Vortex Fury, Nikon Laserforce and Leica HD-B 2200. None of them did great in the conditions you mention, bright sun, middle of the day but the Sig Kilo probably did the best followed by the Vortex, I was surprised the Leica didn't fair as well. I have not tested the new Vortex Fury HD 5000's which are supposed to have a much better LRF unit but they may be the best of the "cheap" LRF bino's today.
I definitely recommend checking out the Fury 5000 and posting your thoughts. The updated design features a flat beam rather than a conical beam like previous models have featured. Because of this, you have a much smaller chance of picking up ranges before and after the intended target. The flat beam also gives a concentrated feedback which is part of the reason we are able to get measurements out to 1000 yards in 0.1 yard increments. I'm sure if you get a chance to pick up as set, you'll be very happy with the performance you get. On a side note, the new Razor HD 4000 also features the flat beam and has the added benefit of having modes; Normal, First, Last, and ELR apposed to the Fury 5000 which has modes; Best and Last. I hope this information was helpful.
I wanted a Sig 1250, but Sportsman's was out the day I went to buy. I ended up with a Vortex 1000 and am very pleased so far. It'll range critters to at least 800 and I can easily get rocks and large trees at 1,100-1,200. I like the LED readout and good scan feature. So far, so good.
I'll give the vortex some thought. I'll take a good hard look at the Ziess as well. Thanks everyone
The only rangefinder I have seen work good on coyotes are the older Vectronix. The others make claims of x distance off reflective( read LARGE BUILDINGS ETC) but I tend to not shoot at large buildings etc. I currently have a leica 2700B and frankly it is disappointing....Now, if I decided to shoot buildings it would be pretty good.
I am tired of useless stats regarding rangefinders. I have seen people on here and other sights make wild claims about the effectiveness of rangefinders and frankly they seem to get the one gem in production or maybe they are fanboys promoting brand x....this from a former owner of Vectronix plrf 15c....now that was a kickass rangefinder...surely 10 plus years later someone can match it for a fraction of the cost....It seems the only really viable one out there right now is the Newcon ( forget model) but it is like 5k or something like that but at least it seems to do what it claims....
I am just asking for a rangefinder( under $2500) that will range a coyote consistently at 1200 yards or so BUT CONSISTENTLY.......Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Nikon, Sig, etc.....not one of these no matter what the price will do this consistently....not one....
I am tired of useless stats regarding rangefinders. I have seen people on here and other sights make wild claims about the effectiveness of rangefinders and frankly they seem to get the one gem in production or maybe they are fanboys promoting brand x....this from a former owner of Vectronix plrf 15c....now that was a kickass rangefinder...surely 10 plus years later someone can match it for a fraction of the cost....It seems the only really viable one out there right now is the Newcon ( forget model) but it is like 5k or something like that but at least it seems to do what it claims....
I am just asking for a rangefinder( under $2500) that will range a coyote consistently at 1200 yards or so BUT CONSISTENTLY.......Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Nikon, Sig, etc.....not one of these no matter what the price will do this consistently....not one....
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I havent used the new vectronix terrapin x, but I do have the older terrapin. I ranged a large tree stivking up from a distant treeline tonight from my front porch three times...4446, 4445, 4447 yards. I ranged the wire of a powerline, not the tower, just the wire against sky at 257 yards. This was at dusk, low humidity so close to optimum conditions but that demonstrates the strength of the laser. The new one according to PRB is supposed to be just as good. If it is, it should have no problem ranging non reflective targets like coyotes at ranges you can realistically successfully engage them. Inside of a thousand yards I cant see you having a problem with the vectronix any time of day. The new ones have 8x optics instead of the 5x mine have, which should be a plus in most cases, and are about $200 cheaper at $1799 than what I paid. I havent used any non vectronix rangefinder that comes close. That wilcox mentioned above looks as good but I havent seen one yet.
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I can hit a 10”x12” plate at over 900 yds (haven’t tried further on that small of a plate) with the new terrapin x.
Of course this is with a tripod. But it’s an awesome laser.
Well the RAPTAR will do it (1550nm ranging laser like vectronix) and is under $4000 ... but not usually under $2500 ...
People hate to spend the $$. But it they want a tight beam that is going to return of a small fury (non-reflective target) often using dead space as cover, leaving only part of the animal visible, or on a flat field with grasses. They should listen to your suggestion.. The new big ass beams post processed like the Sig BDX might give a return but there is no way to be sure what you have in those conditions. PRLFs are getting way better, but there is NOT a free lunch yet.
We are getting distracted trying to get V21 try distance readings and often forgetting the importance of in-range certainty on harder to range targets other than a reflective steel plate/berm behind it.
For what it is worth, I am NOT a yote hunter, but bigger pigs out in the West. They are bigger and I usually see the dogs on the same hunts, but the black pigs can be similarly tuff to range at long distances on the rolling hills.
Posted from my early post in another thread:
Below is a screen capture using NV comparing a Leica 2800 to the Sig BDX. The red reticle is SFP on the NV so it is NOT to scale— see, yet another reason not to get SFP.
The black dot is 1.3mil or 1.17” the math worked like this:
1mil at 100y = 3.6”/ .1 = .36 / 1.3mil x .36” or 13x.36”= 4.68” // 4.68 divided by 4 (25yards) = 1.17”
Both units, reticles seemed lined up.
The Leica beam is about 1/2 as tall as it is wide so it helps to know when to turn the unit. Maybe .6 mils vertical
The Sig beam seems to be about 6x larger than the vertical beam of the Leica. And about 3+ times the 1.3mil square or close to 4mils. That’s close to 14 MOA.
We did laze through small loops handheld and in many cases, the Sig had trouble. Sean was better than I was at getting returns with the Sig, but it still was a struggle. I’ll go out in a lime and say that “if” you plan on using these to verify dope on small targets you need to use prudent care to range the foreground and background then the plate to make sure you have the proper return.
FWIW I have about 4250 we can range from my backyard, then a big jump to the mountains we you’d need a V21 type to get a read.
Edited to add: Sig is using some sort of IR receiving gate but the beam is way outside listed size. Interesting note that while it was not my intent to look towards the IR laser, I could easily see the red inside the binos with the naked eye, before quickly closing my eyes and saying something.
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