I recently "upgraded" from a Leica 1600 CRF to the Vectronix Terrapin. While I haven't had the opportunity yet to actually use the Terrapin in a shooting situation, I have played with it in enough different weather environments and taken enough readings that I feel like I can do a decent comparison. And the results might surprise some people on this forum. Or maybe not.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ranging</span>
For pure ranging capability, the Terrapin wins hands down, and it's not even close. The farthest I have ranged so far was a building at roughly 5060 yards and this was done holding the unit. I pinged the building on the first try. In subsequent tries, I was not able to replicate. So far, I haven't even bothered to try and bag the unit in, but for me, there is no use bothering because clearly this device will range much farther than I would contemplate shooting. For my Leica 1600 CRF, the farthest object I was able to range was a water tower at 2,001 yards. This was done bagged in at night (in other words, ideal conditions).
Now, 2,000 yards seems great, but I am not hunting water towers. I need to be able to range deer at 600 yards and smaller animals at even closer distances as well as F-class sized targets at 1,000 yards. Well, the whole reason I got rid of my Leica is that I was having difficulty doing that... especially in foggy conditions. And where and when I shoot... in the early dawn during fall and winter a lot of the time... I face these conditions quite a lot. It once took me several tries to get a reading on a deer at 175 yards in the fog. After 2 tries, with your adrenaline going, it is difficult not to audibly curse when this happens. I got it the third time, but I had already decided I needed another alternative at that point.
In the fog, I am able to range things I simply couldn't with the Leica 1600. This is a big win for the Terrapin, but given the price difference, this wasn't a surprise. The devices simply aren't in the same league.
Another key feature available on the Terrapin, which is not available on the Leica, though it is available with the Bushnell ARC and ARC Fusion is the ability to ignore close objects. In fact, the Terrapin will display ranges for up to three objects that might be along the line of sight. This is a great function. With the Terrapin, the range will flash if more than one object is ranged and you can scroll through the multiple objects ranged. This is great if you are shooting through brush. Multiple times with the Leica, I have had to stalk closer to get a more direct line of sight view as I was picking up branches and grass. With the Terrapin, I have been able to range objects through a chain link fence. I wish I had the 1600 to do the comparison, but I had to sell it to finance the Terrapin. I am pretty sure the 1600 could not hack that task.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ergonomics</span>
Here is where it gets tricky. The ergos on the Leica 1600 CRF are incredible. The unit is so small it can easily be used with one hand. This also makes for a unit that can easily be attached to a belt, a vest, or a backpack without being cumbersome at all. The Terrapin, on the other hand is a freaking brick. Yes, it will attach to all of the same places the 1600 will, but you will know it's there. I will come back to the size in a second.
On the Leica 1600, the ranging button protrudes pretty substantially on the unit, while the second "function" button is recessed slightly. I didn't think of that much at the time, but it is truly a good design. You will know intuitively by feel which button needs to be pressed. What's more, you hold the unit vertically as opposed to horizontally, so when you are squeezing the button, you are basically pulling it like a trigger. Why should this matter? We are all marksman here and understand the importance of a trigger pull that is smooth and does not disturb the sight picture. The result it that it is very intuitive for us marksmen to keep the reticle aimed at the target while we depress the range button. The force pulls back against the web of your thumb and index finger like a pistol grip. I have a very difficult time doing this with the Terrapin. My thumb alone is opposing the button force when I range one handed, which makes it very difficult to operate in one handed operation. When ranging small objects, you are pretty much forced to use both hands. Even when using both hands, I can't keep the unit as steady with two hands as I could the Leica.
And back to the buttons. Te range button and the function buttons on the Terrapin are exactly the same. The range button is closer, making it easy enough to learn, but I kept pressing the wrong button and wondering why. Well the reason was that the buttons are close enough together on the unit, that I was finding the wrong button with my finger, and because I was only using the range button, I was only finding one button at a time. You could argue that this is a training issue, but it was not an issue that I had with the Leica and this is due to superior design.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Optics</span>
The Leica 1600 features a 7X magnification while the Terrapin features 5X magnification. When I think of Leica, I think of good glass and the Leica clearly has good glass, no pun intended. I was surprised by the image quality of the Terrapin having no experience with Vectronix products. I didn't really miss the higher magnification of the Leica. In fact, the FOV appeared a lot larger for the Terrapin. Doing some calcs, I came up with 3 degrees for the Leica vs 8 degrees for the Terrapin. Basically over twice the FOV. This should not be surprising, as the Terrapin is substantially larger. Further, I really like the reticle on the Terrapin. The Leica is nice and clean with no markings until you touch the range button, at which point, a red dot makes the range aiming point apparent. This has its advantages as well, but the reticle on the Terrapin allows it to substitute for a spotting scope in some ways. Really, I would consider the optics a wash.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Speed of Ranging</span>
I had read that the Terrapin can take a while to come up with a reading, and that is one hundred percent true. It seems to take anywhere from a second to two and a half or three seconds from the time you push the button to get a reading. Now, because it ranges so well, you probably won't have to range a second or third time, unless you couldn't hold the reticle on the target, which is a possibility (see above). Still, the Leica 1600 is noticeably faster than the Terrapin. Not a big deal, but let's say you are ranging at night... In order to light up the reticle on the Terrapin, you have to hold the range button down for a second. So at night, you have to hold the button down for a second, release, then hit the button again and wait for a reading. At that point, the difference is several seconds. Definite advantage for the Leica 1600 in low light situations.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Other features</span>
The one feature that the Terrapin is missing is the vertical angle to target. This is a pretty big deal, especially for such an expensive unit. The Leica 1600 will display this as well as temperature and atmospheric pressure. This is enough data to plug into your ballistic calculator to get pretty close. No hygrometer, so I pretty much stick to using my Kestrel for atmospheric conditions, but in a pinch, you can do without the Kestrel for everything but wind, humidity, and compass readings.
The Leica 1600 CRF also features a ballistic calculator that is admittedly not very good. The upcoming Leica Geovid will feature an improved ballistic calculator, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some update to the 1600. Leica had already released the 1600B CRF to make up for the fact that the first version only gave ballistic numbers out to 500 yards, which I would think is a good thing as I wouldn't trust the data past that distance.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Summary</span>
So surprisingly, I am missing my Leica 1600 CRF for its great ergonomics. I am even contemplating saving up for one to have in addition to the Terrapin. For pure ranging capability, the Terrapin is a better unit hands down. It also costs about 3 times as much as the Leica 1600 CRF.
For hunting in brush country in South Texas where most shots are inside of 300 yards, the Leica 1600 has its place, especially if I am on foot. For hunting out of a blind or a jeep, where I'm not concerned about the extra bulk, I think I would rather have the Terrapin. For shooting steel or paper, I think I would rather have the Terrapin if I am out beyond 600 - 700 yards. The Leica will pick it up, but sometimes it will take multiple tries.
In other words, each rangefinder has its place. I was expecting to be blown away by the Terrapin and I was, but considering the price difference, I am not sure that it suits my needs that much better than the 1600. I guess I should also thank Eurooptic for making the price differential a lot lower than it could have been as I won a 25% discount from a Smack the Smiley donation from Eurooptic. And I am not being ungrateful at all as they also carry the Leica 1600 for what I believe is the best price around. So if you are considering either device, think about the folks who support the Hide first.
That's it. I would love to hear other people's experiences with either of these rangefinders.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ranging</span>
For pure ranging capability, the Terrapin wins hands down, and it's not even close. The farthest I have ranged so far was a building at roughly 5060 yards and this was done holding the unit. I pinged the building on the first try. In subsequent tries, I was not able to replicate. So far, I haven't even bothered to try and bag the unit in, but for me, there is no use bothering because clearly this device will range much farther than I would contemplate shooting. For my Leica 1600 CRF, the farthest object I was able to range was a water tower at 2,001 yards. This was done bagged in at night (in other words, ideal conditions).
Now, 2,000 yards seems great, but I am not hunting water towers. I need to be able to range deer at 600 yards and smaller animals at even closer distances as well as F-class sized targets at 1,000 yards. Well, the whole reason I got rid of my Leica is that I was having difficulty doing that... especially in foggy conditions. And where and when I shoot... in the early dawn during fall and winter a lot of the time... I face these conditions quite a lot. It once took me several tries to get a reading on a deer at 175 yards in the fog. After 2 tries, with your adrenaline going, it is difficult not to audibly curse when this happens. I got it the third time, but I had already decided I needed another alternative at that point.
In the fog, I am able to range things I simply couldn't with the Leica 1600. This is a big win for the Terrapin, but given the price difference, this wasn't a surprise. The devices simply aren't in the same league.
Another key feature available on the Terrapin, which is not available on the Leica, though it is available with the Bushnell ARC and ARC Fusion is the ability to ignore close objects. In fact, the Terrapin will display ranges for up to three objects that might be along the line of sight. This is a great function. With the Terrapin, the range will flash if more than one object is ranged and you can scroll through the multiple objects ranged. This is great if you are shooting through brush. Multiple times with the Leica, I have had to stalk closer to get a more direct line of sight view as I was picking up branches and grass. With the Terrapin, I have been able to range objects through a chain link fence. I wish I had the 1600 to do the comparison, but I had to sell it to finance the Terrapin. I am pretty sure the 1600 could not hack that task.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ergonomics</span>
Here is where it gets tricky. The ergos on the Leica 1600 CRF are incredible. The unit is so small it can easily be used with one hand. This also makes for a unit that can easily be attached to a belt, a vest, or a backpack without being cumbersome at all. The Terrapin, on the other hand is a freaking brick. Yes, it will attach to all of the same places the 1600 will, but you will know it's there. I will come back to the size in a second.
On the Leica 1600, the ranging button protrudes pretty substantially on the unit, while the second "function" button is recessed slightly. I didn't think of that much at the time, but it is truly a good design. You will know intuitively by feel which button needs to be pressed. What's more, you hold the unit vertically as opposed to horizontally, so when you are squeezing the button, you are basically pulling it like a trigger. Why should this matter? We are all marksman here and understand the importance of a trigger pull that is smooth and does not disturb the sight picture. The result it that it is very intuitive for us marksmen to keep the reticle aimed at the target while we depress the range button. The force pulls back against the web of your thumb and index finger like a pistol grip. I have a very difficult time doing this with the Terrapin. My thumb alone is opposing the button force when I range one handed, which makes it very difficult to operate in one handed operation. When ranging small objects, you are pretty much forced to use both hands. Even when using both hands, I can't keep the unit as steady with two hands as I could the Leica.
And back to the buttons. Te range button and the function buttons on the Terrapin are exactly the same. The range button is closer, making it easy enough to learn, but I kept pressing the wrong button and wondering why. Well the reason was that the buttons are close enough together on the unit, that I was finding the wrong button with my finger, and because I was only using the range button, I was only finding one button at a time. You could argue that this is a training issue, but it was not an issue that I had with the Leica and this is due to superior design.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Optics</span>
The Leica 1600 features a 7X magnification while the Terrapin features 5X magnification. When I think of Leica, I think of good glass and the Leica clearly has good glass, no pun intended. I was surprised by the image quality of the Terrapin having no experience with Vectronix products. I didn't really miss the higher magnification of the Leica. In fact, the FOV appeared a lot larger for the Terrapin. Doing some calcs, I came up with 3 degrees for the Leica vs 8 degrees for the Terrapin. Basically over twice the FOV. This should not be surprising, as the Terrapin is substantially larger. Further, I really like the reticle on the Terrapin. The Leica is nice and clean with no markings until you touch the range button, at which point, a red dot makes the range aiming point apparent. This has its advantages as well, but the reticle on the Terrapin allows it to substitute for a spotting scope in some ways. Really, I would consider the optics a wash.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Speed of Ranging</span>
I had read that the Terrapin can take a while to come up with a reading, and that is one hundred percent true. It seems to take anywhere from a second to two and a half or three seconds from the time you push the button to get a reading. Now, because it ranges so well, you probably won't have to range a second or third time, unless you couldn't hold the reticle on the target, which is a possibility (see above). Still, the Leica 1600 is noticeably faster than the Terrapin. Not a big deal, but let's say you are ranging at night... In order to light up the reticle on the Terrapin, you have to hold the range button down for a second. So at night, you have to hold the button down for a second, release, then hit the button again and wait for a reading. At that point, the difference is several seconds. Definite advantage for the Leica 1600 in low light situations.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Other features</span>
The one feature that the Terrapin is missing is the vertical angle to target. This is a pretty big deal, especially for such an expensive unit. The Leica 1600 will display this as well as temperature and atmospheric pressure. This is enough data to plug into your ballistic calculator to get pretty close. No hygrometer, so I pretty much stick to using my Kestrel for atmospheric conditions, but in a pinch, you can do without the Kestrel for everything but wind, humidity, and compass readings.
The Leica 1600 CRF also features a ballistic calculator that is admittedly not very good. The upcoming Leica Geovid will feature an improved ballistic calculator, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some update to the 1600. Leica had already released the 1600B CRF to make up for the fact that the first version only gave ballistic numbers out to 500 yards, which I would think is a good thing as I wouldn't trust the data past that distance.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Summary</span>
So surprisingly, I am missing my Leica 1600 CRF for its great ergonomics. I am even contemplating saving up for one to have in addition to the Terrapin. For pure ranging capability, the Terrapin is a better unit hands down. It also costs about 3 times as much as the Leica 1600 CRF.
For hunting in brush country in South Texas where most shots are inside of 300 yards, the Leica 1600 has its place, especially if I am on foot. For hunting out of a blind or a jeep, where I'm not concerned about the extra bulk, I think I would rather have the Terrapin. For shooting steel or paper, I think I would rather have the Terrapin if I am out beyond 600 - 700 yards. The Leica will pick it up, but sometimes it will take multiple tries.
In other words, each rangefinder has its place. I was expecting to be blown away by the Terrapin and I was, but considering the price difference, I am not sure that it suits my needs that much better than the 1600. I guess I should also thank Eurooptic for making the price differential a lot lower than it could have been as I won a 25% discount from a Smack the Smiley donation from Eurooptic. And I am not being ungrateful at all as they also carry the Leica 1600 for what I believe is the best price around. So if you are considering either device, think about the folks who support the Hide first.
That's it. I would love to hear other people's experiences with either of these rangefinders.
