The Leica is one of the more expensive "civilian" LRFs on the market today and
they were one of the first to offer a model with the capability of going to
1200 yards on a reflective target. The unit itself is compact and light weight,
weighing less than a pound and only being 4.75" long. The specs say that the
laser is accurate up to 1200y or 1097m. Up to 436y the accuracy is +/-1y, from
436y to 874y the accuracy is +/-2y, and anything over 874y the accuracy is
+/-0.5%. This is accurate, but also is the industry standard, so no news there.
The Rangemaster 1200 has the ability to range two targets simultaneously, but
we did not test this feature. The unit comes with a nice carrying case and also
a strap in order to sling it around your neck. The unit carries a two year
warranty and requires a 9volt battery which is good for about 1000 rangings.
There is a single button for operation on top of the unit, and operation is about
as simple as you can get, just point, and click. There is a slight pause and then
the range is displayed in the sight, just below the square reticule. If it is unable
to get a range, it displays three dashes. The unit has the ability to range in
both meters and yards, again, an industry standard. The square reticule is also
quite easy to understand and simple to use. The optics on the unit are very good
and quite clear. Leica does make/use very good optics, and they did with their
LRF also.
When out at the range we started out at fairly short ranges, 400m and then worked
further out, attempting to range targets of all sorts. We had our white steel plate
as our primary ranging target, but then tried trees, hillsides, even houses.
From 400-600m, everything worked very well and simple. We did try ranging
distant targets from within a house and through a window, but that simply would
not work, and we didn't expect it to, so nothing noteworthy there. One thing
we thought was an oversight and certainly would be an improvement, was the lack
of a threaded mounting area for a tripod. There was no way to attach this LRF
to a tripod. This is a real benefit when the ranges get large, and the targets
are medium to small in size, but this tripod mounting area is all too often left off of laser range
finders.
As we moved out in range, we started to run into the problems. Typically, on
non reflective targets, you are only going to be able to get a range to about
half the rated distance of the laser. And that is about where we hit the problems,
around the 600y mark. But, we also had problems getting ranges on our white
steel plate. THAT surprised us. We were unable to get a reading at all at 680 meters
on the white steel plate. We need to point out that we do not believe this is
because of the laser, we are quite certain it was because we could not hold the
unit steady enough to get a reading on the 20" steel plate. A tripod would have
made a world of difference at these ranges. Even sitting it on top of the rifle
to try and steady the unit did not have any effect. It really needs to be able
to be mounted on a tripod.
To conclude, this unit is durable, lightweight, and small. Plus with good optics
and a fairly good laser, it makes a solid unit. BUT, for serious long range
work, it suffers because there is no means to mount it to a tripod.
|
