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Upgrade from Bushnell Fusion 1600 to 1 mile binoc rangefinder?

RaptorFuel

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 19, 2008
71
7
I found a good deal on the new Fusion 1 Mile rangefinder 10x for about $850. Do you guys think its worth upgrading from the 1600? Is it enough of an upgrade to warrent the cost? I use them at the range and hunting and will start doing long range matches next year.

Edit. I may try to get a Terrapin before they are all gone. If I can even still get one.
 
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I just upgraded my 10x42 Fusion 1600s to 10x42 Fusion 1 miles 2 weeks ago so I'll offer some input...

Positives for the 1-miles: No more slight blue tint to the image, the display is much brighter and doesn't wash out in light backgrounds on bright days, and the rangefinder is indeed improved-- much more than I was expecting actually. Ranging cows (relatively low reflectivity) the 1-miles had about an extra 300-350Y on the 1600s on average and sometimes more.

It was worth the ~$275 to upgrade IMO after selling my 1600s. However, I think I'm still going to buy a Terrapin for smaller and/or more distant objects the Bushnells have trouble with. The Bushnells will range about 70-75% of what I want to shoot at and still serve as pretty decent binoculars so I don't think I'll be getting rid of them.
 
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How far out will they range a full size AR500 steel silhouette on a sunny day? What was the total distance you were able to range the cows?
 
I'm still debating internally. I have been leaning heavily toward the Terrapin. I guess another question would be, is it worth spending large chunks of money (thinking Terrapin) when there are other cheap ways to range? Is the convenience and accuracy worth the cash? I'm about to drop the hammer on a rifle capable of at least a mile to use in precision/tactical matches. I'm guessing the speed is very helpful in these matches.
 
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Shoottothrill:

Not sure, I don't have a full size IPSC silhouette in my steel collection. The largest steel piece I have is 24" x 36" AR500 for load development for some margin of error and the farthest I've tried ranging it was at 1200Y-- didn't have any issue. Also didn't have any issue getting on a 12" x 24" plate at the same distance. My smaller 45% IPSC silhouette and also a Big Dog reactive head/chest target at 1100Y also wasn't much of a problem provided the binos were steadied on a tripod, freehand use at that range was maybe a 50% success rate.

Regarding the cows, my old 1600 Fusions were near 100% success rate out to 650-700Y and started dropping off from there, I don't think I managed any readings beyond about 850Y and beyond about 750Y it took numerous tries to get a return. The 1 miles were near 100% out to about 900-950Y. I managed to get ranges on some cows out to about 1200Y but I'd say that was about a 40% success rate and you had to have them steadied on a tripod.

One thing interesting about the Bushnells is their beam divergence is rotated 90 degrees compared to the majority of other rangefinders on the market-- it's a "tall & thin" stripe rather than "short and wide" stripe. With appropriate use of the bullseye or brush modes they seem to pick up smaller targets better than other rangefinders on the market with similar beam divergence specs because of that 90 degree rotation.
 
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