Re: Binocular range finder suggestions?
I've been very happy with the Geovid HD's I got from Doug last year. I was able to check out the Geovid, Geovid HD and Zeiss RF side by side inside and outside and for me, the glass quality on the Zeiss was a bit better, but for whatever reason I could not hold them as steady as the Geovid's even at the same power. I was also able to compare the Geovid to the Geovid HD and while the difference isn't huge it's at least as big as the difference from the Geovid HD to the zeiss, more in my opinion and the rangefinder in the Geovid HD seemed much better than the older Geovid model.
I can say I switched from hunting with Swarovski EL's and leica 1200 rangefinder to the Geovid HD's and I might have given up just a tiny bit of pure glass quality and light gathering (I went from 8.5x EL's to 10x Geovid HDs), but the convenience of having both in one package and not having to fumble to get out a rangefinder all the time I wouldn't go back to having the two separate again. Expensive yes, but no worse than owning a top pair of binoculars and top rangefinder. Heavier sure, but no worse than the combined weight of the two separate units either.
The two issues that I'd like to see Leica change would be the button placement moved to the right hand side. Bowhunting I frequently rest my bow vertical against my body and rest the binoculars on the top limb for support. Being right handed in those situations my right hand is the only one free and getting to the left side button is possible just not easy. Also I'd liked to have seen them up the brightest display illumination a bit. I had a couple situations in snowy high elevation conditions when trying to range is very bright snowy backgrounds where the displayed range was very hard to see. I could usually read the range it just was not easy or I could shift to a darker area to read it. It sounds like someone else has the same issue with the Zeiss RF so it's not just the Geovid.
Now if they only were all as easy to deal with as Swarovski. I love that company. When I called to ask them about sending in my spotting scope and EL's for a general cleaning/inspection before my big elk hunt they not only did it for free, but they told me they encourage customers to do that once a year for no charge, they consider it part of their warranty service for all customers.
