Rifle Scopes Rangefinder question

338LM

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 20, 2003
502
55
STL Missouri
Are rangefinders affected by the amount of humidity in the air at long distances? Wondering if the higher the humidity in the air the less farther a rangefinder will range, or visa versa? Or are rangefinders not affected at all by the humidity?
 
Re: Rangefinder question

Depends on whether or not the humidity causes enough water vapor (fog or haze) to attenuate the optical beam - which in turn depends on temperature, pressure and other factors. In general, if you can perceive fog or haze in the air, RF range will be reduced. Also in general, the higher the humidity the more likely it is to be hazy.
 
Re: Rangefinder question

I was using my Bushnell 1600 this morning and the longest reading I could get was around 1200 yds. likely from the morning fog not so much humidity. Although, after 1200 yds the next range is 1800 so there might not have been enough light to properly range.
 
Re: Rangefinder question

I have found that light plays a role as well, in the bright sun of the afternoon it will not read on objects that it will in the morning and evening.
 
Re: Rangefinder question

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: red6actual</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have found that light plays a role as well, in the bright sun of the afternoon it will not read on objects that it will in the morning and evening. </div></div>

Sunlight has many wavelengths of light including infrared light that we can not see as well as the visible light that we see. Rangefinders typically used an infrared light emitters (or green laser emitter) that is pointed at the target and then a receiver in the rangefinder receives the reflected infrared light from the target and processes the received light to determine how far away the target is. If the sunlight is too bright, then the sunlight's infrared light can swamp the rangefinder beam's reflected infrared light and then the rangefinder can not see it's reflected infrared signal from the target object. Think about using a flashlight in the bright sun - you can see the beam a few feet away but not at many yards away like you can at night or in the shade.