rangefinders

[vostersj]

So i have it narrowed down to Leupold RXII and the Nikon rifle hunter.  Any suggestions for which is the better value?  I want it to be simple to use without a lot of gagdets. 

[mag30079]

Vostersj,
 
I'll be honest with you the RXII is not easy to use out of the box. I spent a couple of hours going use each mode, but you get so much with the Leuplod. I chose it over the Nikon (which by the way makes great products) because I felt it was a better price.
 
Either brand would be an exellent choice.

[vambo991]

I think you and I might be looking for the same thing... Leupold and Nikon look good, but a guy at work got a Bushnell 1000 ARC for about the same price and he loves it. I don't know... I'm still confused, but I need one, too. Let me know what you decide on.

[danesdad]

The Angle Range Compensators in some rangefinders will only make a real difference if you hunt 30 feet or higher in a stand, or if your bow is extremely slow.  The actual distance difference involved isn't great enough to have a dramatic effect on the shot unless one or both of the above conditions are met.  If your rangefinder doesn't have ARC, the measurement may be off by a yard or two on  steep angle shots.  I'm sure your bows shoot fast enough that it wont make a difference.  And, do you want to be shooting almost directly doam at game anyway?

[mhouck06]

someone else had a post like this about a month or so ago.. heres what i told them
 
[font="times new roman"]its not worth getting the range finder.. if you measure off around your stand all you need to do it shoot that distance.. the distance from the base of your tree to the target, no matter how high you are, it works. if you dont trust that.. a simple math equation will do the trick.[/font]
[font="times new roman"]A^2+B^2=C^2  [/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font]

[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"]just take ur stand height as A in feet, ground distance as B make sure if its 30 yards you enter 90 feet and then add them together.. take the square root of the sum and then divide that by 3 to get ur distance from stand to ground[/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"]ex. 20ft stand. ground distance, 30 yards[/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"]
[size=100][font="times new roman"]20^2+90^2=8500 [/font]

square root of 8500 = 92.195 ft.

92.195 / 3 = 30.7 yards [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"]as you can see, the difference is only minimal and would be hardly noticeable if you took that shot for 30.


[/font]

[vambo991]

I went to BPS about a week after my last post and bought the Nikon Rifle Hunter. I like it...really simple to use and there is a noticeable difference in yardages in both angle and non angle modes. The Leupold was nice but too complex for me. 

[arkansas bob]

I am shopping for a rangefinder and I would like to know what rangefinder everybody is using. Feel free to tell what rangefinder you did not like as well as what ones you do like. I am shooting an Excalibur Phoenix, Lumi-Zone scope, Excalibur Firebolt Series 22 Carbon arrows, and Excalibur's 150 grain Boltcutter broadhead.

[DoeEyed]

I just purchased a Nikon Riflehunter 550 with ARC last week.
 
I compared it to the Bushnell ARC 1000 which I did not care for. The Bushnell is more expensive and has ballistics charts for gun hunting that I will never use because I site in my gun at my max range before season. The numbers on the Bushnell are also smaller and therefore harder to see and I do not need to range out 1000 yards. It's overkill. 

The Nikon is VERY easy to operate, the numbers are easy to read and it fits well in the hand. It ranges far enough that I can use it for rifle or archery hunting and comes with ARC if I need it, which I probably won't cuz I shoot fairly flat terrain and don't get more than 20ft up a tree. But nice to have none the less. Also, the price was decent. The cheapest I found it was at Newegg.com.

[Goose]

I have the cheap Bushnell, it works but is not the easiest to acquire targets farther than 50 yards. I would recommend spending some money and getting a decent one. I went cheap and have been disappointed.

[Stickman]

I have the Bushnell sport 450. It cost about $135.00. I bought it 2 years ago before Arc technology. But I shot it at steep angles out of the tree and it still gives me the same yardage as on the ground.