Japanese Rangefinders?

[Kiwi Nate]

Hi Guys, a friend turned up at my place this afternoon with a Leupold RXB-4 rangefinder on loan from a gun store. We went out onto the hunting block and put the BRF to the test. I had my Leica 1300 yard BRF. The Loopy did pretty much what I have come to expect, sometimes it would range, other times it wouldn't. It was impossible to predict what it would range off, sometimes it worked on a dark patch of grass better than a bright rock face. The Loopy is rated to 1500 yards but struggled past 700 yards. On inspection of the laser tube glass, there were several scratches. A while ago, I had a hunting client turn up with a brand new Loopy RX-750, the laser lens was scratched as new and was hopeless past a couple of hundred yards.

Anyway, a Leica BRF costs about a month and a halfs wages (for a qualified tradesman) in NZ. The horrible chinese Loopy RXB-4 costs $1700 or nearly 3 weeks wages for the average bloke and for the money, you get royally shafted. What I would like to ask you guys is- which, if any BRF's are made in Japan as an alternative.

If any of you own a Bushnell yardage Pro, could you please have a look see where it was made. Also, are there any other Japanese brands which might not be quite so well known, but are better than the Loopy. I see that Nikon make range finders but I haven't found a bino rangefinder combo. What I would like to find is a brand and model that I can recommend to clients who can't afford the Leica, but want to be able to reliably range out to say 1300 yards, without finnicky performance. This question seems to crop up all the time so I would like to get it resolved with help from this forum.

Bit of a pity about the Loopy glass finish quality, the features all looked highly desirable. We even noticed a line running through one of the main lenses when looking into the bino's the wrong way, a sort of crease, almost like a crack but not actually cracked.

Thanks, Nathan.