Thoughts on New EL Range bino

[mthunter86]

So i am going to be updating my glass soon. I am looking at the new swarovision binos and the EL range finders. I know the el ranges are a step down in glass but how are they working for ranging animals? Does anyone have much experience ranging animals with an el range?

My current leica 1600 works good but im looking for more consistent reading between 1000-1200 yards on flat ground.

[mthunter86]

I was able to take one of the 10x42 El ranges home today. My initial impression after a few hours of ranging...

Capable range finder with reasonable glass. Id compare the glass to old el's.

I do have to state that i feel let down by the range finder. It was able to range many reflective targets to almost 2000 yards. Remarkably there was not a single target that the el's would range that my leica 1600 could not also read. My 1600 also read a higher percentage of the time, especially on hard to read targets. There were multiple targets that the 1600 could read between 1500 and 2000 yards that the el's weas not able to hit even with many attempts.

success/attempts normal targets

Swarvo
62/110
Leica
97/110

success/attempts on difficult targets (4 foot stack of black tires, black cow)

Swarvo
9/40
Leica
24/40

I will reserve my final judgement till Wednesday when i spend an entire day ranging and documenting deer, antelope, and elk on the prairie. I will install new batteries in both units and document results for all....

[mackgee]

How did they work out on Wednesday? I've been looking at these as well myself. Just wondering how well they did on live targets. Thanks.

Mac