Beam washout

[Wachsmann]

So yesterday I was out at about 9:30 to 10:00am. I was trying to range some rocks at about 900 yards. I could consistently get ranges on closer rocks and trees at 850yrds but looking up the mountain (eastward) farther and somewhat into the sun a bit I think the beam was getting washed out. I was able to turn around and get some ranges on some rock on another side of a hill which my back was now to the sun at 950yrds. It an old bushnell range finder that has a max yardage of 999yards. It still does what I need for almost 90% off all my shooting needs. Just curious if anyone has seen something like this on some of the higher end tools like the Leica 1600b since this is what I have been really looking hard at. I want to be able to range some much farther distances for rock shooting and when hunting to see how far I have to travel or shoot to get to some animals but mainly it will be for shooting rocks at 1000 and past 1000yrds.

 

[North Idaho Hunter]

My shooting friend just purchased the bushnell "1 mile" rangefinder and it does really well for ranges out to 1300 yards, i would consider one of them, much cheaper then a leica.

I have a leupold 1200 tbr that doesnt do near as good as his bushnell.

 

[Greyfox]

Pointing any laser RF into the sun while trying to get a range will definitely effect it's performance. The sunlight confuses the optical receiver. Some RF's will be effected less that others depending on the design of the optical receiver. Just about all rangefinders will work with easy ranging situations within their stated distance capability. In my experience the difference between the low and high priced rangefinders is the sophistication, design, and quality of the optical receivers, electronics, and more recently software. Dealing with difficult ranging conditions like sunlight, fog/haze, weak relective surfaces, etc, is were the differences show up between RF's. I think, much like case withscope selection, get the best you can afford. IMO.