G7 BR2 vs vectronix terrapin

[supercrossbmx69]

So guys here's there deal, I now own a G7 BR2 but am thinking of switching to a terrapin. Here's why...

I'm still not sure if I do want to make the swap yet. Here my story. A few weeks ago I went out to fill my doe tag. Easy I thought. But I had my mind set that I would not just shoot the first Doe I saw, she had to be far to make it fun! So I found what I was looking for, a doe at what I thought was 850+ yards. So I ranged her with the g7. Which came back 515 yds. So I was thinking... there's no way?? She has to be ATLEAST 800. Problem I believe was she was behind a hill, in a open field, feeding. and I believe the g7 was ranging the top of the hill due to its large laser beam, NOT the doe. I then ranged above the doe's back to see if it was ranging the hill, and it said like 879 or something close to that. Which I then made the decision to wait for a better oppourtunity because I didn't want to make a bad shot. I lost the trophy doe because I wasn't confident in the G7. But in all reality, what if that were a 200" buck? I would never be able to look at the g7 again. And I would of had to watch the buck walk!! Which is what brought the terrapin into my mind. Because it has a way smaller beam. What do you guys think?? Am I just crazy or what??

 

[MMERSS]

Believing in your equipment is a must when making difficult shots. Second guessing can lead to excuses if "things" don't go quite right. Not a good situation to be in. The Terrapin is one if not the best range finder out there. I use one for a reason. I don't use a G7 for my reasons, not that they won't work great for their intended purpose, which I believe ELR is not one of them. My Terrapin has been "spot on" with several animals harvested up to 1100 yards this season. I use it for a reason. My reason, reliability I'm confident with.

 

[lamiglas]

Don't give up on the G7. I have used mine extensively now for several months and have grown to really love it. I used the telephone pole method to determine exactly where the ranging reticle was zeroed and I believe that this made all the difference. Once I learned that and practiced with the continuous mode, I am very confident with this rangefinder in the type of terrain you mentioned. And all other terrains as well. It did take practice
And really getting to know it before the confidence kicked in. The first day I used it something very similar happened to me on a steel plate in a rolling hill fairly level area. The plate was on a small mound with a hill behind it and I kept getting both readings( one for plate and one for the hill in the background). Now in that same set up I can confidently get an accurate first round reading every time. I have heard a lot of people share the complaint regarding the large divergence but now I would not trade mine. Anyway, just my thoughts. Good luck

 

[lamiglas]

One more note- most of the shooting/ practicing we do is beyond the range the G7 will give come ups for so I use it more as just a rangefinder versus a ballistic program. Using the G7 for range and bullet
Flight for come ups we have been very successful out past 2200 yards. however, we have found that As long as we aren't averaging pressure for elevation difference, we have found that the G7 gives spot on dopes out to 1200 yards. Even out to 1400 most of the time. Based on our expierience We use bullet flight for anything beyond 1200. Anyway, the G7 saved our butts on a nice 5x6 whitetail on 11/10th. This thing was rutting hard and was literally covering 200 yards at a time chasing does on the opposite hillside. I could barely keep up with ranging him. Finally he stopped at 583 yards. I gave the come up and my partner made a perfect hit. We would never had time to plug in the data to bullet flight. Lastly, I must say that this is the only time in our experience that we didn't have time to range And plug in data etc while set up for long range. If we have to hurry to much we will usually just pass. In this type of situation it really is a game changer.

 

[SBriggs]

I just had an experience with a G7 last week with my hunting partner. He got one this spring and had been using it all summer. First hunting experience with it was a little interesting, the early mornings and evenings we found that the red screen to be very over powering, completely washing out the screen everytime you took a reading! Now of course you can adjust it, I got to use it on the lowest setting and found it to be very difficult to keep track of your target due to all the righting on the screen, also parts that are not to been seen are some what visible in lower light situation! The rangefinder and ballistic program worked excellent just the appearance of the readout was a little distracting!!!

My 2 cents

 

[ChrisAtl]

I love my G7 and would not trade it for anything. Very simple and quick to get an accurate dope to as far as I can shoot at the present time.

 

[Len Backus]

One of the LRH Group elk hunters brought a Vectronix to the hunt last month. We spoke about and I showed him my br2.


Then I noticed last week that he bought a br2 from my LRH Store.

 

[jrsolocam]

There is compromise with all equipment. Most shooters like myself operate within 1200 yards...Mine has been spot on and the ability to leave the drop charts and computer at home is so nice. Now for you folks who really stretch it out I will not offer an opinion because I am by no means an expert, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

 

[supercrossbmx69]

MMERSS, would you mind sharing your reasons for why you use the terrapin and don't use a G7? It would be appreciated!

 

[ust421]

Send me a PM if you still want to sell it. I am looking at getting one.

 

[MMERSS]

MMERSS, would you mind sharing your reasons for why you use the terrapin and don't use a G7? It would be appreciated!

Absolutely, The Terrapin and its cousin the PLR10 are the best if not the best commercially available RANGE FINDERS out there for the money. I have used other rangefinders before with larger beam divergence and have not achieved the same results. I have been able to range targets over 3k with the Terrapin. I'm not sure the BR2 is capable of even the 2's.

Now, turn off the ballistics computing capability of the BR2 and use it only as a RANGE FINDER. Will the performance of the BR2 match the performance of the Terrapin near ELR ranges and beyond?

The advantage of the BR2 over the Terrapin is the ability to quickly compute a firing solution. I would argue a hunter appropriately changing firing tables with conditions can accomplish this same task. With a range to target and use of an appropriate table a hunter can also quickly apply the needed corrections. In all reality probably not quite as fast as the BR2 but pretty dang quick.

Much of my hunting the past few years has been most successful approaching the ELR mark or beyond. The Terrapin offered quick and precise range to target readings. As quick as I received a reading and the unit reset, the process was conducted two more times for confirmation. For ranges around 800 yards one confirmation should be sufficient. Excellent range finder providing quick results. Using my Leica 1600 I would have to leave the unit in scan mode, scan up and down or left and right for several seconds before comfortable with a correct range to target reading. These extra seconds could have just as easily been used on a computer or firing tables to compute a firing solution.

I use a Terrapin because I need the most accurate and quick RANGE TO TARGET possible with confirmed readings without having to worry about the beam shooting over or next to an animal. I quickly compute the ballistics firing solution with other methods, a preset computer and current DA firing tables.

I would venture to say the majority of hunters who use the BR2 over the Terrapin are not because of the range finding capabilities but because of the ballistics solution capabilities. Obviously this is something the Terrapin can't perform. Additionally, the majority of my hunting is behind the gun with the Terrapin, computer and tables usually coaching a new LR or ELR hunter with their first hunt. They are expecting me to provide the appropriate firing solution for them to make their one shot kill. Depending on the range, if I'm off as much as 10 yards this could be enough error for the hunter to wound an animal.

Each of us will have to weigh the benefit of a combined range finder with computer against strictly a range finder. I keep mine separate for my hunting reasons.

Give it five years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a maker come out with a scope with the quality and field reliability of a Nightforce, range finder capability of a Terrapin, and combined computing capability of the BR2. Perhaps the name will be the Nightpin BR2. Activate this with a two stage trigger and most of the challenging fun with hunting will have left the building.

 

[jrsolocam]

Absolutely, The Terrapin and its cousin the PLR10 are the best if not the best commercially available RANGE FINDERS out there for the money. I have used other rangefinders before with larger beam divergence and have not achieved the same results. I have been able to range targets over 3k with the Terrapin. I'm not sure the BR2 is capable of even the 2's.

Now, turn off the ballistics computing capability of the BR2 and use it only as a RANGE FINDER. Will the performance of the BR2 match the performance of the Terrapin near ELR ranges and beyond?

The advantage of the BR2 over the Terrapin is the ability to quickly compute a firing solution. I would argue a hunter appropriately changing firing tables with conditions can accomplish this same task. With a range to target and use of an appropriate table a hunter can also quickly apply the needed corrections. In all reality probably not quite as fast as the BR2 but pretty dang quick.

Much of my hunting the past few years has been most successful approaching the ELR mark or beyond. The Terrapin offered quick and precise range to target readings. As quick as I received a reading and the unit reset, the process was conducted two more times for confirmation. For ranges around 800 yards one confirmation should be sufficient. Excellent range finder providing quick results. Using my Leica 1600 I would have to leave the unit in scan mode, scan up and down or left and right for several seconds before comfortable with a correct range to target reading. These extra seconds could have just as easily been used on a computer or firing tables to compute a firing solution.

I use a Terrapin because I need the most accurate and quick RANGE TO TARGET possible with confirmed readings without having to worry about the beam shooting over or next to an animal. I quickly compute the ballistics firing solution with other methods, a preset computer and current DA firing tables.

I would venture to say the majority of hunters who use the BR2 over the Terrapin are not because of the range finding capabilities but because of the ballistics solution capabilities. Obviously this is something the Terrapin can't perform. Additionally, the majority of my hunting is behind the gun with the Terrapin, computer and tables usually coaching a new LR or ELR hunter with their first hunt. They are expecting me to provide the appropriate firing solution for them to make their one shot kill. Depending on the range, if I'm off as much as 10 yards this could be enough error for the hunter to wound an animal.

Each of us will have to weigh the benefit of a combined range finder with computer against strictly a range finder. I keep mine separate for my hunting reasons.

Give it five years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a maker come out with a scope with the quality and field reliability of a Nightforce, range finder capability of a Terrapin, and combined computing capability of the BR2. Perhaps the name will be the Nightpin BR2. Activate this with a two stage trigger and most of the challenging fun with hunting will have left the building.

When you are ranging targets at 3,000 what are they? Deer or buildings? With my G7 I know the state capitol is 2547 yards from my house...

Excellent post and I agree with most of what you said. The future will be interesting.

 

[MMERSS]

When you are ranging targets at 3,000 what are they? Deer or buildings? With my G7 I know the state capitol is 2547 yards from my house...

Excellent post and I agree with most of what you said. The future will be interesting.

I don't want to know why you are ranging your state capitol. Perhaps to see how far you run for workouts in the morning?

Sometimes I shoot in the 2's just for fun. In the future the 3's. Ranging is not conducted on buildings rather hill dirt slides. It's nice to know the Terrapin has ranged sub MOA rocks stuck in the side of a hill over 3k. Not a problem at all in the 2's.

How about your BR2? Can you range dirt in the mid 2's with consistency?

 

[jrsolocam]

I don't want to know why you are ranging your state capitol. Perhaps to see how far you run for workouts in the morning?

Sometimes I shoot in the 2's just for fun. In the future the 3's. Ranging is not conducted on buildings rather hill dirt slides. It's nice to know the Terrapin has ranged sub MOA rocks stuck in the side of a hill over 3k. Not a problem at all in the 2's.

How about your BR2? Can you range dirt in the mid 2's with consistency?

Really, I don't know. I'll give it a better workout and let you know.