UPS brought mine today!
Been playin with it a little and will post what I know for now, and will try to answer questions as they come in. First off, I have not had a chance to stretch its legs yet, and it might be a little while to see what it can do on live critters runnin' in the woods. For now all my info is comming from plain' in the house, and around the neighborhood.
Here is what I know so far.....
It feels like the 1200. One added menu button on top.
Menu items are very simple, and easy to navigate.
Works just like the other leicas as far as one push to turn on, and one push to range.
It still has the scan mode, but I rarely ever use it.
The reticle seemed a little larger than the 1200, but I have not looked through one for about a month, and can't compare for sure. My guess is it is the same and my eyes are playin tricks.
It does not seem as fast of recovery time after ranging, and trying to range again. Seems to pause longer than before. Might be the computer crunchin numbers. It takes about 1.5 seconds to recover. I thought my 1200 was almost instantanious.
If the Ballistics compensation is turned off, all the screen will show is the range.
If the ballistics comp is turned on, it will show the holdover after displaying the range. It is in the middle of the screen, and does not show both at the same time.
When the unit is on(after ranging, or pushing the main button once), you can press the menu button once, and the angle, temp, and barometer reading will be shown. They are shown in that order, and not all at once. It shows each one for about a second or two.
The angle is shown just as a +/-number, the temp will show either c/f depening on weither you have the unit set to metric or american, and the barometer is shown like 12.95. Not sure what this barometer is showing. My current pressure at the house is about 26.XX station pressure (not corrected).
You can choose between either a 100 or 200 yard/meter zero with 12 different curves each.
The BIG problem is the charts included in the manual only show drops from 0-300yrds in 25 yard increments. There are some pretty flat curves that would appear flat enough for even some of the flattest shooting rifles. However there is no way to see what the bullets are doing at long range. Example: the curve that best matches my berger 7mm 180 at 2960 is the #3 curve. With a 200 yard zero the drop shows 6.2" drop, when mine is actually about 6.3 (I think) at their atmospheric conditions. This curve could be matched by something like a 220 swift shooting 3600fps (guessing), but at 800 no way are they the same. I guess the only way to check is to go out to 1000, range it, and check to see if the suggested holdover is correct. My guess is that it won't work outside 600-700 yards.
The holdover is corrected to show basically MOA when in US mode. Here is the quote from the instructions "The correction value for the range actually measured is automatically converted to 100m/100yds. The major advantage of this is that the correction value can be set directly on the riflescope, i.e. without elaborate prior conversion."
I really don't see a whole lot of benifit for the ballistics function unless we get lucky enough that the corrections work with our particular load. I just doubt they have a curve with a bullet that has a G1 BC of .600-.800 like some of the 7mm's and 338's. Looks like we will still need our palm pilots in the field. For those shooting more "normal" loads like a 300winmag with 180grn bullet it might work perfectly.
One great thing, is that if you have the ballistics function turned off, and don't go out of your way to push the menu button, it acts just like a regular Leica. Push to range and thats it. No cluttered view/options showing.
Another good thing, is the beam divergence seems pretty tight. I can range through tree branches, or between cars/obstacles, and almost always get the distance of what is in the reticle. as long as the objects are outside the little red rectangle it won't give you the closer reading. So at least I can trust that if the object is centered in the reticle, then you should have no errors with closer/farther objects. I am sure this is the same as the 1200, but I never checked mine out for the deam tightness/sensitivity.
I hope this helps a little, and will try and answer any questions that I can. I don't have time to scan the manual and post anything right now. I will test at some longer distances, but so far ranging way down the street, I can get around 1250 yrds in bright sunlight. Nothing farther yet, but i am sure I will be pleased after I get out and stretch its legs.
aroshtr
Been playin with it a little and will post what I know for now, and will try to answer questions as they come in. First off, I have not had a chance to stretch its legs yet, and it might be a little while to see what it can do on live critters runnin' in the woods. For now all my info is comming from plain' in the house, and around the neighborhood.
Here is what I know so far.....
It feels like the 1200. One added menu button on top.
Menu items are very simple, and easy to navigate.
Works just like the other leicas as far as one push to turn on, and one push to range.
It still has the scan mode, but I rarely ever use it.
The reticle seemed a little larger than the 1200, but I have not looked through one for about a month, and can't compare for sure. My guess is it is the same and my eyes are playin tricks.
It does not seem as fast of recovery time after ranging, and trying to range again. Seems to pause longer than before. Might be the computer crunchin numbers. It takes about 1.5 seconds to recover. I thought my 1200 was almost instantanious.
If the Ballistics compensation is turned off, all the screen will show is the range.
If the ballistics comp is turned on, it will show the holdover after displaying the range. It is in the middle of the screen, and does not show both at the same time.
When the unit is on(after ranging, or pushing the main button once), you can press the menu button once, and the angle, temp, and barometer reading will be shown. They are shown in that order, and not all at once. It shows each one for about a second or two.
The angle is shown just as a +/-number, the temp will show either c/f depening on weither you have the unit set to metric or american, and the barometer is shown like 12.95. Not sure what this barometer is showing. My current pressure at the house is about 26.XX station pressure (not corrected).
You can choose between either a 100 or 200 yard/meter zero with 12 different curves each.
The BIG problem is the charts included in the manual only show drops from 0-300yrds in 25 yard increments. There are some pretty flat curves that would appear flat enough for even some of the flattest shooting rifles. However there is no way to see what the bullets are doing at long range. Example: the curve that best matches my berger 7mm 180 at 2960 is the #3 curve. With a 200 yard zero the drop shows 6.2" drop, when mine is actually about 6.3 (I think) at their atmospheric conditions. This curve could be matched by something like a 220 swift shooting 3600fps (guessing), but at 800 no way are they the same. I guess the only way to check is to go out to 1000, range it, and check to see if the suggested holdover is correct. My guess is that it won't work outside 600-700 yards.
The holdover is corrected to show basically MOA when in US mode. Here is the quote from the instructions "The correction value for the range actually measured is automatically converted to 100m/100yds. The major advantage of this is that the correction value can be set directly on the riflescope, i.e. without elaborate prior conversion."
I really don't see a whole lot of benifit for the ballistics function unless we get lucky enough that the corrections work with our particular load. I just doubt they have a curve with a bullet that has a G1 BC of .600-.800 like some of the 7mm's and 338's. Looks like we will still need our palm pilots in the field. For those shooting more "normal" loads like a 300winmag with 180grn bullet it might work perfectly.
One great thing, is that if you have the ballistics function turned off, and don't go out of your way to push the menu button, it acts just like a regular Leica. Push to range and thats it. No cluttered view/options showing.
Another good thing, is the beam divergence seems pretty tight. I can range through tree branches, or between cars/obstacles, and almost always get the distance of what is in the reticle. as long as the objects are outside the little red rectangle it won't give you the closer reading. So at least I can trust that if the object is centered in the reticle, then you should have no errors with closer/farther objects. I am sure this is the same as the 1200, but I never checked mine out for the deam tightness/sensitivity.
I hope this helps a little, and will try and answer any questions that I can. I don't have time to scan the manual and post anything right now. I will test at some longer distances, but so far ranging way down the street, I can get around 1250 yrds in bright sunlight. Nothing farther yet, but i am sure I will be pleased after I get out and stretch its legs.
aroshtr
