Bushnell Elite 1500 not aquiring target as well

[HRstretch]

My older, well traveled, range finder is just not cutting it these days. Does the electronics inside over time degrade? Is there a way to tune them up? This maybe a factory question, but I thought I would start here for real world answers or guesses.

Granted I hunt in a lot of south Texas brush country, flat with not a lot of solid large objects, but deer and pigs should range better than a few hundred yards. I had a white foam board target set up at 400 yards for target practice and couldn't get a range no matter what mode I tried it in?

 

[HRstretch]

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[CRNA]

I have the exact same range finder. When I bought it, call me ignorant, but I expected the thing to perform as advertised. I never could get it to work that well. Like your, mine just went from bad to worse. I can't get a reading past a couple hundred yds. now. I called Bushnell and they said that it sounded like the laser needed to be realigned. I was going to send it in (it was less than six months old), but they said they wouldn't cover it under warranty since I didn't buy it from a "certified" dealer. They said the cost would be $150. Which I think is BS. So, I will never buy one of their products again. I bought the Swarovski Laserguide and love it.

 

[Broz]

Just for grins I would try a new battery. Even if you have replaced it once. Alo clean the laser glass with a lense pen.


I had a similar warranty deal with Bushnell years ago on a set of Bino's that are suppose to video record. I had gave these to my son for Christmas, Darn things never did work and they did nothing about it. That was the last of my money Bushnell will ever get.

Jeff

 

[D.ID]

On white board mine hits 1350 every-time ......must have got lucky. Mine must have a duracell battery to work wright. With two different generic brands I can not range past 200-300 yards on anything. Beyond that ......Good luck

 

[HRstretch]

I put in a brand new energizer battery just before my last hunt. I will try another battery and see if that helps? Bushnell said to ship it back for their technicians to review, if a Duracell doesn't help, I will see what they can do. Should be able to ship it both ways for $20 bucks so it will be worth a try.

 

[Rem700]

I got A bushnell 1000 w/ arc and it won't read over 350yds without being dead still.

 

[CRNA]

On white board mine hits 1350 every-time ......must have got lucky. Mine must have a duracell battery to work wright. With two different generic brands I can not range past 200-300 yards on anything. Beyond that ......Good luck

I have tried fresh batteries, different battery brands (including Duracel), placing it flat (so it is completely still), and mine still won't work. I would not have been disappointed if the company claimed it would reach out to 500yds Max range, because I would have expected it to range much less than that on a regular basis. But when I pay $400 of my money for a device that claims it will range to 1500yds MAX, then it's different. Hell, I would have been happy if it would have just ranged out to 1000yds for me and that's only 2/3 of what is claimed. I think it's just unacceptable and false advertising.

 

[D.ID]

I could not agree more. I bought mine with hopes that I could hit 1000 easily and it filled that need for me but if it had not, I would be down right ****ed off..........I sympathize totally.

 

[MNbogboy]

I have the ARC 1200 and am extremely pleased with it...SO FAR....I hope it doesn't crap the bed on me....I have had a couple of 450s and they were always reliable to about 300-350 yards and sometimes readings out past 400 and over 500 on several occasions....So all I expected out of the 1200 was about 800 (2/3) and so far it always will reach that far and then some....Yes, you have to be steady...One of my friends has a Leica 1200 and to be honest the Bushnell seems just as good or maybe a tad better as far as that goes....Maybe I just got a good one....My guess is that the 1500 should be reliable to a 1000....Hope they can fix it for you.
Randy

 

[CRNA]

I could not agree more. I bought mine with hopes that I could hit 1000 easily and it filled that need for me but if it had not, I would be down right ****ed off..........I sympathize totally.

So now I have $1400 invested in LRFs. The $400 piece of junk. Then went ahead and bought the Swarovski, which is awesome. I should have cried only once!!

 

[D.ID]

congratulations on your new rangefinder and it's satisfactory performance. Sorry to hear you never got your bushy running. I think the cheaper we do things the more risk of failed equipment we have. Sometimes you can get away with it (like mine) and sometimes it takes a chunk out of your hide. What kind of screwed up world do we live in when $400 bucks is being cheep? I will upgrade at some point but probably not till I have to. In either case, Good luck with the new one.

 

[CRNA]

congratulations on your new rangefinder and it's satisfactory performance. Sorry to hear you never got your bushy running. I think the cheaper we do things the more risk of failed equipment we have. Sometimes you can get away with it (like mine) and sometimes it takes a chunk out of your hide. What kind of screwed up world do we live in when $400 bucks is being cheep? I will upgrade at some point but probably not till I have to. In either case, Good luck with the new one.

Thanks.

I would certainly consider the Swarovski if yours ever craps out on you. It is really amazing. I can CONSISTENTLY range targets such as grass and trees to past 1000yds. I recently got a reading over a mile on a granite rock face on a mountain on a cloudy day. And not just one try out of ten either, I mean every single time. I have found that between the 1200 and up to a mile I need something slightly more reflective and perpendicular to the beam to get good consistent readings. It is pricy, but I have so far found it to be worth the money.
Congrats on getting a good Bushnell. I would never have bought the Swaro if my Bushnell had ranged to 1000 on the steel targets that my shooting buddy and I use.
And I couldn't agree more with your statement about $400 being cheap. I find that absurd. Especially when the manufacturers claim differently.
Have a good weekend man.
Steve