I just picked up the new Bushnell 1300 G-force. Now let me state I have never been a Bushnell fan, but had heard very good things about their rangefinder (the laser, not the glass
). I had a Leupold RX-IV, frankly I wouldn't buy another, could sometimes get it to range to just over 700 if conditions were right and I was using a rest, and the glass was so dark I couldn't see anything through it in the first and last half hour of shooting light. It does however have the TBR (True Ballistic Range) feature that calcs the horizontal distance for you, which is very nice. And it has the black digital display, which I thought nothing of until I bought the Bushnell.
Now the Bushnell, AWESOME rangefinder, stupid, Stupid, STUPID design! First off they brag on the new red lit digital display. Man I wish I had the option to have it in plain black digital, even on the brightest setting it is hard to read in bright sunlight, if you are ranging against a light background like a dry grassy meadow you will need to turn the rangefinder towards something dark to read the yardage after ranging. And I have a hunting partner who is colorblind and can't see red, he can't use this rangefinder (or a friend of ours Geovids, which have a similar display). Next they advertise their ARC (angle range compensator) which should be like Leupold's TBR, only it only functions like that in bow mode (o-99 yards) in rifle mode you have eight rifle options to choose from, and it will calculate the holdover in MOA, in, or mils, for you, while compensating for the angle. How many of you have a rifle that shoots the exact same ballistics as one of their 8 options? I don't, my rifle shoots over two MOA flatter than their flattest shooting option at 700 yds. So I have to calc the angle and slope distance to get the horizontal distance I need to adjust for. What really irritates me is the rangefinder does calculate this, there is just no option to get it to display it for me.
Now with that being said, this rangefinder (under $400) will outperform a Leica 1200 side by side, and in fact performs equally with my friends Geovid's for $2500 less. I can reliably range trees at over 1200 yards without a rest, and sitting down resting my elbows on my knees it will consistently give returns on grass, maple bushes, and elk at 1000+ (around 1100 it starts getting iffy and you might have to try a couple times or get a steadier rest). The glass is nothing to write home about, but is miles ahead of the Leupold glass, and I have a pair of good binoculars I glass with anyways, it is plenty good enough to see the critter you are trying to range in low light conditions.
All in all I am fairly satisfied with it, and would recommend it as an affordable range finder, if you can accept calculating the horizontal distance. I used it to range an elk I shot at 820 yards shortly after daylight the day after I bought it. I do have mine on a thirty day trail however (was kind of in a rush when I bought it, couldn't range elk where I was hunting, so ran to town and bought this one evening to use the next morning) so if someone knows of another rangefinder that will work equally as well while giving me a horizontal distance, and preferably a black digital display, for anywhere near the same price range, I would be interested in upgrading while I still have the option of taking this one back.
