Leica 1600B ranging

[mustfish]

I have the Leica 1600B rangefinder. It does a great job at ranging some pretty far targets. The problem is ranging targets, vegetation or trees in bright midday sun. Morning or evening no problems ranging. I tried ranging a 30" x 30" steel plate at 600 yards and it just couldn't do it. Couldn't even range 70 ft tall pines near that same distance. Is it normal for a high end rangefinder to not range well in the sun.

 

[Rick Richard]

I have no problems with mine.

 

[philipbrousseau]

i've not experienced anything like that with mine. good battery?

 

[Barrelnut]

Most, if not all, range finders have some degree of difficulty, at longer distances, in bright sunshine. I have a 1600B. It has no issues though at the distances you describe. Now, in bright sunshine, I can start to have some issues past 1K or so, if it is a light colored non reflective target.

 

[mustfish]

I did change the battery but it still has a hard time during bright sunshine. I might send it back to Leica and just have them test it for me. Sometimes I can scan into an area that it didn't want to range normally and I can get a range that way. I have ranged tree lines from over 1300 yards so I know its capable.

 

[JMHNL]

I know its an old post, but any progress on this issue? I recently got a pair of Leica HD-B rangefinding binos and they do not range well even at short distances (350yds) compared to my older bushnell that ranges the same target. This is in full sunlight. I'm a little worried because a lot of the conditions I hunt in are bright.....any suggestions appreciated.

 

[catorres1]

I know its an old post, but any progress on this issue? I recently got a pair of Leica HD-B rangefinding binos and they do not range well even at short distances (350yds) compared to my older bushnell that ranges the same target. This is in full sunlight. I'm a little worried because a lot of the conditions I hunt in are bright.....any suggestions appreciated.

I'd definitely contact Leica. Bright light and haze always pose difficulties, but my 1600b could range to 1300 on trees under those conditions consistently. A bit later in the day and I could hit 15 to 1600 on tree canopies. My 2700 has hit over 2700 in full on mid day sun with tons of haze on palm trees, it was hard, but hitting 2500 or so on canopies was not, even in those conditions. 350 yards should be nothing, so I'd definitely call if I were you.

 

[JMHNL]

Alright guys, update. Contacted Leica (via Eurooptic) and they seem to be willng to bend over backwards to get a new pair to me in exchange for this faulty unit. Refreshing to see this style of customer service. Will update the thread when the swap is complete. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[JMHNL]

OK, finally closed the loop on this, thought I would update the thread. After some back and forth, it was apparent that Leica does not have any repaired or functioning HD-B 2200's at their fingertips ready to get to people having problems. The initial claim of getting me a new, working pair quickly turned into months of wait time, with no hard shipping date.

Based on this, I requested a full refund, and they sent me a check for the full purchase amount. Kudos to the company for making good on this and without a fight.

Not trashing Leica here, but I would be very cautious about buying a pair of HD-B 2200's right now without assurance that they are functioning perfectly and have whatever internal issues corrected that seem to be causing problems.