OK guys - I had a chance to test the Sig Sauer KILO 2400 along side the G7 BR2 and a pair of Swarovski EL Range binoculars this afternoon. I've been very busy during the holidays and we leave tomorrow for a 3 day ski trip with my sister and her family so this will be a quick report on my findings from today. A more detailed review will follow next week. I'll try to post some pictures in this thread tomorrow morning before we leave.
I'll also be handing off the KILO 2400 to my dad tomorrow morning. He will do some long range shooting with it over the next few days and his report will accompany mine.
I loaded the AB KILO 2400 app onto my Android phone yesterday, plugged in the ballistics for my lightweight 6.5x284 mountain rifle and my elk rifle in 7 Dakota and synced them to the rangefinder via Bluetooth. I also read the instructions and changed a few settings which I'll get into later. The app can be found in the Google Play Store by searching - KILO2400 ABS.
This afternoon I drove about 45 minutes west of my home to the White River Marsh Wildlife Area in central Wisconsin. The first place I stopped was overlooking a large marsh and had a huge willow tree out in the middle of the marsh with a thick tree-line well behind the willow. It was bright, sunny, windy and brisk with lots of snow on the ground.
All three rangefinders picked up the willow easily at 995 yards free-hand. The KILO 2400 was the only one of the three to pick up a pine tree in the tree line at 1547 yards free hand and it picked it up every time in scan mode. If I rested the KILO on top of my open driver's side door I could pick up the pine with an individual pulse. I could not pick up the pine tree at all with the EL Range nor with the G7 BR2 in regular, near, far, or scan mode even while resting on the door.
The scan mode on the KILO 2400 is impressive. I could hold down the fire button and scan all over the marsh quickly. The scan is much quicker than the G7 BR2 and gives me lots of confidence in knowing exactly what I'm ranging. In cases where I couldn't hold perfectly steady, the great scan ability made up for the lack of steadiness and I always got the range I was after. I look forward to spending more time in the future switching between Best and Last target modes while scanning. I think mastering that will extend my max range even farther.
The G7 BR2 image seamed a little brighter than the KILO during the mid-day with approximately equal sharpness. Towards the end of the day in low light the brightness of the KILO and the G7 BR2 was about the same.
As I suspected, I couldn't find any cows or other animals out in places I could range them from a distance so I set up a 3D buck deer archery target just off the side of the road bordering the marsh. I then moved back several times and tested all three rangefinders while supported on my open car window.
It was still quite bright out and the EL Range started to struggle picking up the deer first. At 769 yards the EL Range would not pick up the deer, the G7 BR2 picked it up on scan mode and it took several tries to pick it up. The KILO picked it up every time.
As I continued to move back the sun was also beginning to set so conditions were getting less bright. At 983 yards the KILO still picked up the deer on the first or second try. The G7 BR2 picked it up on the 3rd or 4th try. At 1023 and 1108 yards I mounted the rangefinders on tripods and the KILO and G7 BR2 both picked up the deer after a few tries at each range. At 1240 yards the KILO picked up the deer on the 3rd try and the G7 BR2 would not range it after many tries using all the different target modes.
As the sun set I ranged from one end of the road to the other where there was a reflective street sign. The KILO and the G7 BR2 both easily ranged it at 2132 however I couldn't actually see the sign or much of anything through the G7 BR2 because of the low light. I could see it perfectly through the KILO.
On the G7 BR2 the display brightness is adjusted manually while the KILO does it automatically. The kilo also has a much wider range of brightness settings. At the very end of shooting light the G7 BR2 could not get dim enough to not wash out the image. Add to that the fact that the G7 BR2's reticle is thicker and covers up more of the image and the KILO 2400 far outperforms in low light.
I am very happy with the size of the KILO's circular reticle. I think it's about perfect. Small enough to range quite far while large enough to range free-hand or partially supported. I also noticed on the KILO that the edge of the laser matches the edge of the circle perfectly. I tested this a bunch while scanning. The thickness of the reticle and the visibility of the rest of the display seems just right too. We'll see what my dad thinks. He is colorblind and really struggles to see red displays.
I wanted to compare the ballistic solution provided by the KILO to my validated G7 BR2 solution at long range. I was ranging a sign at 1490 yards and couldn't figure out why my G7 BR2 wouldn't give me a solution but then I remembered that the G7 BR2 only provides a ballistic solution out to 1400 yards. I moved closer and at 1390 yards the two devices' solutions were within 1/2 minute. I was pleased with this considering I had spent no time "truing" or calibrating the KILO's data.
I will have much more detail for you next week but for now I can say that my experience was that the KILO 2400 ranged better than the EL Range and slightly better than the G7 BR2. The KILO's scan mode, small size, better reticle, better brightness settings and low-light abilities, and the fact that there is no distance limit for a ballistic solution have me excited to switch to the KILO 2400 personally. I think the ballistics will be at least as accurate as my tried and true G7 BR2.
