Monocular rangefinder advice

packrat

Well-Known Member
I'm blind in one eye and I don't want to lug around a pair of binoculars.

I currently use a Nikon monocular rangefinder for my observation as well as rangefinding and frankly, optically it's 'a bit crap'.

I would like to upgrade, and am considering monocular rangefinders from Swarovski, Leupold, and Zeiss.

Optical performance and squeezing out the last of the light are very important. Rangefinding must work, but it doesn't need to be top-notch.

Do you have a brand or model you recommend, preferably based on experience?

Are the Swaro's noticeably better than the Zeiss or Leupold, optically?

Should I also be looking at the Bushnell Elite range, Leica, or any others?

Obviously there is no substitute for trying them and I will, but I'm still interested in people's advice, so any opinions you can offer will be appreciated.

Thank you :)
 
The Leica CRF 1000-R is a great rangefinder with good glass, but at the end of the day it is a 7x30 and can never hope to hold a candle to a 42/50/56mm lens at last light. I'm not sure there are any large objective monocular rangefinders though.

You might be best looking at a binocular with individual eyepiece focussing that can be converted into a monocular (or a monocular made from an older Zeiss Porto binocular) and use the separate rangefinder.

Would be interesting to hear what you find.
 
i have a Leica LRF1200
its only a 6x IIRC
I use it as a spotter at night with good moon, brighter than my eyes can see without it

also red LED display
no good seeing the target and not being able to see the bloody readout
too many have black numbers

only option IMO
 
The Leica CRF 1000-R is a great rangefinder with good glass, but at the end of the day it is a 7x30 and can never hope to hold a candle to a 42/50/56mm lens at last light. I'm not sure there are any large objective monocular rangefinders though.

You might be best looking at a binocular with individual eyepiece focussing that can be converted into a monocular (or a monocular made from an older Zeiss Porto binocular) and use the separate rangefinder.

Would be interesting to hear what you find.

This is a good idea, I've considered it before but I'm not sure I could being myself to butcher a decent pair of binoculars!

There seems to be a dearth of expensive large-objective monoculars, but there are some cheap 10x50's available... I wonder whether the advantage of the 50mm would outweigh the crapness of the glass. For example the Hawke Nature Trek at a paltry 65 quid. That tells me it surely can't possibly be any good, but I've been knocked off my chair before by the quality of some of the Hawke optics at their price points. Might be worth a go.

i have a Leica LRF1200
its only a 6x IIRC
I use it as a spotter at night with good moon, brighter than my eyes can see without it

also red LED display
no good seeing the target and not being able to see the bloody readout
too many have black numbers

only option IMO

Thanks for this. I'll be giving one a try.

My current Nikon rangefinder has an "auto darkness detect" mode where it switches on a backlight so you can read the LCD, trouble is it also turns the entire field of view a misty blood red and completely destroys your chances of seeing anything.

It's also, for the record, got loads of little black dots floating around the field of view, so something is falling off inside... coating, paint, who knows. It's a mess though. Not impressed.
 
Why not look at a single draw spotting scope such as the Yukon, more mag, more objective lens and less weight than binos? And not a lot of money. Whilst I have no experience of the Yukon I am a big fan of what some may consider 'old fashioned' draw scopes as they are light and if used with a bit of support such as sticks or laid back sitting, resting on your knee, superior to prismatic scopes insofar as you don't need a tripod, unless you are spotting on the range. Oh! you might need to get yourself a 'fore & after' deerstalker hat to go with it!!
 
something like this perhaps Opticron - DBA Oasis Monocular

But I've seen a site (can't find it now) where they had a lot of second hand zeiss monoculars converted from old porro bionoculars. Basically any porro type with external focussing could be readily adapted
 
something like this perhaps Opticron - DBA Oasis Monocular

But I've seen a site (can't find it now) where they had a lot of second hand zeiss monoculars converted from old porro bionoculars. Basically any porro type with external focussing could be readily adapted

Can't find the half-binocs site either, but I did discover I've already got one of those Opticron DBA's, in 10x42, that I had completely forgotten about... I must be getting old! It's actually not bad. Big improvement on the rangefinder.
 
just bought a Hawke LRF600 ,does what it says on the tin.palm sized 6x mag ,does range,angles ,height and speed of running quarry.Not swaro/zeiss but good enough for the money
 
Vortex makes a conventional monocular rangefinder with stadia ( no laser or electronics ), which is cheap, simple and seems to work pretty well on targets of known size, certainly out to 300 or 400 yards. After that, I think you would have a hard time holding it steady enough for an accurate reading of the stadia.

The new Vortex and Leupold laser rangefinders have nice lighted reticles for contrast.
 
I am also blind in one eye and bought a used Swaro monocular rangefinder from the sales section in this forum - they come up fairly regularly. They are probably one of the best monoculars you can get
Swaro don't make monocular rangefinders any more - only the expensive binocular type.
One of my shooting pals recently bought a pair and let me have a look through them.
I could see the red aiming circle for the rangefinder, but when I pressed the button to get it to range, I couldn't see the distance display.
After mucho scratching of heads we discovered that the aiming circle is displayed in the right eyepiece and the distance is displayed in the left eyepiece.
Having no vision in my left eye meant that I couldn't see the distance display!!
Actually this may have saved me a bunch of money because the glass is so good I might have been tempted to get a pair and remove the unused half

Cheers

Bruce
 
I am also blind in one eye and bought a used Swaro monocular rangefinder from the sales section in this forum - they come up fairly regularly. They are probably one of the best monoculars you can get
Swaro don't make monocular rangefinders any more - only the expensive binocular type.
One of my shooting pals recently bought a pair and let me have a look through them.
I could see the red aiming circle for the rangefinder, but when I pressed the button to get it to range, I couldn't see the distance display.
After mucho scratching of heads we discovered that the aiming circle is displayed in the right eyepiece and the distance is displayed in the left eyepiece.
Having no vision in my left eye meant that I couldn't see the distance display!!
Actually this may have saved me a bunch of money because the glass is so good I might have been tempted to get a pair and remove the unused half

Cheers

Bruce

I have the same problem, blind in the left eye. I bought the Swaro 8x30LRF as a solution, it is the best option in a monocular without doubt. However, it is no substitute for a good binocular in low light. I bought a pair of Minox HG 8.5x43's a few years ago and I use these all the time when stalking, I only really use the LRF as an LRF now.
 
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