Just taken delivery of a pair of 8x42 Leica HDB's, stunned with the improvement in clarity over my previous Leica 10x mags, waiting for a couple more micro sd cards off e bay to make a set of three ballistic curves for three rifles, found a great explanatory on youtube,(easier than reading up on the manual), here,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSz_6_gtZxI

Not to hijack your thread......
I have a Lieca Geovid 10X40 HD-B ..
Should one remove the battery when stored over a period of time??|

I picked up a pair from Cameraland last fall, I told everyone the reason they cost so much is because they are worth it.

I havent't used the ballistic program yet but the ranging and clarity is excellent. I just used them today to range prarie dogs for a couple hours this afternoon. They are excellent, love them, don't know how I got along without them.

Let me know how the ballistic program works for you, I need to get mine set up

quote:

Originally posted by Zephyr:
Not to hijack your thread......
I have a Lieca Geovid 10X40 HD-B ..
Should one remove the battery when stored over a period of time??|

I did read to remove it for long time inactivity. Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by Gale Johnson:
I picked up a pair from Cameraland last fall, I told everyone the reason they cost so much is because they are worth it.

I havent't used the ballistic program yet but the ranging and clarity is excellent. I just used them today to range prarie dogs for a couple hours this afternoon. They are excellent, love them, don't know how I got along without them.

Let me know how the ballistic program works for you, I need to get mine set up

Just hit a snag with the desktop, I can get the curve info from a custom load onto the card, but the desktop can't open it to check it out

I tried the Leica's for a month but concluded for a pure rangefinder supplying a ballistic solution the G7 BR2 kicks its butt. For one thing, the BR2 calculates the trajectory just as a ballistics program does, while the Leica uses a lookup table. Corrections for angles, temps, pressure etc is all done using correction factors. I also like fact I can store five ballistic profiles on the BR2 (but it does take about a minute to switch them). It also shows the wind drift at various speeds, which can come in handy.

In terms of rangefinding capability, the Leica is faster but the BR2 can range much farther, although the ballistic solution stops at 1400. I prefer the display on the Leica, and of course its optical quality is unsurpassed.

This season I finally came to the conclusion that I am tired of juggling binocular, rangefinder and range card, as I have been up until now. Its fine in situations where you have time on your side, but sometimes opportunities are fleeting. I am seriously considering the 8x56 HD-B now.

quote:

Originally posted by JabaliHunter:
This season I finally came to the conclusion that I am tired of juggling binocular, rangefinder and range card, as I have been up until now. Its fine in situations where you have time on your side, but sometimes opportunities are fleeting. I am seriously considering the 8x56 HD-B now.

I hear this argument alot, and quite personally believe a guy should use whatever he wants, for whatever reaons he wants, period. That being said, I can understand the user friendliness of having rf/binos in one package. I do not understand the "fleeting moments" arguments though. It seems to me that if there is little time to shoot, the animal must be moving, so distances change by the second. If you need a rf in these situations, the animal must not be very close to begin with, so a combination of animal moving, at distances where you need an rf, not sure if it's a great situation to be shooting anyway.

Yes, fair points. Don't disagree.

However, we don't necessarily have to be talking about moving targets; an animal might appear on a ride or step out of the wood onto a field margin, stop briefly but still long enough for a safe, clean shot if you are quick, before moving back into cover again. In that situation valuable time would be lost if you have to identify/confirm with the binocular, switch to the rangefinder, check the drop chart, dial the clicks...etc.

Granted, a rangefinder that gives the ballistic compensation rather than just range would be marginally quicker, but my personal experience leads me to believe that that the combined unit is probably the best way to go for me now. And believe me, my EL 10x50s are not something I will give up easily...

One BIG (for me)drawback, it seems they have reverse engineered the lens covers the older binocular series had covers that stayed put over the lenses in normal use, these new things just refuse to stay over the lenses for anything more than a minute or two.