My Leica LRF 1200 came in last week and I love it! It's replaced my Nikon Laser 800. One of my main reasons for switching was the poor design of the battery panel and the black display on the Nikon Laser 800. The panel would pop off very easily in my pack. The optics are very nice on the Leica and the red LED display is very easy to read. I also like the low battery indicator. I thought the LRF 1200 went from 10-1200 yards but come to find out it's range is 15-1200 yards. Not the end of the world but I was disappointed to find that out. If I would have known that ahead of time, I might have opted for the LRF 800.

My 800LRF was a giant POS. My Leica 1200LRF is a SUPERB machine. It works better than the high hopes I had for it.

I can heartily recommend it to those entertaining a laser purchase and with zero reservation...............

Nebraska, I just took my LRF1200 out back and ranged the side of my shed. It worked right down to 10 yds, inside that I wouldn't get a reading. The instruction booklet does say minimum range of approximately 15M but mine works inside that.

I agree it's a great piece of gear. I haven't played with that many other rangefinders so I don't have a lot to compare it to. I used a friends bushnell once and it only took a couple of minutes of trying to read the dark display as the sun was setting to see I didn't want one without the LED display. That bushnell was almost impossible to use as it got darker.

boltman, thank you very much. I have been wanting one of these in some configuration recently and could not make up my mind and you just did with the led discussion.

Chic Worthing

Boltman,

You're right! My LRF does work down to ~10 yards. Kewl.

I also agree with the Bushnell's being difficult to read in low light. They're not a bad value for the $$ but the Leica is definitely worth the extra bucks to me.

How much is the LRF 1200?

Antonio

Antonio, Bear Basin Outfitters has them for $469. and they're a great outfit to work with. Bob.

I bought one of the first 800's available a few years ago and its been just great. I also traded in a Nikon rangefinder, NO comparison. How the heck I lived without one of these things for all those years is beyond me.

FN

Shop around and then call Chris at http://www.swfa.com. He's super to deal with and you'll get a LRF 1200 for less that $469 for sure.

Someone has a LRF 1200 rangefinder for sale in the go-go-varmint classified ads-3rd page for $400

I paid $409 for mine new from D&R sports about two weeks ago.

$393.00

http://www.hotbuysbinoculars.com/leica_lrf_1200_rangemaster.htm

MM

Hey Big Stick,
You mentioned that the 800 LFR was a POS. I was thinking about buying one of these. What was your problem with it.
Thanks for your help.

I'm all for shopping around for good prices. You guys definitely have a good line on the LRF 1200. Word to the wise....make sure you're getting what you think your getting. I found that out when shopping for digital cameras. There's a lot of refurbished and grey market stuff out there being passed off as the real thing. It's one thing to save some money by purchasing a product that doesn't come with all the nice packaging or extras but sometimes you might be missing more than a case or lanyard strap. A good deal of the cheaper units don't have the regular factory warranties as well. If you get everything for $393(not what they tell you....but everything) than you did very well. I'd definitely research some of those sites/products if I were you. Good luck.

Definately research online venders who sell cameras and binos at resellerratings.com

Hotbuybinos sounds like the same guys who are Hotbuyelectronics. Check out the nice reviews on those clowns.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1938.html

Many of the camera and bino rip off shops are out of New Jersey and New York, especially the Bronx. They run boiler room sales ops with no stock and they will promise you the moon and hope the stock arrives. They sell gray market goods and love to use the low price to hook you in and then sell you items that are already part of the basic package like chargers, lense, case etc.

One guy from a camera newsgroup actually went to the addresses some of these scam artists use and he took pics of the old run down buildings that had no store in them. When the heat from the BBB gets too much they fold up shop, relocate, get a new name and hey, they're back in bidness.

Next week they'll be Bestbuybinos.com

[ 07-23-2002, 19:39: Message edited by: spectr17 ]

To anyone that cares,

I bought mine from Chris,at SWFA. I recommend his outfit highly.............

OldFart,

My Leica 800LRF,was a POS,for a single reason. It did not effectively range targets. It was my third laser,at that time. I sent it back and replaced it with a Bushnell compact 600,which blew it away(as did three of my friends). Though the Leica 800 had excellent optics,it sucked at range determination.

The 1200-LRF is a quantum leap in ranging ability and retains the Leica glass. It is beyond superb and all three guys who returned the Leica 800LRF,upgraded to the 1200LRF,after seeing mine......................

Big Stick,
Thanks for the info. It sounds like the 1200 is worth the extra $70.
OldFart