Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
Articles
Latest reviews
Author list
Classifieds
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Sig Kilo 8k Review
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="catorres1" data-source="post: 2604512" data-attributes="member: 80699"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Part II</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Display</strong></p><p></p><p>Another new innovation in the 8k concerns the display. Due to the technology previously utilized in rangefinder displays, what could be output on a screen was limited to a few preset items, and placement of everything was static and the space was exclusive. Like old digital watches, what was there was there permanently and was restricted in what could be displayed at any given moment and could not be moved to a different part of the screen. Sig has replaced that display technology with an AMOLED screen in the center of the display, which opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of what you can do with that screen space. Beyond different reticles (of which there are 3 choices, plus the optional choice of a grid), the 8k can display all kinds of information all on one screen. For example, when configured to do so, when you range you will get: LOS range; AMR range; elevation hold and direction; windage hold and direction; remaining velocity at distance; remaining energy at distance; shot angle; density altitude; compass heading; and signal strength (showing just how well the target has reflected the laser). This is all on one screen, displayed simultaneously, not via a carousel….all your data is available at once and stays in the display. And between ranges, the screen will display the last range measured, the user configurable name for the active ballistic profile (up to 30 can be stored in the RF), density altitude, set wind speed, ranging mode and battery charge. Many of these can be turned off if you prefer a cleaner view, as I do. But you have the choice to see a lot of data, and due to the display technology, these options can be changed or added to by means of a firmware upgrade. In fact, when I first got the RF, compass heading did not display, but after a firmware upgrade, it now shows up. I particularly like that when I range, all my data is right there, I don't have to wait for it to cycle through if I miss something, it's all right there upon ranging, and stays available the whole time. No doubt, this is a significant useability improvement. But as cool as having all this data available is, in my opinion, the biggest upside to the display technology is in how it can actually make ranging targets more accurate, by enabling users to adjust sensor-reticle alignment.</p><p></p><p><strong>Alignment</strong></p><p></p><p>All that power and all those capabilities don't help much if you can't put the x on the target accurately. One of the realities of rangefinders is that the sensors are usually not perfectly aligned. You may think you are ranging that deer across that canyon, but you may in fact be hitting a bush in front of it, or a rock to the right and behind it. Hence, it is strongly recommended that you always test your particular unit to find out exactly where the sensor to reticle relationship lies. Chances are, they are off to some degree, and how much depends on luck and the manufacturer. My previous Sigs showed significant alignment diversion pretty consistently, but I worked around it by noting where the sensor actually aligned on the reticle, and actually became quite accurate by focusing on that spot (3 o'clock on the circle, for example). Likewise, I found this to be true with other manufacturers as well, with Leica being generally the best, as their requirements are the quite stringent.</p><p></p><p>I raised the issue with Sig in the past, but getting that alignment perfect with traditional display technology is difficult (time-consuming) and therefore, expensive. Nonetheless, I believe many people feel their RF's don't range as far as they should, or are inaccurate, because they don't realize that they are not putting that sensor where they think they are because it's not aligned with the reticle. So they are actually ranging the sky instead of the top of a cliff etc….and this is something that has probably caused quite a few customer service calls and returns, and is something Sig wanted to address. Their solution to the problem is pretty ingenious and was directly enabled by the new display system.</p><p></p><p>With the display allowing for placement and positioning of elements anywhere on the AMOLED screen, Sig engineers saw an opportunity to solve this problem without adding additional hand hours to the manufacturing process that would dramatically increase the price. Built into the app, the RF now allows the user to test their alignment, just as they would in the past, but you are able to move the position of the reticle vertically and horizontally to perfectly align your sensor and the reticle of your choice. The solution is brilliant and allows for the reticle to be finer (the crosshair, for example), and no longer requires me to remember where to hold on this particular RF, which is nice when you have a few RF's and can't remember the exact hold for each one. With the 8k, we get high end alignment, and therefore better ranging, without the cost that would otherwise have been incurred to tighten manufacturing and alignment processes.</p><div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"><a href="https://postimg.cc/R66K3B69" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PxK4RfdL/Aidan-on-edge-of-cliff-v2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"><strong>It helps to have precise equipment in open country, where shots can be long and distances unsure. Here, my son is helping his younger brother look for his first elk</strong></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div><p>The only caveat I would mention were some speed issues when using the alignment tool. Most things in the app were pretty much instantaneous, but when selecting and using the alignment tool, inputs sometimes took a second to be acknowledged. I am not sure why, this could be due to my phone, which is quite old, or could be a function of what the app needs to do to carry out these changes, I don't know. But it was a lot better after the most recent app upgrade, and now that I know to be patient and not overload it with repeated inputs, it works fine.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mapping Integration</strong></p><p></p><p>Another of the most significant new features of the 8k is the new mapping integration offered this year, which has changed my position about the endless 'distance race' that RF manufacturers have been in, mainly, I thought, for marketing reasons. Until now, I have felt that to some degree it is likely that eventually ranging capabilities will really be more marketing than useful substance. And I do still believe that it is what you do with the data that makes a particular RF special. However, I did always consider that perhaps a lot of ranging could be somewhat useful in terms of navigation, so you could determine if a ridge was just too far to hike to for a shot before last light etc., but not much more than that. But this year has seen that concept taken one large step further and really makes those extended ranging capabilities come into use in a whole new way. Essentially, Sig, and now as of this writing, Leica, have figured out how to make that extreme distance data useful. That is, by finding another way to interpret and put that data to work, they have taken the RF and turned it from exclusively a shooting tool into a legitimate navigation tool. They did this by teaming up with Basemap (which ports the data to Google Earth as well) to use the RF in conjunction with the software to set distant way points in the field and then navigate there. Using the RF paired to your smartphone, with Basemap open and running in the remote waypoint submenu, you simply range your target. The RF will send the data to Basemap, and the point on your map where the beam hit the target will receive a waypoint. At that point, you can adjust the position of the waypoint and then accept. It's very fast and easy and, for us, quickly demonstrated its value. While it is not perfect, from my testing, it seems to be within a radius of about 5% in terms of horizontal dispersion, though there was some variation between samples. Of the three different RF's I tested, there was a range of accuracy, probably due to compass sensitivity differences. But the average of all three was around 5%, so if you shoot an animal at 500 yards, it should navigate you to within a 25 yard radius of your objective from what I experienced.</p><p></p><p>The obvious use would be in planning a stalk on a distant animal, or finding your way to a distant point that you want to explore as a glassing point etc. Often, we will see a point that would give us a perfect position, but we can't get to it directly, and in navigating via the long route, find we can't relocate the point we were trying to reach because our perspective has changed. This is disappointing when you are trying to reach a potential glassing point, but extremely frustrating when we are talking about a position from which you can take prey that you have located. The mapping function can be very useful here, allowing you to get right to the vantage point you need, even when you have to go the long way round to get there.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center"><a href="https://postimg.cc/WdgykBZG" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Jz2C9m42/Canyon-where-William-killed-his-elk.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"><strong>Properly enabled, rangefinders can now be legitimate navigation tools, especially in new places where the distance cues are new to the hunter</strong></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div><p>But even more valuable to my mind is the capability of finding game when recovery is going to have to be via a circuitous route, which might make finding the animal difficult, especially if arrival time on site ends up being after dark. We had this exact scenario happen in 2020, when I shot my bull across a canyon. To recover the bull, we had to hike out back to the truck, then drive several miles to an opening to the river canyon, and then hike in 2.5 miles to get to where the bull went down. This process took several hours to get there, and by that time, it was fully dark. Despite setting way points on our map of where we shot and where we thought the bull was across the canyon etc., in the dark, it took 4 of us scouring the mountain to find the bull. By the grace of God, and after a great deal of effort, we did finally find it, but I was really getting concerned we might lose it until morning, and the coyotes would have had their way with it.</p><p></p><p>Fast forward to this year, and my son took a (for us) pretty long shot on a cow elk and put her down. Again, across a canyon. This time it was daylight, but by the time we got there, well, things looked dramatically different, and she had run into some very think oak brush when he shot, so finding her was not going to be easy. In fact, my son who took the shot and I got there first and were searching but could not find her at all until my older son caught up with us with the map open on his phone and the position plotted, which showed we were way out of place. Fortunately, using the waypoint on Basemap, we were quickly able to locate the cow.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center"><a href="https://postimg.cc/SXGtZcDj" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/vBRFZzn7/Three-of-us-with-Williams-elk-v3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"><strong>The basemap integration was very helpful in helping us recover my youngest son's first elk after a long shot across a canyon. The non-descript oak brush coverage would have made recovery a lot more difficult were it not for the mapping integration</strong></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div><p>A third use of this function relates to private verses public land. Sometimes, from across a canyon, it's hard to tell which side of the unmarked boundary that animal is on when they are fairly close to the boundary and the hill may be long and without solid differentiating features. While we did not think of using it that way this year, if I had thought of it at the time, it would have saved us a lot of time when we sat there looking at the map trying to discern land features on a distant uniform hillside to try and figure out whether the elk were on private or public property. Had I thought of it, we could have just had it plotted right on to the map and we would have known more easily and confidently whether they were on public or private.</p><p></p><p>So while I knew that, theoretically, this could be a pretty interesting feature, having it work out so well in use made it one of the more exciting and useful additions to the Sig 8k. It makes finding downed game much more certain when the recovery route might take you half-way around the world and the perspective from the shooting point becomes very different. It might help you ensure you are on the right side of the public/private line when looking at distant game, and it provides valuable navigation capabilities that were previously more difficult to achieve using only the maps in most mapping software. In the latter case, that 'superfluous' ranging horsepower becomes a pretty useful capability in helping get us to a specific spot several miles away with surety in limited time. And in the former, it could mean the difference between good meat in the freezer and being left with coyote leftovers.</p><p></p><p><strong>Optics</strong></p><p></p><p>Of course, not everything is perfect, it never is, and the 8k is no exception. In truth, though, the only area of improvement I could see is in the area of the optics, and this really falls into two categories. The first is the overall brightness of the image. Like previous Sig RF's I have tested, there is a noticeable color cast when you look through the viewfinder. In addition, it is just not very bright, especially when you compare it to one of the Leica series CRF's. In comparison, the 8k appears dim with a pronounced blue color cast. Where I feel fine using my Leica as a solid monocular option, I don't feel the same about the Sig. That is not to say that it is too dim to use past shooting light. It's not. I was able to easily see a light tan cow in a field of completely dry grass at nearly 500 yards out past legal shooting light. That cow blended in to that field such that I could not see it with my naked eye at that distance at that time of day, but I was able to find it with the 8k. I spent a lot of time well after shooting light testing it, and I never had a problem finding cattle, bushes etc. well beyond when it would be legal to shoot. So I would not say that the view is a problem in that sense. But I'd still like to see a stronger optical performance, if not on par with the Leica, at least closer to it. That might boost the already considerable price point somewhat, but I would hope not too much, and I think it would be worth it if only from a competitive perspective.</p><p></p><p>The second issue I had concerned the display, and its dynamic range. One thing to note about this complaint is that my eyes are particularly sensitive to high dynamic range views. That is, it's not exactly night blindness, but bright lights can easily blind me at night, so your experience may be different than mine. But my issue was that while the display is easily seen in full sun, in low light, it did not get dim enough in my opinion. At first, I thought the problem was the view was just too dim. But then when I turned off the display and looked, I realized that the contrast between the view and the display was making it difficult for me to see. Part of the problem is that the OMOLED screen only covers the center portion of the display, so all the information is clustered towards the middle. During the day, that's not an issue, but in low light, that's a lot of bright elements clumped together in an otherwise dim environment. I wish the display could be dimmed a little more so my eyes could handle the contrast better. That said, I resolved it by turning off extraneous information, thereby lowering the amount of light emitting objects in the display and this worked fine, but at least for my use, it could use improvement in this area.</p><p></p><p>The only other thing I would mention were some speed issues when using the app, particularly when using the alignment tool. Most things in the app were pretty much instantaneous, but when selecting and using the alignment tool, inputs sometimes took a second to be acknowledged. I am not sure why, this could be due to my phone, which is quite old, or could be a function of what the app needs to do to carry out these changes, I don't know. But it was a lot better after the most recent app upgrade, and now I know to be patient and not overload it with repeated inputs, it works fine.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center"><a href="https://postimg.cc/GBSvh2pq" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/85T44fgQ/Aidan-Start-of-Packout-v2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"><strong>Success means a heavy pack. My oldest son has killed a few cows, but this was his first year hunting bulls. Here, he happily packs out his bull, which we named Crazy Horns when we first saw him just before season, due to his twisted up antlers. This is the one he wanted, so he was proud to have got him</strong></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div> <div style="text-align: center"></div><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p></p><p>Overall, the 8k is incredibly impressive. Being someone that prefers to hunt with a CRF separated from their binos, I was really happy to see the feature set when the 8k came out. The combination of top shelf performances in ranging, ballistics, and speed, combined with the innovative display and the connectivity options set the 8k apart from the competition from what I see. There are other CRF options that have some of the same features, but none that I am aware of that offer everything in one package like the 8k, and none I have tried can match it in terms of pure ranging power, not in this form factor. Is it perfect? No. But most of the things I would change are small 'would like to haves', with the exception of the optics. In my opinion, that's the only place where te 8k has a substantive 'room for improvement'. While I was able to see targets out to the end of shooting light, nonetheless, I really would like to see improvement in this area, and considering the level of performance in every other category, it deserves glass to match. Were they to make that change, I literally can think of nothing else substantive within current technological realities that is left on the table. So as I have not yet come to a situation where I could not see well enough to get a range in legal light, and with the overwhelming preponderance of areas where it flat out performs, the 8k is what we will be depending on when we go to help my friend try and fill his bighorn tag in a few weeks. If we find him a ram on what is likely a once in a lifetime hunt, we'll be depending on the 8k to deliver the shooting solution.</p><p></p><p>Upsides:</p><p></p><p>Extremely capable ranging, most powerful and capable CRF I have personally used</p><p></p><p>The ability to adjust sensor alignment is fantastic</p><p></p><p>Full internal environmentals</p><p></p><p>Top shelf ballistics solver with internal AB Elite, and the ability to connect to a Kestrel with AB or a Foretrex</p><p></p><p>The information display capabilities made possible by the AMOLED screen makes data utilization a lot better</p><p></p><p>The integration with basecamp brings a whole new dimension of useable value to the RF</p><p></p><p>Downsides:</p><p></p><p>The glass is somewhat darker/color casted than I'd like. Coupled with a display that does not dim quite enough, and the large amount of information lit up, it can make seeing in low light difficult for some users whose eyes are more easily blown out</p><p></p><p>The displayed data is clustered in the middle, so can be cluttered if you have all the options being displayed</p><p></p><p>The app can sometimes hang when using the alignment tool</p><p></p><p>As expected with this much capability, this is not a cheap piece of kit. All that power and tech comes with a price and as far as I know, it is the most expensive in this form factor at this time</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="catorres1, post: 2604512, member: 80699"] [B][SIZE=6]Part II[/SIZE] Display[/B] Another new innovation in the 8k concerns the display. Due to the technology previously utilized in rangefinder displays, what could be output on a screen was limited to a few preset items, and placement of everything was static and the space was exclusive. Like old digital watches, what was there was there permanently and was restricted in what could be displayed at any given moment and could not be moved to a different part of the screen. Sig has replaced that display technology with an AMOLED screen in the center of the display, which opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of what you can do with that screen space. Beyond different reticles (of which there are 3 choices, plus the optional choice of a grid), the 8k can display all kinds of information all on one screen. For example, when configured to do so, when you range you will get: LOS range; AMR range; elevation hold and direction; windage hold and direction; remaining velocity at distance; remaining energy at distance; shot angle; density altitude; compass heading; and signal strength (showing just how well the target has reflected the laser). This is all on one screen, displayed simultaneously, not via a carousel….all your data is available at once and stays in the display. And between ranges, the screen will display the last range measured, the user configurable name for the active ballistic profile (up to 30 can be stored in the RF), density altitude, set wind speed, ranging mode and battery charge. Many of these can be turned off if you prefer a cleaner view, as I do. But you have the choice to see a lot of data, and due to the display technology, these options can be changed or added to by means of a firmware upgrade. In fact, when I first got the RF, compass heading did not display, but after a firmware upgrade, it now shows up. I particularly like that when I range, all my data is right there, I don't have to wait for it to cycle through if I miss something, it's all right there upon ranging, and stays available the whole time. No doubt, this is a significant useability improvement. But as cool as having all this data available is, in my opinion, the biggest upside to the display technology is in how it can actually make ranging targets more accurate, by enabling users to adjust sensor-reticle alignment. [B]Alignment[/B] All that power and all those capabilities don't help much if you can't put the x on the target accurately. One of the realities of rangefinders is that the sensors are usually not perfectly aligned. You may think you are ranging that deer across that canyon, but you may in fact be hitting a bush in front of it, or a rock to the right and behind it. Hence, it is strongly recommended that you always test your particular unit to find out exactly where the sensor to reticle relationship lies. Chances are, they are off to some degree, and how much depends on luck and the manufacturer. My previous Sigs showed significant alignment diversion pretty consistently, but I worked around it by noting where the sensor actually aligned on the reticle, and actually became quite accurate by focusing on that spot (3 o'clock on the circle, for example). Likewise, I found this to be true with other manufacturers as well, with Leica being generally the best, as their requirements are the quite stringent. I raised the issue with Sig in the past, but getting that alignment perfect with traditional display technology is difficult (time-consuming) and therefore, expensive. Nonetheless, I believe many people feel their RF's don't range as far as they should, or are inaccurate, because they don't realize that they are not putting that sensor where they think they are because it's not aligned with the reticle. So they are actually ranging the sky instead of the top of a cliff etc….and this is something that has probably caused quite a few customer service calls and returns, and is something Sig wanted to address. Their solution to the problem is pretty ingenious and was directly enabled by the new display system. With the display allowing for placement and positioning of elements anywhere on the AMOLED screen, Sig engineers saw an opportunity to solve this problem without adding additional hand hours to the manufacturing process that would dramatically increase the price. Built into the app, the RF now allows the user to test their alignment, just as they would in the past, but you are able to move the position of the reticle vertically and horizontally to perfectly align your sensor and the reticle of your choice. The solution is brilliant and allows for the reticle to be finer (the crosshair, for example), and no longer requires me to remember where to hold on this particular RF, which is nice when you have a few RF's and can't remember the exact hold for each one. With the 8k, we get high end alignment, and therefore better ranging, without the cost that would otherwise have been incurred to tighten manufacturing and alignment processes. [CENTER] [URL='https://postimg.cc/R66K3B69'][IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/PxK4RfdL/Aidan-on-edge-of-cliff-v2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [B]It helps to have precise equipment in open country, where shots can be long and distances unsure. Here, my son is helping his younger brother look for his first elk[/B] [/CENTER] The only caveat I would mention were some speed issues when using the alignment tool. Most things in the app were pretty much instantaneous, but when selecting and using the alignment tool, inputs sometimes took a second to be acknowledged. I am not sure why, this could be due to my phone, which is quite old, or could be a function of what the app needs to do to carry out these changes, I don't know. But it was a lot better after the most recent app upgrade, and now that I know to be patient and not overload it with repeated inputs, it works fine. [B]Mapping Integration[/B] Another of the most significant new features of the 8k is the new mapping integration offered this year, which has changed my position about the endless 'distance race' that RF manufacturers have been in, mainly, I thought, for marketing reasons. Until now, I have felt that to some degree it is likely that eventually ranging capabilities will really be more marketing than useful substance. And I do still believe that it is what you do with the data that makes a particular RF special. However, I did always consider that perhaps a lot of ranging could be somewhat useful in terms of navigation, so you could determine if a ridge was just too far to hike to for a shot before last light etc., but not much more than that. But this year has seen that concept taken one large step further and really makes those extended ranging capabilities come into use in a whole new way. Essentially, Sig, and now as of this writing, Leica, have figured out how to make that extreme distance data useful. That is, by finding another way to interpret and put that data to work, they have taken the RF and turned it from exclusively a shooting tool into a legitimate navigation tool. They did this by teaming up with Basemap (which ports the data to Google Earth as well) to use the RF in conjunction with the software to set distant way points in the field and then navigate there. Using the RF paired to your smartphone, with Basemap open and running in the remote waypoint submenu, you simply range your target. The RF will send the data to Basemap, and the point on your map where the beam hit the target will receive a waypoint. At that point, you can adjust the position of the waypoint and then accept. It's very fast and easy and, for us, quickly demonstrated its value. While it is not perfect, from my testing, it seems to be within a radius of about 5% in terms of horizontal dispersion, though there was some variation between samples. Of the three different RF's I tested, there was a range of accuracy, probably due to compass sensitivity differences. But the average of all three was around 5%, so if you shoot an animal at 500 yards, it should navigate you to within a 25 yard radius of your objective from what I experienced. The obvious use would be in planning a stalk on a distant animal, or finding your way to a distant point that you want to explore as a glassing point etc. Often, we will see a point that would give us a perfect position, but we can't get to it directly, and in navigating via the long route, find we can't relocate the point we were trying to reach because our perspective has changed. This is disappointing when you are trying to reach a potential glassing point, but extremely frustrating when we are talking about a position from which you can take prey that you have located. The mapping function can be very useful here, allowing you to get right to the vantage point you need, even when you have to go the long way round to get there. [CENTER][URL='https://postimg.cc/WdgykBZG'][IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/Jz2C9m42/Canyon-where-William-killed-his-elk.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [B]Properly enabled, rangefinders can now be legitimate navigation tools, especially in new places where the distance cues are new to the hunter[/B] [/CENTER] But even more valuable to my mind is the capability of finding game when recovery is going to have to be via a circuitous route, which might make finding the animal difficult, especially if arrival time on site ends up being after dark. We had this exact scenario happen in 2020, when I shot my bull across a canyon. To recover the bull, we had to hike out back to the truck, then drive several miles to an opening to the river canyon, and then hike in 2.5 miles to get to where the bull went down. This process took several hours to get there, and by that time, it was fully dark. Despite setting way points on our map of where we shot and where we thought the bull was across the canyon etc., in the dark, it took 4 of us scouring the mountain to find the bull. By the grace of God, and after a great deal of effort, we did finally find it, but I was really getting concerned we might lose it until morning, and the coyotes would have had their way with it. Fast forward to this year, and my son took a (for us) pretty long shot on a cow elk and put her down. Again, across a canyon. This time it was daylight, but by the time we got there, well, things looked dramatically different, and she had run into some very think oak brush when he shot, so finding her was not going to be easy. In fact, my son who took the shot and I got there first and were searching but could not find her at all until my older son caught up with us with the map open on his phone and the position plotted, which showed we were way out of place. Fortunately, using the waypoint on Basemap, we were quickly able to locate the cow. [CENTER][URL='https://postimg.cc/SXGtZcDj'][IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/vBRFZzn7/Three-of-us-with-Williams-elk-v3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [B]The basemap integration was very helpful in helping us recover my youngest son's first elk after a long shot across a canyon. The non-descript oak brush coverage would have made recovery a lot more difficult were it not for the mapping integration[/B] [/CENTER] A third use of this function relates to private verses public land. Sometimes, from across a canyon, it's hard to tell which side of the unmarked boundary that animal is on when they are fairly close to the boundary and the hill may be long and without solid differentiating features. While we did not think of using it that way this year, if I had thought of it at the time, it would have saved us a lot of time when we sat there looking at the map trying to discern land features on a distant uniform hillside to try and figure out whether the elk were on private or public property. Had I thought of it, we could have just had it plotted right on to the map and we would have known more easily and confidently whether they were on public or private. So while I knew that, theoretically, this could be a pretty interesting feature, having it work out so well in use made it one of the more exciting and useful additions to the Sig 8k. It makes finding downed game much more certain when the recovery route might take you half-way around the world and the perspective from the shooting point becomes very different. It might help you ensure you are on the right side of the public/private line when looking at distant game, and it provides valuable navigation capabilities that were previously more difficult to achieve using only the maps in most mapping software. In the latter case, that 'superfluous' ranging horsepower becomes a pretty useful capability in helping get us to a specific spot several miles away with surety in limited time. And in the former, it could mean the difference between good meat in the freezer and being left with coyote leftovers. [B]Optics[/B] Of course, not everything is perfect, it never is, and the 8k is no exception. In truth, though, the only area of improvement I could see is in the area of the optics, and this really falls into two categories. The first is the overall brightness of the image. Like previous Sig RF's I have tested, there is a noticeable color cast when you look through the viewfinder. In addition, it is just not very bright, especially when you compare it to one of the Leica series CRF's. In comparison, the 8k appears dim with a pronounced blue color cast. Where I feel fine using my Leica as a solid monocular option, I don't feel the same about the Sig. That is not to say that it is too dim to use past shooting light. It's not. I was able to easily see a light tan cow in a field of completely dry grass at nearly 500 yards out past legal shooting light. That cow blended in to that field such that I could not see it with my naked eye at that distance at that time of day, but I was able to find it with the 8k. I spent a lot of time well after shooting light testing it, and I never had a problem finding cattle, bushes etc. well beyond when it would be legal to shoot. So I would not say that the view is a problem in that sense. But I'd still like to see a stronger optical performance, if not on par with the Leica, at least closer to it. That might boost the already considerable price point somewhat, but I would hope not too much, and I think it would be worth it if only from a competitive perspective. The second issue I had concerned the display, and its dynamic range. One thing to note about this complaint is that my eyes are particularly sensitive to high dynamic range views. That is, it's not exactly night blindness, but bright lights can easily blind me at night, so your experience may be different than mine. But my issue was that while the display is easily seen in full sun, in low light, it did not get dim enough in my opinion. At first, I thought the problem was the view was just too dim. But then when I turned off the display and looked, I realized that the contrast between the view and the display was making it difficult for me to see. Part of the problem is that the OMOLED screen only covers the center portion of the display, so all the information is clustered towards the middle. During the day, that's not an issue, but in low light, that's a lot of bright elements clumped together in an otherwise dim environment. I wish the display could be dimmed a little more so my eyes could handle the contrast better. That said, I resolved it by turning off extraneous information, thereby lowering the amount of light emitting objects in the display and this worked fine, but at least for my use, it could use improvement in this area. The only other thing I would mention were some speed issues when using the app, particularly when using the alignment tool. Most things in the app were pretty much instantaneous, but when selecting and using the alignment tool, inputs sometimes took a second to be acknowledged. I am not sure why, this could be due to my phone, which is quite old, or could be a function of what the app needs to do to carry out these changes, I don't know. But it was a lot better after the most recent app upgrade, and now I know to be patient and not overload it with repeated inputs, it works fine. [CENTER][URL='https://postimg.cc/GBSvh2pq'][IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/85T44fgQ/Aidan-Start-of-Packout-v2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [B]Success means a heavy pack. My oldest son has killed a few cows, but this was his first year hunting bulls. Here, he happily packs out his bull, which we named Crazy Horns when we first saw him just before season, due to his twisted up antlers. This is the one he wanted, so he was proud to have got him[/B] [/CENTER] [B]Conclusion[/B] Overall, the 8k is incredibly impressive. Being someone that prefers to hunt with a CRF separated from their binos, I was really happy to see the feature set when the 8k came out. The combination of top shelf performances in ranging, ballistics, and speed, combined with the innovative display and the connectivity options set the 8k apart from the competition from what I see. There are other CRF options that have some of the same features, but none that I am aware of that offer everything in one package like the 8k, and none I have tried can match it in terms of pure ranging power, not in this form factor. Is it perfect? No. But most of the things I would change are small 'would like to haves', with the exception of the optics. In my opinion, that's the only place where te 8k has a substantive 'room for improvement'. While I was able to see targets out to the end of shooting light, nonetheless, I really would like to see improvement in this area, and considering the level of performance in every other category, it deserves glass to match. Were they to make that change, I literally can think of nothing else substantive within current technological realities that is left on the table. So as I have not yet come to a situation where I could not see well enough to get a range in legal light, and with the overwhelming preponderance of areas where it flat out performs, the 8k is what we will be depending on when we go to help my friend try and fill his bighorn tag in a few weeks. If we find him a ram on what is likely a once in a lifetime hunt, we'll be depending on the 8k to deliver the shooting solution. Upsides: Extremely capable ranging, most powerful and capable CRF I have personally used The ability to adjust sensor alignment is fantastic Full internal environmentals Top shelf ballistics solver with internal AB Elite, and the ability to connect to a Kestrel with AB or a Foretrex The information display capabilities made possible by the AMOLED screen makes data utilization a lot better The integration with basecamp brings a whole new dimension of useable value to the RF Downsides: The glass is somewhat darker/color casted than I'd like. Coupled with a display that does not dim quite enough, and the large amount of information lit up, it can make seeing in low light difficult for some users whose eyes are more easily blown out The displayed data is clustered in the middle, so can be cluttered if you have all the options being displayed The app can sometimes hang when using the alignment tool As expected with this much capability, this is not a cheap piece of kit. All that power and tech comes with a price and as far as I know, it is the most expensive in this form factor at this time [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Long Range Scopes and Other Optics
Sig Kilo 8k Review
Top