I have been using 10x42 geovids for about the last 5 years or so. once you use them you will never ever go back to anything else. the people that say they are not that great typically don't own them, my geovids fell off a fire place mantel and bent the focus wheel, they had to go back to leica, they are so necessary for my style of hunting. I ordered another pair, and plan to sell the old ones once they get back. to me they are that necessary. and I am not a rich guy mind you.
the rangefinder is pretty darn powerful on them, in most conditions I can range a coyote out to about 900 yards, sometimes more sometimes less depending on conditions. this is with the non HD geovids. the HD model which I just got to replace my broken unit is supposed to have a slightly better rangefinder, it says 1400 on it instead of 1300. I can range larger animals out to even further than 900 yards. a deer at 1000 should be no problemo. my hunting partner runs the same geovids and his results are the same as mine. they do sometimes struggle a bit picking up a range on animals in bright sun with snow. (beyond 500 yards) but if you use the scan feature and keep trying you can normally pick up the range eventually. I do wish the rangefinder was more powerful, but thats just me and I have alot of opportunities at coyotes at 1000 yards and more. for your average guy, the ranging abilities of the geovids is everything a guy can use and then some. I don't think my units have ever failed to range something that is less than 500 yards away under any conditions.
the best is not having to switch units, you already are looking at the animal and the range is a press of the finger away. the value in this should be obvious. no trying to reaquire the target in a seperate rangefinder, which isn't as easy to look through as a binocular. are they as good as the top end glass like the EL or zeiss fl t, the glass is not as good, but its very close. and having that powerful rangefinder under you finger MORE than makes up for a little glass handicap. when I get my old units back I am going to see how much better these new HD's are particularly in low light. the 10x42 units seem to fade in low light, probably alot the nature of their exit pupal, the 8's are probably a lot better in low light. but this weekend I had to go back to an 8x binocular, because my gevoids were sent back, and I HATED glassing with the 8x units. I felt like a fish out of water without my geovids.
zeiss also makes a good RF unit, however they are a bit bulkier, supposed to have a bit better RF unit, but for me the 10x models are just a tad short on eyerelief. Swaro is really missing out. I can't believe they have no response to leica or zeiss units, after using one you will never ever go back to seperate units, at least if you are a western hunting and need to range just about everything you shoot at.
