Pete Lincoln
Well-Known Member
For my trip to Scotland I borrowed a 8x56 Geovid BRF from Leica. Unfortunately whoever had it last forgot to put the **** lense covers back in the box, so in the dampness of Scotland i had to improvise, its amaizing what ytou can do with foam ammo box liners and some 100mph tape !!
Anyways, the Leica Geovid 8x56 BRF was a pleasant surprise. I had expected a monster of a binocular due to the 56mm lenses, but actualy its not all that much bigger than the 10x42, and certainly not all that much heavier either. Its compact enough and light enough to carry round your neck all day and stalk with ( certainly if you are used to Steiner 7x50 Military bino's like i am) The optical clarity was excellent, as was the sharpness of the immage right to the edge (despite the **** rain) I spent a lot of time ranging sheep ( as there where more sheep than deer to be seen, unfortunately) and i would be lieing if i didn't admit to bieng tempted to have a go at wacking the ones i ranged at 1233 meters with the Geovid, anyways, that much mutton wasn't on the menu, so i refrained. I gave the scan feature a good ole using and ranged many times on all kinds of objects, from deer, to sheep, road signs, walkers, trees and vehicles. 1233m was the furthest i could get it to read, and that was on a black face sheep.
The Leica performed perfectly in all conditions, dawn to dusk and makes a superb alround binocular for day or night use. It is as much at home in the darkest forest after the 02.00 wild boar as it is after the mid day Roe Buck or Red Stag on the Scottish hill.
certainly the price of the unit is a number to consider, but once bought, they will last a life time i'm sure, and a combined range finder binocular is just so much more practical than carrying 2 units.
I would recomend the 8x56 for the majority of situations. The 10x42 is great for the open hill and the 8x42 for general stalking situations.
Now do i buy one, ( as i already sold the one i had on order for my self, ever the capitalist i couldn't resist) or do i keep borrowing em direct from leica?
regards Pete
Anyways, the Leica Geovid 8x56 BRF was a pleasant surprise. I had expected a monster of a binocular due to the 56mm lenses, but actualy its not all that much bigger than the 10x42, and certainly not all that much heavier either. Its compact enough and light enough to carry round your neck all day and stalk with ( certainly if you are used to Steiner 7x50 Military bino's like i am) The optical clarity was excellent, as was the sharpness of the immage right to the edge (despite the **** rain) I spent a lot of time ranging sheep ( as there where more sheep than deer to be seen, unfortunately) and i would be lieing if i didn't admit to bieng tempted to have a go at wacking the ones i ranged at 1233 meters with the Geovid, anyways, that much mutton wasn't on the menu, so i refrained. I gave the scan feature a good ole using and ranged many times on all kinds of objects, from deer, to sheep, road signs, walkers, trees and vehicles. 1233m was the furthest i could get it to read, and that was on a black face sheep.
The Leica performed perfectly in all conditions, dawn to dusk and makes a superb alround binocular for day or night use. It is as much at home in the darkest forest after the 02.00 wild boar as it is after the mid day Roe Buck or Red Stag on the Scottish hill.
certainly the price of the unit is a number to consider, but once bought, they will last a life time i'm sure, and a combined range finder binocular is just so much more practical than carrying 2 units.
I would recomend the 8x56 for the majority of situations. The 10x42 is great for the open hill and the 8x42 for general stalking situations.
Now do i buy one, ( as i already sold the one i had on order for my self, ever the capitalist i couldn't resist) or do i keep borrowing em direct from leica?
regards Pete
