Update: Leica came through and sent me a new pair rather than making me wait for the pair I had to be repaired. Haven't had a chance to hunt with them. Will post a review as soon as I get a chance. I hope they are as good as everything that I read.
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Leica's New Geovid HD-B
- Thread starter gr8fuldoug
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I just got my pair. Glass seems spectacular to me.
Ranging to this point has not been impressive IMO. Haven't been able to get a reading past 1200 yards on anything, and nothing past 600 yards when trying to range trees and hillsides. Going to call Leica and see what they say.
Ranging to this point has not been impressive IMO. Haven't been able to get a reading past 1200 yards on anything, and nothing past 600 yards when trying to range trees and hillsides. Going to call Leica and see what they say.
ArizonaWildernessHunter
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2013
- Messages
- 35
Sounds like something is wrong. I have had a pair since around November and mine always range to 1200 on grass and 1300 on trees when unsupported with bright sun. If I range into the shadows of trees off a support I can normally get to a mile. After the sun goes down I can get past 2000 if there is no dust or smoke in the air.
Since these things are built by hand they could have someone that makes mistakes. The good thing is when you contact them they will know who worked on your binos and they can fix things on the production end and might just trade you for a new pair.
Capt Grizz
Member
Has anyone used the SD card custom ballistics program paired with a custom dial turret out to 750-1000yds? Good/Bad??
Yes I have. I programed my 7 LRM and my 6.5x284 ballistics to a SD card (seperate cards, can only put one program per card)
Mine works great. Just remember, garbage in, garbage out. You have to use the Leica G7 program which only lets you use the G1 ballistics info to program the card. But you can play with the velocity or BC to get your impact points to match your turrets (much like building a turret) and once it is programed you are done. Only took me about 5 to 10 minutes per card to set it up initally.
I have had zero issues with my HD-B. Optics are excellent, have had no issues ranging.
Note that the unit only corrects for your ballistics program out to 1,000 yards. But that is FINE with me. I go this unit for hunting and while I may shoot out past 1,000 yards at steel I personally don't shoot past 1,000 yards out hunting.
Mine works great. Just remember, garbage in, garbage out. You have to use the Leica G7 program which only lets you use the G1 ballistics info to program the card. But you can play with the velocity or BC to get your impact points to match your turrets (much like building a turret) and once it is programed you are done. Only took me about 5 to 10 minutes per card to set it up initally.
I have had zero issues with my HD-B. Optics are excellent, have had no issues ranging.
Note that the unit only corrects for your ballistics program out to 1,000 yards. But that is FINE with me. I go this unit for hunting and while I may shoot out past 1,000 yards at steel I personally don't shoot past 1,000 yards out hunting.
Capt Grizz
Member
I'm right with you on taking shots on game past 1,000yds.
In regards to the zero issue what exactly were the problems and were you able to correct? If so how difficult? I had read in earlier posts that a guy had to change his turret zero from 280yds to 200 or 300yds to match the Leica G7 ballistics program.
I'm currently having a .338 Norma built and plan to have a 5.5-25x Night Force w/custom turret mounted my G7 Gunwerks. The BR2 by them has a solid rep but if the Leica can do just as good and combine the Bino/range finder/ballistics program into 1 package I'm sold.
In regards to the zero issue what exactly were the problems and were you able to correct? If so how difficult? I had read in earlier posts that a guy had to change his turret zero from 280yds to 200 or 300yds to match the Leica G7 ballistics program.
I'm currently having a .338 Norma built and plan to have a 5.5-25x Night Force w/custom turret mounted my G7 Gunwerks. The BR2 by them has a solid rep but if the Leica can do just as good and combine the Bino/range finder/ballistics program into 1 package I'm sold.
In the GSeven ballistic program you can either use the G1 BCfor your bullet or the G7 BC for your bullet to develop your turret/program. But on the Leica GSeven program, you can onlyuse a G1 BC for your bullet.
I had used the G7 BC to develop my turret. I chrono my load then shoot my rifle at 300,400, 500, etc. and record the MOA turret settings. I then input my data (velocity, BC,temperature, etc) into the GSeven ballistic program and run the program. I then check to see if their impact pointsmatch my MOA turret settings at all of the distances that I shot at. They usually do not match exactly. But you can either change the velocityslightly or change the BC slightly in the program to get a ballistic programthat matches your bullets impact points at each of the distances that you haveshot. Gunwerks has a YouTube video thatexplains how to do this but I think this explains it. You just change the BC or velocity slightly,rerun the program and compare to your known impact points. You keep doing this until it matches.
You do the same thing on the Leica program. (Which is theGunWerks GSeven program) you put in your G1 BC (they do not have an option fora G7 program) velocity, etc. that you have for your turret/load and it willshow you what the turret settings will be for all the various yardages. If it does not match your turret settings(which you know to be true since you have shot and recorded them) you "tweek"either the velocity or the BC to the point that all of your turret settingsmatch the program.
All of this establishes the "base line" for theprogram. Once in the bino/rangefinder astemperature, altitude/angle, etc. changes, it will change your impact yardage readout.
I have tried my Leica at various extreme angles, distances, temperatures and have found the corrected distances to be very accurate.
cwinner
Well-Known Member
After using my PLRF5 side by side against these new Leica's I won't be changing anytime soon........the Leica's are great glass and range we'll, just not as well as my terrapin
I found the ranging reticle a little large for my liking......
Alan Griffith
Well-Known Member
I can get a pair of 10x HD-B's at dealer discount where I work. Almost pulled the trigger too until I read a fairly technical review. I hope Leica is reading this.
1. Out put in clicks, like the 1600-B, instead of pure MOA. This is just pure nonsense from the designer of this fine optic. A tool of this design is supposed to make the shooters life easier, not harder. I want it read 36.3 moa instead of 145 clicks. I succumb to certain types of pressure and doing division, in my head, is one of them. With that said, I know I can simply paste a simple conversion chart on my rifle. Almost, but not a deal killer.
2. The online web based ballistic app that allows one to input rifle's exact ballistic data, save it to a tiny memory device and drop it into the bino's battery compartment is genius. Only problem is we only get to use G1 BC, not G7, which is more accurate for our long range BT type of bullets. That puts me off 12.7" at 1 mile with a 300 gr OTM from my 338 Edge. DEAL KILLER!
Going shootin!
Alan
1. Out put in clicks, like the 1600-B, instead of pure MOA. This is just pure nonsense from the designer of this fine optic. A tool of this design is supposed to make the shooters life easier, not harder. I want it read 36.3 moa instead of 145 clicks. I succumb to certain types of pressure and doing division, in my head, is one of them. With that said, I know I can simply paste a simple conversion chart on my rifle. Almost, but not a deal killer.
2. The online web based ballistic app that allows one to input rifle's exact ballistic data, save it to a tiny memory device and drop it into the bino's battery compartment is genius. Only problem is we only get to use G1 BC, not G7, which is more accurate for our long range BT type of bullets. That puts me off 12.7" at 1 mile with a 300 gr OTM from my 338 Edge. DEAL KILLER!
Going shootin!
Alan
Mikecr
Well-Known Member
You can expect this from companies that 'add' ballistic gimmicks to their products, as they don't typically know anything about ballistics, or field use of ballistics.
What would Leica know of ballistics? It's not their bread and butter..
Dodge dealers putting VW Beetles out front..
What would Leica know of ballistics? It's not their bread and butter..
Dodge dealers putting VW Beetles out front..
cummins cowboy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2010
- Messages
- 361
the other problem is the leica only applies ballistic corrections to 1000 yards. you get ranges beyond that but not factored firing solutions. the other blunder is no angle compensation below 100 yards. huge miss for bow hunters. it looks to me like leica did not get these in the hands of real western hunters to test them. its just some small tweaks and they could have really knocked it out of the park.
the other thing and its probably just me and really dampered my impulse to buy is that for some reason the view in them doesn't seem quite right. its like the barrels are too wide apart, I also get more of an oval view through them with fuzzier edges on the outside edges. been using the previous model all along with no issues. The leica guy admitted that they have like 3% less light transmission than swaro's el range. if money was no object I would run the el range AND a g7 RF
Alan nailed it about their only issues. I just recieved my HDBs after weighing them against the EL range. I wanted the Swaro warranty, EL glass, Leica distance, 10yd minimum, and the button on the right side. When It came down to it I couldn't spend 3k on something I would only use on my rifle hunts. I don't need to know the range less than 30yd to shoot, but it makes me question whether it is less than 30yds or if my batteries are dead. My hunting buddy went with the EL range, but he is a lefty and it made more sense. I wrote Leica about their two issues; lack of G7 input and MOA drop output in "clicks". The G7 seems a simple fix to me. I could be wrong but the way I believe it works is the computer program develops the drop chart and the binos adjust that drop chart for your atmospheric conditions. If that is the case, they would need to just add a G7 BC option to their web based calculator, like any good ballistic calculator does. The read out in number of 1/4MOA clicks may be more difficult. The binos would probably need to go back to leica to be re-programmed. I'm not even sure if the Leica reticle could display a decimal point. I'm just speculating here though. If I receive a reply from leica about either of these issues. I don't think I could find fault with these binos if they fixed those two issues. The 1000k max doesn't bother me. If I'm shooting that far, I'm running Shooter and playing with wind and angles, I have the time. The HDB appealed to me to make a 400-600yd shot without having to get out all the equipment I usually need to get out
Well, I finally had time to take my replacement HD-Bs out for a thorough test. Please refer to my previous post to find out why my first pair was replaced.
My new pair definitely does better in the optics/picture category. Looks like they figured that out. I was on a scouting trip in south texas with 100 degree weather and had the time to compare the Leicas directly to my Swarovision EL. I found that the two binoculars give a very different type of view. Both are very crisp and bright. However, where the swarovski provides a very flat view, the Leicas provide an almost 3D view that took some time to get used to after spending the last 4 or 5 years hunting exclusively with the swarovskis. Once I got used to it, I believe I prefer the leicas in this respect.
Now the problem: I pulled the leicas out of the safe after only using them very little once I got them at the end of last season. I tried to range something in the house, and they were dead. I changed the battery and they worked perfectly agains and I went to the ranch. Once I got into the blind, I got set up and attempted to range something. they were dead again. I had just put a brand new battery into them just a few hours before. So I pulled the battery out and put it back in. they worked again. That evening (a few hours later), I was attempting to sight in a rifle, and tried to use them again to measure off the 50 yds I intended to start sighting the rifle in at, and they were dead again. I pulled the battery and replaced it and they worked again. At this point, i stopped trying to use them on the hunt.
I called leica, they remember me from the last time I had a problem, and they sent me a postage paid ups sticker and i sent them back. they are still under warranty. I got a letter from them indicating that they were sending them off to Leica Germany and it was expected to be 7-8 weeks. Very disappointing. Again.
The easy answer would be to send me another new pair. But we will see. I think they would become my go to binoculars, but I haven't been able to get them to perform yet. They still may be, but waiting 7-8 weeks for them to replace them again I think is asking a bit much of me once I have spend $3000.
To be continued.....
My new pair definitely does better in the optics/picture category. Looks like they figured that out. I was on a scouting trip in south texas with 100 degree weather and had the time to compare the Leicas directly to my Swarovision EL. I found that the two binoculars give a very different type of view. Both are very crisp and bright. However, where the swarovski provides a very flat view, the Leicas provide an almost 3D view that took some time to get used to after spending the last 4 or 5 years hunting exclusively with the swarovskis. Once I got used to it, I believe I prefer the leicas in this respect.
Now the problem: I pulled the leicas out of the safe after only using them very little once I got them at the end of last season. I tried to range something in the house, and they were dead. I changed the battery and they worked perfectly agains and I went to the ranch. Once I got into the blind, I got set up and attempted to range something. they were dead again. I had just put a brand new battery into them just a few hours before. So I pulled the battery out and put it back in. they worked again. That evening (a few hours later), I was attempting to sight in a rifle, and tried to use them again to measure off the 50 yds I intended to start sighting the rifle in at, and they were dead again. I pulled the battery and replaced it and they worked again. At this point, i stopped trying to use them on the hunt.
I called leica, they remember me from the last time I had a problem, and they sent me a postage paid ups sticker and i sent them back. they are still under warranty. I got a letter from them indicating that they were sending them off to Leica Germany and it was expected to be 7-8 weeks. Very disappointing. Again.
The easy answer would be to send me another new pair. But we will see. I think they would become my go to binoculars, but I haven't been able to get them to perform yet. They still may be, but waiting 7-8 weeks for them to replace them again I think is asking a bit much of me once I have spend $3000.
To be continued.....
