Leupold TBR Laser Rangefinder

Review of rangefinder Leupold RX-1400i TBR/W Fantastic! I can't believe it has so many features and Leupold quality for such a low price! This rangefinder has so many features and so many modes, I'm going to have fun playing with all of them. You need to understand the following abbreviations to understand the unit's seven modes: TBR stands for "True Ballistic Range", LOS stands for "Line-Of-Sight" distance, BOW stands for bow and arrow, but it’s also a great setting for boating! MOA = Minutes of Angle (if you own a riflescope calibrated in MOA, you'll understand this). MIL = Milliradians, or mils (if you own a riflescope calibrated in mils, you'll understand this). TRIG = stands for Trigonometry, not trigger as some might assume. This Leupold has seven different modes, including five different TBR modes! 1) TBR BAS = Basic TBR, showing the equivalent horizontal range. Good for scopes with ballistic reticles. 2) TBR HOLD = Shows the LOS distance and the number of inches (or centimeters) of holdover needed. 3) TBR MIL = Shows the LOS distance and the holdover in milliradians, for scopes calibrated in mils. 4) TBR MOA = Shows the LOS distance and the holdover in MOA, for scopes calibrated in MOA. 5) TBR TRIG = Shows the LOS distance, briefly flashes the true horizontal distance, then shows the elevation. No math required! This is my favorite setting so far, as I'll explain below. 6) BOW = For bow and arrow shooting, but it’s also a great setting for boaters (see below), so I think of it as the “boating” setting. Shows the equivalent horizontal range (level fire range) if target is 175 yards or less. If it's over 175 yards, it will show the LOS (Line of Sight distance) and flash LOS to indicate that you're out of bow and arrow range! 7) LOS = Line of Sight, meaning the straight-line distance to the target, regardless of elevation. It will also display the angle, either positive or negative. Shooters with riflescopes will know instinctively how to use the different TBR settings, and which setting to use depending on which scope they have, so I won't dwell on that here. At the very end of this review, I'll put my recommendations for shooters. Non-shooters will appreciate some of the following uses for this rangefinder: 5) TBR TRIG mode is great fun! Say you want to know how tall a building is (or a lighthouse, or a tree): Simply aim the rangefinder at the top floor, press the button, and presto, you'll get the height of the building, lighthouse, or tree in yards (or meters), as well as the distance to it. Now you can decide whether to take the stairs or the elevator, or whether it's worth the effort to climb the lighthouse stairs to see the view. You can also use it for hills or mountains (providing they're within range). Best of all, no math is required! For those of us who hated high school trigonometry, this unit does all the work for you. Just push the button and you'll get the true horizontal distance (sine), the vertical elevation (cosine), and the LOS distance (line of sight). The only drawback is that the true horizontal distance only flashes briefly on the screen, but the other two measurements (LOS and elevation) stay on the screen longer. It's fun to point the device at a building and be able to instantly tell your friends, "That building is 200 yards tall!" to show off your knowledge of local landmarks elevations to your friends. Or say you're hiking, you're almost to the next peak, and you want to know if you'll need a rest before you get there. Point the rangefinder at the peak, hit the button, and you can tell your fellow hikers the peak is 600 yards away but it's a 100-yard vertical climb from where you are, so you may need to rest on the way. 7) LOS mode: This would also be good for hiking, because it shows the angle of ascent (or descent), as well as the line-of-sight distance. You could point the device at the next peak and announce that the peak is 600 yards away, but it's a 20-degree vertical climb, so you might need to rest on the way. Of course, if you're walking where it's flat, any of the modes will work, because if there's no elevation to consider, then line of sight (LOS) will be the same as the equivalent horizontal range. 6) BOW = Besides bow & arrow shooters, this is also the best setting for boaters, or anyone who believes in the adage KISS ("Keep it Simple, Simon"). BOW is the simplest setting, showing only one number in the viewfinder. At 175 yards and under, you get the equivalent horizontal range, and over 175 yards, you'll get the line-of-sight range, which is like mode 7) LOS, but without any angle displayed, only the distance. If you're boating, then everything is line-of-sight anyway, as the water is flat (unless you have a tidal wave or tsunami). You can use the rangefinder to find the distance to shore, the distance to another boat, the distance to a buoy, the distance to that big ocean liner bearing down on you at full speed, the distance to that pirate ship chasing you from astern ("Avast, ye mateys!"), or use it for whatever floats your boat (pardon the pun). Finally, you can use this Leupold as a compact, lightweight, 5-power monocular. The view is crisp and clear, and it works as a monocular even if the battery dies (or even without any battery installed). DRAWBACKS: 1) Batteries: It takes a CR2 battery. I would have preferred a more common battery, such as AA, AAA, or CR123A like my other devices, but CR2 batteries aren't too hard to find. 2) Worst drawback: limited ballistic programs for shooters. It only has 25 different ballistic programs, and they all cater to long-distance cartridges with flat trajectories shot from rifles with 24" barrels or longer. You're SOL (out of luck) if you're shooting a 30-30 Winchester, 300 Blackout, 7.62 x 39, .45-70, .44 Magnum, or .357 Magnum, because this Leupold rangefinder doesn't have any ballistic programs to match your trajectory! Also, if you're shooting from a 16" barrel instead of a 24" barrel, you won't find any programs to match your rifle's trajectory. This leaves out most gun owners, unfortunately. The limited selection of 25 ballistic programs covers mostly long-range cartridges such as .300 Winchester Magnum and 6.5 Creedmoor. The offerings it has for .223 and .308 show velocities that obviously assume you're using a 24" barrel, which few people use anymore. That's the worst drawback, the limited set of ballistic programs. Even going to Leupold's website and downloading their tables won't help you if your gun uses shorter-range cartridges such as 30-30 Winchester, 300 Blackout, 7.62 x 39, .45-70, .44 Magnum, or .357 Magnum. But for this low price, I'll forgive that drawback and still give it five stars. The "TBR" features might not be quite as accurate as they would be if there were more ballistic programs available, but it will still be much better than using a golf rangefinder, or worse yet, eyeballing the range to guesstimate it! My RECOMMENDATION for SHOOTERS if your cartridge doesn't fit the limited set of ballistic programs available. You can't use HOLD, MOA, or MIL if your cartridge doesn't fit the ballistic programs, so instead, I suggest using: 1) TBR BAS, especially when shooting uphill or downhill. TBR BAS will give you the "equivalent horizontal range" to the target, and then you can use your own ballistics chart to determine how to adjust your scope for that range. If you're shooting horizontal (on flat or level terrain), then either mode 6) BOW or 7) LOS will do perfectly fine to get the line-of-sight range.

I don’t understand the recent price fluctuations on this product; however I paid less than $200 which makes this an exceptional value at that price. I probably wouldn’t have purchased if the price were at the current price of nearly $300, simply because I don’t really need it. It is a luxury item to me. It is accurate and very easy to use provided you take it along with the instructions and practice for 15 or 20 minutes. I love the size. Fairly small with nice contour. Biggest down side to me is that the trajectory profiles don’t quite match the high trajectory world I function in. This only applies to the rifle made, I cannot speak for the bow mode. 95% of shooters would be adequately served by this unit. The remaining 5%, like me, don’t actually need a rangefinder, but hey, I love toys! It has trig features that would serve hikers or loggers well. I use it wearing glasses, but it, like binoculars, is a little easier to use without glasses. One caveat: this is my first rangefinder, so I can’t compare it to others. I do enjoy having it! It was missing the quick reference card that customer service promptly supplied! Two thumbs up!!

Very nice range finder easy to use also

I was looking for a laser rangefinder to actually use for film photography to be able to nail focus in a variety of situations. This particular model seems to be brand new with basically no reviews anywhere, but I decided to take the chance because of the price and specs, and am told Leupold is a good brand. I tested the laser rangefinder on a building very far away but visible from my place, and it measured 1242 meters. When I checked the distance on Google Earth, sure enough it was essentially EXACTLY correct with maybe a ~1-2 meter difference that could easily be attributed to Google Maps itself and my standing position. So it definitely has the advertised range and accuracy at long distances. For my purposes, my two biggest factors I was looking for were accuracy and short-range measuring. Any super long distance ability was just a bonus. IMPORTANT NOTES (But see update below): The website says the minimum range is 6 yards, while the user manual says it is 5 yards. I have found testing it myself it seems to absolutely REFUSE to measure anything below 6.0 yards, so it seems the included user-manual is not as accurate, and the minimum range is indeed 6 yards. That is not a huge deal, but that extra yard did get me more excited for this rangefinder compared to others (others averaged around 8-9 yards minimum), so this is a slight disappointment, but not a deal breaker. However, I am slightly more concerned about the accuracy now, because the website and manual also show different numbers - see attached photo. The website says the accuracy is ±1yd up to 125yds, ±2yd to 1000yds, and ±0.5yd above 1000 yards. (I find it strange the accuracy would be higher at longest range). The manual however, says the accuracy is ±0.5yd under 125yds and is ±2yds beyond 125 yds. The thing that is leaving me puzzled is the accuracy and distance specs listed now on the website were not there just a few days ago when I bought this. There was however a downloadable version of the manual (which is now no longer on the product page, but has the same specs as the physical copy), which I based my purchase off of. I'm going to contact Leupold and try to see what the true accuracy is, because the 0.5yd accuracy at closer range was a major factor in my decision to go with this one. For now I'm going to give it 4 stars because of this discrepancy, but if Leupold gets back and confirms the manual is correct for the accuracy, I'll still be happy and probably give it 5 stars. Otherwise I'm not going to be happy if both the minimum range AND accuracy are not as good as originally advertised. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: After a couple days Leupold emailed me back. The customer support agent says he spoke with the product line manager who confirmed that the manual is indeed the correct specs. They said the were launching an updated version of their website which caused some mix-ups, and they would be correcting the specs on their site soon. The minimum range still seems to be 6 yds instead of 5, but I'm glad to hear the accuracy is as expected, so I'll put the rating at 5 stars.

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