A Laser Rangefinder (LRF) is an excellent tool for the rifleman. While some diehard purists prefer to range with their riflescope or spotter reticle (no batteries), a good quality LRF is an excelent training tool and also allows you to "be sure" what the range for your target is. I consider the LRF a must for those who engage in so-called long range hunting. You owe the game animal at least that much.
A LRF is handy for setting up practice targets, training to estimate distance, and for confirming distance of unknown targets before pulling the trigger.
Quality among LRFs varies widely. Most of the Asian (re: Lupy, Nikon, Burris, Bushnell) LRFs are not very desireable from a feature and performance standpoint. If you go this route, we've had the best of luck with the Bushnell Elite 1500 LRF. If discontinued, I'd still lean toward the current high end Bushnell offering over the others.
However, the serious LRFs have a German name-tag. Leica and Swarovski have been the main 2 offerings. The Swarovski has the best performance, often ranging objects in excess of 1500 yards. The Leica is quicker, cheaper and lighter but has a wider beam divergence and doesn't perform as well, perhaps 800-1000 yards.
This year, Carl Zeiss introduced the Victory 8x26 PRF, and we think this is the way to go for riflemen.
