Demo Leica Geovid HD-B 2200 for $1,500 - Too good to be true?

[npaden]

Okay, so I've been drooling over a pair of high quality range finding binoculars for a few years now. It seems like I never have my range finder with me when I need it or I don't have time to drop my binoculars, pick up the range finder, find the animal in the tiny view finder, range the animal, then repeat the whole process with my rifle before I take the shot.

My current range finder has gotten where it won't range much past 400 yards so all I know is "well, it's farther than 400 yards so it won't give me a read out". I'm not shooting at anything beyond 400 yards, but sometimes it would be kind of nice to know at least how much farther I need to get in order to get close enough to shoot.

So with that said, I keep seeing the Leica Geovids on Camofire and at CameraLand and other discount places at what seems to be very reasonable prices. $1,500 for demo models at CameraLand and $1,800 for brand new models at Camofire.

These are the HD-B 2200 models, I guess there is a newer 3,000 yard model coming out that is $3,000 MSRP but for almost half the price for a 2,200 yard demo version it seems like a really good deal.

I've heard a few folks complain about Leica's warranty process, but really nothing in concrete from someone with first hand knowledge, always a friend of a friend type stories.

It's crazy to say that $1,500 for a pair of binoculars would be a really good deal but it seems like it and I'm getting really close to pulling the trigger on a pair of demos.

Anyone with thoughts one way or the other?

Thanks, Nathan

 

[Crumb]

A buddy of mine has them and they are nice, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a pair. I do think for another 300 I would get the new ones though.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I've bought demo optics from Doug at cameraland a couple times. Couldn't ask for a better guy to deal with or product.
Camofire/blackovis is also amazing. Kendall is an advocate for public lands and will always take care of his customers
I dont think you can go wrong with either.

 

[npaden]

I have dealt with both places as well, I’m not concerned about the retailers, more just wondering why binoculars that were $2,600 to $2,800 retail a couple years ago are going for $1,000 less now. A 3,000 yard version vs. a 2,200 yard version doesn’t seem like it would be worth double the price.

 

[sneakypete]

I tried to pm you, checkout northwestsportoptics.com

His prices are cheaper than most and myself and several friends have bought from.

 

[npaden]

Sorry about the full inbox. I guess I need to just delete all the old PM's that I save to go back and remember who asked me about different things.

I will check them out. Still looking for more input on Leica Rangefinding binoculars.

 

[ssssnake529]

Sorry about the full inbox. I guess I need to just delete all the old PM's that I save to go back and remember who asked me about different things.

I will check them out. Still looking for more input on Leica Rangefinding binoculars.

I had a pair of these binoculars. Mine were the same as this model (2200) but had the built in ballistics calculator. (HDB-R) They worked well until it got cold. I could range things easily out to about 800 or 900 yards.

However, at temperatures below freezing, they pretty much stopped ranging. Could barely get them to range 30 yards.

Optics were superb. Just very disappointed with the ranging function in real world conditions.

 

[el unit]

I had a pair of these binoculars. Mine were the same as this model (2200) but had the built in ballistics calculator. (HDB-R) They worked well until it got cold. I could range things easily out to about 800 or 900 yards.

However, at temperatures below freezing, they pretty much stopped ranging. Could barely get them to range 30 yards.

Optics were superb. Just very disappointed with the ranging function in real world conditions.

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[npaden]

I had a pair of these binoculars. Mine were the same as this model (2200) but had the built in ballistics calculator. (HDB-R) They worked well until it got cold. I could range things easily out to about 800 or 900 yards.

However, at temperatures below freezing, they pretty much stopped ranging. Could barely get them to range 30 yards.

Optics were superb. Just very disappointed with the ranging function in real world conditions.

Thanks for the input. Doing some web searching I found a thread on the cold issues on RokSlide. It sounds like it was an issue with a limited number of them that they ended up replacing.

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/optics/83017-leica-hd-disappointing.html

I'm still digging around, need to check on the warranty on the demo versions, I would hate to go a couple years and find out they won't range in the cold anymore and be stuck with them vs. paying $300 more and being able to send them back under warranty.