Thread: Effect of Ice Mist on Rangefinder Function

I found my rangefinder would do 100m but not any further.
It got a fix on something invisble to me about 16m away.
Temp was about -1C and sunny, just above the cloud layer.
Device is an old Leupold RX-1000i TBR.

Are there any clever electronics or grunty lasers that can overcome this ?

If the eye can see it the sigs will accurately range it those little units continue to blow me away

try a new battery if its anything less than full mine of the same type goes downhill really fast once it gets off "full battery"
the other trick is keeping it warm, I dont know why but batteries seem to fail if they are getting low and its as cold as it looks in that picture

Yes, cold battery --> slow chemical reactions inside --> reduced output.

My phone was sure playing up batterywise.
Its only on its second or third battery after about 10 yr . Will try changing. Thanks.

My Leica ranged 60 instead of 160 a few weeks back. It was a frosty morning and there was enough fog that the deer were only just visible in the open.

Every fog droplet or ice crystal will reflect some of the laser, it depends on the amount of fog and the sensitivity of the unit.
In fog if i can see it I've found its always under 150 yards mostly under 100 so a range finder is of little use.
There's not a lot of point in ranging things you can't see is there.

My Leica range finder binos hated mist. Wouldn't range 150mtrs, Swaros didn't seem to notice the mist, would range out 600+ in it.

In this case, you could see clearly at least 500m and whatever was interfering with the rangefinder wasnt visible to the human eye.
Ive had that with ordinary mist too.

Originally Posted by Mistral

My Leica range finder binos hated mist. Wouldn't range 150mtrs, Swaros didn't seem to notice the mist, would range out 600+ in it.

I wonder if they use different wavelengths ?
My leupold is supposed to have special software in it but I wonder if hardware is the true limiting factor.