Bowhunt America

Article Topics

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Compact Rangefinder

By Bill Krenz

It’s getting hard for me to remember when I didn’t use a quality laser rangefinder when bowhunting, although a flashback to that era was afforded me this past weekend when I found a dusty 100-foot Lufkin measuring tape in a little-used garage cabinet. For years I carted that roll-up tape along with me to accurately stake out a makeshift practice range in my western bowhunting camps. Nowadays, with the advent of laser rangefinders, the thought of rolling out that steel tape seems almost silly.

Today I consider a good laser rangefinder an essential piece of must-have bowhunting gear.

Even with today’s fastest bows, an arrow has an arcing trajectory. Misjudge the distance of a shot by much and you’ll miss. That’s the way it goes. So knowing the distance is paramount.

Today’s quality laser rangefinders are widely available and reasonably priced, and they keep getting better and better. I define “better” as being smaller, lighter, possessing clear optics, being easier to use and more quickly providing accurate distance measurements in more tricky field situations.

We could also define “better” as the new Leupold RX-1000 TBR Compact Rangefinder.

This particular new Leupold rangefinder is indicative of what many are now calling smart rangefinders. Like smart phones, they provide more than just the obvious, although with the new Leupold RX-1000 TBR, the obvious is pretty darn good.

To begin with, the Leupold RX-1000 TBR is superbly compact and lightweight. On my scale it weighs just 7.2 ounces with battery and measures just 3.8 x 2.8 x 1.3 inches. That easily makes it shirt-pocket size. It’s also nicely shaped to fit into the palm of my hand and textured for easy and secure one-hand operation. That’s important to me with any rangefinder. If I’m close enough to be ranging the distance while bowhunting, my left hand is likely filled by my bow, and my right paw must do everything––remove the rangefinder from a pocket or its belt case, maneuver it to my eye, aim and activate the unit for the necessary distance reading and then return the rangefinder to its pocket or case. All without fumbling or delay. The shape, size and grippy finish of the Leupold RX-1000 TBR makes every one of those steps easy.

I also like its optics. The Leupold RX-1000 TBR seems noticeably brighter than most compact laser rangefinders. The colors seem truer and crisper through the lens, and the focus, which is conveniently adjustable for your eyes, seems sharper.

In reality, the new Leupold RX-1000 TBR is a 6 x 22 mm monocular with incorporated state-of-the-art laser rangefinder capability. Given how clear and bright this unit is, I can easily see it doubling as a binocular substitute in a close-cover whitetail or bear stand. Checking a buck’s tine length at 100 yards would be child’s play for the RX-1000 TBR.

Of course what the Leupold RX-1000 TBR does best of all is quickly and accurately range the distance to selected objects. And I wouldn’t hesitate to say that this new Leupold seems to do that better and faster than many rangefinders. Most rangefinders deliver snappy, consistent readings off of big and relatively flat objects positioned at a right angle to the unit. Tree trunks, big rocks, dirt banks, car doors and barns come to mind. But many rangefinders stumble when the object viewed is less than perfect for a laser bounceback. That includes such bowhunter-common things as sparse bushes, tufts of grass and ten-point bucks standing at a hard angle.

I was quite frankly amazed at how well the new Leupold RX-1000 TBR handled those sorts of tricky ranging targets. In my tests the RX-1000 TBR seemed to grab almost everything and instantly deliver accurate readouts. At one point, I tried it on a flat gravel road that was gradually climbing straight away from me. It recorded perfect distance measurements off that road everywhere from 50 out to 300 yards where the road disappeared over a rise. It also grabbed grass and weed clumps and roadside bushes even farther than that.

The in-the-view digital readout in the Leupold RX-1000 TBR is special. Centered in the readout is an aiming reticle. Across the bottom of the readout is a battery-life indicator, the line-of-sight distance to the target, the programmable unit of measure (yards or meters) and the incline or decline angle of the shot. All are arranged in an uncluttered and easy-to-read manner. Across the top of the readout is the notation that you are in bow mode and the critical TBR distance.

TBR stands for True Ballistic Range. If you’re a student of ballistics, you know that when shooting uphill or downhill or from an elevated position such as a treestand, there are two distances to be concerned with. The actual line-of-sight distance from your eye to the target is interesting, but it’s not the distance to want to shoot for. In any up or down shot you’ll want to shoot for a somewhat lesser distance, the true ballistic distance. The Leupold RX-1000 TBR instantly gives you both. Located prominently at the top of this rangefinder’s readout is the true ballistic distance.

I have a treestand in my Colorado backyard and a typical whitetail-distance away is a big rock the size of a cooler. That rock proved to be a perfect initial test target for this new rangefinder. From that treestand, the RX-1000 TBR indicates that the rock was exactly 21 yards from my eye. But the RX-1000 TBR also clearly indicated that because the angle of the shot was 23 degrees downward, the true ballistic distance to that rock––the distance I wanted to shoot for––was actually just 18 yards.

I tried other angled tests of the TBR system. While hiking, as though elk hunting, through an area with a gradual downslope, I aimed the rangefinder at a distant young pine tree. The readout said 42 line-of-sight yards to the target, but cautioned me that due to the moderate 14-degree downward shot angle, I should shoot for exactly 40 yards. In both scenarios, the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder would have helped make a perfect shot possible.

The new Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder seems a marvel. It’s light, compact, fast, accurate and hell-bent on helping you make better shots.

Ask your dealer about the new Leupold RX-1000 TBR Compact Rangefinder, log onto leupold.com or call Leupold at (800) 538-7653 for more information.

Enjoy this article? Share it!