Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 5: True Ballistic Range (TBR) Rifle

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In this part of the review, I'm going to look at the True Ballistics Range for the Bow mode on the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder.  In other parts of this review, I have verified that the accuracy of the rangefinder is within ± 1 yard for distance for Line of Sight (LOS) measurements and ± 1 degree for angle measurements.  The LOS, angle, and bow ballistic group is all that is needed for the rangefinder to calculate the True Ballistic Range (TBR) for your shot.  The table below shows how Leupold defines the Bow Groups.

I decided to check this data by going out on a 3rd floor landing and shooting to different points on the ground at various ranges for each Bow Group.  My eye level was at about 36 feet.  I felt this would be a relatively realistic test if I were hunting from my climbing stand on a clean pine tree.  This data is below.

From the data above, it looks like the Bow Group must be in the equation and is adjusting the numbers starting at about -20 degrees and at about -45 degrees at these short distances, the TBR and LOS range match.  The farther distances do seem to follow the equivalent horizontal distance (LOS x Cosine (angle)).  The best thing I can say for now is that I need to get in a tree and put this data to the test.  I'm going to hold off until I start practicing again for bow season in the fall with the hopes of the temperature dropping a little.

You can see other parts of this review by going to the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review Summary Page.

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 4: True Ballistic Range (TBR) Rifle

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In this part of the review, I'm going to cover some of the different True Ballistic Range (TBR) Rifle features of the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder.  These are some of the items covered.

• True Ballistic Range - Hold
• True Ballistic Range - MOA
• True Ballistic Range - BAS

As I discuss these features, I will use the "AC" group which includes the .308 Winchester 168 grain bullet at 2670 ft/sec.  I selected this groups because it matches one of my rifles (FNAR).

The first thing I wanted to do was understand the basic bullet drop equation within the rangefinder.  To do this, I used the "Hold" mode so that it would display hold values.  The hold values are the inches above or below the target that I would hold and are basically bullet drop values.  I found a flat area and measured these values for every inch of hold between 200 and 500 yards.  I also included some data on out to 700 yards for approximately every 5 inches of hold.  You can see this data in the graph below (clicking on the graph will bring up a larger image).  I also plotted the ballistics data for the .308 Winchester 168gr Ballistic Silvertip (2670 ft/sec) which is shown by the red diamonds.  This data lined up very good with the Hold data from the rangefinder.  Since they also stated in the Leupold Rangefinder Owner's Manual that this group also contains the .308 Winchester 150gr (2820 ft/sec), I plotted the ballistic data for the Winchester Power-Point shown by the green diamonds.  Notice that there is a significant difference.  I have to assume that Leupold must be referring to a bullet with a different ballistic coefficient than the Power-Point due to the mismatch.  I had MS Excel create a trend line and I have shown the equation for this line on the graph.  If you are using Group AC, I recommend plotting this line and then comparing the rangefinder data against the actual ballistics for your cartridge.

The next mode I checked was the "MOA" mode.  Again, I found a flat place and checked this mode between 200 and 500 yards for every MOA value which ended up being 1 through 9.  Since the rangefinder does not show any fractions of a MOA, I also made sure I found where the yardage change was between each MOA value.  You can see this data in the graph below shown in blue.  This data looks like a stair step because a single MOA value covers a range of yards from 39 yards at 1 MOA to 25 yards at 9 MOA.  Because of this range per MOA, there will be error introduced.  The error introduced will be a function of the ballistics of your cartridge versus where the tarted actually falls within the range.  I included in the graph below the ballistic data for the .308 Winchester 168gr Ballistic Silvertip (2670 ft/sec).  Just like in the "Hold" data, you can see this appears to be a good match.  Again, I included the .308 Winchester 150gr Power-Point (2820 ft/sec) to show that you need to be careful to check your cartridge and make sure it falls within the ballistic range recommended by Leupold.

To better understand what this range means from a drop perspective, the data below shows the bullet drop range for each MOA.  For example, if the rangefinder says 4 MOA and you adjust the scope 4 MOA, the bullet drop range is 4.9".  From the graph above, the 168gr bullet falls near the mid range of the 4 MOA range.  This means that the total range is 4.9", so the variation in my bullet point of impact may be +/- 2.45".  Out at the 9 MOA range, it would be +/-3.65.

• 1 MOA, 220-258 yards, 2.8" bullet drop
• 2 MOA, 259-295 yards, 3.6" bullet drop
• 3 MOA, 296-329 yards, 4.2" bullet drop
• 4 MOA, 330-362 yards, 4.9" bullet drop
• 5 MOA, 363-393 yards, 5.4" bullet drop
• 6 MOA, 394-423 yards, 6.0" bullet drop
• 7 MOA, 424-451 yards, 6.3" bullet drop
• 8 MOA, 452-478 yards, 6.8" bullet drop
• 9 MOA, 479-504 yards, 7.3" bullet drop

Personally, I wish Leupold would have come up with some way to show fractions of a MOA to match my 1/4" adjustment capability of my scope.  This 1 MOA increment may be OK for big game hunting, but I think it could be better.

The last rifle mode is the "BAS" mode which is to be used with Leupold's Ballistics Aiming System® reticles or gives the equivalent horizontal range.  In this mode, if there is no up or down angle for the shot, the TBR range will match the LOS (line of sight) range.  The rangefinder is taking the LOS range and the angle to the target to determine the range you should use for shooting.  Since the rangefinder measures and uses the angle in the calculation, I needed to determine the accuracy on the angle measurement.  I set the rangefinder up on a tripod and measured the horizontal (0 degree) distance to a wall and marked that location on the wall.  Next I rotated the rangefinder down in 2 degree increments from 0 to 54 degrees down and marked each location.  Last I measured the distance on the wall from the 0 degree mark to each 2 degree increment.  After doing the math on this data, it worked out that every measurement was within 1 degree, therefore I believe the angle measurements to be within +/- 1 degree.  Since mine was not an overly precise method, it may be even more accurate, but this is good enough for this type of a device.  Since I was already setup, I checked the up angle accuracy to 20 degrees and again the accuracy was the same, +/- 1 degree.

Now that I have established that the LOS accuracy is good and the angle measurement is good, I have to believe that the equivalent horizontal range (TBR in the BAS mode) will be good since this should only be a simple calculation if you use the Rifleman's Rule found at Wikipedia.  The TBR range should be the LOS times the cosine of the angle which give the horizontal range.  Since I don't live in a mountainous area, for now I'm going to take Leupold's word on this mode.  If I get any data that says this is not the case, I will update this part of the review.

You can see other parts of this review by going to the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review Summary Page.

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 6: Parts, Pros, Cons, and Bottom Line

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Since this review was very involved, I decided to break the review down into the different parts below.  You can click on these links to see the other parts.

Parts:

1. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 1: What's In The Box
2. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 2: Functions, Menus, and Optics
3. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 3: Accuracy
4. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 4: True Ballistic Range (TBR) Rifle
5. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 5: True Ballistic Range (TBR) Bow
6. Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 6: Parts, Pros, Cons, and Bottom Line (this page)

Pros:

• Solid compact device
• Outstanding optics
• Good battery life
• Accuracy within +/- 1 yard to 100 yards and my evaluation says +/- 1.5 yards out to 500 yards
• Easy to use functions & menus

Cons:

• I have a preference for a 123A battery over the CR2. The CR2 is actually smaller and perhaps a 123A could not have fit. This is probably more of a comment than a con.
• I wish Leupold would have added some way to show the TBR MOA data to one decimal place so that I could use the 1/4 click adjustments on my scope instead of only having one MOA resolution on the data. 

Bottom Line:

I'm have been very pleased with the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder and would recommend it to anyone.  It is a solid, compact, and accurate rangefinder with great optics.  The True Ballistic Range (TBR) features should prove to be worth the money when on those critical hunts.  As with all high tech gadgets, you need to spend some time understanding how your rifle or bow matches up to the TBR data so that you have the greatest chance of success.  Also, you should remain a responsible hunter and only make shots that you feel you are skilled to make.  There is a lot more to taking a 350 yard shot than just knowing the distance (i.e. rifle accuracy, shooting position, personal capability).

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 3: Accuracy

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So far I have covered the basic geometry of the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder in Part 1 of this review.  In Part 2 I covered the rangefinder's functions and menus along with the optical quality.  In this part of the review (Part 3) I plan to cover the accuracy of the rangefinder and in Part 4 I will discuss some of this rangefinder's bullet drop compensation features.  Below in italics are some of Leupold's stated features that I covered in this review.  Throughout my review, all my measurements were made in yards.

> Min Range 10.0 yd / 9.1 m (Confirmed)
> Close Focus Distance 18.0 ft / 5.5 m (Confirmed but not for older eyes)
> Accuracy (per the Owners Manual page 7): +/- 1 yard/meter at distances less than 100 yards/meters (Confirmed)
> Angular Field of View (degrees) 6.0 (Confirmed)
> Linear Field of View (ft/1000 yd) 320 (Confirmed)
> Linear Field of View (m/1000 m) 97.5 (Seems low based on my numbers)
> Max Range (Deer) 500 yd / 457.2 m (No deer measured, but plenty of other stuff)
> Battery Life: At Least 2,000 measurements (Actual number unknown, but battery life is not an issue)

For the accuracy of the rangefinder, I compared the readings against the Leica Disto™ A3 which is accurate to +/- 10mm out to 328' (0.4 inches out to 109 yards).  For ranges less than 100 yards (really less than 50 yards which is the absolute maximum for most bow hunters), this should be more than sufficient for comparing accuracy since the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder is only stated to be within +/- 1 yard out to 100 yards.

I started out with the rangefinder in LOS (line of sight) mode and only took the data below for distances less than 100 yards.  The first number represents the Leupold Rangefinder and the second number represents the Leica Disto™ A3.  The difference between the two rangefinders is calculated as shown below also.  Keep in mind that the resolution of the Leupold Rangefinder in this mode is to 1/2 yard and the Leica is less than an inch.  I'm not sure how Leupold rounds to the half yard but there can be anywhere between nearly 9" to 18" of error in their measurement compared to that of the Leica.  These measurements were made against my brick mailbox at about an hour before dark.

    #.  Leupold - Leica = Difference (yards)

1. 10.0 - 10.8 = -0.8
2. 12.0 - 12.5 = -0.5
3. 18.0 - 18.1 = -0.1
4. 20.0 - 20.2 = -0.2
5. 23.5 - 24.5 = -1.0
6. 25.5 - 26.0 = -0.5
7. 28.5 - 28.7 = -0.2
8. 32.5 - 32.4 = -0.9
9. 40.0 - 40.3 = -0.3
10. 51.0 - 51.3 = -0.3
11. 61.0 - 61.3 = -0.3
12. 78.5 - 78.9 = -0.3
13. 84.0 - 84.1 = -0.1
14. 91.5 - 91.3 = +0.2
15. 102 - 102.0 = 0.0

I think this clearly shows that the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder is accurate within +/- 1 yard within the 100 yard range.

As I was doing the close range measurements above, it was clear that my older eyes (yes, bifocals) can not achieve the minimum close focus distance with the focus ring adjusted to make the overlaid display also be in clear focus.  With both in clear focus it was about 60 feet (20 yards) for my bifocal eyesight, not the 18 feet listed.  If I adjusted the eyepiece and didn't care about having the display in focus, I was able to make the rangefinder focus on objects approximately 18 feet away.  I don't see this as an issue because I'm not overly worried about anything within 20 yards anyway and I can live with a little out of focus within this lesser range.

Next I checked the angular field of view of 6 degrees by measuring the distance to an object and having the object fill the entire field of view of the rangefinder.  I used a large circular plate that was 17.13" and it filled the field of view at 13' 3".  When you do the math, this comes up as 6.17 degrees.  Since there are some inaccuracies in my measurements, I believe that Leupold's advertised value of 6 degrees is correct.  Also since linear field of view is directly related to the angular field of view, I calculated the linear field of view and came up with 314" at 1000 yards.  That is close enough to Leupold's stated 320" for me to say the data is confirmed.  I was a little surprised that the linear field of view in meters value was not closer to Leupold's linear field of view value.  I came up with 105 meters at 1000 meters, where Leupold states 97.5 meters.  This is a 24' difference.  Personally I think something is hosed somewhere in Leupold's math or I don't understand the difference between how they measure feet versus meters.  In the end, none of this really matters because you are going to get what you get and I don't think you will be dissatisfied.

At this point I wanted to get a better understanding of how big the actual ranging area of the device was.  I went outside and placed a basketball on top of a boot so that the the ball was off the ground and the background of the ball was clearly at a much different distance than the ball.  As I tried to range the edge of the ball, what I found was that if the very center of the cross was not on the edge of the ball it gave me the background range.  In my mind, the Leupold rangefinder has a very precise ranging area.  I would love to find out how the actual ranging area works.

The center of the cross that forms the clear square seemed to be the ranging area.

After establishing the accuracy of the rangefinder out to ~100 yards, I decided to use it to help me determine the accuracy out to 500 yards.  To do this, I was able to range to specific wall sections of a very long building.  The distances between each wall section was less than 100 yards (about 67 yards).  It was a very convoluted method, but in the end, I was comfortable that the accuracy out to 500 yards was within 3 yards for all of my multiple measurement methods.  This ends up being +/- 1.5 yards.  Throughout this test, I was ranging on a 4' x 7' white electrical box at about 3 hours before dark.  Since Leupold does not state an accuracy of this rangefinder for greater than 100 yards, this is some good data.  As a second check I was able to see two reference points on Google Earth which were 492 yards per my measurements and also with Google Earth.

So far the longest object I have ranged was a white building at 697 yards.  For my purposes, I'm not really worried about anything out past 500 yards anyway and that is probably still a stretch.  At this point, my wife thinks I'm nuts and my neighbors probably think I'm a peeping Tom because I carry this on walks, drives, and the kids sports.  As I get more data, I will update the maximum yardage.

One thing I need to point out is that when you are ranging an object at the longer distances, you have the same issue you would have with aiming your rifle freehand.  You really need to hold still so you can get on target.  A deer out at 500 yards would be a struggle to range freehand, but not impossible.

Finally, I need to comment on battery life.  At this point I have no idea of the number of times I have ranged objects.  I'm sure it is well into the hundreds.  I have actually owned the rangefinder for about 4 months and cannot imagine battery life being an issue.  Leupold says "at least 2000 measurements".  I believe it, but a smart man would still toss a spare battery in his hunting pack and yet it will probably be a long time before it is needed.  I do wish they would have used a 123A battery instead of the CR2 battery.  I already carry spare 123A batteries for my flashlight.

You can see other parts of this review by going to the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review Summary Page.

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 2: Functions, Menus, and Optics

This part of the review covers the Functions and Menu features along with the optical quality of the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder.  If you missed reading Part 1 of the review you can find it at this link Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 1.  Part 1 covers the geometry of the rangefinder.  The below in italics lists some of the features that Leupold states about this rangefinder and I will try to cover these features in this portion of the review.

> Bright colorful optics, markedly brighter than previous rangefinders.
> 6x magnification gives you plenty of power, with a wide field of view to track movement.
> Three user adjustable intensity settings allow you to perfectly match the OLED display to dynamic lighting conditions.
> Three selectable reticles
> Includes a built-in inclinometer.
> A newly redesigned Quick Set Menu® uses on-screen prompts for exceptionally intuitive and easy use in the field.
> Battery power indicator for easy battery level checks.
> Multiple ballistics settings…True Ballistic Range (TBR®) provides accurate aiming information matched to the performance of your rifle or bow. By calculating the incline, line of sight range to the target, and a projectile’s ballistics, your RX provides rifle hunters using Leupold Ballistics Aiming System reticles as well as bow hunters the correct equivalent horizontal distance for precise shooting on an incline. In other words, aim using the True Ballistic Range, not the line of sight range. Rifle hunters can also get this data as an MOA adjustment or a holdover point. With practice, long distance/steep angle shooting will become second nature. TBR is effective to 800 yards for most rifle cartridges.

The two buttons required to control the rangefinder are on the top (Power) and left side (Mode) as shown below.

When you first press the Power button, the rangefinder will show a display similar to this photo below.  The reason I say similar is that the rangefinder is displaying the configuration that I have already setup for my use.  In this view, I have mine setup to show the True Ballistic Range (TBR) based on the Ballistics Aiming System (bAS) distance for the TBR Group AC.  This group is for my .308 rifle. I will explain more thoroughly later in the review.  The units will be displayed in yards (YD) and the rangefinder will also display the Line of Sight (LOS) distance along with the angle from horizontal. The battery life indicator is always displayed when the unit is turned on.  Keep in mind that everything I'm going to show with regard to the Functions and Menus can be found in the Leupold's owners manual.  Hopefully my efforts will make it a little easier to read and provide further clarification.  Also, if you click on a photo, it will bring up a higher resolution photo.  It was extremely difficult to get good photos looking through the rangefinder.  If the image is not clear in some of the photos, that is my fault, not the rangefinder.

Pressing the Power button a second time will cause the rangefinder to measure the range.  In the photo below, the trees are 37 yards from my deck and because I was only at a 1 degree angle, the True Ballistics Range (TBR) and the Line of Site (LOS) range are the same.

To give you an idea of the clarity, the photo below of the tree trunk is approximately 37 yards away.  Notice the chain wrapped around the tree.  The second photo is zoomed in on that chain.  The detail you are able to see is unbelievable.  Also it is hard to appreciate, but I'm taking this photo with a Sony point-and-shoot camera while holding it up to the eyepiece of the rangefinder.

Another example of the image quality is shown below.  I am very impressed with the brightness and clarity of the optics in this rangefinder.  In this photo, the house is 133 yards away.

Function 1: True Ballistic Range
Once the power button is pressed, the unit is turned on and you can access the menus by pressing the Menu button and holding it for about 1 second.  The first Menu item is the True Ballistics Range (TBR).  Once in this mode, pressing the Power button will toggle between on or OFF.

TBR - on

TBR - OFF

Pressing the Menu button again allows you to set (SEt) the type of TBR data to display.  Pressing the Power button will toggle between the three different modes.  Out of all the sections in the owners manual, you should read this section because this is the heart of the TBR function.  The three different modes are:

• 
  
  HOLd (Hold) - Displays the appropriate hold over or under amount based on your ballistic group and sight-in distance.  When set, the upper display will flash "HI" or "LO" and then the hold amount in inches or centimeters based on the units you select.
• 
  
  MOA (Minute-of-Angle) - Displays the minute-of-angle adjustments based on your ballistic group and sight-in distance. When set, the upper display will flash "UP" or "dN" and then the MOA adjustment.
• 
  
  bAS (BAS or Ballistic Aiming System)- The upper display will show the equivalent horizontal range based on your ballistic group and sight-in distance.

SEt - bAS

Function 2: Rifle Ballistics Groups

The rangefinder has seven rifle ballistic groups.  Leupold has selected these groups generally to keep the error down to less than 2.5"  of bullet impact out to 500 yards.  The tables below show the cartridges identified for each group.  If you have a cartridge that is similar to the ballistic data of one of these, you should choose that group.

Leupold's quick reference card looks at this same basic data but in terms of bullet drop.

Once you are in the Group (GrP) mode, you can toggle to the correct bullet group for your cartridge.

Function 3: Bow Mode

The next mode is the Bow mode.  When in the Bow mode, it automatically deactivates the rifle mode and you must select a Bow Group that corresponds to your bow.  The Bow Group Data is shown above.  Press the Power button to toggle between Bow on or OFF.

BOW - on

BOW - OFF

Once the Bow mode is on, you can press the Mode button again and it brings up the Group (GrP) screen.  Pressing the Power button toggles between the three possible Bow groups.  Below you can see I have selected group C.

GrP - C

Function 4: Display Intensity

The Display mode is used to adjust the brightness of the display.  There are three different brightness levels, Lo, Md & Hi.  The power button toggles through these different display brightness levels.

dISP - Lo

dISP - Md

dISP - Hi

There is a second method for adjusting the display brightness.  Press and release the Power button to activate the rangefinder, then press and hold Power.  While Power is  held depressed, press and hold the Mode button for 1 second.  After 1 second, release Mode; each subsequent depression of Mode will cycle through the available intensity settings.

Function 5: Units

The rangefinder can display units in yards or meters.  When in the Units mode, you can toggle between yards and meters by pressing the power button.

UnIt - YD

UnIt - M

Function 6: Last (Farthest) Target Mode

This mode is to display the distance to the farthest (Last) object when the unit may be reading more than one object.  Leupold says that multiple objects will often return an average distance and this mode ensures an accurate reading to the farthest object. You can toggle between the "on" mode and "OFF" mode by pressing the Power button.

LAST TGT - on

LAST TGT - OFF

Function 7: Line Of Site Mode

This is the straight line distance (Line Of Sight) to the object and is displayed in the lower portion of the display.  You can toggle between the "on" and "OFF" mode by pressing the Power button.  If you turn off the rifle and bow mode, LOS will turn back on automatically.

LOS - on

LOS - OFF

Function 8: Reticles

You have three choices for the reticles.  My preference has been the Plus Point only.  It is very visible and covers the minimum amount of your viewing area.

 Plus Point™

Duplex® with Plus Point™

Duplex® without Plus Point™

To summarize this part of the review, I feel that this rangefinder has true optical quality.  Every time I use it, I find myself impressed with the brightness and clarity of the image.  Also I feel that the functions and menus seem manageable.  If I were to say one thing negative, it would be how they jump from upper to lower case letters and until you get the hang of this, it may be a little confusing.

This concludes Part 2 of the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review.  I will be working on Part 3 of the review in the near future.  Part 3 will cover the accuracy of the rangefinder along with some dialog on the methods used for their bullet/arrow drop compensation.

Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder Review - Part 1: What's In The Box

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I remember my first rangefinder.  It was a Ranging TLR 75.  I thought I was on the cutting edge of bow hunting 20 years ago when I made this purchase. It was a prism type of rangefinder where you dialed a wheel and lined up two images on top of each other.  I can't remember the price, but I can remember it was not cheap.  I have not carried it in several years because my bows have gotten faster and I struggled with being so far behind the times compared to my hunting buddies.  Also as I have continued along in my career and can now afford it, I'm working towards going out west on a big game rifle hunt.  Since this type of hunt is not cheap, and I'm sure long shots will be part of the hunt, I want to make sure distance doesn't become an issue.  I decided it was time to upgrade and did some research on the web and purchased the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder.  I ended up buying it from Opticsplanet.com for $419.99 with free shipping (they charged an extra $20 for the camo version).

Leupold does a pretty good job at their website describing their products.  Throughout this review, I have included key features and specifications from their website in italics .  After comments taken from their website, I have made comments of my own about these key features or specifications.

The photo below shows the package and then a detail of each side so you can see Leupold's marketing information. Throughout this review, if you click on a photo it will bring up a higher resolution photo.

> Accessories included: Cordura® holster, battery, instructions and other items. Also includes a lanyard.

The photo below shows what you get inside the box, which is the rangefinder, case, neck strap, battery, quick reference card, owners manual and product registration card.

 

> Rugged and weatherproof body formed by a solid block of aluminum
> Compact pocket size, lightweight
> Length 3.8 in / 96.5 mm

> Width 1.3 in / 33 mm

> Height 2.8 in / 71.1 mm

> Available with Mossy Oak Breakup™ or two-tone black/gray finish 

When I took the Leupold RX-1000 TBR Rangefinder out of the box, my first impression was that it was a solid piece of equipment.  The overall fit of the rangefinder in my hand is good.  The button placement on the top matched up with my index finger while my hand was in a comfortable grip position.  The rangefinder measures 3.76" long, 1.35" wide, and 2.90" high.  All these are slightly different than Leupold's website or what was printed on the side of the package (which match), but the differences are in no way considered significant.  Also I rounded to two decimal places and they rounded things to one decimal place which may account for some of the difference.  The compact size of this rangefinder allows you to stick it in a shirt pocket if desired.  I was also pleased with the rubberized camo coating that covers the body of the rangefinder.

In the photo above and on the right, there is a small cover on the front of the unit.  When you remove this cover, there is a electrical connector similar to that on some USB cords which may allow updates in the future.  I found no mention of this in the Leupold literature, but it is nice to know they were thinking ahead.

> Weight 7.8 oz / 221 g

My rangefinder weighed in at 7.30 ounces, slightly less than advertised.  When you included the case, the combined weight of the case and rangefinder was 8.83 ounces.  When you include the neck strap of 0.32 ounces to the rangefinder alone, I think that matches close enough to Leupold's weight.

> Fast focus eyepiece with precision clicks.

> Obj. Aperture (mm) 22

> Exit Pupil (mm) 3.6
> Fold-down rubber eye cup adjusts for eyeglasses
> Eye Relief (mm) 14

The fast focus eyepiece as 20 clicks of adjustments. I found it very easy to adjust the eyepiece for my eyesight which isn't so great.  The exit pupil is basically the objective aperture divided by the power (22mm / 6= 3.66mm).  The combination of the fold-down rubber eye cups and the eye relief of 14mm made using the rangefinder with my glasses on a perfect fit for me.  When I bring the rangefinder up to my eye and touch my glasses lens with the folded down eyepiece, it works out to be the perfect distance.

> The common CR2 lithium camera battery is easy to change in the field.

Just like Leupold said, the battery compartment is easy to access and change the battery.  You flip a portion of the lid open and turn in the direction identified.  The lid comes off and you drop the new battery in in the direction identified by the picture on the inside of the compartment.

 

Leupold didn't say anything about the case, but I want to point out that the it has a magnetic cover catch, pocket inside to store a quick reference card, angled belt loop to put the rangefinder at a better angle when pulling it out in the field, and finally that the rangefinder does fit nice in the case.

So far, so good with the review.  I haven't found anything that I would consider a negative point in the basic build of this rangefinder.  There are many more features that I plan to cover in other parts of this review.  A list of these features and Leupold's description is shown below.

> 6x magnification gives you plenty of power, with a wide field of view to track movement.

> Bright colorful optics, markedly brighter than previous rangefinders.
> Three user adjustable intensity settings allow you to perfectly match the OLED display to dynamic lighting conditions.
> Three selectable reticles
> Includes a built-in inclinometer.
> Scan mode continuously updates the range as you track a target or scan an area.
> Accurate to 1000 yards (reflective targets), with measurements in yards, or meters.
> A newly redesigned Quick Set Menu® uses on-screen prompts for exceptionally intuitive and easy use in the field.
> Battery power indicator for easy battery level checks.
> Multiple ballistics settings…True Ballistic Range (TBR®) provides accurate aiming information matched to the performance of your rifle or bow. By calculating the incline, line of sight range to the target, and a projectile’s ballistics, your RX provides rifle hunters using Leupold Ballistics Aiming System reticles as well as bow hunters the correct equivalent horizontal distance for precise shooting on an incline. In other words, aim using the True Ballistic Range, not the line of sight range. Rifle hunters can also get this data as an MOA adjustment or a holdover point. With practice, long distance/steep angle shooting will become second nature. TBR is effective to 800 yards for most rifle cartridges.
> Max Range (Reflective) 1000 yd / 914.4 m
> Max Range (Trees) 600 yd / 548.7 m
> Max Range (Deer) 500 yd / 457.2 m
> Min Range 10.0 yd / 9.1 m
> Linear Field of View (ft/1000 yd) 320
> Linear Field of View (m/1000 m) 97.5
> Angular Field of View (degrees) 6.0
> Close Focus Distance 18.0 ft / 5.5 m

Click here to see Part 2 of the review which covers the Functions and Menus along with the optical quality. 
Part 3 will cover the accuracy of the rangefinder.  Please check back in the near future to read this portion.