# Zeiss PRF Rangefinder review



## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

Well, maybe more like observations.

This past weekend I had the chance of using mine next to Plainsman's Swaro. The Swaro's ranged farther when conditions were good. He was getting 1900+ yards on grass hills, the Zeiss would only do 1475, but it didn't seem to matter if it was a grass hillside or a brush patch.

The Zeiss beat the Swaro hands down through glass, I could consistantly hit objects out to about 500 yards right through the front window of his Ranger, the Swaro had trouble getting through the glass at all. Pretty much the same thing with a misty rain and snow mix. The Zeiss was ranging trees at 900 through the stuff, the Swaro couldn't get much past 200.

As far as optical quality goes, I could not see much of a difference between the two.

So far I'm extremely happy with the Zeiss. Max yardage is better with the Swaro, but I'm not all that likely to shoot to 1900 yards with my 308 anyway.

huntin1


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## nryan (Jul 14, 2010)

Is this a newer model?

The reason I ask is the older ones, i.e. when they were very new a couple years ago would have problems ranging dark fur. They were unable to range black bears at all, even at twenty yards. Also they really tinted the glass to compensate for the laser. They were a tad quicker on the readout as compared to the swaro, but still not as fast as leica or leupold.

Hoping they got it fixed, cuz they have really clear glass, and I like zeiss optics.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

It is new, just got it last month. Don't know about black bears, but was hitting black cows at 800. Furthest deer I ranged was 450, but no opportunities to range one further.

huntin1


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## nryan (Jul 14, 2010)

Awesome,

sounds like they fixed the laser problem, and if you didnt see any differences in optics over the swaro, they definetly fixed the tinting problem. Glad to hear Zeiss keeping up with the "Jones"


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

I have been able to range through the front window out to just over 800 yards with my Swaro. I had difficulty ranging long range through the snow out west on the opening day of deer season this year. I am wondering if it is due to the battery since it has been in there for 2 years.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Longshot said:


> I have been able to range through the front window out to just over 800 yards with my Swaro. I had difficulty ranging long range through the snow out west on the opening day of deer season this year. I am wondering if it is due to the battery since it has been in there for 2 years.


I may have to switch batteries. I did notice that I could not shoot through haze either. Neither could my Nikon rangefinder. I was wondering if it was light spectrum (wave length) affected. Infrared lights must have plastic lenses because infrared will not penetrate glass. The biggest rip off was when optometrists would charge you for UV protection on glass lenses. There is no need for it since UV also does not penetrate glass. I also noticed in my Aquaview camera that I can see all the way across a large dark room with the lights on, but underwater I can not see across my 75 gallon aquarium in the same room. Evidently that light spectrum doesn't penetrate water well either. One would have thought they would think of those things.

Also, my night vision has a light attached. I can see through my house windows to my outside yard great until I turn the light on. It doesn't penetrate glass and all I see then is a big glare. No problem since there is always enough ambient light (even starlight) in my neighborhood to shoot a goblin to 200 yard.


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

Glass can block long wavelength infrared usually due to impuraties in the glass and the IR absorbance of the silica. This is not true for all glass or all infrared and comes down to the makeup of your windsheild and the wavelength of your IR. IR and UV are not the same spectrum. With survey instruments we always needed to enter the current temp., pressure, and elevation to insure accurate distance shots. 1 degree in temp. equals 1 PPM in error as does 0.1 inch of pressure and 100 feet of elevation. Maybe someday they will make our range finders the same way so that we can enter these variables for better accuracy and distance.


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

Longshot said:


> Glass can block long wavelength infrared usually due to impuraties in the glass and the IR absorbance of the silica. This is not true for all glass or all infrared and comes down to the makeup of your windsheild and the wavelength of your IR. IR and UV are not the same spectrum. With survey instruments we always needed to enter the current temp., pressure, and elevation to insure accurate distance shots. 1 degree in temp. equals 1 PPM in error as does 0.1 inch of pressure and 100 feet of elevation. Maybe someday they will make our range finders the same way so that we can enter these variables for better accuracy and distance.


I would say you're on to something there. You should get on that, develop a RF small enough for a pocket, yet powerful enough to consistently range 1500+, with angle comp, min ranging distance of 15 yds (gotta please the bow hunters), and all that other technical stuff mentioned above....And, since you have to enter in the atmospheric conditions anyways, you might as well stick an accurate ballistics program in it too.  You'd be rich!!!!


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> IR and UV are not the same spectrum.


I know that.


> UV also does not penetrate glass


 Ultraviolet, and infrared. My only point is they are both blocked by glass, and I suspect the rangefinders that do penetrate glass do have a wave length that intercepts the spectrum at an overlapping point. My other point is evidently my aquaview is blocked by water. What a dumb thing to use a light wave length that blocked by water in a camera made for underwater.

Also, when the haze cleared completely cleared I could get 600 yards through my window. So the test comparing those rangefinders is not complete. I do know the Zeiss did a lot better in the atmosphere that contained a lot of haze from moisture on opening day of deer season. My Swaro's will shoot ok through rain and snow, but haze gets them. Every try kept saying 54 yards if I remember right.


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## coyote sniper (Apr 15, 2009)

my leica 1200 will NOT shoot through any glass at all in the vehicle or the house. window has to be open.


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

Ordinary glass passes about 90% of the light above 350 nm which includes the longer wavelength UVA, but blocks over 90% of the light below 300 nm to include UVB. Of course it also comes down to what the glass is made of and the quality. My wife, who sunburns very easy, has sunburned while in the backseat of a vehicle on a couple trips. You can't do that without UV passing through the glass. I always get the UV coating, without I get headaches. Same thing when I wear contacts, I make sure to have good sunglasses with the UV protective coating.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

Come on, you're spoiling my gloat. Plainsman and I were convinced that my Zeiss were better in poor weather, and through glass than his Swaro, and I was gloating cause he paid almost twice as much. You go and ruin it with this battery thing. :x :******: :******:

Oh well, I still like my Zeiss. 

:beer:

huntin1


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

huntin1 said:


> Come on, you're spoiling my gloat. Plainsman and I were convinced that my Zeiss were better in poor weather, and through glass than his Swaro, and I was gloating cause he paid almost twice as much. You go and ruin it with this battery thing. :x :ticked: :ticked:
> 
> Oh well, I still like my Zeiss.
> 
> ...


Easy there Huntin1, no matter how many fresh batteries I put in my Leicas, they still sucked!!! :wink:

And, a fresh battery in my PRF didn't fix anything either. My PRF is in Germany currently. But the loaner they gave is working fantastic. :thumb:

Fresh batteries aren't the cure all for RF's, trust me....

Feel better? :rollin:


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

And for the record, I still like the Zeiss PRF. Not sure what happened to mine yet, but the fact they had a new loaner on my doorstep within 1 week of receiving mine, helps to deal with the break down.


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

Huntin1, if I were to make the choice today I would make the same one you did! What is the weight like and how druid they carry? For the price I think you can still gloat.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Darn a whole post and I deleted it somehow. If I remember half it will be a miracle.

This subject is very interesting to me. I have a 3000 gallon pond with koi in my yard and I pump 1000 gallons and hour past a UV light to kill algae and bacteria. The lamp is housed in crystal because they said it would not pass through glass. Maybe that was their excuse to charge more.  
Also, another biologist and I spent a couple of lunch breaks pondering our color vision and reception of light wave lengths. Our question was, are the cones in our eye at the same angle in all people. The second question was do receptor nerves contact the eye cones at the same point in all eyes. If not we can teach our children to recognize red, but they may see a different color. We would never know because we would always agree on the color we see since whatever it is we see we learned to call it red. 
You learn something new every day. Either I never knew or I forgot that there is UVA and UVB. This would coincide with my question about variability within the UV spectrum. Perhaps that same variability is built within different brands of lasers used in rangefinders. One type penetrates glass and the other does not.

OK I can't remember what else I wrote. :homer:



> Glass is not a perfect UV blocker, but it is pretty darn good. The little UV lamp you use will not be enough to injure your eyes if you wear glasses.
> 
> And yes, as you expect, the thicker the glass, the more UV it will block. Basically, if thickness x transmits 50% of the UV, thickness 2x will transmit 25%, 3x will transmit 12.5%, and so on. If you have access to a spectrometer, you can check the transmittance of your glasses.
> 
> ...





> UV B rays do not pass through glass--they make you burn/tan
> UV A rays do pass through glass.
> 
> Basically, it the dangerous ones are the UVA because you don't burn from them, but it can still damage your skin. if you're getting sun through glass for a long period of time it is recommended you use sunscreen.


Edit: I have to tell you guys a funny story. My old Bushnell rangefinder was very good at going through glass. One day on the way to Bismarck a guy passed me going fast. I noticed the radar detector on his dash and wondered if it was the newer (at that time) laser detector. When he got about 100 yards in front of me I hit him with the rangefinder. Boom his brakes came on instantly. Five minutes later he started to speed up. I hit him again. After about five times he started beating his radar detector. I thought I could get him to smash it or throw it our the window, but no luck. At last he gave up and stomped the gas. You never get to old to have a little fun.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

Longshot, the weight is not bad at all. The only thig I don't really like is the fact that it has only one lanyard attachment point, not 2 like on the Swaro. I picked up a small camo pouch that I hooked to my bino buddies and carried the PRF in that. It worked pretty well that way. But, with the optical clarity and ranging abilities I guess I can put up with that. 

huntin1


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

The shorter wavelength	UV, from what I understand is more harmful to organisms and is what they use in those filter. Hence the need for crystal or a non-silica "glass".


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

huntin1 said:


> Longshot, the weight is not bad at all. The only thig I don't really like is the fact that it has only one lanyard attachment point, not 2 like on the Swaro. I picked up a small camo pouch that I hooked to my bino buddies and carried the PRF in that. It worked pretty well that way. But, with the optical clarity and ranging abilities I guess I can put up with that.
> 
> huntin1


I wanted the Lieca bino/RF combo, but for the price and the fact the rf button is located on the left I didn't get it. With the rf button being on the left I had a difficult time reaching it when carrying a bow. I wish they had the Ziess back then.


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