By Terry Houin
There may not be a better setup to show the effectiveness of ballistic rangefinding binoculars than spotting two shooters overlooking a prairie dog town that lays out below.
The setup, two shooters on 5.56 gas guns shooting similar loads and ballistic profiles, both shooting Mils, a prairie dog town stretching out well past 1,000 yards and fanning out almost 180 degrees. With a steady wind speed and direction, we were set to learn.
With both guys shooting almost identical setups I was able to load one ballistic profile into my Leupold BX-6s and call out dope for each little furry target we could find. As we worked into a rhythm I would find a target, talk the shooter on, call come ups and wind holds, and we could execute an effective shot fairly rapidly. On several occasions I would have both shooters dialed in and ready; if the primary shooter missed the backup shooter could quickly adjust and shoot before the little bastard could scurry into his hole.
And as expected, both shooters bought a set of the ballistic binos when we got back to the lodge and integrated them quickly into our rifle golf course that afternoon.
As luck would have it, I had four sets of ballistic binos with me in South Dakota for the Outrider Adventures long-range class for me to test but to also get into the hands of students for practical in the field use, so I’ll compile a bit of a review.
The Lineup — Revic Acura BR10, Leupold BX-6, and Sig Kilo 10k
Across the board all three are 10x42s, so the field of view is comparable. They all run their own app for loading ballistic profiles, and they all have onboard sensors for temp, pressure, compass, and inclination. The laser capability specs are similar, and I tested them side by side well past normal hunting ranges. And all three have mapping capabilities for dropping pins while in the field, which is very convenient for marking the location of animals after the shot or dropping pins for navigation.
The real comparison is less technical and more functionality and ease of use in the field, so let’s get started.
Revic Optics Acura BR10
You guys know I love these and have been hunting and shooting with them for a couple of years now with the Gen 1 and now the upgraded Gen 2s (review here). As with all the Revic Optics the glass and coatings are excellent. The Revic ballistic solver is easy to use and pretty intuitive for most shooters. Profiles are easy to upload, and I like the fact I can only have 1 profile uploaded at a time, less potential to F things up in the field.
Leupold BX-6
I’ve only had these for a few weeks, but I have been using them daily with multiple shooters on this trip. Again, great glass as you’d expect from Leupold. The Leupold app uses the 4DOF ballistic solver and is very easy to use. What I like about Leupold’s app is that I can build one gun profile and have several different ammunition load profiles for that rifle instead of building a full profile for each rifle and ammunition combination. The buttonology of the BX-6s might be the most user friendly, at least for me they just made sense. I also liked the ease of dropping waypoints. Bonus for us archery nerds as it also has the Precision Cut Archery solver integrated.
Sig Kilo 10k Gen II
The Sigs were another newcomer just prior to this trip. Very comparable glass to the others. The Kilos operate off the Applied Ballistics solver, which is currently at the top of my list for solvers. The user interface is friendly and makes sense when ranging and adding wind in the field.
Honorable mention for the Vortex Talon HD. I did not get a lot of time on these for a better review. My set is a 12×50, so a side-by-side glassing comparison with the 10x42s didn’t work well. They have all the same types of sensors as the above for ballistic solving. More to follow on these.
Uncle T’s Thoughts
Side-by-side glassing and ranging—across the board they are all pretty comparable with light and clarity. I might give a slight edge to the BX-6s for my eyes, and I’d encourage you guys to try them all and see what your eyes like. The lasers all read within a few yards of each other at 2,100 yards. And dropping pins were a little difficult with the Sigs, but it might have been me being a dumbass.
Ease of use—solver and buttons. My opinion, find the Binos that your eyes like before worrying about the solver. All three will give you a ballistic solution and are all easy to navigate and build profiles. The buttonology on the Sig and Leupold were easy to navigate; the Revics have a built-in base wind for general hunting but require an extra step to update current wind direction and speed.
If you want a real advantage in hunting situations, get yourself a set of ballistic rangefinding binos. Do the work and build an accurate profile so you can travel the world and have confidence in your setup.
