SIG SAUER Kilo 2500 Good or Bad?

[rdnktrkr]

A friend has purchased a new rangefinder and has offered me his old one for a good price (I think). Is this a decent rangefinder or should I look into something else? I've been searching for reviews, but I think this one has been discontinued and I can only find reviews for the longer-range models or the Canyon

Currently we shoot out to 1200yrds (rarely), 600-800yrds (3 or 4 times a year), and 100-500yrds (8-10 times a year). We spend a weekend at our range and have some stakes set at different yardages that were installed by a surveyor when I bought the cabin, and we try to set our other ranges with my 600yrd Simmons (300yrds actual), I think it would be nice to be able to verify each target from our bench. I won't need it for hunting since most of my shots are 100yrds and in.

 

[argonn]

Not used one, but found this:

 

[rdnktrkr]

Thank You, I'm thinking it should be worth $100. If it's rated out to 2500yrds on a reflective target it should read out to 1200yrds to our steel targets. I was hoping that was what the 2500 referred to.

 

[Varminterror]

I had the Kilo 2000 and 2200, and now have the 5k and 10k binos. All have been fantastic - fast, accurate, and reliably repeating. With my 2200, I wasn’t quite sure why they listed its max as 2200, as I could ping buildings as far as 3100. With my 2200 and 2000, I frequently could hit my shooting bench or truck tailgate from 1200 yards, or farther, and confirmed targets at 1400 to 1 mile several times. I would be absolutely surprised if you can’t ping targets at 1200. It does take a steady rest and some practice to know you are hitting the target instead of the ground behind it, but it can be done.

 

[Walkalong]

My 2200 worked great until right at two weeks after the warranty ran out, sometimes a fellow can't catch a break.

 

[rdnktrkr]

It does take a steady rest and some practice to know you are hitting the target instead of the ground behind it, but it can be done.

Is that why I see so many shooters with their binoculars/rangefinders attached to a tripod? I never thought about it since I only try to range out to 300yrds or less.
He bought the binocular/rangefinder and said this was just setting around is why he is selling them

 

[Varminterror]

Is that why I see so many shooters with their binoculars/rangefinders attached to a tripod?

Yup. Can you hold your LRF still enough that it isn't wiggling by the width of a few human hairs?

Just for fun - my Sig Kilo5k has 213ft wide field of view at 600 yards. A 2moa target, say a ~12" circle is very reasonable to hit at 600yrds, but it only makes up less than 1/2 of 1% of my field of view...

Comparatively, moving the difference of the total target width at 600yrds only takes 2 thousandths of an inch of movement across the length of the 4.4" long Sig Kilo5k body. The beam divergence is 1.3mrad, which at 600yrds is 28" wide at 600yrds, making up 1.1% of the field of view. Wiggling the 4.4" body by 5.7 thousandths of an inch will move the body by 1.3mrad, so sliding 1.3mrad beam completely from "off of the edge" on one side of a 2moa target to off of the edge on the opposite side only takes 7.7 thousandths of an inch wiggle in your hand. Human hair is generally between .7 to 7 thousandths of an inch... Can you hold your LRF still enough that it isn't wiggling by the width of a few human hairs?

 

[rdnktrkr]

So should I save up for a set of rangefinder binoculars instead of this RF? One of the major reasons I'm thinking of this is to save walking out to set up targets in 300yrd increments (that's all I trust my current one out to).

 

[Varminterror]

So should I save up for a set of rangefinder binoculars instead of this RF?

Eh, they both exist in the market because people will buy both.

Personally, I only bought my 10k binos because 1) if/when I shoot NRL Hunter matches, it saves time and weight to be able to spot and range in one device, and 2) I get them at steep discounts, 3) I notice I can't quite as reliably ping targets with the 7x Kilo5k as I could with the 10k binos, and 4) I'm shooting regularly at >2000 yards where extra magnification and extra LRF horsepower matters. HOWEVER, I don't use the 10k binos as my only spotting option for PRS shooting, because I really, really love my 15x Swaro binos. I have used lower powered binos, it works fine, but when I have my swaros, I can generally see things which can't be seen through lesser glass, and I have closer magnification than the 10x or 12x bino/LRF combos.

I could probably be convinced, if someone didn't have anything yet and wasn't shooting more than 1,000yrds, that getting a ~$400 Sig Canyon Bino/LRF might make a lot of sense. I've always felt that 4x, 6x, and even 7x binos are too low magnification for most of the rangefinding I have ever done (when stuff is far enough an LRF really matters, magnification over 4-6x is handy), and binos have larger field of view than monoculars, and the Sig Canyon is a relatively cheap combined option.

One of the major reasons I'm thinking of this is to save walking out to set up targets in 300yrd increments (that's all I trust my current one out to).

Get a modern rangefinder. I was doing the 300yrd leapfrog game with our first LRF over 20 years ago - there's hardly any excuse to do this ever again. Even in 2009-11, I bought 1000yrd LRF's for my employees for $250-350 each which could hit deer at 600yrds. It's been 10 years now, a full decade, since Sig turned the LRF market on its head by offering HUGELY improved ranges and read times for a fraction of the cost... Now, it's 2025, that's the new normal in the market, and LRF's capable of 1k on targets/game are incredibly affordable (if you're doing much long range shooting, they're definitely "affordable" compared to everything else). So there's nothing in the world which would make me believe anyone should be doing 300yrd leapfrog. In 1996? Sure. In 2026, no chance in hell. Get a modern rangefinder with better performance, it'll feel like night and day, and you'll wish you bought one sooner!

 

[Nature Boy]

So should I save up for a set of rangefinder binoculars instead of this RF? One of the major reasons I'm thinking of this is to save walking out to set up targets in 300yrd increments (that's all I trust my current one out to).

I have a pair of Leica RF binos for hunting. It's nice to be able to do two things with one tool

 

[Varminterror]

I have a pair of Leica RF binos for hunting. It's nice to be able to do two things with one tool

I intended to mention hunting use in my post above, but got distracted by some actual work - I also really like the integrated bino/LRF for hunting, and use the bino/LRF a lot when hunting solo.

One of my regular hunting partners brings a 20-60x spotting scope and 10x binos/LRF, so I usually bring my 15x binos and 7x LRF monocular, so we kind of tag team, and have redundancy without carrying absolute duplicates of each other. Two is one, one is none, so having redundancy but still versatility without either of us carrying 3 spotting optics is nice.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I think what I currently use is at least 15yrs old, so it's probably outdated. Currently I'm looking at purchasing a 6mm and a Strike Eagle or better scope so funds are a little tight to spend $700-1k on a range finder. Most of my hunting is done at shotgun distances, so binos or RFs aren't needed (my last 3 were with buckshot).