How does a range finder go wrong/get weird?

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Dingfelder

Member
Jul 18, 2020
1,125
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Oregon, United States
So I got an inexpensive range finder, under a 100 bucks, a while ago and started playing with it. Been real happy with it except today, where it consistently shows things farther away as FEWER yards away. What the ...?

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'm wondering if it's just a battery going south or something. No flickering image or trouble starting up or otherwise suspicious.
 
I haven't come across this exact issue, but I understand the theory behind it. Years ago I had built some laser listening devices and at times had some wonky issues. It could be various issues. Power supply. Check your batteries to make sure they're fresh. Optics. This device has to run some calculations so make sure the laser optic is clean. Otherwise you could be getting IR reflection back into the chip. If it has been dropped, the laser could be out of line, again causing reflection. I hope it's one of those because as we start getting into other areas it can be a bad component such as a leaky capacitor that isn't holding to tolerance.

Oh, and check your settings. Many of these have settings for compensating for distance when shooting uphill/downhill. 

If that's not it, hopefully someone else will chime in with something obvious that my sleep deprived brain is overlooking. 
 
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No drops or even bumps, MacGyver, but I will check the stuff you mentioned. Mine does have a setting for checking uphill/downhill, but I usually see a flag showing when it's in that mode, and I didn't touch the mode key or see the flag. Good call though. I will double check again, thanks.

lbc_PSI, no, it should work the same regardless. I go to something whose range I know to be 10 yards, and a tree farther away scans as 6.x yards. So does a tree even further away. So yards or meters, it should still be reading them right. I've started the thing up and checked quite a few times now, and the nearer number is always fine, but the further numbers are all wonky ... and weirdly, wonky in the same way -- like 20 and 40 yards both read as 6.x yards ....

Thanks for the feedback so far, guys.
 
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How fewer yards away? If the range is past it's capabilities it may read 21 yards or something similar.
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Well I have targets set up at 10, 15, and 25 yards. The 25 yards were reading 6.x and the ones beyond it were still reading 6.x. Nothing really special. I have gotten readings futher than 25 yards that seemed reasonable to me before.
 
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Many laser range finders go bad over time if they are used periodically through glass especially windshields. Lesson learned from personal experience and talking with a manufacturer.
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I would really appreciate it if you would tell me something about this. I first started experimenting right through a house window, not knowing I wouldn't get a reliable reading. Since then, I guess never, but I did try a few times when I got it before realizing it was pfffftttt! worthless to try that.
 
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