Bushnell 1700 Prime Laser Range Finder

I have been working with various types of laser rangefinders (LRFs) for the past ten years, and when I was given the opportunity to check out Bushnell’s 1700 Prime, I jumped at it. Over this review, I’ll talk about everything that comes with a 1700 Prime, what to expect, some limitations I found, a few things I did to let it perform consistently, and a couple additions that might help users better, right out of the box. Let’s take a look at what I found as I used Bushnell’s 1700 Prime over the course of a month at the range.

When I received the 1700 Prime, I was impressed by how light it was, to the extent I was a bit worried how it would hold up. For context, I’m used to working with ruggedized military LRFs, so don’t take my initial impression as anything negative. Included in the box was a battery, wrist strap, lens cloth, quick reference card, warranty sheet, and a “Thank You” sheet with the location of the online manual. During initial setup, I had to reference the online user manual briefly, but it is fairly easy to get a handle on setting up and using the unit with its two-button system. Since there are no reference marks on the eyepiece, after I adjusted the focus to my eye, I took a paint marker and made a witness line so I can quickly reset it if it comes out of focus. The 1700 Prime includes Bushnell’s Angle Range Compensated (ARC) with Ballistics Intelligence which I used completely in Rifle Mode. I’m always on the lookout for a smaller LRF that will give me reliable ranges and generally good ballistics information in this case, and this one seemed to fit the bill. Reading through the manual on Bushnell’s website gave me a good feel for how easy it is to use a 1700 Prime, and I wasn’t disappointed when I began using it.

The 1700 Prime has an electronic reticle (ERET) instead of an etched reticle. Operation is easy as the first press activates the unit and the second press measures the distance to whatever the center of the ERET is covering. A distance and angle are displayed in addition to an elevation hold in mils or MOA depending on what mode and what measurements are currently selected. I received accurate ranges on everything the 1700 Prime received an adequate return on. I tested it against objects of different size using a Crux Ord tripod and a PIG saddle to insure stability during lasing. One of the nuances of the unit I found was that I could not reliably get a range to a reflective target if it was smaller than twice the size of the center-dot. I was able to easily range targets out to 850 meters (approximately 929 yards) but getting a range at vegetation or targets less than twice the size of the center-dot was very difficult.

My biggest complaint with the 1700 Prime is with the lack of manual and/or a quick reference card for the different ballistics modes (A-M); the lack of ballistics mode information being the more important of the two. How would I do it? I would keep it simple and include something along the lines of the chart below:

With a chart like this, responsible shooters that know their cartridge characteristics would be able to quickly select the ballistic data group for the 1700 Prime based on previous trips to the range or on one, maybe two, trips shooting. It’s not the end-all, be-all, but it’s a good, general reference for shooters who aren’t ballistics ‘uber-nerds’.

The 1700 Prime is a good, inexpensive LRF for tactical use too, but I would recommend only using it during the day. At night, the laser can be seen through IR night vision and while the user would get a range, they would also be putting a steady or blinking IR light showing where their head is.

All this said, Bushnell’s 1700 Prime is an excellent LRF that should serve its user well for quite some time. It’s light enough that it is an afterthought in carrying, and the ability to accurately range a target at distances beyond where the vast majority of hunters will take an ethical shot. These characteristics make it a valuable and relatively inexpensive tool to have.

Written by POI Sr. Reviewer Jeff D.A