Leica 900 Help

[Bitman]

Well, I bought a Leica 900 on Ebay.
It came out with a manual. I've looked on line, but can't loacate one. I push the button on the top, and a little red square appears. Nothing else happens. I tried ranging the house down the street, a mail box, a tree, and a stop sign. Nothing. Am I doing something wrong? or did I spend $385.00 on a used piece of junk?

[Rick in Oregon]

Bitman: The little red square is your aperature, meaning push the button once, the square appears, put the square on the item you want to range, push the button again and the range will appear.........

[Bitman]

Wow, way cool.
Thing works like a charm, when you know what you're doing.
I'm assuming if you get the 3 horizontal bars. That you didn't hold it steady enough to get a reading?
Thanks Rick

[Captqc]

No No Bitman! It's a piece of junk! Send it to me for proper disposal! Seriously, they work great and yes the three lines means that it didn't receive an adequate bounce back to give you a measurement. The larger the surface you can range the better but we have good luck ranging sage rats out over 400 yards and they are the size of a Coke can. My CRF 1200 works great, I love it!!! Enjoy, Gary

[Rick in Oregon]

Bitman: Another tip is to hold it as still as possible when ranging, so the beam can focus on the target. If you're bouncing around and trying to range a small object at long range, it becomes even more critical. Try to rest your elbows if possible, or lean against something solid and you'll be amazed at how far the Leica's will perform.