Nikon Monarch 3000 Stabilized Rangefinder

Long range precision shooters know that you must know the distance of your target to make the shot. Nikon’s new Monarch 3000 Stabilized rangefinder is a top notch tool that will probably become the standard to which all others are measured.

Nikon’s Monarch 3000

That’s right – stabilized! Just like the high end binoculars with gyroscopes or some other alien technology these can even make a detoxing drug addict feel like the rangefinder is mounted to a solid tripod instead of in his jittery hands . It’s almost a weird sensation because once the power/range button is activated it will “lock” onto the target for a little while even though you might attempt to scan to another target. I was easily free handing large deer a good 600 yards away through the 6x lens. Now if they could integrate this technology into my rifle…

Next impressive feature is the “ID incline/decline technology” function. It automatically calculates the horizontal distance for you if you wish taking care of another vital calculation in your long range shooting.

Monarch 3000 Screen Display

The Monarch 3000 also a target priority function that will read either the distance of the closest subject, in case you are ranging in an open area, or of the distant target. The former function is useful in wooded areas. The LED screen has adjustable brightness to match your ambient light and is multitudes better than previous rangefinders I used with only black numbers displayed on the screen.

The obvious feature from the model number is be the range capability. 3,000 yards on a reflective target and 1,100 yards on a non-reflective targets such as a tree. Of course most will understandably think this is marketing hype. But I was able to range a rocky hillside (non-reflective target) in west Texas a full 2,216 yards away at dusk. I was downright impressed. When we were shooting the .338 Lapua in the above photograph we were easily ranging everything from 200 yard fenceposts to 800 yard rocks and 1,200 yard rock faces.

Please excuse the image quality, but I thought the proof was more important than the resolution. This was a hillside ranged at dusk. That’s a non-reflective target bouncing back 2,216.2 yards away. Amazing!

The body of the Monarch is very solid compact package with an ergonomic shape with a non-slip finish. It’s water proof and accepts a CR2 battery. It also comes with a neck strap and belt pouch.

And now finally the most surprising part – the competitive price. Lots of folks who demoed this with me though it would be in the $800+ range, but street price on the Monarch 3000 is only $419. You can find more specifications at Nikon’s site or grab one here from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2JAQ9vK