Kestrel vs Foretrex 701

[Ralpharama]

I bought a cheaper Kestrel with Applied Ballistics. It does work well, but I find the menu system very hard work. It doesn’t Bluetooth to my phone, but I managed to get the ballistic data to it from my PC using a special ‘piece of string’ that plugs into the USB of my computer. I don’t use the weather bit of the Kestrel at all, but struggle to get the info I want for the various guns out of it on the firing point.

I love the way Strelok Pro works, but it isn’t really accurate enough for long distance ie around the mile sort of distance. The AB curves are very good, but I don’t find the Kestrel even slightly user friendly. Is the Garmin Foretrex 701 any more user friendly? Or do I need to find a tech person with a huge if not limitless amount of patience to teach an old phart how to drive his gadget?

 

[Cottis]

Have you trued up the data you input to Strelock to ensure hits out to whatever max distances you want to shoot?

I never find ballistic calculators all that accurate out the box just with chrono'd bullet data and manufacturer BC data. All my rifle loads need adjusting via either ballistic coefficient adjustments and/or bullet velocity.

I tend to find if I use the BC given and the chrono velocity data, I find the bullet strikes high at extended distances, so I find myself reducing down the BC data and certainly the bullet velocity to bring the POI inline with what the calculator says.

The only way of doing this is to shoot your load out to the max distance you want to be able to shoot it and find out real world data for bullet drop at various points. I was out this morning with my .222rem and I was shooting little stones out to 400yds with relatively good consistency. I was either hitting them or missing by literally an inch or three laterally due to a slight but variable crosswind which is fair enough. That rifle has been tested out to 550yds and real world data was a fair bit out at that range when compared against Strelock (or other calculators) Once trued up, it is really accurate. The same applies to my other rifles.

I put the same data alterations in to the SD card on my Leica Rangemaster 2700B. That is not a full solution if you have any sort of crosswind to deal with at extended distances but if there is no wind or you are bang in to or against the wind, that little Leica RF is brilliant. Press the button and it gives you yardage and also the number of elevation clicks for your given scope, whilst taking in to account temp, incline, atmos pressure etc. It is bang on but is totally reliant on the correct data being input in the first place via the Leica App and that can only be done by knowing exactly how your load shoots on paper rather than believing your chrono data and/or BC.

I have no experience with Kestrel or Garmin but I imagine they all use similar code to get to the final solution. Data in needs to be spot on to get the right data solution out the other end.

 

[Malxwal]

Around the same quest, I feed Strelok Pto with atmospherics from a Kestrel Drop D3 and wind from a basic Kestrel. As you have found, I have to considerably deviate from theoretical drops from as little as 700m, and the trueing up in Strelok at best is accurate to that day. As such, I'm going to move to using the AB custom drag curves, but trying to work out the most user friendly hardware.