i cheaped out and bought a conx combo and will say the kestrel is a handy tool for just getting rough dope for different rifle you may want to work with especially if you have no dope. All you need is some basic measurement, zero, and velocity.
Do I need a Kestrel Meter?
- Thread starter HornyToad
- Start date
Getting away from all the TEOTWAWKI scenarios, I find now I have the Kestrel that indeed, ranges and other open land where I'll be outside is often in weird places like floodplains, where the temps and wind can be VERY different than where the weather station is at the airport, the nearby NOAA storm center building, or so on. Like, first thing in the morning, 20°F difference, 30 points of humidity, four times the wind speed at radically different azimuths, etc.
Weather reports, even the very specific ones like here are for the region, and timed to the station. NWS forecasts are very accurate, but for the station. If you are 50 miles away, that front will hit much earlier or later, and station data can be far off.
Yes, you have to reach out a bit for it to really be noticeable on exterior ballistics, but if you like to track wx for other purposes as well, good data to have. I bring the LRF (not for wx purposes, just another example of a dual purpose device) and Kestrel on many outdoors events when I am not doing long range shooting.
Weather reports, even the very specific ones like here are for the region, and timed to the station. NWS forecasts are very accurate, but for the station. If you are 50 miles away, that front will hit much earlier or later, and station data can be far off.
Yes, you have to reach out a bit for it to really be noticeable on exterior ballistics, but if you like to track wx for other purposes as well, good data to have. I bring the LRF (not for wx purposes, just another example of a dual purpose device) and Kestrel on many outdoors events when I am not doing long range shooting.
do you already have a rangefinder?
i don't know if it's a solution for somebody that is really serious, but being a newb, i went for an all-in-one solution Sig Kilo2400ABS, so i have a rangefinder with decent range, a ballistic calculator, and kestrel like environment data to feed it. i wish i could plug the wind meter into the kilo instead of my phone, but the phone app interface is needed for specifying wind direction anyway.
i have not tested it at any extremes and i am not a competitive shooter, but it worked for me right out of the box up to 600+ yards so far.
i don't know if it's a solution for somebody that is really serious, but being a newb, i went for an all-in-one solution Sig Kilo2400ABS, so i have a rangefinder with decent range, a ballistic calculator, and kestrel like environment data to feed it. i wish i could plug the wind meter into the kilo instead of my phone, but the phone app interface is needed for specifying wind direction anyway.
i have not tested it at any extremes and i am not a competitive shooter, but it worked for me right out of the box up to 600+ yards so far.
