First Kestrel Purchase Recomendations

[Joey Dean]

I don' like to repurchase items because I under bought features. I do not like to buy Porsche's when a Hyundai will do the job either.

With that said, for a guy that is getting more and more into long range shooting, what would be the groups recommendation for a first Kestrel purchase? We are talking 6.5-284/308/300 WM shooting to 1000m and a bit more.

 

[NOMAD]

You don't need anything more then a 4000 or a 4500 I have used the same model my whole shooting carreer.

We have them in stock at

Tools - Impact Data Books

 

[Triad]

Like Nomad said spend your money on either a 4000 or 4500. To be more specific, you need these because they offer the DENSITY ALTITUDE reading. Its the most important function behind wind.... Horus, night vision, bluetooth options may be features you dont need, but you NEED DA.

Triad is also a Kestrel dealer: Triad Tactical, Inc.*::*Kestrel Meters

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

I guess the question is how your going to do your ballistic calculation? If not on the Kestrel - no need to buy more expensive stuff. A feature question is the Bluetooth. This directly ties to question #1 on the ballistics calculation. If your doing everything manually - no need for the Bluetooth. If your going to want to sync up your kestrel to another device - like an Android phone running your ballistics calculator - or your PC if you get the Horus or Applied Ballistics calculator on the device - you will want the Bluetooth.

 

[NOMAD]

Everyone has their preferred method to obtain their ballistic data. A lot of people like to carry PDA's, phones and tablets and all kinds of stuff. I am not a fan of lugging electronics around the range or at matches.

I have always had great success with getting my velocity by chronograph, running the numbers off a ballistic program to get me going and then keeping good quality real world data in my data book. You can run numbers all day long and still miss your target.

Getting out and logging what your rifle does in the wind and learning how to call wind is the biggest factor.

To me my wind meter is to validate and confirm my gestimation of the wind and to give me the real world environmental data to log into my data book.

 

[Joseph Floerke]

get a 450O with Bluetooth that is Wat I have And it is well wort the money spent on it. I love mine.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Armored Transport]

Kestral with B-Tooth. PDA with Atrag...

 

[TAPnRACK]

Wind meters are nice, but remember they only inform you what the wind is doing by you... not what's going on 700 or 1000 yards downrange. Learning to read wind would be more beneficial, expensive Kestral's are cool if you use a balistic App with gps atmospheric info.

If you like all the bells & whistles and got the cash... go for it though, to each his own.

 

[MilDot1960]

I don' like to repurchase items because I under bought features. I do not like to buy Porsche's when a Hyundai will do the job either.

With that said, for a guy that is getting more and more into long range shooting, what would be the groups recommendation for a first Kestrel purchase? We are talking 6.5-284/308/300 WM shooting to 1000m and a bit more.

Look You dont need the all singing and dancing models, When I spoke to Shawn Carlock over at LongRange Hunting and asked the same Question He told me that the Basic Kestrel 2500nv would do all I needed so I ordered that model But as you Quest for Knowledge runs wild you will want the 3500 and then move up again, So I then went and bought the 4000NV and the only reason to buy the top end models is for 1) an easy Life 2) So you can get a more in depth understanding of whats going on, 3)Snob Value

Only buy the Blue tooth models if your going to use if not save your money and the Answer to your Question is the 4000NV will do way more than everyone will use having the AP Model is cool if you are going to use only that APP Or the Horus Model, but you already have atleased 3 Ballistic APPS so Buying another one in a Kestrel will just give you more Data that wont match the others and not Knowing which of the 4 systems to trust will always have you doubting if you are using the right one and If your Laser has one too then that will confuse you more, another thing to remember is If the batteries crap out or the kestrel dies then so does you Ballistic APP and no back up can ruin a days shooting remember the Old saying...Dont Put All Your Eggs In One Basket,

John

 

[Grizzdude]

I went with the kestrel 3500nv, it has every thing you need including DENSITY ALTITUDE. It just doesn't log the info in memory and I don't need that function anyway. when I setup I look at the info and adjust dope from there. Got mine for $120 used but practically new here on the hide. If you don't need data logging, go with the 3500.This is the lowest model to consider as the 3000 and under do not include DENSITY ALTITUDE. Good luck!

 

[MilDot1960]

Everyone has their preferred method to obtain their ballistic data. A lot of people like to carry PDA's, phones and tablets and all kinds of stuff. I am not a fan of lugging electronics around the range or at matches.

I have always had great success with getting my velocity by chronograph, running the numbers off a ballistic program to get me going and then keeping good quality real world data in my data book. You can run numbers all day long and still miss your target.

Getting out and logging what your rifle does in the wind and learning how to call wind is the biggest factor.

To me my wind meter is to validate and confirm my gestimation of the wind and to give me the real world environmental data to log into my data book.

Yes 100%, For 39yrs + ihave always done it that way and now all these Toys are causing issues, but I do like them and I am after an OD Recon or A Tan One, But I wish I had kept it simple.

John