KST1000 Initial Impressions

[LuckyDuck]

Hello,

I recently received the Kestrel KST1000 Shot Timer in the mail last week and thus far I've been pretty impressed with the build quality and features. Off the bat- my only negatives have been that I really am not a fan of the yellow casing they went with (hopefully there will be a silicone case available in the not so distant future to address that) and I'm also not wild that when you hit 'GO' it only displays 'Listening' without showing the countdown of the set Par time until the first shot is registered. I still have lots of testing to do moving forward (was supposed to have an NRL22 match this Sunday but the weather ended up canceling it so more to follow).

Despite that- the build quality seems to be there. I've used both the PACT & CE shot timers in IDPA & USPA matches and the KST1000 seems to be of a higher build quality. I initially was planning on purchasing the CED 7000 model but the Kestrel seemed to check more boxes during my research. So here I am- more to follow I guess.

-LD

 

[xocyrusx]

I recently bought one myself after shooting a match that had kitchen timers and was in the rain. No issue with my squad using mine for the day at future matches.

That said i really wish like i think you are saying there was a profile or way to show countdown for PRS style matches. It's not hard to use to use now but could be a big improvement.

 

[Criver600]

I recently bought one myself after shooting a match that had kitchen timers and was in the rain. No issue with my squad using mine for the day at future matches.

That said i really wish like i think you are saying there was a profile or way to show countdown for PRS style matches. It's not hard to use to use now but could be a big improvement.

Yep

 

[LuckyDuck]

I recently bought one myself after shooting a match that had kitchen timers and was in the rain. No issue with my squad using mine for the day at future matches.

That said i really wish like i think you are saying there was a profile or way to show countdown for PRS style matches. It's not hard to use to use now but could be a big improvement.

Correct- when you hit 'GO' it'd certainly be nice to see the countdown running as well as the screen displaying "Listening". I know the timer is running in the background and have tested as such that it still gives the correct par beep when time has expired even if it doesn't register any shots but I think many of us have been in/run local matches where someone has things turn into a soup sandwich immediately after the buzzer goes off over some sort of bizarre/act-of-god equipment malfunction and after so much time has elapsed you just tell them to stop, get their stuff together, and allow a reshoot from the get-go because it's not fun to have in a friendly competition that somebody zero's out a stage (or comes close to it) because of some random shenanigans. Likely not in a sanctioned match but in one ran amongst friends at least.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

I also wanted to ask if there's any math nerds that monitor this forum that would be willing to PM me to help me out with a PPM calculation to determine the variance that this model is capable of producing? To try to illustrate where that question is coming from, my usual/local crew has been using a free app on our phones to act as a shot timer which was, in some significant part, my motivation for trying to acquire a proper shot timer for our monthly shoots as well as my own personal use. While we were running that app- we reached out to the developers on the accuracy to expect and they responded back with something along the lines of "0.2" seconds. With this being a friendly competition- we ultimately decided as a group that as long as someone got their last shot/impact off within the tolerance of the shot timer, we'd give the shooter the benefit of the doubt and award them the hit (which happens fairly often surprisingly).

I reached out to Kestrel with the same question that we did with the App Developer we were previously using and they responded back that they as a policy don't generally advertise their accuracy standard for the KST1000 (hence the request for this discussion to be carried out as a PM rather than as a public posting as I'd like to respect their wishes/privacy and would hope to find a math nerd that'd would also respect keeping the potential discussion private) but the answer I received was in the terms of PPM. I used to be pretty good in math and took some fairly high level courses in statistics & calculus but it's been quite some time since I've delved into that collegite level and would appreciate to have someone not nearly as rusty/far better suited to run their own calculations and fact-check what I came up with if possible (my ego is not nearly that big to be wrong either at this point if that helps).

So long story short/TLDR- If anyone is savvy with advanced math and could help me convert a defined PPM tolerance to .01 seconds (which I presume would be the appropriate unit of measure) so we can use the same benefit for our crew moving forward I'd appreciate it. No NDA or anything like that required- we'd just be going off of the honor system to keep me/my calculations straight without posting it to the Hide.

Thanks in advance in case anyone is willing to help.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

I also wanted to ask if there's any math nerds that monitor this forum that would be willing to PM me to help me out with a PPM calculation to determine the variance that this model is capable of producing? To try to illustrate where that question is coming from, my usual/local crew has been using a free app on our phones to act as a shot timer which was, in some significant part, my motivation for trying to acquire a proper shot timer for our monthly shoots as well as my own personal use. While we were running that app- we reached out to the developers on the accuracy to expect and they responded back with something along the lines of "0.2" seconds. With this being a friendly competition- we ultimately decided as a group that as long as someone got their last shot/impact off within the tolerance of the shot timer, we'd give the shooter the benefit of the doubt and award them the hit (which happens fairly often surprisingly).

I reached out to Kestrel with the same question that we did with the App Developer we were previously using and they responded back that they as a policy don't generally advertise their accuracy standard for the KST1000 (hence the request for this discussion to be carried out as a PM rather than as a public posting as I'd like to respect their wishes/privacy and would hope to find a math nerd that'd would also respect keeping the potential discussion private) but the answer I received was in the terms of PPM. I used to be pretty good in math and took some fairly high level courses in statistics & calculus but it's been quite some time since I've delved into that collegite level and would appreciate to have someone not nearly as rusty/far better suited to run their own calculations and fact-check what I came up with if possible (my ego is not nearly that big to be wrong either at this point if that helps).

So long story short/TLDR- If anyone is savvy with advanced math and could help me convert a defined PPM tolerance to .01 seconds (which I presume would be the appropriate unit of measure) so we can use the same benefit for our crew moving forward I'd appreciate it. No NDA or anything like that required- we'd just be going off of the honor system to keep me/my calculations straight without posting it to the Hide.

Thanks in advance in case anyone is willing to help.

-LD

Kestrel got back to me today and I got the answer I needed.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Finally got a chance last weekend to run the KST1000 through an NRL22 match with it being the only shot timer we used that day. Some thoughts-

(1) In 'suppressed 22LR' mode it will pick up the shots but you will need to be closer to the muzzle than I was hoping for in order for it to be reliable. In that sensitivity setting, it will also pick up barrels clanging on obstacles as shots.

(2) Not that this wasn't unexpected but the 'dry fire' mode is just far too sensitive to be used in a match. An inadvertent tap on the the unit will register as a shot as well as a hasty mag change or plop of the rifle on a barricade. Not surprising but sharing my experience for those curious or experimenting.

(3) I'm still not wild about the yellow color of the device and it being the only option and still am hoping that silicone cases will be offered to rectify that personal preference.

(4) Everyone in our crew was impressed with the shot timer and I wouldn't be surprised if at least two more are purchased from our NRL22 group for both personal use and as backup's for future matches.

It didn't quite deliver as well we expected with the suppressed shooters but we were able to work around it with minimal inconvenience once we were able to determine its operating perimeters. It's still by and large the best shot timer I've personally used as compared to the PACT & CE timers I had referenced originally with several years of experience in IDPA & USPSA matches as well as the shot timer options from the APP store on both Apple and Android.

Being fair- it's also priced about double of the competing products so it should be better. Just like optics- would I say paying double makes it twice as good as the next best shot timer- if I'm being honest probably not. But as an incremental technology increase at double the price, it does seem to be the best one on the market that I've been able to get my hands on over the past decade at least.

More testing to follow but wanted to share a quick (hopefully) unbiased update.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

-LD

 

[xocyrusx]

View attachment 8403793

-LD

Thats awesome!

 

[dcmdon]

I got to see the Kestrel in the flesh for the first time at a PRS Rimfire match a couple of weeks ago.

I own the CED and the Pact. As far as I'm concerned the PACT has always been the king of shot timers when it comes to practicing on your own. The belt clip, big button, and top mounted display make it much much more intuitive than the CED with its front mounted display, which requires you to remove the timer to see your time.

So I'm pretty surprised that no Kestrel advertisements nor any discussions of it in places liek this mention that the Kestrel has a display on the front AND the top.

So. if you just need a simple timer to time yourself while practicing, it can serve as that. And if you want a fully functional timer for timing at matches, it appears that it will work well that way also.

Regarding the bright yellow color. I love it. I'm not going into battle with it and the bright color helps it to keep from getting misplaced. I'm ordering my Kestrel 5700 today and will be choosing Orange for just that reason. Ha.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Bumping an older thread here-

I still think that the KST1000 is the best shot timer I've used over the past 8-10 years. It's built well, accurate, and I find it to be better than the PACT and CE offerings I was used to. That said-

It still isn't 'wowing' me with suppressed 22lr shooters. It'll pick the shots up on that setting, but you still have to keep it awfully close to the muzzle to register the shots when time is a factor in the scoring. You can adjust the sensitivity a bit further admittedly but even after the latest update, if you were to go to that sensitivity, it was picking up rifles banging against a prop (really all of the props) as a shot.

The latest update Kestrel released, worked pretty well for us at the last shoot and was certainly a step in the right direction making it even better. All in all- still a big fan of it (and one should be given that it costs 2-3x what its competition goes for). I'm still not wild about the yellow color and wish that it did better with suppressed 22lr but despite those criticisms I still think it's the best shot timer on the market in my personal experience.

-LD

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