Wife bought me a Kestrel, now I have questions

[MarshallDodge]

My wife handed me a package with a pleasant surprise inside, a Kestrel 4500 with Horus Ballistics.

She purchased it based on my talking about getting a Kestrel and had heard me talking to a buddy about Horus reticles. Unfortunately I don't have any scopes with a Horus reticle and have no plans to purchase one in the near future. I did a little search and found this thread but am still a little confused about what I really should have. Bluetooth would be a nice feature and I have an Android phone so it looks like they would work together.

My shooting experience with rifles has mainly been shooting at 100 yards for groups and hunting varmints out to 400. Up until recently the calibers I used most were 22LR, 223, and a 6mm Remington. I messed around with 308 but in the last year I have had a 6.5x47L and a 6x47L built. Now I feel I am ready to get into the long range arena and have shot out to 900 with the 6.5. I think I have a good understanding of ballistics but looking through the Kestrel literature has been a bit overwhelming. One of my goals is to take a training class this year and this surprise came a little early. While technology doesn't bother me in the least but in situations like this, I feel that simpler is better.

Would I be missing anything if I exchanged the unit for a standard 4500 with Bluetooth?

 

[Roddd]

I don't think you will, but some people like the Horus software. I have the generic 4500 and it works well for me in conjunction with my Shooter app on my iPhone.

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

You don't need the horus reticle to run the Kestrel with Horus ballistic software ! Lots of info around on it - check youtube, Kestrel's site etc ! Its a good piece of kit - you should thank your wife! You just need to know that the values in hold from the unit match up against the units in your scope for click values - or hold offs in the scope if you use holds instead of clicks.

Also, you don't need the phone - everything is included in the Kestrel - once you get your cartiridges (guns in the terms of Kestrel) loaded into the device.

 

[TheGerman]

I know some people like it, but I never saw the expense of the extra ballistics program as worthwhile if you have a rifle with you that you keep a data book on.

Between working up a load (or shooting whatever factory round you picked) and getting the muzzle velocity, going to JBM - Calculations and putting in all known variables to make a starting ballistics chart, its the same thing. Then you simply adjust your table to what actually happened and have all of that in your data book.

The other thing you need to remember with the data book info and your Kestrell is that the day you decide to zero your rifle at whatever range you do (the hard zero; as in all of your shooting calculations will be based off of this zero), you need to take the density altitude reading from your Kestrell. Each time you go out to shoot, especially if its in a different location, you need to remember to get the DA reading and adjust your zero accordingly.

You'll find that you end up using your Kestrell after a while for DA readings more than for wind.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Thanks guys for all your input. I returned the 4500 with the Horus ballistics and purchased the model with Bluetooth.

So far I have not been able to play with the Bluetooth functionality but I did measure winds in the 24MPH range with it. I would have thought it was blowing a lot harder as it was trying to blow me and my rifle off the bench. The Kestrel made the 550 yard shot I was taking much easier.