I took some time to review my current apps (all 8 of them!) and see what features work best or I like best. Here is a breakdown of what I see:
-Trasol:
Pros: $10 is a steal, seems to have the best ballistics engine, slick GUI with neat features, simple to use, backs up well between devices.
Cons: practically no support and isn't working for everybody, needs to have tech support, support for other devices, bullet library, ranging feature, and a range card.
-AB:
Pros: works better than most, easy to use, good library, backs up between devices, has the HUD for using holdovers in the reticle
Cons: at $40 its the most expensive one I have, purchasing CDMs individually irks me (personal issue I guess), truing takes a lot of time and can't be done twice without deleting and starting over, ranging feature would be great and a way to make a range card.
-BallisticsArc
Pros: free version and paid version. I guarantee if you use the free version you end up buying the paid version (I did). Very slick, beautiful interface, very easy to use, has truing capabilities, interfaces with other devices, well supported, decent bullet library, has ranging feature, and allows for building range cards (great for fixed ranges or competitions).
Cons: ballistics engine doesn't appear as accurate as Trasol or AB, it would be great to have a feature that shows reticles for holdovers, if I only shot 1000 yards or less this would be the one app that I used exclusively its very well done.
-Ballistic AE
Pros: good solid app and not a bad price. Has so many features I don't use and am not familiar with many. It does multiple winds, multiple BCs, reticles for holdovers, great bullet library, its very rich featured, the best of all I have.
Cons: The interface kicks my A$$! I don't know why but I always struggle to set up new profiles and adjust existing ones. I always muck thru but it takes me 3 times as long as other apps. Ballistics data is very much on par with AB & BallisticsArc. If anything is needed I think its just an update to the interface for ease of use for dummies like me.
-BulletFlight
Pros: nice little reasonably priced app. This is the first one I ever bought and once I started shooting past 500 yards, things just started falling apart. I recently was reviewing my data and realized it had a garbage in/garbage out issue. So I can't comment on how accurate the data is. Its fairly easy to use, has an older bullet library, and is fairly basic.
Cons: needs updated with newer bullet library, has basically none of the features that the newer apps have, haven't seen it mentioned by other users so it may be a non starter...
-Mil Dot Ballistics
Pros: I got this app years ago to learn how to range using a mil dot system. In the last year or 2 I realized they had added a bullet library and you can enter ballistic profiles. Its a simple little app that works well for learning milling and the ballistics engine is quite simple but functional and it actually has the best library of reticles of all my apps.
Cons: very basic, no truing, limited bullet library, no interface with other devices, no backup for data transfer, I mention this one just because I have it and I like seeing how the drop data would look thru my scope if I had to use holdovers.
-Hornady
Pros: Its free what can I say. Good clean interface, simple to enter data, interfaces with other devices, has a limited bullet library, uses new drag model instead of just using BCs. If you shoot Hornady bullets you get the best features
Cons: Limited bullet library with doppler drag info, not many features (its free, what can you expect), needs more adjustment for truing, drop data hasn't been as good as other paid apps, I suspect it will get better with time. It would be great if you could backup data across devices.
-Lapua
Pros: Free, doppler verified bullet info for Lapua bullets, nice interface, easy to use, any advanced features with charts and graphs.
Cons: Like the Hornady app it really is only written to work well with their bullets. Doesn't interface with other devices, can't backup data between devices. I suspect it works quite well with Lapua bullets and ammunition however I have never shot any to be able to verify.
To summarize my long rambling here, BallisticsARC with a better ballistics engine (some sort of doppler verified curves possibly?) and a few more features would be about the perfect app. Ballistic AE does a TON of stuff but suffers from the same engine and needs a better interface (IMO). Everybody has their specialty and does something well. As it stands now I will always be using 3-4 apps to get all the info/features I need........
