Hey !! Can anyone provide imfo on hand held ball calculators?
- Thread starter GTOdragster
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Re: hand held ballistics calculators
Kestrel Horus 4500NV with the Horus ATRAG software seems to be the best value for the money for long range.
Kestrel Horus 4500NV with the Horus ATRAG software seems to be the best value for the money for long range.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
If you have a smartphone either android or Iphone you can just go into your app store and download one of many programs. Just type in ballistics calculator in the search box and you should be able to get Strelok, or shooter, bullet flight is another good one. Some are free and others cost 5-30 bucks. They all work very well.
If you have a smartphone either android or Iphone you can just go into your app store and download one of many programs. Just type in ballistics calculator in the search box and you should be able to get Strelok, or shooter, bullet flight is another good one. Some are free and others cost 5-30 bucks. They all work very well.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
If you have a iPhone, Ballistic AE (formerly Ballistic FTE) is pretty nice. They just updated the program with Litz BC and I tested it to 800 today with great results. Shooter is also a good choice for iPhone.
If you have a iPhone, Ballistic AE (formerly Ballistic FTE) is pretty nice. They just updated the program with Litz BC and I tested it to 800 today with great results. Shooter is also a good choice for iPhone.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
I have both MD Ballistic and Bulletflight L2 on my iPhone 4S. Installing both allows me coverage of basically all the bullet mfg. With both programs, I can compare data it helps confirm the data, if things don't seem quite right. My longest shot to date has been 1020yds and the software data was accurate to within 2 clicks on elevation.
The other positive, if your in cell service range the software uses your GPS chip to download local weather and elevation data. I still have a handheld weather meter to double check the data and use when your outside of cell service.
I have both MD Ballistic and Bulletflight L2 on my iPhone 4S. Installing both allows me coverage of basically all the bullet mfg. With both programs, I can compare data it helps confirm the data, if things don't seem quite right. My longest shot to date has been 1020yds and the software data was accurate to within 2 clicks on elevation.
The other positive, if your in cell service range the software uses your GPS chip to download local weather and elevation data. I still have a handheld weather meter to double check the data and use when your outside of cell service.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
I'm using a Trimble Recon 400X with Bluetooth and Wifi.
They are pretty heavy compared to a smartphone or iPod, but the are pretty darn rugged. I have a GPS option for mine and it comes with all of the MS office stuff if you want to have graphs etc. At the range I can use a small Bluetooth keyboard.
They are kind of expensive ($1400), but they are the real deal. I guess it all depends what you are looking for. I got mine through work, so the cost was not a big deal (to me).
I'm using a Trimble Recon 400X with Bluetooth and Wifi.
They are pretty heavy compared to a smartphone or iPod, but the are pretty darn rugged. I have a GPS option for mine and it comes with all of the MS office stuff if you want to have graphs etc. At the range I can use a small Bluetooth keyboard.
They are kind of expensive ($1400), but they are the real deal. I guess it all depends what you are looking for. I got mine through work, so the cost was not a big deal (to me).
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
I'd recommend keeping it simple unless you are a teckie.
I'm not. Takes me forever to send a txt but I wanted to play with the hand held devices.
Understand I grew up using slide rules but I wanted to give it a try, firguring I'd thrash the whole thing.
Any way I got a Ipod touch thingy. Then downloaded Shooter. Took me a bit to get the right one. There is one close called Ballistics but it had me big time confused until people here got me lined up.
So I down loaded Shooter on my Ipod and found it was really simple to get going.
If I can figure it out, trust me, anybody can. If I put in the right numbers it gives me the correct results.
I play with Berger's computer program and if I put in the same info into my Ipod, I get the same results.
Took the rifle to the range and found out Shooter gives me the correct information.
Not sure I'd trust my life to it, but thats not the program's fault, I'm would be afraid of me screwing it up or battery's going south (spent a lot of time in the arctic, I don't trust batterys).
Doesn't matter, I shoot for fun, at this stage in my life I really doubt I'll never have to depend on a rifle to save me anyway.
I'd recommend keeping it simple unless you are a teckie.
I'm not. Takes me forever to send a txt but I wanted to play with the hand held devices.
Understand I grew up using slide rules but I wanted to give it a try, firguring I'd thrash the whole thing.
Any way I got a Ipod touch thingy. Then downloaded Shooter. Took me a bit to get the right one. There is one close called Ballistics but it had me big time confused until people here got me lined up.
So I down loaded Shooter on my Ipod and found it was really simple to get going.
If I can figure it out, trust me, anybody can. If I put in the right numbers it gives me the correct results.
I play with Berger's computer program and if I put in the same info into my Ipod, I get the same results.
Took the rifle to the range and found out Shooter gives me the correct information.
Not sure I'd trust my life to it, but thats not the program's fault, I'm would be afraid of me screwing it up or battery's going south (spent a lot of time in the arctic, I don't trust batterys).
Doesn't matter, I shoot for fun, at this stage in my life I really doubt I'll never have to depend on a rifle to save me anyway.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
If you have a smart phone or iPod touch, get the Ballistic AE. If not, get the Kestrel with ATRAG.
If you have a smart phone or iPod touch, get the Ballistic AE. If not, get the Kestrel with ATRAG.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
If you shoot inside of 1000 yards, you can get a lot of mileage out of iPhone/Android apps like BulletFlight, Ballistic and Shooter. Having a weather gage like a Kestral is important, but if even if you don't some apps will push atmospheric data (assuming you're in a location with a signal) directly to the app. This is obviously not as accurate but at least it's an option.
Of course, a good DOPE sheet is all most people need inside of 1000 yards, but having a ballistic calculator can really speed up the process of getting that DOPE in the first place.
Beyond 1000 yards things start to get tricky. Accurate localized atmospheric values become very important, as are your wind calls, obviously. Also, the variables used by the calculator need to be more precise. This is where the more simplistic apps start to fall apart and the high-end calculators like Patagonia Ballistics or Field Firing Solutions come into their own. They tend to include more advanced features like integration with mil-grade LRFs, BC confirmation and recomputing, etc.
So my point is there is a lot of inexpensive options to choose from if you're shooting medium to long range. In fact, I spent four years running different apps on an iPod Touch that I ruggedized with an Otterbox case (about $300 total). However, this solution has been suboptimal for ELR shooting and that's where FFS and the Nomad come in.
If you shoot inside of 1000 yards, you can get a lot of mileage out of iPhone/Android apps like BulletFlight, Ballistic and Shooter. Having a weather gage like a Kestral is important, but if even if you don't some apps will push atmospheric data (assuming you're in a location with a signal) directly to the app. This is obviously not as accurate but at least it's an option.
Of course, a good DOPE sheet is all most people need inside of 1000 yards, but having a ballistic calculator can really speed up the process of getting that DOPE in the first place.
Beyond 1000 yards things start to get tricky. Accurate localized atmospheric values become very important, as are your wind calls, obviously. Also, the variables used by the calculator need to be more precise. This is where the more simplistic apps start to fall apart and the high-end calculators like Patagonia Ballistics or Field Firing Solutions come into their own. They tend to include more advanced features like integration with mil-grade LRFs, BC confirmation and recomputing, etc.
So my point is there is a lot of inexpensive options to choose from if you're shooting medium to long range. In fact, I spent four years running different apps on an iPod Touch that I ruggedized with an Otterbox case (about $300 total). However, this solution has been suboptimal for ELR shooting and that's where FFS and the Nomad come in.
Re: hand held ballistics calculators
Check outthis thread on Ballistics AE( Ballistic AE Thread ) I bought it, just upgraded to v3.4 and did some shooting. I was hitting steel out to just shy of a thousand with a pretty much factory REM 700 with no problems. Once you break through the learning curve of the interface its works good.
But if you got the money to burn, i agree with Dogtown, FFS is excellent. I dont own it, but i have seen it work and like it.
Check outthis thread on Ballistics AE( Ballistic AE Thread ) I bought it, just upgraded to v3.4 and did some shooting. I was hitting steel out to just shy of a thousand with a pretty much factory REM 700 with no problems. Once you break through the learning curve of the interface its works good.
But if you got the money to burn, i agree with Dogtown, FFS is excellent. I dont own it, but i have seen it work and like it.
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