Real time wireless wind/weather options?

[Emerson0311]

My google foo is lacking. What are the options out there? Is there an electronic wrist coach of some type that can go with the weather station/app/Kestrel etc. Just looking for an education about options and usefulness. On Saturday I got savaged shooting small steel at 110-200M with wind that changed direction from R to L or back again 2-3 times better plus velocity up or down 30% between dope calculations to the stage kickoff. A Rimfire precision match, 8-12 rnds, 3-5 positions, 1-9 targets per stage. Am I looking for a wireless weather meter paired with a Kestrel, or an app, or another brand that does the same thing? An electronic wrist coach seems a bit of a pain in the ass, but I’ve seen them used by shooters that do well.

 

[beetroot]

My google foo is lacking. What are the options out there? Is there an electronic wrist coach of some type that can go with the weather station/app/Kestrel etc. Just looking for an education about options and usefulness. On Saturday I got savaged shooting small steel at 110-200M with wind that changed direction from R to L or back again 2-3 times better plus velocity up or down 30% between dope calculations to the stage kickoff. A Rimfire precision match, 8-12 rnds, 3-5 positions, 1-9 targets per stage. Am I looking for a wireless weather meter paired with a Kestrel, or an app, or another brand that does the same thing? An electronic wrist coach seems a bit of a pain in the ass, but I’ve seen them used by shooters that do well.

I think you'd be better off learning to read wind/watch for wind changes (easier said that done I know).

Reason being a wind meter will only be accurate at the shooter, depending on the terrain the conditions down range could be very different.
If you train yourself to rely on just doing what the screen tells you, you'll likely be setting yourself up for failure in the future.
Admittedly for 22lr use the wind down range will likely be the same down range but you'll still be training bad habbits.

It can be really hard having a 5-7 oclock wind that keeps changing on you and if you are in a sheltered shooting position it can be difficult to know what the wind is doing.

To answer your question you can set Strelok up to give real time data with a wind meter/kestrel.
I'm guessing some of the AB (Advanced Ballistics) stuff could do something similar, like the Garmin AB watch etc.

Looks like the Kestrel HUD gives real time updates.

New Kestrel® HUD and Kestrel® Ballistics 2700

New for 2019 Kestrel® HUD, a companion device for your 5700, and the Kestrel® 2700 Ballistics featuring Applied Ballistics® Ultralite.

www.snipershide.com

 

[Conqueror]

Raptar + Kestrel gets you this at the shooter’s location but do you wanna spend $9k? And as mentioned it doesn’t tell you the wind on the way to the target.

 

[Emerson0311]

A 22LR sized range can have little for natural wind indicators considering how small wind changes move that little projectile around. It remains to be seen if the guy who does use something like this will continue to destroy all comers at swirly wind matches, or if it is when only using COFs he is intimately familiar with and shooting at his home range. A 5-7 wind that seems to vary in velocity along with a 5 position 10-12 shot 2 min stage is a steep hill to climb on a 300M short grass range, for me anyway. A functional electronic version of a paper wrist coach range card along with real time updated wind info of some value is the goal. Probably a Kestrel with a HUD. Not in my budget now though.

 

[6.5SH]

My google foo is lacking. What are the options out there? Is there an electronic wrist coach of some type that can go with the weather station/app/Kestrel etc. Just looking for an education about options and usefulness. On Saturday I got savaged shooting small steel at 110-200M with wind that changed direction from R to L or back again 2-3 times better plus velocity up or down 30% between dope calculations to the stage kickoff. A Rimfire precision match, 8-12 rnds, 3-5 positions, 1-9 targets per stage. Am I looking for a wireless weather meter paired with a Kestrel, or an app, or another brand that does the same thing? An electronic wrist coach seems a bit of a pain in the ass, but I’ve seen them used by shooters that do well.

If you have a Kestrel with Link, placing it in a vane mount and using Strelok Pro's live wind meter view function and the phone on your arm or a rifle mount is about as good as you are going to get.
There is a little lag with any radio and phone calculation so unless a condition holds for a few seconds whatever you are viewing is going to be the past. Learning to read the mirage in the scope is going to be the closest you get to real time info.

I do NOT think you can send that particular screen to an Android Wear or Apple iWatch though. And I'm pretty sure even if you did those don't live update, it is just tap to send that page/info to the watch in a static view.

Here is a video of that particular Strelok Pro function:

 

[beetroot]

A 22LR sized range can have little for natural wind indicators considering how small wind changes move that little projectile around. It remains to be seen if the guy who does use something like this will continue to destroy all comers at swirly wind matches, or if it is when only using COFs he is intimately familiar with and shooting at his home range. A 5-7 wind that seems to vary in velocity along with a 5 position 10-12 shot 2 min stage is a steep hill to climb on a 300M short grass range, for me anyway. A functional electronic version of a paper wrist coach range card along with real time updated wind info of some value is the goal. Probably a Kestrel with a HUD. Not in my budget now though.

The issue you face is you can still have the wind change on you between looking at your dope and taking the shot, unless you have something to alert you of the wind having changed you are in a similar position. What you are trying to achieve may help some but I don't think it'll be the be all end all.
If you are dealing with wind swirling down range, due to the terrain it is unlikely a wind meter at the shooter will pick up those changes.

At the end of a match I always like to look at the scores and assess how I did vs the rest of the pack and see if there are any areas that I need to practise in particular. If you are a mid pack shooter chances are there are a bunch of much easier things to improve on that don't require you to spend lots of money to try buy some additonal points.

I always like to approach problems in the following way:
Were my misses due to:
A, my own failings, or
B, conditons I can't control

If A then you know where to practise.
If B then you know other competitiors are struggling with the same problems.

If you found that you cleaned every stage and didn't win because other compeitiors managed those particular situations better, then it's time to start looking at solutions/gear that will give you an edge.
If you dropped points on other stages that others cleaned (eg postional shooting, speed, etc) and the points you dropped in the above (wind) situation where similar to other shooters, I'd first be dealing with the issues that don't require me to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on equipement.

 

[Emerson0311]

T

If you have a Kestrel with Link, placing it in a vane mount and using Strelok Pro's live wind meter view function and the phone on your arm or a rifle mount is about as good as you are going to get.
There is a little lag with any radio and phone calculation so unless a condition holds for a few seconds whatever you are viewing is going to be the past. Learning to read the mirage in the scope is going to be the closest you get to real time info.

I do NOT think you can send that particular screen to an Android Wear or Apple iWatch though. And I'm pretty sure even if you did those don't live update, it is just tap to send that page/info to the watch in a static view.

Here is a video of that particular Strelok Pro function:

That is super useful info there and lot cheaper that other options.

 

[Emerson0311]

The issue you face is you can still have the wind change on you between looking at your dope and taking the shot, unless you have something to alert you of the wind having changed you are in a similar position. What you are trying to achieve may help some but I don't think it'll be the be all end all.
If you are dealing with wind swirling down range, due to the terrain it is unlikely a wind meter at the shooter will pick up those changes.

At the end of a match I always like to look at the scores and assess how I did vs the rest of the pack and see if there are any areas that I need to practise in particular. If you are a mid pack shooter chances are there are a bunch of much easier things to improve on that don't require you to spend lots of money to try buy some additonal points.

I always like to approach problems in the following way:
Were my misses due to:
A, my own failings, or
B, conditons I can't control

If A then you know where to practise.
If B then you know other competitiors are struggling with the same problems.

If you found that you cleaned every stage and didn't win because other compeitiors managed those particular situations better, then it's time to start looking at solutions/gear that will give you an edge.
If you dropped points on other stages that others cleaned (eg postional shooting, speed, etc) and the points you dropped in the above (wind) situation where similar to other shooters, I'd first be dealing with the issues that don't require me to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on equipement.

Yup, already doing that process for the simple fixes to bring the score up. Mostly poor mental management leading to poor rest and lack of focus and confidence on my part. The shooter who won outscored the next closest by almost 10% using what I believe was real time wind monitoring. Several very good shooters were not competitive. The kestrel with wind vane and Strelock looks reasonable. I could use a kestrel anyway.

 

[6.5SH]

T

That is super useful info there and lot cheaper that other options.

If looking at the WeatherFlow meter in the video be careful. The have very contradictory info on their offerings.
When originally released the Ballistic model had a built in compass sensor. They later removed it.

On their website now you can find reference to several models having the compass and other statements they do not have a built in compass. They also reference model/revision numbers that are not present on their order pages. Caveat emptor.

 

[Mr.BR]

Calypso mini ultrasonic wind meter works with Strelok pro

Ultrasonic Portable Mini wind meter

calypsoinstruments.com

 

[6.5SH]

Calypso mini ultrasonic wind meter works with Strelok pro

Ultrasonic Portable Mini wind meter

calypsoinstruments.com

Have you tried it out yet? Been on my list to get for a while.

 

[Mr.BR]

No . But am always looking for an ultrasonic wind measuring device that could replace a rather archaic kestrel. Unfortunately nothing on the horizon that could replace kestrel 1:1