Please understand that I purchase/review/develop as much tech as the next guy. Love it actually.
What I found with alot of the ballistic stuff is there is too much faith put on it. They don't work all that well because they must be too simplistic. The true number of variables you calculate as you look through the scope would require some pretty fancy computing to get close.
Bullet within min of bad guy...sure, maybe, but for pop can type accuracy, better start burning powder.
What a hand held device can give me, I can easily put onto a laminated drop card. From there, observation and experience will help account for variations from the norm (data card).
There is a belief that by punching in a few atmospheric numbers, the new generated data is somehow perfect for all distances. THEY AREN'T - real world shooting will quickly prove this. If not, I would own the lastest versions.
What troubles me is that this tech is making it into the hands of would be LR hunters. They feel that when armed with the lastest monster magnum in a 'custom' rig topped by some picket fence reticled 'tactical' scope, they can just dial up and shoot at extreme distances.
Leads to alot of misses and potentially wounded game.
Can this tech help. You damn rights. I will not go without my laser rangefinder (there is way too much error in reticle subtension as distance grows). I have even made the investment to a Swaro because this is so critical to LR success.
Looking into the various Kestrels as my next investment because it will aid in relative wind measurement. Gives me a way to put a wind speed on what I observe along the bullets path.
From there, we need to know wind direction, anything that might cause wind eddies, light/mirage/sun location, anything that can influence the bullet path and our perception of such.
By the time you have figured all this stuff out, you already know the answer the computer is going to spit out. If you can't figure this out, you can't input it into the computer so the computer is of little help.
garbage in - garbage out.
When there is a system that will actually deal with real world conditions and give me consistent reliable data, I will buy it if I can afford it.
If this is too critical or considered a hijack, I apologise but sharing some real world experiences.
Jerry
