Looking to buy Kestrel

[Pauleye]

I'm looking at the Kestrel 5700. There is the one with applied ballistic. The other is the one with Hornady 4DOF. All comments are appreciated

 

[jmsdad]

Buy the Kestrel Sportsman from Cameraland for $249 and pay for the upgrade. Cheaper than buying the 5700.

 

[338 dude]

Whatever you get use applied ballistics

 

[rammac]

Buy the Kestrel Sportsman from Cameraland for $249 and pay for the upgrade. Cheaper than buying the 5700.

How do you make that happen?

The Cameraland web site doesn't provide a way to upgrade.
The Sportsman model was discontinued in 2018 and is no longer supported or sold by Kestral.
It looks like you can download an upgrade, from Kestral, to the basic 5700 firmware for free but you can't upgrade to the Elite model. The difference is that the basic model will provide drop data out to 800 yards but the Elite will provide drop data out to the range of your laser range finder. Also, the Sportsman uses the Hornady 4DOF ballistics computer instead of the Applied Ballistics computer.

I'd buy the 5700 (Applied Ballistics model with Link) if I didn't want to shoot any further than 800 yards and I'd upgrade to the Elite model if I wanted to shoot farther.

 

[Wachsmann]

I would buy the elite model with link so you can use your phone or just use the unit or both since it will link up with you phone and feed you real time data. Watch some of the vid on youtube about the kestral with link. It takes you out to 4000 yards and you can have 15 gun profiles where the other only allows 3 profiles. The Elite with link may cost a bit more but its worth it. I will probably be buying one sometime this summer also. If you want the best solver get the applied ballistic model. Hope the vid below helps. This guy has a lot of good stuff and some good videos to watch on the meter as well as reloading. I also believe he is a member here on the site.

Kestrel 5700 Elite w/ LiNK: Bluetooth Capabilities Review & Demo

 

[dfanonymous]

How do you make that happen?

The Cameraland web site doesn't provide a way to upgrade.
The Sportsman model was discontinued in 2018 and is no longer supported or sold by Kestral.
It looks like you can download an upgrade, from Kestral, to the elite firmware for free but you can't upgrade to the Elite model. The difference is that the basic model will provide drop data out to 800 yards but the Elite will provide drop data out to the range of your laser range finder. Also, the Sportsman uses the Hornady 4DOF ballistics computer instead of the Applied Ballistics computer.

I'd buy the 5700 (Applied Ballistics model with Link) if I didn't want to shoot any further than 800 yards and I'd upgrade to the Elite model if I wanted to shoot farther.

If you buy the sportsman, you can buy the firmware from kestrel to "upgrade it" to the elite. It's what I did with mine, since I was going to replace my 4500 with a 5700 anyway. It cost like $150 or something if I remember right. Don't quote me on that. I have certain deals with kestrel, so I don't remember if that was actual price or what i paid.

But kestrel sent me a email with the software and I had to buy a dongle and I transferred the software over for the elite.

Lastly, I'd you use hornady ammo more than not 4dof would be good too. If not, the elite is definitely the right way to go as it's the only way to get custom drags on there.

 

[rammac]

If you buy the sportsman, you can buy the firmware from kestrel to "upgrade it" to the elite. It's what I did with mine, since I was going to replace my 4500 with a 5700 anyway. It cost like $150 or something if I remember right. Don't quote me on that. I have certain deals with kestrel, so I don't remember if that was actual price or what i paid.

But kestrel sent me a email with the software and I had to buy a dongle and I transferred the software over for the elite.

Lastly, I'd you use hornady ammo more than not 4dof would be good too. If not, the elite is definitely the right way to go as it's the only way to get custom drags on there.

When did you do this?

The web link I provided says;

A few things to factor when deciding on the 5700 Elite vs. 5700 Sportsman

• The Sportsman does have spin drift, so G1 & G7 are good, but it does not calculate drop curves, so in long range shooting (Transonic & Subsonic / Over 1000 yards), fine tuning will be required.
• Through a purchased firmware upgrade, the Kestrel Sportsman can be converted to the full Kestrel Elite with its more advanced extreme long range feature set. However you can NOT add LiNK (bluetooth).
• While the Sportsman only holds 3 gun / ammo combinations at once, using your smart phone Kestrel LiNK Ballistics app makes it really easy to switch in or out.

How to upgrade your Sportsman to an Elite:
To upgrade your Sportsman to an Elite by paying the difference from the $699 Elite Price.
You can do this from you own computer, but not directly from the app.

You have 3 options:

1. If you have LiNK, you can purchase a Dongle for $30, then purchase the Downloadable firmware
2. You can purchase the cable for $59, then purchase the downloadable firmware
3. You can send it in to NK... turnaround time can take up to 10 days after it's delivered.

So from what I'm seeing, if they even support this upgrade at this time, you still have to pay the full purchase price for an Elite and while you'll switch over to the Applied Ballistics engine you wont have Link (Bluetooth) - so why not pay for the Elite model and get the whole package since you're going to have to pay for it anyways. It seems to me that Kestral simply wanted to provide an upgrade path for people that already had the older Sportsman model excluding the Bluetooth capability.

 

[rammac]

I see why this is so confusing, there were two different models of the Sportsman.

The early model that they quit selling in 2015 which was based on the 4500 series.
The later model of the Sportsman which they quit selling in 2018 which was based on the 5700 series.

The 4500 series didn't have LiNK but the 5700 did.

KESTREL SPORTSMAN WEATHER METER WITH APPLIED BALLISTICS
Discontinued in February 2018. If you connect to your Kestrel Ballistics App, you will be asked to upgrade, which will give you the new 5700 firmware (not the Elite). There is no charge for the upgrade.

We are keeping this page up for historical reasons should you be buying one from another site, ebay, or whatever and want to reference it.

There was a 4500 Sportsman that ended in 2015, and this is the 5700 Sportsman that ended in 2018.

So the Kestrel at Cameraland is a newer Sportsman 5700 with LiNK Bluetooth. So I'd assume that this model will upgrade to the full Elite capability but you do have to have a Bluetooth dongle, cable, and software to upgrade it and you need to pay the full Elite price to get the dongle, cable, and software from Kestrel.

 

[Wachsmann]

Here is a vid from the 4DF system. Also to note Hornady 4DOF is also testing other manufactures bullets but they are no where as extensive as the applied ballistic library amount that they have tested. Little confusing at the end when truing up your gun profile but it probably works out ok also. I just prefer the AB software more. I also like the shooter app as well. I have AB and shooter on my phone. One other way to go is get the g7 rangefinder.

Hornady® 4DOF™ - How To Overview

 

[dfanonymous]

When did you do this?

The web link I provided says;


So from what I'm seeing, if they even support this upgrade at this time, you still have to pay the full purchase price for an Elite and while you'll switch over to the Applied Ballistics engine you wont have Link (Bluetooth) - so why not pay for the Elite model and get the whole package since you're going to have to pay for it anyways. It seems to me that Kestral simply wanted to provide an upgrade path for people that already had the older Sportsman model excluding the Bluetooth capability.

It was a few years ago and I pretty much just went straight to the upgrade admittingly. Someone above seems to have filled in the gaps for you as far as the link model, and I have no idea if cameraland has it, as you've said, it's discontinued but they are out there and people are still getting them. you can still do the upgrade.

Here's the link:

StackPath

 

[Buck Fever]

The Kestrel 5700 Sportsman that Cameraland has is the CONX model from the Bushnell ARC rangefinder bundles.

It has bluetooth and that Kestrel Elite upgrade web page specifically lists it as compatible with the Elite firmware.

It also has the standard (not elite) version of Applied Ballistics. I think you might be able to put Hornady 4DOF firmware on it for free (maybe).

This Kestrel is an excellent deal at $250.

The only question I have is can I do the Elite upgrade from an Android phone that has the Kestrel Link app or do i need to use a PC? If a PC is required, does a generic Bluetooth chipset work or do I need a Kestrel specific dongle?

I will probably have to figure this out eventually but I am not going to upgrade just yet.

 

[dfanonymous]

I don't think it will work on the phone app to upgrade to elite. However once you do, the app allows you to buy the custom drag models and some other features.

Yes to use the doggle you'll need a PC with Bluetooth capability, if not the data cable is the next option. I used the kestrel dongle. It took a pretty long time to download. I'm willing to bet the data cable is faster.
If you've never had a kestrel, the only thing that kills a battery fast on it is updates for whatever reason.
Kestrel says it will not work with aftermarket type dongles. I don't know anyone that's tried to call bs on that.

 

[338 dude]

Here is a vid from the 4DF system. Also to note Hornady 4DOF is also testing other manufactures bullets but they are no where as extensive as the applied ballistic library amount that they have tested. Little confusing at the end when truing up your gun profile but it probably works out ok also. I just prefer the AB software more. I also like the shooter app as well. I have AB and shooter on my phone. One other way to go is get the g7 rangefinder.

Hornady® 4DOF™ - How To Overview

+1 For Applied Ballistics, and Shooter

 

[waveslayer]

I'd go AB all the way. Larger library of bullets to use their CDM's. I own an older bluetooth model and linked it to my phone... all I have to do is range a target and use my phone.. unless you are strictly hunting