Gunwerks G7 BR2 Rangefinder Review - 2
Along came Aaron and Mike Davidson of Gunwerks with the G7 laser rangefinder and the idea for a laser rangefinder integrated with a ballistics computer and weather reading capabilities. The whole idea of the Gunwerks G7 is that it is the single piece of ballistic equipment you need no matter what scope system you use as long as there is some sort of ballistic compensation in or on the scope. It can be used in conjunction with ballistic reticules, drop cams and dial up scopes.
The Gunwerks G7 laser rangefinder senses the pressure, temperature, shot angle and distance. This information is fed into a ballistic program to give you a correction in your choice of MOA correction or shoot yardage. It can also give you raw distance is you desire. The corrected shoot to yardage feature allows ballistic reticules and drop cams to effectively shoot longer distances than normal by ballistic correction. The MOA feature allows the shooter to get a ballistic solution much faster and with less equipment than the computer, weather station, rangefinder setup.
TESTING
I have a very unbiased approach to testing equipment. Simply it either works and I like it or it doesn't and I hate it. I am happy to tell people when asked either way. This approach usually keeps me from being asked to test garbage.
I gathered up my standard extreme range gear to compare the Gunwerks G7 LRF to, my Vectronix PLRF 10, a TDS Recon computer with NF Exbal software and a Kestrel 3500 weather station. This equipment has served me well in the field and I have practiced out to 2600 yards with it. Now comparing this to the G7 is not comparing apples to apples, it is in fact comparing $4500.00 worth of gear against $1600.00 worth of gear, but it would let me find the limitations of the G7 against a known setup.
Testing was simple to do. I set up in a basin with distances from 400 to 2000 yards, angles from 0 to 30 degrees and varying targets of reflectiveness. The first thing tested was the effective distance the G7 would read the distance within a couple of yards of the Vectronix out to 1400-1500 yards. We got readings from the Gunwerks G7 out to 1800 and some change, but it seemed to get where it wouldn't hit the target consistently and would range in window of 15-20 yards, where the Vectronix would range +/- 1 yard on the same targets. Comparing this performance to my experience with the Swarovski and new Leica 1600 I considered this to be really good performance.
Next ballistic effectiveness was tested. I ranged and got a solution of many targets with my setup and immediately compared the solution to the solution from the G7. This was simple. The G7 gave me the exact same solution on every target 1000 yards and in. Beyond 1000 yards there were some slight differences in solution. Targets beyond 1000 progressively needed more correction than the G7 was giving. We are not talking about a big difference, but enough to look at. This was corrected by simply validating the Gunwerks G7 to my rifle like you would a ballistic program by tweaking the velocity a little. With that tweek in place we got identical info from both systems out to the limit of the G7's ability. The G7 will only give a ballistic solution to 1400 yards, past that it will only give the range.
The Gunwerks G7 laser rangefinder senses the pressure, temperature, shot angle and distance. This information is fed into a ballistic program to give you a correction in your choice of MOA correction or shoot yardage. It can also give you raw distance is you desire. The corrected shoot to yardage feature allows ballistic reticules and drop cams to effectively shoot longer distances than normal by ballistic correction. The MOA feature allows the shooter to get a ballistic solution much faster and with less equipment than the computer, weather station, rangefinder setup.
TESTING
I have a very unbiased approach to testing equipment. Simply it either works and I like it or it doesn't and I hate it. I am happy to tell people when asked either way. This approach usually keeps me from being asked to test garbage.
I gathered up my standard extreme range gear to compare the Gunwerks G7 LRF to, my Vectronix PLRF 10, a TDS Recon computer with NF Exbal software and a Kestrel 3500 weather station. This equipment has served me well in the field and I have practiced out to 2600 yards with it. Now comparing this to the G7 is not comparing apples to apples, it is in fact comparing $4500.00 worth of gear against $1600.00 worth of gear, but it would let me find the limitations of the G7 against a known setup.
Testing was simple to do. I set up in a basin with distances from 400 to 2000 yards, angles from 0 to 30 degrees and varying targets of reflectiveness. The first thing tested was the effective distance the G7 would read the distance within a couple of yards of the Vectronix out to 1400-1500 yards. We got readings from the Gunwerks G7 out to 1800 and some change, but it seemed to get where it wouldn't hit the target consistently and would range in window of 15-20 yards, where the Vectronix would range +/- 1 yard on the same targets. Comparing this performance to my experience with the Swarovski and new Leica 1600 I considered this to be really good performance.
Next ballistic effectiveness was tested. I ranged and got a solution of many targets with my setup and immediately compared the solution to the solution from the G7. This was simple. The G7 gave me the exact same solution on every target 1000 yards and in. Beyond 1000 yards there were some slight differences in solution. Targets beyond 1000 progressively needed more correction than the G7 was giving. We are not talking about a big difference, but enough to look at. This was corrected by simply validating the Gunwerks G7 to my rifle like you would a ballistic program by tweaking the velocity a little. With that tweek in place we got identical info from both systems out to the limit of the G7's ability. The G7 will only give a ballistic solution to 1400 yards, past that it will only give the range.
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