You know, I took a look at that watch and decided to order it. I know that I'm gonna get slammed for doing it, but here are my thoughts. Currently I do my field ballistics on a Viewsonic Pocket PC (loaded with Exbal) inside of a waterproof container in concert with a Kestrel 4000. Now clearly I'll still need the Kestrel, but being able to dump the pocket PC and it's bulky waterproof container will be a real blessing.
The pocket PC and container are awkward and noisy. It's too big to conveniently fit into a pocket. Which means it's gotta go in my pack. So in order to shoot a long range shot I gotta put the rifle down, and take off the pack. Boot the dam thing up and so on. Also there's the problem with the pocket PC's battery. It's not a very reliable one. It looses power over time (even if you're not using it) and cold weather really worsens performance. When you're on a week long pack trip in the back country there's really no place to recharge the battery. Carry a spare you say; well just have fun trying to change your battery in a driving rain storm while trying to keep those little electronic switch boards inside the pocket PC from getting soaked. Also battery management is challenging. Because I access my pocket PC while inside it's waterproof container through a clear screen (that's on one side of the waterproof box), I have to set the power manager to automatically turn itself off in 60 seconds or else I'll drain the battery. So just when you're switching from the laser range finder to the pocket PC the **** things shuts off.
Furthermore, the pocket PC inside of the waterproof container isn't as shock-proof as I'd like. Give it a little rap and the thing shifts inside the container, sometimes bumping up against the buttons and turning itself on.
Therefore being able to conveniently have all this calculating ability on my wrist, in a waterproof, shockproof, easily accessible manner that has essentially unlimited battery life (as far as the duration of the hunt goes) would be a real convenient thing.
I could have my binoculors/range finder slung around my neck. Kestrel 4000 in my pocket, and this thing on my wrist. All with the potential for making faster long-range shots just as accurate as the old-fashioned kinda of sit-there-and-calculate-for-an-hour kind of accurate long range shots.
Lastly how many of you have purchased a piece of equipment sometime in your life that turned out to be a dud? That's the only real way to find out what truly works and what doesn't; you gotta buy and try new gear. Heck, I wasted about $300 - $400 bucks in buying pistol holsters for legal concealed carry before I finally found one that worked perfectly for me. I'm sure that everybody's got a box of old holsters which for what ever reason don't work. This product my likewise turn out to be a dud, but it may turn out to be a gem. I'll let you know. Stay tuned....
