help me decide on a range finder or kestrel

[skiles]

I currently use a Leica 1600b, ballistics ae (on a smart phone), and a cheap kestrel that just reads the wind. I am wanting to improve speed of calculating first round hits beyond 800 yards and have less stuff to mess with. Should I get the kestrel elite and use it with my leica or get the gunwerks br2 rangefinder. I am leaning towards getting the rangefinder because it gives you a quick bullet drop aiming solution that calculates everything but the wind. With the kestrel I would have to range then input into the kestrel then I would have a solution. The advantage of the kestrel is having a wind reading but I would not be taking that long of a shot on an animal in any kind of strong wind anyways. Does the kestrel read atmoshpheric conditons better than the br2 range finder? what set up do you guys use?

 

[Carpe Beerem]

It sounds like Sig will be releasing a new rangefinder that actually reads your environmentals and has AB built in at this years shot show. Not sure what they are doing for wind but with the BR2 you still need something to read it and I heard that the older model does not let you input winds in 1mph increments but uses 5mph instead. Not sure if this was one of the fixes for the newer model though. That being said I went with the newer Kestrel and have been very happy so far. Drop is spot on and shows that I need to get better at reading downrange wind.

 

[Greyfox]

I have experience with both generations of the G7 RF as well as the Leica and Terrapin/Kestrel/Shooter. Outputs between all of them are identical given the same inputs. The atmospherics in the G7 are the same as the Kestral. For first round hits with speed to shot and simplicity, the G7 in my opinion remains the "state of the art". In actual practice I have found the 5mph wind increments in the G7 are not a factor effecting speed, and easily compensated for. I included a review I did a couple of years ago on the 2nd generation G7. I have since had the opportunity to very successfully take game and varmints with the unit to 1200 yards.

New And Improved G7 BR2 Rangefinder Review

 

[geo4061]

The Kestrel 4500 AB gives you the most accurate shooting solution you can get. I also use the 1600. Enter the range and the angle, if any ,and you are golden. While you are doing this which only takes a few seconds you have a real time high and low wind solution. It is small and fits in your pocket. Plus it holds all the ballistic info on all your rifles. It gives you weather information. This can be fun to play with when you are at other sporting events. You can be your own weather person. Love mine.

 

[bigngreen]

I prefer the Kestrel 5700 and Leica, I'm not a huge G7 fan, seen to many bad calls with it and I won't run something that I'm not getting a real wind solution for. I am holding out right now to see what Sig drops on us, I think it could be awesome sauce.

 

[skiles]

Thanks for all the info. I think I will probably buy the kestrel and continue to run it with the leica. Is the bluetooth link worth the extra 100$ with the kestrel or should I just save the money?