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 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.
A few things to factor when deciding on the 5700 Elite vs. 5700 Sportsman
How to upgrade your Sportsman to an Elite:
- 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.
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:
- If you have LiNK, you can purchase a Dongle for $30, then purchase the Downloadable firmware
- You can purchase the cable for $59, then purchase the downloadable firmware
- You can send it in to NK... turnaround time can take up to 10 days after it's delivered.
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.
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.
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