Any benefit compared to a Kestrel 5700?
The Kestrel is a handheld weather meter with included software from Applied Ballistics (or Hornady). The Garmin is a handheld/wrist worn GPS navigation device with included software from Applied Ballistics. If you use the same inputs in the ballistic engine, you’ll get the same outputs. But the Garmin doesn’t have an anemometer, and the Kestrel doesn’t have GPS navigation.
I have watched these units from Garmin for a long time - I use a lot of Garmin products, and a lot of ballistic calculators, and a guy I grew up with is an engineer for Garmin, so I kind of keep tabs on what’s what around their brands. I had a 701 AB I got in a trade for a rifle a few years ago, and having it really confirmed what I had felt in my gut for years before: Personally, I don’t see where this fits into any Civilian application. I tried to make sense of it for backcountry hunting up mountain, but it doesn’t have the satellite communication capability I want - so maybe if you’re a long range hunter who wants a bigger screen than the common Garmin watches but doesn’t want the bulk or need all of the features of the common Garmin handhelds, and doesn’t want or need satellite communication capability and you use some other “dumb” anemometer/weather meter, then the Fortrex 901 can make sense. Otherwise, it seems like a great tool for very specialized military dudes, and a great toy for civilian LARPers emulating them.
The product is functional and fantastic, but to me, for civilian use, it kinda feels like those “trekker” survival knives which are absolutely massive knives, with saws in the back and fishing line in the grip, but are really too small to be machetes or axes/hatchets, and too big to be functional hunting/skinning/deboning knives… kind of a camel when you’re wanting a horse… so I resold it and I use a kestrel and my Garmin 66i.
MAYBE - maybe - MAYBE I could be convinced that having a Fortex wristband backing up my Garmin GPSMap 66i AND my Kestrel 5700 would be worth the extra weight and extra expense for my hunting trips - but my phone does ballistics and navigation and communication, so today, I’m not convinced.
