Many of you know of my ballistics spreadsheets, BallisticXLR and BallisticPRS (Free download w/ free support at BallisticXLR.com ). I'm working on taking that system and putting it into a gizmo that you can take into the field and that's cost effective for those on shorter budgets than an AB Kestrel allows for. The AB Kestrel is like 700 bucks and is a kind of a bitch to use sometimes IMHO. Smart Phones lack durability; especially in the sun and dirt, to be relied upon and they rely usually on weather data that's not necessarily local to the shooter. Other handheld ballistics solvers are either fiendishly expensive or just not really field grade or both or worse, meant for use with other specific hardware. Mine will go in your pocket and work with any rifle that shoots bullets at supersonic velocities.

So, I've begun with some partners at converting my spreadsheet into program code and working on an electronic gizmo for it to run on. I've got a small production team working with me to create something that's genuinely cost efficient and field durable and that's powered from common batteries like 9V or AA so you can get them in the most remote of Stop-n-Rob gas stations. My target price right now is $250 which includes not just the ballistics calculation software and the gizmo but also the automatic selection of parameters to do with air density. This is meant to provide the same basic capability as the AB Kestrel but at a price point nearly 1/3 as high.

I'm not doing this to compete with AB Kestrel devices or Litz or Applied Ballistics. Bryan's customers are those with thousands of extra dollars in their savings accounts. My product is meant for people who don't have enough spare cash day to day to have a savings account, much like I was when I started shooting as a hobby. Right now we're looking at nearly a year to finish the thing but I'm hoping to have a pre-production prototype in the hands of a few select testers around late summer to mid-fall.

What about having it on a raspberry pi 3?
Those are cheap.

^^ Winner winner chicken dinner!

That's actually what I'm building it on exactly so that people will have the option of building their own and just getting software from me. I'll license my software in the end for a pittance for those that want to go that way. Like my spreadsheets which are completely free for anyone to download (I also provide free support) I'm not looking to make a business out of it or even break even but I do need to recoup the bulk of my costs since I'm not independently wealthy. Otherwise I'd make the software completely free too. I do have to pay my code monkey and HW guy a bit for their efforts which I'm doing out of pocket right now.

The PI3 plus a sensor hat is almost all you need to make one other than to know the math and programming well enough to implement it in Python code. I'm looking to go a little further but yeah, you got it. The bits needed cost about 100 bucks retail for the hardware. The only real value I'm bringing to the table is going to be in the software. That's great for the geeks among us, like me, who have the technical chops and willingness to build their own HW but I'll still have people wanting me to build it more often than not I think.

For the forum mods, I don't intend on making a profit and this isn't meant to advertise but instead to document the project and inspire more people to try something ambitious.

Cannot download here at work due to firewall restrictions.

I'll grab it once I get home to take a stab at it.

I think it's completely doable, Rainov has kinda sorta done it.  http://www.eurooptic.com/precision-targeting-solo.aspx  Though you don't see alot of people using them.

ETA:  What's a raspberry pi 3?  I looked on Amazon and it looks like a circuit board?  I'd have no idea what to do with it.

Just thinking from my only two PR/Sniper matches shooting out to 1000 yards.
The sniper matches required me to drop my gear, range and shoot within a minute or two.
I'm thinking size, power on time, input time, time to solution would be important.
Also, rugged and waterproof.
Otherwise, a cheaper solution to what is currently available would be great!

Pi3 is just the latest from the Raspberry Pi line of ultra small hobby computers.

The Rianov looks quite similar though it looks like it's a PITA to use.

The interface design is meant to be really minimal and fast to use. Solutions will be nearly instant once range is selected.

Cool thread. I just got introduced to these little computers like the Pi and the Arduino. They are so cool! I was giddy thinking of the prototyping and hobbyist possibilities.

I have gone a different route. I made a ballistics app and am now selling it on the iTunes store. It's a pretty saturated market, and I'm not getting a ton of downloads or in-app purchases, but that's ok for now. It's very basic, and I'm continuing to add features.

I really wish you lived in Texas, I'd love to monkey around with you on this stuff. I have some (what I think) are big ideas that could change the ballistics game. I'll give your spreadsheet a whirl.