Electronic devices at the F-Class nationals

[boltman13]

I have a battery powered extra power supply that I can hook to the Kendal Fire to extend the life of the device by about 1 hour. Would that be enough?

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Any cell phone that has WiFi capability will work. I have an Iphone 3 that does great. Battery will easily last three matches, but the screen is small. The newer phones with bigger screens, or the larger Ipads and tablets are more easily readable. As Shawn mentioned, our experience with the Kindles was not good.

Well, Kindles are designed first and foremost for reading ebooks. Pressing them into service for wifi web browsing is not conducive to good battery life.

That said, there are plenty of inexpensive large batteries designed to recharge your devices while out and about. Heck, I have one in the car that will easily crank a V8 engine and power a whole mess of phones and tablets, and I have another in my computer bag for my Smartphone and Samsung Note Pro 12.2 tablet. Look for something in the 8000 to 10,000 mAH range. Amazon has a whole bunch of those to choose from.

 

[Heman]

I have a battery powered extra power supply that I can hook to the Kendal Fire to extend the life of the device by about 1 hour. Would that be enough?

Possibly if you turn the screen brightness that helps a lot.

 

[spclark]

Screen brighness settings for display devices are anathema to battery life: brighter simply takes more juice.

Same with bigger vs. smaller screens but the little ones also make entering information difficult 'cause of the smallish 'keyboards'.

If you don't need ADMIN mode that's less of an issue.

Brightness in daylight though is hard to overcome.

I did discover my iPad's display is easier to read in daylight after I set the display to black on white (bkg) in the Accessibility menu under Settings. Caveat being I have an accessory battery pack I can plug into it if need be. So far I've had no issues in 6 hour practice sessions.

Looking forward to WGC'S Grande Finale weekend scheduled Aug. 13-14 to wring everything out now that their SMT system is ready for us.

 

[noload]

As a target owner and I know there are differences in what is at Lodi but I will tell you what are the most common problems. Guess what it is not the target system, the tablet operator! Every time including last weekend the same issues always arise.

• You need to know how to operate your tablet, computer, phone or device. Everybody can go to Facebook, eBay and email but not much help here.
  
• You have to know how to change the device's sleep mode time so the screen does not go to sleep while shooting. (I change my I pad to never and change it back to 5 minutes when I am done shooting) 3 shooters shooting a 60 shot match I still have at least 50% battery remaining at the end of the day.
  
• You have to know how to connect the wifi so you can get on Silver Mountain wifi. Sounds easy but I still have to connect someone at every match.
  
• Now you can log on to the target by going to your internet browser. Type in the IP address of your target and you are ready to operate the target.
  
• The biggest thing I had to learn and most will agree is don't look at the screen as soon as you shoot. The bullet will still be in the gun and you will be so impressed how much you can pull or push a shot. Follow through you can't change what you are about to see on the screen anyway. (That took at least a full string of kicking myself.) Now I just charge the batteries in the target and no excuses from the pits. Or if you are doing load testing or just extra shots you don't have to worry about the puller in the pits being unhappy with more shots down range.

John

Thanks John for this post, (It was informative)I've been in the dark as far as electronic targets, and what to do with the device to set-up for target use. I do have a couple questions though..are display devices given to shooters or do they have to bring their own device? Will a lap top also work as a display? I do not own a Hi tech phone.. My phone plan costs me $20 every 3 months.
I just hope, if Im out of the Hi tech loop..that will not put me at a disadvantage when shooting at E Targets ?

 

[jkl]

I can't tell you about your phone. Since we all own them individually and I think there are 12 at Ben Avery we all have our own devices. There are always 3 to 4 shooters on my target. No issue we just infiltrate. I use an I pad. Some use there phone, I phone, HP, Kindle, android and god knows what. If you can search for WiFi you should be able to get on the target system even if you are just watching. Dan Bramley brings 2 I pads, Kindle, phone and all of the stuff a good F Open shooter drags to the line.

Half the fun is looking at everyone's target on the line. A push of the button to change to any target on the line. That makes heckling very popular. I shoot sling but I have an F face on my target so if I have an F shooter shooting on the target with the press of a button or two I can make the device an F face target and away we go. Sling shooter a quick switch back on the device.

I have always provided the best service in the pits that I could and had great fun on the cat walk. But I have to say there are few complaints with the SMT Systems that we all own. And Wayne has bent over backwards to help with any problems including calling me on a Sunday when I could not get the target to work. I forgot to log onto the WiFi so I could access the my target. A 2 second fix and an apology for bothering him on Sunday.

John

 

[daniel.chisholm]

I will miss watching the action on other targets, but then again, so will everybody else. It's a great equalizer, everyone will have the same pit service. We will adapt.

FYI, on the SMT e-target system at Lodi, you CAN watch the shots land on the neighboring targets (and so can everybody else). Ask someone there to show you how to do it, it's a really easy one-touch thing. You are then shown your neighboring targets along the bottom of your screen, and a live update of the most recent shot on each of them.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Trust me when I say this. I will absolutely figure out all the fancy things with the electronic devices.

My point is that I don't want to be bothered doing that when shooting. Do you text when you drive? Why would I want to mess with a device when I'm shooting or scoping. I like getting an appreciation for the conditions when I set my spotting scope to be able to see 10 targets or quickly focus on a couple near me. I control my perspective with my spotting scope. With an electronic device, that will be different. It will be different for everyone.

ETA: Fix the spelling mistakes due to tablet input.

 

[spclark]

My point is that I don't want to be bothered doing that when shooting.

You neither have to nor do you want to.

Whereas before you'd fire a round, wait for the target to go down, get marked & scored then put back up for your next shot, with ET's the target stays up. So you fire a shot, then go to your spotting scope as before to check conditions.

THEN look at your display device, see where the shot impacted, maybe check your score, go back on the gun for your next shot.

Do you text when you drive? Why would I want to mess with a device when I'm shooting or scoping.

No, and neither do I. There's a proper time for each.

I like getting an appreciation for the conditions when I set my spotting scope to be able to see 10 targets or quickly focus on a couple near me.

You can still do that but you won't see spotters anymore. Those will be on your display.

That alone I can understand upsets some folks who're good at using other shooters as wind dummies, but that skill isn't what makes great shooters out of good ones.

I control my perspective with my spotting scope.

No reason that has to change, other than for what I just mentioned.

With an electronic device, that will be different. It will be different for everyone.

And perhaps more equal.

Those that adapt and overcome will do better than those that, for whatever reason, choose to do otherwise.

Give yourself the benefit of the doubt on this. Give the technology an opportunity to prove how it can improve our game. It's new, it's a change in how things have been done since the beginning, and will require changes on the part of all of us as to how we participate.

If ET's can help our sport continue, maybe even grow again, to my mind it'll be worth all the angst expressed here and elsewhere.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Trust me when I say this. I will absolutely figyre out all the fancy things with the electronic devices.

My point is that I don't want to be bothered doing that when shooting. Do you text when you drive? Why would I want to mess with a device when I'm shooting or scoping. I like getting an appreciation for the conditions when I set my spotting scope to be able to see 10 targets or quickly focus on a couple near me. I control my perspective with my spotting scope. With an electronic device, that will be different. It will be different for everyone.

No surprise, Denys, I agree completely. Tried to be quiet, but really can't. Almost a full page of what type of tablet to use, Kindle battery issues and possible solutions, using your cell phone, logging in to WiFi, how to look at your neighbor's scores, how the other shooters and spectators can fully enjoy looking at your scores, which by the way really aren't their any of their business, or the business of any other shooter more than a lane or two away that simply wants to know what they have to shoot to better someone else's score, et cetera, ad nauseum. Really??? This is way beyond ridiculous, it's completely insane. The system wasn't broken to begin with. Most ranges at which I've ever competed make every effort to accommodate shooters with issues pulling targets, so "inclusion" is not the real reason behind this either. This change is being forced on every shooter that wishes to compete at a range that employs E targets, your choice being either suck it up and shoot on them, or too bad for you. How inclusive is that? Does it sound like I'm pissed off? You can't even begin to imagine.

 

[Mozella]

....... snip......... This change is being forced on every shooter that wishes to compete at a range that employs E targets, your choice being either suck it up and shoot on them, or too bad for you. How inclusive is that? Does it sound like I'm pissed off? You can't even begin to imagine.

Wow....... remind me not to set up on the lane next to you. I'd be afraid you might start flogging me with your buggy whip.

 

[JBO]

I heard the Nationals are sold out and have a waiting list.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Wow....... remind me not to set up on the lane next to you. I'd be afraid you might start flogging me with your buggy whip.

I'd be much too busy setting up my tablet .

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Ah, good one. I use a tablet all the time, a nice Samsung one. My posting above was done via the tablet and I posting using it because I find it difficult to use the stupid fake keyboard and mistakes pop up.

At any rate, I'm not afraid of technology (I would be in the wrong business if I did,) but I'm also getting older and set in my ways. If it would be possible to see the hits on the various targets through my spotting scope or my field glasses, while I'm watching conditions, that would be great. As it is, with a tablet it's going to be one more piece of equipment that drag to the line and fiddle with. It does not supplement the experience, it tries to make up for something being removed. Before, I had a heads-up display, now I have to look at an instrument in the cockpit and I have to fiddle with it to see a fraction of what I could see before. Tell me again where this is progress?

Anyway, now with the invasion of the tablets and the Labradar, it's going to get very busy and crowded on the line. Pretty soon, they'll just replace the shooters and we can do everything from the comfort of our homes.

I like to use tools for their proper purpose. A rifle to shoot paper targets with real bullets and a tablet to post on websites about how I saw you miss that shoot and look at porn, gun porn, of course.

I look forward to the coming Bluetooth enabled, Wifi connected, GPS located, web browser-driven, gyro-stabilized, laser aimed front rest with integrated Labradar, 12 inch tablet, USB hub, and Margarita machine. You will need to carry a few 20,000mAh battery packs to run it for the day. I was kidding about the USB hub, it won't be needed because it has Bluetooth (who cares about rules, you can't stop the future!)

My friend Seb will have the bipod version 6 months after his front rest version starts shipping.

 

[skibar_tx]

I am not sure what you guys are worried about. I will show up to the line without my cellphone or my iPad, and I will expect to be given witness as to my last shot placement as well as the shot value. It will either be done by the old fashioned way, on they target, or the club/sponsoring organization will be responsible for any other method of their choosing. It is not the shooters responsibility to bring anything but his shooting gear to the line.

 

[Heman]

[QUOTE="Most ranges at which I've ever competed make every effort to accommodate shooters with issues pulling targets, so "inclusion" is not the real reason behind this either. [/QUOTE]

Not sure where all you have shot, but the places I've shot/shoot (Oak Ridge, Atterbury, Cincy, Camp Perry, Ft. Knox, Lima, Ft. Wayne, Malvern) if you show up to shoot, you pull targets. Lodi being the exception for MW Palma but even then the few paid pullers they have are spoken for. You are making a way bigger deal out of this than it really is. Also you can see the other shooters targets on the tablets just like you can through a spotting scope.

 

[jkl]

I do miss seeing all of the spotters swing from side to side. I am getting over that. It has you make choices from the spotting scope and experience with range conditions. I know I have been the target with my spotter out the other side and could see 5 other targets that made a better choice with the information they gathered.

I don't seem to shoot any faster than a pulled target with good service. Shooting sling and being mentored by German Salazar he wanted you to shoot as fast as you could decode information from the flags, mirage, your target and other targets you believed were better shooters than me. My eyes are to old to be great but nobody has more fun than I do when I make the right wind corrections and drop the shots in the center.

There will be some that scream while going forward in time but I think it is better to enjoy the ride. I enjoy my SMT. I started using the system in February.

John

 

[B Nettesheim]

No surprise, Denys, I agree completely. Tried to be quiet, but really can't. Almost a full page of what type of tablet to use, Kindle battery issues and possible solutions, using your cell phone, logging in to WiFi, how to look at your neighbor's scores, how the other shooters and spectators can fully enjoy looking at your scores, which by the way really aren't their any of their business, or the business of any other shooter more than a lane or two away that simply wants to know what they have to shoot to better someone else's score, et cetera, ad nauseum. Really??? This is way beyond ridiculous, it's completely insane. The system wasn't broken to begin with. Most ranges at which I've ever competed make every effort to accommodate shooters with issues pulling targets, so "inclusion" is not the real reason behind this either. This change is being forced on every shooter that wishes to compete at a range that employs E targets, your choice being either suck it up and shoot on them, or too bad for you. How inclusive is that? Does it sound like I'm pissed off? You can't even begin to imagine.

Before you come up to the line we will have a little meeting/ training on how to use the Lenovo tablet that will be issued to you and your scorer.
The relay will not start until we are satisfied everyone is confident in what they are doing.
If you have trouble during your course of fire one of our friendly faces will help you get straightened out.
Remember our sport is growing and this system is one way to deal with the amount of shooters at a large event, the other option at Lodi would have been making the range 50 wide.

 

[Mozella]

Not sure where all you have shot, but the places I've shot/shoot (Oak Ridge, Atterbury, Cincy, Camp Perry, Ft. Knox, Lima, Ft. Wayne, Malvern) if you show up to shoot, you pull targets. ...........snip.......

Me too. Where I shoot, if you can't pull targets you can either bring someone who can pull 'em for you or find a different kind of shooting.

 

[PDS]

How are shot value challenges and crossfires handled on the electronic targets at Lodi ?