Kestrel LiNK Ballistics Reviews

The physical 5700 elite AB is great, KestrelLiNKBallistics is completely unforgiving and confusing. All I wanted to do was get a larger readout rather than the 4 lines it gives you in the kestrel, of the range card and after 2 hours of trying I gave up. It won’t give me a range card with all my dope. But hell, it’ll give me direction of fire to random targets I never set up to begin with.

I’ve tried several times over the course of a few months and I’ve only been able to connect the kestrel to my device once. Very poor performance. The kestrel doesn’t even show up under my Bluetooth settings nor when I open up KestrelLiNKBallistics .

The Kestrel Link app is, unfortunately, a major letdown. For such an expensive and high-quality tool like the Kestrel 5700x , the accompanying app should enhance the user experience, but it does the opposite. KestrelLiNKBallistics frequently freezes, stops responding, and gets stuck on the "connecting" screen, rendering it completely unusable. This is incredibly frustrating, especially when you’ve invested a significant amount of money in the device itself.

After researching other users' experiences, it’s clear that I’m not alone in this frustration. Many negative reviews highlight similar issues, with complaints about KestrelLiNKBallistics ’s instability, poor connectivity, and lack of functionality. It’s baffling that such a premium product is paired with an app that feels like an afterthought.

Kestrel needs to prioritize fixing these issues. A dedicated team should be assigned to overhaul KestrelLiNKBallistics , ensuring it’s stable, reliable, and capable of delivering the seamless experience users expect. Right now, KestrelLiNKBallistics is essentially useless, which undermines the value of the Kestrel device itself. For the price point, customers deserve better support and functionality.

Reviews on here are dead on. KestrelLiNKBallistics is complete garbage. Crashed multiple times within a few minutes of playing with it and makes little sense when trying to navigate through it. I’ve been familiar with Kestrel for quite a while and they are an amazing tool (when not used in conjunction with KestrelLiNKBallistics obviously). The fact that Kestrel would put their name on this application should be a complete embarrassment to the company. I finally bought the 5700 elite with applied ballistics complete with the LiNK feature. I was excited to have it on my iPhone 12 Pro until I actually used it just now. Kestrel, fix this disaster of an app. You could have an amazing tool here, but currently you have a broken system that is in a dire need of repair. Very disappointed.

Tried using KestrelLiNKBallistics with the Hornady/Kestrel 5700 on 3 different devices with the same end result, device will not connect to KestrelLiNKBallistics . Firmware shows updated, apps are the most current version as well. User beware.

It seems the latest update has broken the Bluetooth connection with the 5700 elite and iOS. Bluetooth works with all other devices and the Kestrel Weather App.

The company needs to get their act together and figure out some programming. Can’t even attempt to connect to the iPhone even after troubleshooting everything they suggest. Quite pathetic when paying $400 on a piece of technology.

I’ve tried multiple times to get this to connect to my phone or iPad. Constantly loses connection. Even in airplane mode with WiFi and Bluetooth enabled. Cant update firmware if it won’t stay connected. What a waste of money.

Has a very few useful features, but KestrelLiNKBallistics only works with two of the Kestrel LiNK WX stations. This hardly qualifies as “LiNK compatible”. Specification should clearly state the only two (2) models of existing WX stations that work with KestrelLiNKBallistics .

Bluetooth does not work!

The technology is good and the results useful.

The display is a big problem. The fonts are grey on black and no option to modify. Some data is in what looks like a 3 font on my iPhone, cannot be adjusted.

Running KestrelLiNKBallistics on a tablet should make it better, but it doesn’t. Instead you get the tiny 3 font on a big tablet screen. I spoke to Kestrel and it sounded like the person never actually used their app.

Its especially bad in bright sunlight.

Other software options are out there, Kestrel would look at what the competition and do some tweaking.

I wish KestrelLiNKBallistics would work consistently. My gun profiles disappear and there’s no options or settings other than to connect a device, which doesn’t work either. I’ve deleted and reinstalled KestrelLiNKBallistics several times with not much luck. So disappointed after stretching to buy the top of the line Kestrel with Bluetooth only to find out there’s not much benefit.

KestrelLiNKBallistics crashes 60% of the time.. I just use the kestrel as a standalone unit, just leave your phone out of the equation and everything will be good..

Make an Apple Watch version!! This could be a Garmin killer!!

Just downloaded KestrelLiNKBallistics and it refuses to open with Bluetooth turned on but will open if Bluetooth is off. I tried deleting and re-downloading and it still crashes. Will not work on ANY iOS device. Kestrel works fine with Strelok Pro.

Nothing but issues with KestrelLiNKBallistics used for the 5700 ballistics meter. Activating and loading the kestrel onto KestrelLiNKBallistics serial number does not match. Buttons to send gun profiles doesn’t work. Not sure what the point of KestrelLiNKBallistics is at this point. Waiting for a response from kestrel tech to figure this out or the whole unit will be returned.

Follow up of my review above. Kestrel reached out with a response. Since my original review I removed and reinstalled KestrelLiNKBallistics on my iPad and phone and it has been functioning without any crashes. Most of the issue navigating through KestrelLiNKBallistics and kestrel unit has been resolved and was caused by my lack of familiarity with KestrelLiNKBallistics . I’d rate it 4.5 stars as the customer service and support has been quite responsive. I suspect as I get to know the kestrel unit and app I will have more questions and feel pretty confident I can reach out to their support page and/or team to receive help. A friend of mine told me the kestrel is a love/hate relationship and once I figure it out I’d love it.

Some of the navigation and controls are difficult in KestrelLiNKBallistics . Ultimately what would make this stellar would be to give us access to KestrelLiNKBallistics on our watch!

Generally pleased with KestrelLiNKBallistics . Please add ability to preload multiple stages (my kestrel calls them “sectors”). The kestrel ab added this ability with latest firmware update. It’s a nice feature for NRL/PRS matches allowing you to input all stage target ranges before the match starts. Doing this of KestrelLiNKBallistics would be much easier than the kestrel itself.

Updated version allows custom gun profiles, remote access and control of kestrel and has video training built in. Easy to use.

App will not connect from iphone XR or ipad pro to brand new 5700 Ballistic. Tried connecting with bluetooth on in airplane mode as suggested by support in another review to no avail. Sad that such a powerful (and expensive) unit can’t do something as simple as making a bluetooth connection...

Update from 1 to 5 stars: I contacted tech support at the address suggested in the Developer’s response and worked with a very helpful and knowledgeable tech who helped me resolve my connection issue quickly. My problem appeared to be related to my vpn causing problems with my initial connection and registration. I turned my vpn back on after initial setup and connection was complete and have had no issues whatsoever since (almost a year later). This has become my go to app over several others that I have tried. I agree with one of the other users that a lot of the text is small and can be hard to read in bright sunlight but the most needed data (elevation holdover, windage) is fairly readable in most conditions. I set my 5700 up on a vane mount and run with the wind set to constant update mode. Speed, direction and hold data info updates on KestrelLiNKBallistics are almost instantaneous.
Thanks for the great tech support and a very good app!