Review: Ballistic-X App

Every once in a while a new shooting related app makes an appearance on the App Store or Google Play. Sometimes they are super complicated with heaps of bugs and no developer support; other times they are super easy to use and the developer is easy to communicate with. I can already say Ballistic-X is the latter of the two.

Over the last couple of months I have been keeping an eye on the Beta of Ballistic-X. Even though I wasn’t a member of the Beta team I could see a lot of what was happening through Beta testers posting on Instagram as well as the developer keeping everyone informed of progress. I knew once it was released to the general public I had to have a copy.

So what is Ballistic-X? Basically it is an app that allows you to analyze your shot groups to keep as a reference or even post away on social media. At USD$7.99 it isn’t your usual run of the mill free app. This app is: slick, to the point and most of all, easy to use.

The initial landing screen when launching the app asks you to select the source for your target picture. You can either take a picture of your target with the camera or select a picture from your library.

The top right corner of the landing screen has a menu button. Clicking on this takes you to an About page. Here it gives you what ATZ means as well as an email address to contact the developer.

For the purposes of this review I chose a picture that was already in my Library that my mate Keiran sent me to analyze using the app. Once you have selected the image it asks you to ESTABLISH 1.00″ REFERENCE. For the purpose of this target the 1 inch reference is the red circle in the center.

The next screen you are taken too is the DISTANCE FROM TARGET screen. Currently the app only gives you the option to set your distance in YARDS. I prefer to work in METERS. Knowing 100m is 109.36 Yards I chose to round down for this and have it set at 109 Yards. Note: you can if you want to, use the decimal point to be exact.

Once you have set your distance you are asked to SELECT CALIBER. The caliber used to shoot this group was a 6.5 Creedmoor so I scrolled to select .264 cal/6.5mm. You can select all common calibers from .17 cal all the way up to .50 cal

Next you have to select your POINT OF AIM.

The next screen asks you to MARK YOUR IMPACTS. This is an easy task; however, you may need to zoom in just right to get your impacts to line up correctly.

Once you have marked your impacts the app will take you to a RESULTS screen. This screen will give you your Group Size, Overall Width, Overall Height, ATZ (Average To Zero), the option to ADD OVERLAY or START OVER.

If you choose to ADD OVERLAY it will bring up your target image with some basic information with the option to EXPORT your image or click on an OPTIONS menu to add more information.

Once you click on the OPTIONS screen it gives you then option to add or subtract information from your overlay. It even has an Comments section. In here I like to put the rifle being used, MV and ammo used.

Clicking DONE will bring up your completed overlay with your selected options with the option to EXPORT your image.

So what does this app do that other free apps such as Range Buddy and Sub MOA don’t? Honestly, it doesn’t do anything currently that the others don’t. So why would you buy it? It is so simple to use anyone can use it with next to no issues. The developers got back to me within 10 minutes of sending them an email. This has got to be a record.

What would I change in the app? First of all I would like it to have the ability to take a target reference size bigger than 1 inch and I would like to be able to add my range to target in Meters instead of Yards. Both of these suggestions were passed onto the developer and they already plan on implementing them in further updates.

Is it worth the price? Honestly I don’t know. However, now I have it, I don’t see myself using any other app to analyze my targets.

Craig